A Great End to January

Well it's hard to believe but we are already at the end of January of the new year.   How time flies when you're having fun!    We have had a great month at the Johnson household.    We started off the new semester of kindergarten with some changes in the curriculum we are doing for Aria.  We are now only using part of the Classical Conversations curriculum and have altered our reading program.  I am loving the new stuff we are doing; and I am truly seeing Aria flourish in her learning.  I am continually trying to plan for the next year of her schooling and always researching different ways of approaching classical education and reviewing different curriculum.    I continue to be so excited about all of it that I know sometimes it can get really annoying ;).     I am trying to become more involved in the large co-op that we are a part of.   I have signed up to be a host for our curriculum sharing night and am really excited about it.   Aria also started a new art class this month.   I will try to post some pics of her work later.    I just adore the woman who is teaching her.   

Sweet Avrielle is changing and becoming the neatest and sweetest little individual.    We have found her to be a little bit of a dare devil and a tender hearted soul at the same time.    I LOVE LOVE watching her as she changes.  Toddlerhood is so impressive to me...full of new abilities and discoveries and lots of bittersweet moments.    As she approaches two, she has had so many "two year old" moments...but then she is so sweet in the next breath I can't help but laugh and the range of emotions that flow through such a tiny little body.  

Brendan and I had a good month.  It seems like we had some really fun times together this January. Most notably a great lunch with a great discussion over some Whataburger sandwiches :)    I have been studying Proverbs lately(by studying I just mean reading :) ) and really delving into praying for wisdom.  It always surprises me how many insufficiencies I find in myself upon prayerful reflection.   I am grateful for a listening husband who encourages me when I discover my character blemishes so unexpectedly :)   I am just so impatient and always planning for the next step I think God should direct me towards... I am slowly learning to listen when He guides me down a path I hadn't planned for.    I wish I could give you all a better window into the Johnson household as I see so many neat things God is working on in each of us.   Of course, it gets a little messy now and then :)  which is hard to describe in quick blog entry.  Regardless, we continue to pray for you all as our friends and family and hope you all have had a great month and will be blessed by a great year!

A quick recap of a few of the photos:   Aria wishes it was swimming season, so she decided to wear her swim attire despite the very cold temperatures in the house.   She even had some suction cup marks on her eyes from the goggles when the afternoon was over :); We have started a craft/activity night with the Free family a couple of times a month.    The pic above shows the kids with their sock puppets.   Way to go Amanda on getting those cardboard mouths in there ! I truly enjoyed that evening!  We have since done poetry/valentine night and are planning on making compasses with the kids in a few weeks; Aria and Avrielle one Saturday morning on a comfy pallet made of quilts watching tv.... my girls LOVE TV LOL; Avi going down a slide at the park... she has recently discovered how to go down face first on her stomach... that one makes me a little nervous! I usually feel nervous when they are playing on the playground... working on not being so uptight about that :); Aria swinging after scooting on her Razor at the park... she does ballet poses often while scooting... classic! She also rings the bell ANYtiME ANYONE or ANYTHING goes by her; B. and the girls at the park; a great visit to Dion's...as most of you know getting Avi to eat is easily one of my biggest stresses.  Her most recent weight check was considered ok but just was not as encouraging as we had hoped for.   In this pic though... we had a great meal she decided to try 2 new things (unheard of for us) small bites of pizza with the cheese scraped off and bits of turkey lunch meat.    She didn't eat much of course but a few bites made my entire day :)  

Blessings all!  Love

SJ