We're Off!

Madison and I took a trip to Washington to visit some friends. She was a great travel partner. On the plane she slept, made friends with everyone around us, and ate. She loved looking out the window during take off and landing to wave at everything that passed by. It was precious!

Our first stop was at the Light/Higgin household. They have three adorable children, two parents, and two grandparents under one roof- what a busy place! Guess who is the Washington girl and who is the California girl? The weather was "warm" for little Hallie, but chilly for us. Hallie is the Higgin's youngest daughter. She's pretty cute.

Here is Maggie, who loves taking care of babies, and being girly.

Gale and Mimi posed for a grandmother's picture. It was fun to be on a mini vacation with my mom. Yes, Madison is crying because she had a slight constipation problem for a few days. She's all better now (Light Karo Syrup does the trick for babies, if you ever need that tip!)

Santa Monica

Jesse has been working so hard to finish out this semester, and we have been so busy going places. So, we took a day to spend together and went to Santa Monica. It was the perfect day.

Here is Madison in her Peanut shirt that Jesse bought for her before we knew she was a she! We have always known that she would be a Peanut, and boy, oh boy, that she is!

Games

We had the Eliazer's over Friday night for dinner, and then played Ticket to Ride. This is our new favorite game that my sister and brother-in-law introduced to us. We were pretty competitive that night, and had some good laughs. Jesse is addicted. 

Here is the game board. "Ticket to Ride is a cross-country train adventure in which players collect and play matching train cards to claim railway routes connecting cities throughout North America. The longer the routes, the more points they earn.

Additional points come to those who can fulfill their Destination Tickets by connecting two distant cities, and to the player who builds the longest continuous railway."

You can even play it on-line! We haven't gotten that addicted yet.

The next day was the Crossroads Volleyball Tournament. There were so many games going on all at one time. We have the tournament to raise money for those going on missions trips this summer. Cybill and Rachel's team (in the picture) actually made it to the finals!

Here is Jesse playing on one of CSUN's teams.

Then our pastor, Rick Holland, played on that team for a round.

My Two Shnookies

Nine Months

What a little Peanut Madison is! We thank the Lord for such a flexible, healthy, joyful baby that she is. We feel so blessed. 

Here she is for her 9 month pictures! She is weighing in at 17 pounds 4 ounces, is 27 and 1/2 inches long, and in the 25th-50th percentile. Dr. Sherman says she's looking healthy. She has allergies still, which make her cough, have a very stuffy nose, and a little rash on her face. So, she sleeps with a humidifier and uses a saline spray. She's loving eating whatever Jesse and I eat, but refuses to like baby food or cereal.

Jesse thinks this is a scary picture, but I love it! She is a wide-mouth giggler! What fun she is.

Maddie sitting pretty.

She is crawling everywhere! Madison loves being in the kitchen with me- usually she finds her way right between my feet!

Very into climbing.

Lots of standing, too. Dr. Sherman says she'll be walking soon. I sure hope not- she's growing up so fast!!!

Easter

After two wonderful messages at church, we went to my parents house with about 10 of our friends for lunch. After lunch the fun began :) Thanks to GiGi we had an Easter egg hunt (they were sent to us earlier in the week). One of my friends and I hid all the eggs for the adults to find. This was not an easy hunt.

Here's a few funny pictures of Madison playing with the eggs. By the way, these were no ordinary eggs, they were plastic Noah's ark animals and sea creatures filled with different candies. She had such a good time chewing on them.

That's her pirate look (she's been reading the news lately)!

Pretty cool hiding place, if I do say so myself.

Can you find the egg? This was for a tall person.

Mimi was excited when she found an egg rolled up in the newspaper.

Shark egg.

In the bushes.

Keep looking...

After the adults found all the eggs some of the boys tried impressing Madison with juggling :)

Daddy was balancing them on her head.

Papa wanted his hugs. After that we played a few games and then went to night church. Thank you Papa and Mimi for making this day happen. We love you!

What Could Be More Fun?

Madison and I went on a fun ladies outing last Friday. We met Tricia and Grace at the Tea Gardens (Grace was one of my amazingly bright students two years ago and Tricia is her mom and my friend). Grace and Tricia were so thoughtful to bring Maddie an adorable summer dress as a little Easter gift. We had a great time enjoying our tea and laughing at Madison's different funny faces.

Grace was so sweet to play with Madison so that I could eat. She has grown into a very mature and thoughtful young lady. Maddie loved Grace.

After tea, we went over to the Valencia mall. We looked at all the cute clothes in Baby Gap, rode the Carousel, and then went to the pet store. What could be more fun than that? We had a blast! 

CSUN Spring Break

Every Thursday is CSUN Bible Study night for the Johnson family. We look forward to meeting on campus and having the opportunity to share Christ with those students. Our group has been growing, and we love them! This week is Spring break for the school, so we chose to have a BBQ/picnic night at Balboa Park. Instead of preaching, Jesse grilled with skills.

And some of the guys watched on with serious looks. 

A few of the girls snacked :)

I love Maddie's face here..."Are you my Daddy?" The Eliazer's are great with her. 

Let's play! After eating, I went to play soccer with a group a people, and Madison crawled around on a blanket. Jesse had her feed some of the ducks (this was not captured on camera!)

Cute girls!

And some of our guys- post game and looking tired.

A Box From GiGi and Homie!

The mailman has come to our home two days in a row! What a week. Today we received a box from GiGi! 

Madison was super excited to look at all of her new gifts....a cute Spring outfit, a Farm Baby book, stuffed Easter frog, candy-filled Easter eggs (Daddy might have opened some already :), and Girl Scout cookies! 

She began reading right away!

She cracks me up...Maddie put the envelope in her mouth and began crawling away with it!

Happy Easter GiGi and Homie! Thank you for your thoughtful gifts! I love you!