Forest Songs

I love the songs I hear in the early mornings. 

I especially love to hear Mr Woodpecker. 

On those days, it is a delightful treat. 

It makes me smile.

Birthday Wishes

Amelie had a birthday cake today for her 8th Birthday.
(I know a little late, but we wanted to celebrate
with her cousins and Aunt)

As she was about to blow the candles...

 Auntie Audie:

 "Make a wish"

Amelie: 

"I wish for nothing 'cause

 I have everything. Right here. Right now..."

How beautiful is that?
I wish I could always feel that way...

Amelie a eu un son gateau d'anniversaire aujourd'hui pour ses 8 ans.
( on a attendu de celebrer avec les cousines et Aude)
Au moment de soufler les bougies...
Aude:
"Fait un voeux"
Amelie:
"Je souhaite rien car j'ai deja tout.
 Ici. Maintenant."


Que c'est mots sont beau...
Moi, je souhaite avoir ce genre de sentiments toujours...

Amelie's 1st Primary Talk

I am going to talk on one of the ways I can follow God's plan. 

Yesterday, I followed the example of Jesus Christ by being baptised.

My daddy baptised me. 

When I came out of the water I felt warm inside and grateful.

Then I received a special gift when my dad, the Bishop
 and Jordan's dad put their hands on my head. 

I received the Holy Ghost. 

Again, I felt grateful and warm inside. 

And I knew I was following Jesus's example.
 I am glad I got baptised. 

I love my family. 

I love Jesus. 

I know the church is true.

In the name of Jesus Christ.

Amen.

Amelie's Special Baptism day!

Today was Amelie's Special day. 

Today her Daddy baptised her and she became a member of 

The Church of Jesus christ of Latter Day Saint.

Today she received the precious Gift of the Holy Ghost.

To help her, teach her, comfort her, and guide her to follow Jesus
 and return to her Heavenly Father.

Today she describes her feelings as: 

Happy and Warm inside.


Aujourd'hui etait un jour special pour Amelie.
Aujourd'hui son papa l'a baptise et elle est devenue un membre de 
L'eglise de Jesus christ des Saint des derniers jours.
Aujourd'hui elle a recu le Saint Esprit.
Qui va l'aider, l'enseigner, la reconforter, et la guider a suivre Jesus 
pour qu'elle puisse retourner vivre avec son Pere Celeste.
Aujourd'hui elle a decrit ses sentiments:
Heureuse et chaud a l'interieur...

Diving Meet

Justine had the opportunity to actually go to a diving meet this winter. 

The season is over now, even though she is still practicing. 

There are a lot of girls on the woodlands team that are on national teams

 and even one training for the Olympics! 

Needless to say that they are really really good. 

So they are the ones that get picked to go to the meets... 

Anyhow, Justine did a good job at the one meet she attended! 

She may not be Olympic material but she sure is beautiful, 

awesome, and Gold medal material in our eyes! 

Coyote update

I'm so happy! A couple of days ago as we were walking in the forest, we met the guy who's dogs were chased by coyotes, and.... he had both dogs!!!!! He found his dog waiting for him by his truck! What a relief! And he didn't have a scratch on him... He said they may have been a pack of wild dogs... Chloe is so fast I'm sure she can outrun them!

Hot dog

Made Skyline hot dogs for lunch today.

Justine: Mom!!!! How do you know when hot dogs are cooked?

Great Storm Houston, TX

This is too funny!

Snow day without Snow!!

So the kids are home from school today.

Reason: Snow day!

Well it is more like Ice day...

There is a huge storm in most of the USA,

that is causing a lot of trouble.

And here in Houston, we are getting a little taste of it:

A little sleet

A little freeze
Lots of school and businesses closing

But unfortunately:

No sledding
No building of snowmen
No snow ball fights
Followed by hot chocolate and a movie
...

And I thought that it was so silly to close everything in Ohio,
when we had just a little snow or ice, so here it seams even more ridiculous

Meet our walking Buddies

Meet Campel and Tiero, Chloe's friends, she loves to run with them in the woods.

Meet Laura, my walking buddy

She just recently moved to the USA from Scotland.
She is expecting her First baby! :)

JJ Heller - What Love Really Means (Official Music Video)

Another scary moment!!!!

So this past week, I went as I do everyday to take Chloe to the state forest.

I was with Lindsey and her mom. We met this man there and his dog.

I had seen him before but with 2 dogs, but one of them was missing, the bigger one.

We were just talking before we met him about coyotes.

He asked us if we had seen his missing dog. We hadn't.

He then told us that a pack of 5 coyotes chased his dogs

while he was on one of the smaller trails... One came back but the other didn't!

I felt so bad for him!

I hope he found him, but the chances are the coyotes got him!

I still take Chloe there but do not venture close to where he lost his dog.

I do think about it every time I go there now, I worry when she goes too far...

I know that they can lure dogs away from you while pretending to want to play.

Then the whole pack comes in for the kill!

My little bottle of pepper spray would be no match for a pack like that,

especially if they are far away from me,

and they have Chloe.

New Year's: Look Not behind Thee

Holiday trip to the Emergency Room

Amelie had a close encounter with a dog.

She hugged him too tight and he snapped at her.
Sarah took care of her until I met them at the emergency room at Children's.

She got a stitch on her upper lip.

She was a little dopey to say the least...

We had another little scare, but hopefully,

only a tiny scar will be left as a memory.

And no, it hasn't stopped Amelie from loving dogs!

Amelie a eu un petit incident avec un chien.

Elle l'a caline un peu trop fort et il l'a mordu sur la figure.

Elle s'est retrouve aux urgences a l'hopital, ou elle a recu un point

de souture audessu de la levre.

Apres qu'il lui ai donne un relaxant, elle etait toute fofolle!

On a eu un peu peur mais une petite cicatrice sera le seul souvenir...

Et non, cela n'a pas arrete Amelie d'aimer autant les chiens.

Big scare on Christmas day!

We almost lost our little Chloe today!

She fell in the small lake where we went sledding...

She jumped in to go after ducks.

It had ice on it and she couldn't get out.

Justine got her attention lucky for all and she swam to her...

We put her in an electric blanket for 30mn until she stopped shaking!

What a big scare!

Snow Fun on Christmas day

Mike looked so Stylish with Chris's Boots too big for him,

and Sarah's orange coat too small for him!!!

Mike avait la cote avec les bottes de Chris trop grandes,

et le manteau orange de Sarah trop petit!!!!

Christmas Eve at the Johnsons

We kept our tradition and got to sleep and watch Cxmas movies in new Pj's!

Nous avons garde la tradition de dormir et regarder un film de noel avec des pijamas tous neufs!

Surprise!!!!

So I had the scheme all planned out exept the actual surprise. I had made up flight schedules for Alexi and Justine and emailed them to Sarah, so she wouldn't suspect anything.

We first surprised the kids at their house.

The shocked look on their faces: So entertaining

Then the big one; surprising Sarah and Chris.

We decided with Sophie and Ben to pretend Sophie had hit a dog (Chloe)
on their way to meet them at Aldi.

While we (justine, Mike and I) hid behind the store wall and in our car,
Sophie called her parents in a panic to make them come out to the parking lot.
They did and got the surprise of their life.
Our friend's JOY on this Christmas eve: Priceless


Sarah's thoughts as it all enfolded:
Oh... no, we'll fix the dog. it looks like Chloe. Chris won't mind keeping it.
As she sees Justine:
Oh she came a day early? She brought Chloe with her?
Then she sees Mike and I and it dawns on her that we are all there!!!

Road Trip to Ohio for The Holidays!!!

So all the kids wanted for Christmas was to go back to Cincinnati. 

So we decided to make the 17h-road-trip with Chloe of course. 

(Yep, I had vowed not to do that anytime soon after driving from Cinci to Houston in Novemeber!)

We kept it a total Secret so we could Surprise of friends (especially Chris ans Sarah)

only a couple of people knew; Alexi was one of them...

Pour Noel, les enfants voulais retourner a Cincinnati pour les fetes.

Donc apres consideration, nous avons decide de faire le voyage 

de-17-heures-de-voiture, avec Chloe naturellement! 

( Et oui, j'avais promis de ne pas refaire le voyage de Cinci a Houston si tot, apres l'avoir fait en Novembre) 

On a garder notre voyage un secret total! 

On voulais bien Surprendre tout le monde (surtout Sarah et Chris), 

seulement Alexi et une autre personne savait...

Back Yard Cabin