Mug Shots!!!!!!!!!

We have some pictures now, but just a few. Enjoy. We will post more later.
We have set up a link in the section of our favorite websites.
http://picasaweb.google.com/joelandkendall/OliverJacob

Oliver Jacob

Oliver Jacob was born at 6:39 pm last night.
8 lbs 1 oz
21 1/4 inches
Mom and baby are doing great, we will post some pictures later today.

Labor!!!!!!!!!!

Ahhh Yes, right in the middle of labor. Can you believe it. Epidurals really do work. She is about 5 cm dilated and they're about to break her water, we should have some news soon.

Highlights of My Weeks at Home

I've been at home for over a week now. I'll share a few of my highlights...

1. Last Saturday I helped my sister move into an apartment in Wichita. She has a cute place--and of course has made it look very homey and stylish already. She is quite talented and has an eye for design.

2. I met my mom in Wichita for Starbucks, and we did a bit of shopping. We also met my sister for lunch. While at Old Navy--we found the cutest hats for newborns--of a duck and a bunny. We decided to buy them and use them on our newborns at Easter. We'll put them in a basket dressed as a duck and bunny--complete with grass and eggs! Watch for that picture after Easter.

3. I read John Grisham's book The Broker last week. It was a good one! One of my favorites. Now I am reading his non-fiction book, The Innocent Man. This is another great book.

4. Last night, we had two couples over for pizza.
Actually, the real reason was to put in the window that Brad made. (shown above the doors). Joel and Jess and Kara and Brad stayed for supper and dessert--and then they put the window in our nursery--I think it looks great!!!

5. Joel and I are planting a garden tonight. We are going to plant onions, jalapeno's, tomatoes, spinach, and then we have raspberries that are already growing from last year. Maybe we'll make salsa this summer!


6. Finally, we got to see our new niece this weekend for the first time. We went to El Dorado Thursday evening and Saturday afternoon/evening. Addilyn is quite cute! (and very laid back) There are lots of pictures of her on the blog link to the right--Tyler and Erin's blog. I did include a cute one, too. This shows Addilyn sucking (yes, sucking) Tyler's nose. Apparently she likes it!

Green Grass...Part 1

For those of you that haven't seen our house (Karla), here it is. We painted it several years ago with the help of Kendall's brother and sister-in-law. We still haven't finished painting the trim but hopefully that will happen soon. The lawn is brand new as of last fall and it is growing like crazy, I've already mowed it twice. We still have a long list of things we would like to do including a new front porch, flooring in the back hallway and bathroom, and redoing one of the bathrooms. Maybe it will all get done in the next 5 years.
Here are a few lawn care tips for the spring: (which is part of my job at the Rec)
Mowing
1. Never remove more than 1/3 of the grass height in any one mowing, so if your mower is set at 2 inches mow the grass when its 3 inches tall. Mowing more than this can shock the grass which can cause a thin lawn and shallow roots.

2. Don't bag your clippings- If you follow the 1/3 rule above there is no need to bag your clippings. In fact it is healthier to drop your clippings because clippings contain nitrogen which is essential for a healthy lawn. Clippings won't contribute to thatch because they are 80 to 90% water. If you bag your clippings you will have to apply 25% more nitrogen when you fertilize.

3. Try not to fertilize in early Spring- Fertilizing in early Spring can cause your grass to grow too quickly. This growth exhausts the grass's food stock and leaves it little in reserve for the stressful summer ahead.

Next time: watering tips

SPRING!!!

It is spring! Do you know what that means? Storm Season!!! Fortunately, we have already had a warm March, with some thunderstorms. Hopefully it will be an active season. This morning I woke up at 4:40am (for bathroom break #3) and saw lightning. Excited out of my mind, I stayed awake until Joel got up at 5:30. Then I got up too and ate breakfast (I was starving!) and watched the storm. Well, it wasn't too impressive, but there was thunder and lightning. This is my favorite thing about spring.

Two weeks ago Joel and I went to a storm spotter meeting for the community. It was interesting. They talked about normal safety precautions, and then got into the nitty-gritty about super cells and how they form. Quite fascinating. I tried to convince Joel to wear an "I love Jim Cantore" T-shirt, but it didn't happen. (Actually, I don't have one. But if anybody is looking for birthday, Christmas, or May Day gifts, there's an idea!) Anyway--I think the best way to celebrate the birth of our child would be to have it during an intense thunderstorm. This week looks good!

Bracket Buster

Well, no baby yet but Kendall did make it to Spring Break. She can now relax and wait, hopefully not too long though. We have watched a lot of basketball in the past few days. Indiana is out, they lost to UCLA. For a while I didn't know if they were going to get to 30 points, what an ugly game. I guess now I will go for Butler, whoever is planing Kansas, and my pick to win it all Texas A&M. I was a little disappointed with Xavier, and how stupid they were not to foul at the end of the game and then let Ohio St. hit a 3-pointer to tie it. It was a great day for basketball yesterday.

On another topic we were able to pay off my student loans this month. Its been a long time coming and what a relief it is. We were able to pay it off a little sooner than we expected because on our 2005 tax return I made a mistake. I caught the mistake while doing this years taxes. I transferred a wrong number off a W-2 and it was off by $1,000. We just got that money back plus a little bit from this year and this helped us pay off my loan. It couldn't come at a better time with the baby coming and they bills it will bring.

Happy March Madness to everyone and enjoy the games and hopefully we will bring news soon.

13 Days and Counting...

Since Baby Billy will be arriving just in time for the start of baseball season, we thought we'd make sure Billy was ready. We decided to find some quality ball cleats (as pictured). We figured they'd work--boy or girl.

And here is my large, protruding stomach, for those of you far away and interested. We are still walking each night, hoping for a Spring Break baby. That would be nice. Joel is excited about watching basketball. I am excited about having 2 more days of school!

Newest Johnson

Tyler and Erin (Kendall's brother and sister-in-law) just had their little girl, Addilyn Elise, this morning. She was 8 lb 9 oz and 21 inches long. I guess she has long dark hair! The family is doing well--and we are very excited to see them. We'll have to wait for them to come visit though, unless Baby Smith shows up early! We haven't seen any pictures yet, so we're eagerly awaiting that.

March Madness Baby!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

It is finally the best month of the year and all of you know why, MARCH MADNESS. I will be spending hours in front of the TV watching college basketball. Kendall says, "Oh Yea." But she gets into it as well, always wanting to fill our her bracket. Hopefully the baby will wait until after the first weekend of games. Kendall possibly only has 10 days left of school or at least until Spring break. She may have to go back for a few days but we hope not, maybe her doctor will tell her not to go back.

March is also great because things are finally starting to warm up and come out of dormancy. Although today is cold, 40's, all next week looks like mid-60's all week. Tonight we are going to the winter slam concert in Wichita, Jeremy Camp, Steven Curtis Chapman, Sanctus Real, and several other. It should be a great concert.

I hope everyone is ready to fill out their brackets, its coming in just over a week.