A bunch of random stuff...

Here's one a shoulda thrown in with the last blog entry about butcher day...

Of course we went to Sandgren's Tree Farm to get our Christmas tree.

The kids were not totally into it.

Violet hated the tree we picked out and was not shy about voicing her displeasure.

Violet and Henry both love hot cocoa. Here's a picture from a recent Johnson family breakfast at the Swedish Village Cafe.

Henry is juggling pre-school and dance class, but continues to stay focused on his art.

I now have a vast collection of his drawings of "guys." After he completes a drawing he makes me cut it out with scissors so he has a sort of paper action figure (or as he says, "FIGGERRRZ!)Usually he draws superheroes or Andre the Giant or just random dudes and wildlife. I thought this guy had a highly unusual wang but a very cheery smile.

This is from the Christmas Dance Revue at the Grandma's studio. Henry, Jada, and Violet tripping the light fantastic...

Violet & Henry share a tender moment of Christmas joy...

Violet was asked to pick out her favorite new Christmas present so she and cousin Emmy could play. Obviously, she went with the Dora undies. A couple of classy broads...

Maybe it's no small coincidence that Violet decided she was done with diapers. A few days ago she started using the toilet and I don't think she has had an accident since. She held out a while longer than Henry did but it was basically the same deal. They both kind of did it on thier own. Violet is more of a secretive pooper though. We've missed out on giving her positive reinforcement several times because she will sneak off and grunt one out in secret. It makes me seriously wonder how she is handling the wiping situation though when she does these secretive poops. This is the opposite of Henry, who almost always requests wiping assistance. Interesting stuff, eh?

Violet's gift from Santa was this dolly that closes its eyes when it lies down.

MC Sassy Pants strikes a pose...

I'll just say what everyone is thinking -- how did that end up with that?

No goat fatalities to report (knock on wood). The chickens are doing well and are producing two eggs a day right now. The neighbor gave us about a year supply of cracked corn for the chickens and goats from the corn that was planted in our back field. So that's pretty cool too.

Drawing Knives & We Have Eggs...

We have drawing time at our house pretty regularly. Henry has been into this for quite some time and Violet is just starting to get into it. A while ago, we were settling in for a session of art when Violet demanded that I draw her a knife...

Not just any knife -- a bowie knife.

I was like whaaaaat?

But, as always, I got right to it...


...and gave her my best bowie knife rendering.

Violet was pretty happy with her knife drawing.

Big news on the ranch -- after nine months of heartache and pain our chickens have finally started to lay eggs. It started last week and we have been getting about one a day. Hopefully that increases when daylight hours increase and it gets warmer out.

Dancin', Swingin', Beheading...

I'm getting BAD at updating this. I completely spaced posting Halloween pictures. Starting with Halloween with the cousins, here's a bunch of random stuff.

Henry was a GI Joe and Violet was a mouse...

Here's a couple shots from a late summer wedding. Henry and Violet seized the dance floor to show off what formal dance instruction infused with their own personal flair can do. All of Henry's moves would have been completely acceptable at an underground rave party circa 1992.

Violet, on the other hand, had more of an experimental free form, Haight-Ashbury in the late 60s feel. Between her rhythmic movements and fun dress, she managed to capture the essence of music. I believe they were listening to "Pump up the Jam" here...

Both of the kids like to swing and it's too much work to drive the kids all the way to a park or school for swinging. So I figured we should put up our own. It's pretty sweet...

Swingin' at sundown...

A couple nights back I told Violet to pick up a bin of toys she had dumped out to which she replied, "Daddy, I don't like your tone." She is about 90% sweetness, 10% fiestiness, and maybe 4% skulduggery.

Bachman and Dan were found guilty of crimes against humanity. For these crimes they were sentenced to die. They were featured as the main course for Thanksgiving dinner this year. I don't think I ever got around to posting pictures of these guys. This is Bachman and Dan:

Henry creates a disco inferno in Bachman and Dan's makeshift pen.

A while back I figured I would explain to Henry that we were going to butcher the turkeys and maybe two uppity roosters. He seemed curious about it and only said that he wanted me to show him their guts at the moment of truth. So, I let Henry kind of take part in / basically just watch the beheading and carnage. The chickens went first. I basically just went into the coop and grabbed one at a time and walked them over to the beheading stump. I had a couple nails in it the stump I would wedge their head between. After that I just gave a little whack with an axe. It is true what they say about chickens with their heads cut off -- they hop and flip around like crazy for a few minutes. Henry was a little mesmerized by the aftermath and at one point he was checking out the heads in the wheelbarrow and suggested that we try to "glue them back on with a glue stick". I guess he's pretty handy with a glue stick at preschool. This is when Violet arrived on the scene. I was worried about her seeing gore and whatnot since she is actually very terrified of the chickens but she just glanced at the lifeless carcasses and said "Let's just eat 'em Dada."

I had been a little concerned that the turkeys were going to be more difficult if only because they were so much larger. They seemed resigned to their fate and really weren't any more trouble than the chickens. After beheading, I dipped them in hot water for about 30 seconds which makes plucking super easy. The last step is gutting and cleaning them and sticking them in freezer. Easy, peasy, lemon squeezie.

Vince is evolving into a gentle and inquisitive little guy. We have three goats currently.

I have the old Q-Bert game downstairs that I inherited years ago from a college friend and the kids seem to like playing. They still have some fine tuning before my high score is in jeopardy.

Violet tries on a wig...

Henry and Violet at Grandma Sue's dance class for the Halloween Dance Revue. Henry is making serious advances in his technique and Violet seems to be really throwing herself into the dance. I think they are doing a shuffle step here but Henry insists it's a "shovel' step.

This is pretty much how I roll now. I'm still fighting the good fight, but getting pressure from multiple fronts to shave the beard. I'm going to keep riding this one out for a while a see what happens.

Banana Seat Bike, Beard, Appendix, etc.

Violet gets boxes of hand-me-downs pretty regularly from cousin Jada. She was especially jacked up to get this Hannah Montana shirt although I don't think she is really into that music scene. She does know who Michael Jackson is but when she says his name it sounds like "Uncle Jason".

Henry is still trying to refine his technique on the training wheels.

Unique Thrift Store was had some good deals on bikes a while back when I found this classic banana seat for Violet. I guess it will just have to sit in the basement for a few years -- but for five bucks it's pretty sweet. It says "RAINBOW" on the chain guard and it has a custom white wicker basket.

This likely qualifies as animal abuse on some level but it's cute as all get out.

This is the coop and garden after the big harvest.

Henry has somehow willed himself to have to poop every night at around 8:30 or 9:00 so he can get out of bed. The other night he came out in the hall and said "Bad news, Dad -- I have to take a number four".

Henry seems to be getting along just fine in pre-school. He has a couple of buddies he seems to get along with.
Violet looks so grown up in this one.

Mama and Violet...

I came down with a little tummy ache a couple weeks back and ended up having to get the ol' appendix taken out. It kinda put a damper on my week but now I'm back and better than ever. I'm also a couple months into my best beard ever. I was put on lifting restrictions for a week so I couldn't pick up the kids. Violet is at a stage where she really likes being held so I had to sell her on hand holding and now she likes it. The other day when we were running errands she wanted me to hold her hand while we were driving.

Back to School, State Fair & Wayward Goats

It's back to the grind and the start of a new routine this fall. Henry now has preschool three days a week and gets to ride to school with mom on those mornings. He seems to be adjusting well. Prior to the open house, he was a little nervous about the whole deal. We met his teachers and stayed and played Lego's for a while until he remarked "I think I'm gonna like preschool."

So with that he took his lunch...

and officially began the odyssey of his formal education.


Where the hell does the time go?

We also went to the State Fair. It went really well. We spent almost the entire day there. We last went when Violet was still an infant and we made it about 90 minutes or so. Here's mama and Henry in action on the Tilt-a-whirl.

I tried my darnedest to win Henry a large stuffed animal but failed.

We met this guy...

Henry had his four year check up a while back and everything seemed good. He was about 65% for height and 45% for weight if I remember correctly.

The harvest is in. We have way more tomatoes than we know what to do with. Lots of onions, carrots, and variety of peppers.

The chickens still haven't given us any eggs yet. The turkeys are getting huge. We took in two wayward and morbidly obese goats from a gentleman who is moving out of state. Status quo for Rancho Johnson.

Yes, Henry has a panty liner on his head -- and on his shins. For some reason, they hold some novelty value amongst the youth in our household. I guess it offers some protection from bumps and bruises.

Henry has a wicked temper. If he isn't getting his way he has taken to screaming "YOU'RE FIRED!" That, coupled with the fact that he is very sensitive and a pretty intense dude has made it kind of trying at times with him at this particular stage in his life.

Violet and Henry started with their first and second seasons of dance class, respectively. Violet especially digs all aspects of dance.

Violet will sneak off to her room and change clothes like ten times if given the opportunity. Her vocabulary is still growing like crazy. She had a brief stage where she was carrying dolls with her everywhere she went but seems to be over it.

We took a detour to Stillwater on our way home from the State Fair for old times sake.