Kelsey came to town

Kelsey came in last night around 7:30 for the weekend. It is nice to have her here and I know Brad is thrilled too. We have never had her "to ourselves" so it has been great. Last night we had mexican food. Then today while I was at work, Brad showed her his studio and school. We just got back from the mall and eating at our fav pizza joint, Shorty's. Now we are baking Derby pie for the Kentucky Derby and Kelsey is making some pie crust from scratch. The Johnston gals know how to do it right. Of course Brad entertained us with the worst music in the world to listen to. And Bonnie hasn't stopped wagging her tail since Aunt Kelsey got to town!

baby shower

This is a picture from the baby shower I was at this weekend. On Jimmy's side of the family, 6 girls are pregnant (one is missing) and two of them are having twins. So, 8 kiddos on the way between June-Sepetember.

Oh, Suzanna!

I'm not sure if I've ever mentioned our friend Suzanne to you before. We met her last year as we were planning to go to Liberia together. She is one fuuuuuuuuuuuuun chica! It was her 41st birthday on Sunday (I know, she doesn't look a day over 30), so Brian and I treated her to lunch at one of the tastiest restaurants in town...Redstone. One of the things I love about Suzanne is how naturally spiritual topics come up when we're together. She's also one of the most outgoing people I've ever met...she'll start chit-chatting with anyone and everyone. And I'm pretty sure I've never seen Suzanne NOT smiling. Anyway, here's a picture one of the guys working at Redstone snapped of us after lunch. Thought I would share:)

Sweet like pie

I have done a horrible job keeping up on this blog lately. I am going to try harder!

Anyway, this week and weekend was great. I took some residents to a Princess Diana exhibit that was cool among many other fun things. For every activity they come to I give them play money and at the end of the month we have an auction. The auction has all kinds of prizes, but basically things they could get at the store but they get to use fake money to pay for it. Toilet paper went for 900 bucks once and a pretty floral scarf for 1200. So the prices are very inflated. I have been preparing for it this afternoon and evening. I shop at the dollar tree and walmart to get things, but this time I am including a homebaked loaf of honey date bread and a sweet strawberry pie. (Brad and I went to a farmer's market last night and got the tastiest strawberries around) I also made 3 pretty beaded chains for the residents to attach their "life alert" pendants on. So it should be a fun afternoon tomorrow.

I also had to make a pie for Brad and me too! Take a look...

Mall Madness

Well, today was an interesting junior high ministry event: "Mall Madness". All of us leaders disguised ourselves and either wandered around (without going into stores) or sat at benches/tables in the Mall of America. Students were put into groups, given packets with blurry pictures of us in disguise, and then were let loose throughout the mall in search of us. If we were found out, we gave them our signature.

So what do you think...would you have recognized me???

Pet Day and Flying Pizza

Today was Pet Day at our apartments. Well, it was at the park across the street. We took Bonnie to meet some new friends and show off her tricks. She won a prize too!
I did a ton of laundry today - like 7 loads and cleaned the apt. Afterward, I went shopping and worked up a fierce hunger. Brad and I decided to go to a pizza joint - Mellow Mushroom. I have been there 3 other times and it was great. But this time - it was yucky. The crust was still doughy and it just sat like a brick in my stomach. We did make it worth it by dancing to the Best of MJ CD they were playing and then throwing our left overs over the edge of the 4th story of our parking garage. So I included these movies for your viewing pleasure.

Childhood Memories

Please tell me you gals remember this same book as a kid: Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day. I'd forgotten all about this children's classic until I cracked open the next chapter in Lies Women Believe and it was referenced. (You may wonder the connection. Well, this next lie we're uncovering is about our circumstances.) As I read the included excerpts, I found myself laughing hysterically out loud. I hope the following words cause the same reaction in you.

I went to sleep with gum in my mouth and now there's gum in

my hair and when I got out of bed this morning I tripped on the

skateboard and by mistake I dropped my sweater in the sink while the water was running and I could tell it was going to be a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day.

There were lima beans for dinner and I hate limas.
There was kissing on TV and I hate kissing.
My bath was too hot, I got soap in my eyes, my marble went
down the drain, and I had to wear my railroad-train pajamas. I hate my railroad-train pajamas.
When I went to bed Nick took back the pillow he said I could
keep and the Mickey Mouse night light burned out and I bit my
tongue.

The cat want to sleep with Anthony, not with me.
It has been a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day.

I hate to admit it...

...but I'm kind of getting into crafts.  I've never considered myself a crafty person and always kind of pictured preschoolers when others would talk about crafts, but lately, I've really been enjoying doing a few little crafty things here and there and looking up more ideas on the internet.  Anyway, below is a picture of a gift I made for a friend's wedding in June (roommate from Focus).  It's an Uppercase Living decal...so it was super easy to do.  I just painted the board and stuck the decal on.  I matched the colors to her bathroom colors based on the registry.  Then, I put this little "bathroom basket" together.  I am still figuring out how I'm going to wrap it up nice and cute.  

I love the color of her towels.

And this is from Elijah's and my playdate with Kelly and Max.   I love having Kel so close and every time I'm with her, we talk about you girls and it makes me miss you more! We are bummed we missed Max's first steps by one day!!  Tell me these aren't 2 of the cutest blondie boys you've ever seen.

Max's first steps!

We are so excited!!! Max took his first "official" steps today :) The day before Easter he started taking a couple steps as he was falling down into our arms, so we decided we would consider his first steps when he could stop walking, stay standing, and start walking again. Well today he did that a couple times! The video doesn't show that necessarily, but it does show quite a few good steps :) It was so fun, and I was especially happy that he did it this evening, when Brad was home from work, so he got to see it too! So, our little man is on the move!

Spring Fling

This past weekend, my sister Anna had a dinner dance at school. A LOT of the kids met at Jimmy's parents house so we went down to take some pics and see all the action. This pic is of Anna and Mom Herr. She looked beautiful.

Also, baseball season has started. This picture is from last year, but the Phils are ALWAYS on TV or radio at the Herr household. If we don't eat dinner before 7:05 game time, we usually eat it in front of the TV so we can watch the game. As I post, Phils are winning 10-7. GO PHILS!

Smellavision

Whoa Taylor! 3-D glasses really! What a treat. I always flip through the mag before really reading it and I love seeing Brad Yordy's name in there for the pool thing. I guess old Taylorites are okay with a pool now?

I also wanted to post a picture of my weekly flowers, Hyacinth - which smell so great I wish you could smell this post.

Yesterday I had my first soccer game. We won 2-0. I pulled the heck out of my right leg quad. I don't know if it will ever be the same :) I am limping and could barely walk last night. I guess this is a case of out of shape and getting older. My work's physical therapist said to stay off of it, wrap it, and ice it. Pretty hard with 90% of your job is walking, standing, pushing wheel chairs, leading active classes. Anyway, I loved playing again and I am looking forward to the next game!

Holla

I wanted to share an article with you all. A reporter from the local newspaper came to my facility and wrote an article on our seniors playing Wii Bowling. It is short and sweet, but well written and it was fun for the guys to see their picture in the paper and hear their names. Jerry, the woman mentioned in the article, calls me her 6th daughter! I love all of them so this was very neat.

http://reporternewspapers.net/2010/04/09/virtual-bowling-strikes-it-big-with-senior-citizens/

Secondly, Brad and I took these "cool" pictures this evening. I know we are weird, but we love it.




Thirdly, these were my flowers for the past two weeks. Easter lillies for Easter that just bloomed on Monday.

Surprise, Surprise

Sorry it's been soooooooooooo looooooooooooooong since I've posted. As the title implies, Brian and I had a fun time surprising our parents/families with the news of our little growing baby. Before we left for Indiana on Good Friday, we had Brian's folks over that Thursday night. Judy had wanted to write down the exact model number of our dishwasher, so we figured that was a perfect excuse to have them over...with a little dessert to boot. After chatting for a while, we pulled the cake out, saying, "This is sort of a celebration, too." As you can see from the picture, the cake said, "Happy 14th week", since that's how old the fetus was at the time. Well, just as we were hoping, they were slightly confused. Tom thought it was how many weeks he'd been retired, but then he calculated it out to be 10 weeks instead. Judy was busy thumbing through her little checkbook calendar trying to figure out the significance of 14, when it suddenly dawned on her this may have to do with me being pregnant. She gasped, "You're not...pregnant?!" It was a tear-filled and joyful moment at the same time. Carrot cake never tasted so good:)There's a little bakery called "Joy-Ann Bakery" in Richmond that I absolutely love. I remember many-a-birthday-cakes coming from there over my growing-up years. Earlier in the week (before leaving for Indiana) I called them and ordered a cake over the phone. It was much more straight-forward, saying, "Baby...Coming September 29, 2010." Brian and I got into town plenty early to pick it up before the bakery closed. That evening, after we enjoyed a delicious meal with my parents and Dana, my Mom said, "I don't really have anything planned for dessert." I was like, "Perfect! I had a hankering for Joy-Ann Bakery, so we picked something up from there." As I was trying to get into the box, I was sort of nervous, hoping they hadn't figured it out already. Well, when I pulled the cake out to show them, Dana said, "They gave you the wrong cake!" She thought it was for someone's baby shower. I explained that it was ours, and told them to read the whole message. So, the three of them huddled around the cake, and it finally dawned on them what it was all about. It was pretty funny.
It was so fun to get to tell of you...I'd been DYING to let the cat out of the bag for...well...many weeks. Your excitement for us is indescribable. Thank you. You've blessed my life so much, and I can't imagine experiencing this without you. I love you all.

Tornado Warning

We had a tornado warning tonight around 9:15 pm...sirens were going and everything.  I was home by myself with E because Kirk had class.  I thought I should be safe and get E out of bed and go down to the lower level bathroom (it's the only room on the 1st floor with no windows).  This picture of Elijah cracks me up.  He's got his blankie and there was one of his hats on the floor in the bathroom (not sure why, but my guess is he took in there previously) and he really wanted to wear it.  So here he is, wide awake, wearing a baseball cap, at 9:30 at night :).  Hahaha.

ps.  We're all fine.

Back...

Sorry it has been so long since posting! We had a truly wonderful vacation in Virginia with the Drakes. Jacob's parents' lake house was gorgeous, and the weather was awesome! Upper 70s, lower 80s the whole week - and sunny! Just what we needed to cure our winter blues :) I didn't do a very good job of taking pictures - Whitney did much better, so when I get hers I'll put a few more up. Their daughter Lucy is 14 months, so she and Max had a blast together!

Ok here are a couple of pictures - the first is the view from the house of the lake - beautiful! Then there are a couple pictures of Max and Lucy playing. Too cute.















Ok and now for the REALLY fun part...here is a picture from our breakfast with Brian and Darla - SOOO fun!!! Thank you for the blessing of that breakfast/memory, Brian and Darla! We love you and are so excited for you!!! Max wore the "I heart my uncle" onesie that Brian gave him last summer (and that he now fits into!) - and as Darla said, we'll have to look for an "I heart my cousin" onesie :)

Pollen

Ok so I never knew how pollinated Atlanta or the south was. Yesterday on the news they said on the pollen scale it is "miserable" level. I have never had allergies or problems with that, but sheesh I have been blowing my nose so much. Today was the first day I also noticed how yellow and how much pollen is out and about. I took some pictures of a car in our parking garage that is just covered in yellow pollen. I hope you can see how crazy this is.



Tomorrow is my first soccer practice. Wish me well.

Family Pics

It's been a while since I've posted (make that ANYONE has posted). I was talking to Darla this morning :-) and we thought something was not working properly cause it had been so long! Anyway, hope you all had a fantastic easter! Below are some family pics we took. For my parents 30th wedding anniversary, we made a picture book. My bro came home for an evening and we took lots of them. I just chose a few to show you. Love you all so very much!
My Brother Tyler and his girlfriend Ali!

Riley and Sophie in their Easter dresses. We did a LOT of candy bribing for some of these shots.

The whole fam!

me and the hubs

Chad, Linds and the girls.

It's been a while...

Seems like the blog is in a bit of a lull here...I'm missing all of your posts!

Anyway, it has been absolutely beautiful here in Indiana the last week or so and we have spent a lot of time outside. Elijah absolutely loves it and so does his mommy :). Anyway, here's a few pictures of what we've been up to.

We got to see our precious baby 2 weeks ago.  It was so great and although we didn't find out what we're having, I'm feeling girl.  Now we just need names...

We went to Chicago last weekend to celebrate Mason Brooke's (Jeff and Rachel's son) birthday and spend some time with Kirk's family.  It was a packed weekend and a highlight for me was seeing Hannah Heth...I used to work with her in admissions and she and her husband Justin(you probably remember him...sammy hall director) took a job at Wheaton College this year.  I got to see their cute little home and their cute (not so little) son Cooper, who is 2.  It was great to catch up with her.

And we enjoyed a nice easter weekend at home.  This is my favorite picture of Elijah from Easter.  He is really looking grown up these days, I think.