Christmas Time...

This year we spent our Christmas in Iowa! We all had a great time and got to see lots of snow! Papa and Grammy's house is always fun and having cousins to play with is even better! This year Kinsley picked Emma as he favorite and followed her around everywhere! Kinsley kept calling Emma her friend (like that was her name) and would give her a hug whenever she saw her! Kinsley had so much fun today and was so glad Santa paid her a visit and left her lots of gifts! She was so excited when she woke up, but then was a little confused why Santa just left gifts and didn't stay for her to thank him!

This was Addilyn's first Christmas and although she didn't care about opening presents, she did enjoy playing with them! Most of all she liked playing with the "big" kids gifts and annoying them! She was so sweet and happy all day and was loving on her Mommy and followed her everywhere!

We also had Daniel with us and it was his first Christmas too! He just enjoyed being held and talking to anyone who would listen! He was a very happy boy all day and even napped really good all day!

This Christmas we are so thankful for our family, friends and most of all for Jesus. We are so thankful He came to this earth as our Savior. We can celebrate because of Him and Him alone!

Addilyn's First Haircut

On Friday, October 30th Addilyn got her first haircut. I still can't believe that she needed a haircut at 7 months, but it was very needed! Her hair was so long over her ears and would stick out in every direction! Jane cut it for her and it looked so cute when finished! Here's a few pitures of the process!

Where has the time gone...

I really don't know where the time has gone! My last posting was almost 5 months ago and so much has happened! From visiting with family over the 4th of July, to vacation at the beach, and having a new foster baby come live with us so much has changed in our family! Addilyn is now pulling up on furniture and Kinsley is talking and singing all the time! They have both grown so much and are the most beautiful little girls (I am a little biased!)! Daniel is our new foster baby who came to live with us at 11 days old. He is now 6 weeks old and is getting so big! He is cooing and seems to even by smiling! He is a sweet boy...something new around our house...a BOY! :) Kinsley has really enjoyed him and kisses all over him! She's always checking on "Baby Brother" and is concerned with his every move. Addilyn could care less about Daniel, but she does love her big sister! She watches Kinsley and tries to play with her as much as Kinsley will allow! It's funny how you don't think you could love your kids more, but it seems like I grow daily more in love with them!

Sweet Addilyn...

Addilyn is now smiling so much and talking a lot too! Yesterday she had her two month shots...uggg! She did okay all morning, but the afternoon was not good! She cried and wouldn't eat and I could tell she just didn't feel good at all. By the time bedtime came around she was so tired and ready to sleep. To my surprise I put her to bed at 6:45 pm and she didn't wake up until 6:00 am!!! I really don't remember the last time I got to sleep completely through the night, so when I woke up this morning I felt like a new woman! Needless to say I am also so proud of Addilyn for sleeping so long...she really does love me! Here's my sweet Addilyn and her smile (well, kind of...once the picture actually took she was not smiling so big...oh well!).

Sprinkler Fun...

This morning we (Aunt Toni, Kinsley, Addilyn and me) took the trek over to Collierville and spent the morning at Johnson's Park in the sprinklers! Kinsley had so much fun running from sprinkler to sprinkler and yelling "Come on" to Toni and me (She tends to be a little bossy...she got that from her Dad!). Poor Addilyn didn't get to enjoy the sprinklers, but she did get a good nap (Addilyn got her 2 month shots this morning, so I didn't want to push it by making her get wet with really cold water!)! By the time we left we were ALL wet and tired. We walked away with only a minor injury from an older boy who knocked Kinsley over and gave her a "rug" burn on her arm and leg! Over all though she had a great time and she talked about the sprinkler park for the rest of the day!

Zoo Day!

This weekend Aunt Toni came to visit us and keep the girls and I company! So this morning we packed up and headed to the zoo! It was about 10:30 am when we arrived and it was already really hot out! I think before we even unpacked the van (and yes I did say van...ha ha!) we were all sweating! We walked about half of the zoo looking at the animals then we were all to our limit of sweating and we took a break in the cool eating area and had lunch! We then headed out to the play ground and let Kinsley burn some energy! Next we set out again to look at the animals and ride the carousel! By 12:30 pm we were all so hot and Kinsley was very tired so we headed home! It was a lot of fun and really fun to have Toni along...I know I couldn't have done it alone!

Play Day with Mommy

Last Friday I took Kinsley and Addilyn to a park near by for a picnic and play time! We had never been to this park before and Kinsley had so much fun! They had misting sprinklers and a huge climbing rope wall that she loved. Believe it or not, Kinsley climbed to the top of the wall and back down by herself several times...she is a monkey!! By the time we left Kinsley was soaked from the misters and very tired! Needless to say, she slept great for her nap! After nap we went to a "lake" near by to feed the ducks! Kinsley did great feeding them and didn't even act scared! Here are some pictures of our day!

Kinsley climbing to the top of the wall!

Addilyn snoozing in the sling at the park!

Feeding the ducks at the lake!

Addilyn's Baby Dedication

On May 10th (Mother's Day!) we dedicated Addilyn to the Lord in front of our church family! It was a really special time of commitment to raise our children to know and love God. We brought Kinsley in with us to dedicate Addilyn and the whole time she kept leaning over and kissing Addilyn, it was so sweet! We feel so blessed to have a loving family and church family to support us in raising our children and leading us by example!

4 weeks old

I can't hardly believe that Addilyn is 4 weeks old today! She has already changed and grown so much! The past week she has decided that she really likes to be held and has started to cry more when put down. It has made it a more difficult week for me as Kinsley decided that she wants to be potty trained! It's a little hard to hold an infant and help a toddler go to the bathroom, but I'm making it work so far! I may be calling in the reinforcements soon! Addilyn is sleeping good at night and usually gets up twice per night, but typically goes right back to sleep after eating! She seems like she's gaining weight and is even starting to get fat rolls (so cute!)! She also really likes her pacifier, but we've caught her sucking her thumb too! Today was hot out (in the 80's) and the girls wore matching dresses! Kinsley was so excited to match Addilyn and talked to me about it several times today! Here's pictures from today...

Introducing...

Addilyn Gail Johnston!!! She joined our family March 26th at 8:26pm! She was 6 lb. 6oz. and was 18 1/2 in. long! We couldn't hardly believe that she was even a day early! Last Thursday (March 26th) I started to have contractions at 12:45pm and had strong contractions all afternoon. Around 6:30pm we decided to leave for the hospital...and that was a very smart decision! Little did we know that our girl was coming quick! We arrived at the hospital around 7:00pm and it took them a long time to get us into a room. About 7:30pm we were finally into a room and Addilyn was born less than a hour later!!! It all happened so fast, but it was perfect and we couldn't have asked for any better labor and delivery! So far she has been a very good baby and has even been sleeping good at night!!! We feel so blessed to have our second daughter here look forward to all our family and friends meeting her!! Here are some pictures of our sweet Addilyn!

Kinsley's Zoo Trip

This past Friday Kinsley went with Jane and the whole crew to the ZOO!!! They were there all morning and afternoon and had a blast! I was (of course) at the doctor so I couldn't go, but Kinsley still had fun without me (hahaha!!!). I was told that Kinsley got so worn out that she even fell asleep in the stroller! Here's a couple pictures of her trip!

Baby Nursery

Several weeks ago we completed our baby's nursery! It's done in pink and brown colors and we love it! We wanted something completely different from Kinsley's room and this is what we came up with!

Diaper Shower

After church today our friends had a diaper shower for us! We to Newks for lunch and then opened up gifts! Kinsley loved opening the gifts and didn't even care that they were all diapers, she got so excited with each package! We (of course) forgot to take pictures at the restaurant, so we came home and took them! One of our friends made a "diaper cake" and it had pacifiers on it...Kinsley kept trying to pull them off of the "cake" and suck on them(she did say they are for the baby though!)!

Weekend Visit

This past weekend Marcus came for a visit! Kinsley LOVED having him here and they both played very well together. They were constantly at each other's side and Kinsley was usually bossing him around! They really enjoyed riding on Ryan's back and jumping from the ottoman to the couch and then back again! They were quite the team!

Bye Bye Ni-Night

Today Kinsley gave up her "ni-night" (pacifier)! We went and bought 3 balloons (she picked out the smiley face ones...guess she didn't know what was coming!) this morning and then took her to Buckhead Creek, tied her "ni-night" to 2 of the balloons and let them go! It didn't quite fly away at first like we thought it would, so Kinsley began to chase it and tried to catch it. Ryan had to run after it too and let it go again. Then wind finally got a hold of it and we saw it fly into the sky. Kinsley watched it and waved good-bye! Ryan then gave her a sucker when we got back to the car and she also got to keep the 3rd balloon that we had bought!

The true shock sunk in when Kinsley and I returned home. After we had been home for about 20 minutes she began to ask about her "ni-night". I reminder her that the balloon took it bye bye. She began to cry...and I mean really cry. Also, she really didn't want the balloon that she got to keep then! She didn't want to touch the balloon or be near it! I asked her if she wanted to let it go outside...she began to clap her hands and shook her head yes! So we took her 3rd balloon and let it go outside! The rest of the morning she kept telling me about the balloon and that it took her ni-night bye bye! I'm really hoping she doesn't hate balloons for the rest of her life now!

Christmas Vacation

This year for Christmas we drove to Nebraska the Monday before Christmas and spent time there with family until the day after Christmas...then we drove to Iowa to spend time with more family! We had a great time and Kinsley proved to be a great traveler once again!!! She didn't sleep well in the car, but still stayed happy watching "Baby Einstein" DVD's (We're hoping we actually improve her intelligence by traveling!)! I tried to remember to take pictures of Kinsley with all the family, but I didn't do such a great job. Here is a few pics with family...