Pops (the other one)

My dad was Pops to Andrew (the only grandkid here when he died), so hence the title of this post. I have had all of these shirts of my dad's for years now and was looking for a good seamstress to make something out of them. So, while I was on maternity leave this summer, I found a quilter and asked her to make two quilts from all of the shirts (one for Caden and one for Ensley). It's just perfect...

From iph 11413

I remember him wearing all of these shirts. Since this blog is how I am trying to keep track of Caden and Ensley's lives and big events, I thought I would also share some memories of my dad, so that they will have them here as well. Caden is at the age where he is asking more and more questions about the man whose picture is right next to my side of the bed.

Robert Allen "Al" Johnson, Sr. (Pops) October 22, 1944 - May 8, 1999

Most of the shirts that were used to make the quilts were long sleeved, collared shirts. I don't have very many memories of my dad wearing shorts (I know he did in his earlier years, but later on, his staple was long sleeved collared shirts and khaki pants). He would wear t-shirts, but with khaki pants.

My dad also didn't cuss (at least we never heard him). Maybe some of my uncles could disagree :). If he was mad (which was rare), you could hear him say "hot dog-it", or "golly" (pronounced gaw-lee).

He listened to the oldies station all the time (or even tapes of oldies songs). And you didn't change his radio station in the car...Robert, my brother, once joked that Ryan and I were the only kids who knew all the words to all of the oldies songs in elementary school.

He loved to cook and he loved to sing when he cooked...mostly made-up songs. My favorite was "I got to go to Mexico, I got to get away to Mexicay". I'm not sure why, but most of his made up songs were about Mexico :).

There are so many more memories of him, but those were a few I wanted to share. I hope to tell Caden and Ensley a lot more stories when they are older so that maybe they will feel that they knew him, too...

Our end of 6 month fashion show...

The clothes are just so cute...I love all of the little clothes. I still can't part with some of Caden's. I know it's foolish to think that they will dress their kids in them someday, but part of me hopes. Although I did see a cute idea where you can make a pillow with some of your favorite baby clothes, so that's an idea too. Some of my favorites taken with my phone...

From Collages

From Collages

And she started to get a little fussy after a few outfit and bow changes...

Milestone...She started sitting up around 6 months old and could sit herself up around 7 months old :).

First Foods

Ensley was 5 1/2 months old and she was over her rice cereal...well, she started blowing raspberries with every bite, so she was doing more playing than eating.  So, we decided to start foods.  First up, sweet potatoes...

From 2012_11_01

From 2012_11_01

Halloween

We moved into our new house the day before halloween, so it was chaos!  We didn't have a pumpkin, but we managed to get some candy to give out and went trick or treating in our new neighborhood. 

Now, remember, Caden was in the hospital last year for halloween, so he really didn't understand the whole concept since the last time he went he was 2.  So, I explained that he needed to knock on the door, say "trick or treat" and they would give him candy.  He thought that was amazing.  After the first few houses, he would grab the candy, turn around to me, and say "LET'S GO TO ANOTHER HOUSE!".

Here he is (ironman - he picked it out) with his little bumble bee before we set out for trick or treating...

From 2012_10_31

Ensley's first halloween (she slept through most of it)...

From 2012_10_31

From iph 11413

From iph 11413

Her cute little halloween outfit before the costume went on...

From iph 11413

During the move, I actually ended up being able to go to Caden's halloween party at school. His teacher was Alice in Wonderland and her assistant was the Queen of Hearts (love them). All of the kids marched out of the room and did their parade of costumes.

From 2012_10_30

From 2012_10_30

From 2012_10_30

The class was full of super heroes this year...

From 2012_10_30

From 2012_10_30

1st Trip to the Dentist!

Caden went to the dentist for his first visit in October. I had no idea how they would get him to keep his mouth open (we can barely get him to at home just to brush his teeth) and how they would get him to lay still...but the dental hygenist must be magic because she got him to do all of those things and even managed to take x-rays of his teeth. Why is it that your kids will do these things for other people???

From iph 11413

End of Year Soccer Pics

Better year for Caden in soccer (this was our second year). He likes playing the goalie because he can use his hands...the only problem is he also likes to get caught in the net, so sometimes he couldn't free himself when the ball was headed his way :).

 

Life is full of random moments

Sometimes I forget to capture the little things that happen in our life...like when I asked Caden if he loved his baby sister and told me "yeah, because she poops." Or when I picked him up from school for almost an entire week because daddy's truck was in the shop and he told me he was angry at his dad for not picking him up, then 5 minutes later told me he had to tell me a secret and again the secret was that he was angry at his dad for not picking him up. Or when Scott said the other day that he wanted a pistol for Christmas and immediately Caden said he wanted a parrot. No idea how the two relate to each other.