Johnson Household

This year we spent Christmas with my family, the Biros, at their home away from home right outside of Binghamton. This made me so happy for a couple reasons; the drive was only three hours instead of seven and we escaped the little blizzard that hit NYC.

We drove down on the 23rd a little later then we intended on due to some bathroom tile problem, I will just leave it at that.  Their house is situated in the woods, so it’s really an amazing location. While Dagny was napping the older generation stayed home while the younger went on a hike in the woods.

Hiking

Our “city dog” opted to stay in the warm house while Lexi was out and about the great outdoors.

Lexi the awesome German Shepard.

We also took advantage of the hill next to their house and went sledding. I would do about anything for my daughter. Apparently her entire family would too. Not like there was any arm twisting.

over and over again

love it

The trek up

my girls

I heart my nephew.

After a yummy Christmas Eve meal we opened our gifts.  Dagny could hardly contain her excitement about getting at her presents.

So excited

This is one of my favorites.  Having a unique name, she will NEVER (at least in this country) find her name on a mug or key chain at our local store.  But, surprisingly she does have lots of stuff with her name in print.  She’s not missing out.

Love it!

First keyboard

Some of her loot

This was one of my favorite moments.  My brother giving Dagny her first golf lesson.

I love my family.

The Biro's

We headed back on Sunday. Dagny has preschool this week.  We hate it when she misses any days, because she loves it so much. Before we left and while Dagny and my mom were in the car, Craig and I put her gifts under the tree.  Here is little Boo seeing her new piano.

so happy

It was so sweet. She asked who it was from and when we told her it was from Agi Mama, she ran to my my mom with the biggest smile on her face, EVER and thanked her. I have never seen Dagny do that before. She was so happy. I would say it was like if Craig got me a brand new BMW with a big red bow on it. I am just glad my child is content with something smaller.

OMG... so happy!

so happy

tickling the ivory

The only thing Dagny asked from Santa was a Jack-in-the-box.  We have no idea why she wanted one so bad.  It seems she was on the good list, because Santa delivered.

how cute

pure excitement

Baby girl also got a guitar.  It’s great watching her play both the piano and guitar.  Sometimes I think she wishes she can play them at the same time.To recap, she got a guitar, a grand kid piano, and a keyboard.  It’s so great how much she loves music.  I can’t wait until she is older and she can take piano lessons and/or some other instrument of her choice.

This is the best gift that Craig and I got.  Dagny made this ornament for us at preschool.  It was wrapped up in cute pink tissue paper (which I kept).  It my new favorite ornament.

Best gift

I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas.

Barbara

Friday evening, Craig and I went to his company’s Christmas party at Eagle Vale Country Club. I’ve had the pleasure of meeting some of Craig’s coworkers in the past, but it was so nice to meet more along with their spouses. We had tons of fun as the theme was Vegas Casino Night.

Saturday, we signed up Little Miss D for dance classes.  We have been talking about starting her in dance since we knew we were adopting a little girl.  At Doodle Bugs Dagny participates in weekly Doodle Dance and Tae Kwon Do. She enjoys both activities, but we really want her to have the whole dance class experience.  As I started to look into some dance studios, I remembered about one in our old neighborhood, down the street from Dagny’s preschool.  For now it looks like its going to be a good fit.  If Dagny chooses to continue as she gets older, we might consider other options.  But for now this is optimal.  After we signed up Baby Girl we went out and bought her supplies.  The Tap shoes are her favorite by far.  When she put them on at the store, we told her to go and walk on the hard surface.  When she heard the tapping that her shoes made, Baby Girl’s face lite up.  She started “tapping”, the lady that was helping us out asked how long has she been taking dance classes?  We told her this was the first time she has ever put Tap shoes on.  Lets hope her excitement continues Saturday at her first lesson.

A star is born, says her mommy.

Sunday, Craig and Dagny went to the Museum of Play while my Mamma and I went to see Mamma Mia.  It’s no secret that I love ABBA.  I have been a fan since way back in High School.  I credit my brother for introducing their music to me.  He was a teenager in the late 70’s in Europe and they were huge back then.  I am very surprised that it has taken me this long to see the musical.   Growing up in NYC,  attending the FAME school, and having lots of my friends as Vocal majors ( I was an Art major) I went to many plays and musicals. My love for musical theater solidified. All I was thinking yesterday at the performance was that I can’t wait until Dagny gets a little older so I can share this with her.

After we put Baby Girl down for the night we finally caught up with Dexter.  We had heard great things about the show, so we finally started Netflix-ing it.  OMG, it’s Soooo Gooood!  We have been watching it every free moment we have.  It’s embarrassing to say that we watched 5 seasons in about six weeks.  On the weekends we stayed up really late.  And, every morning I would say I won’t do that again, but I found myself doing it again the following night.  It’s like a potato chip, you can’t watch just one episode when you have them all.  So good. This last season is not available yet on DVD, but Craig did his thing and we are now all caught up. Now, we have to wait until next September.  Boo.

Barbara

This weekend Dagny finally got the chance to go out and play in the snow with her daddy.  She had such a great time.

He is such a great dad!

My favorite photo of the day.  I just love how they are looking right into each others eyes.

My loves.

Little Bunny

Future snowboarder?

Barbara

Dear Erika,

Happy 18th Birthday!

This year brought you many milestones.  You graduated from High School, started College, got your Driver License, and now you turned 18.  This is way too many for me to process.  My little girl is no longer a little girl.

You are entering an amazing part of your life. Enjoy it, be smart about it, and breath when things get challenging.  You are are up for it because you are a strong woman that has a wonderful heart.

You can make me laugh at any moment and I just love that about you.

I love you!  We all love you!

Barbara, Craig, Dagny, and Agi Mama