Day 152 And they're gone!

"They" being furniture! Yup, it was time to clear out the unwanted furniture.  Habitat for Humanity ReStore was happy to receive lots of great stuff the last two days.  Sad to see some pieces of furniture go, but sometimes you have to make tough decisions.  I also closed up a lot of boxes today that only needed "one more thing" or I kept it open "just in case I find..." I just needed some "closure." We took down curtains and more things off the walls.  The men undid my stack of boxes from my parents so I could possibly go through them or at least rebox some of the tubs that have gotten crushed over time.  Soon I'll be packing our bags for the flights to our old/new home.  And then all that's left is the bathroom, some kitchen stuff, 3 pieces of furniture to find new homes, and final cleaning.  Two weeks until moving day.  I'm hoping that we won't even need a trailer to be added to the 26 ft Penske truck, but I won't be upset if we need one.  You just have to give this gal a goal and she'll do her hardest to make it.  It's in the unknown that one gets fearful and anxious.  Give me a plan and I can execute it.  And when Momma is happy, everyone's happy, right?  Actually, well, no, family can be happy even when Momma ain't happy, but it certainly helps when Momma is in a good mood.  Middles had a great time playing with an old friend with water guns since it was 90 degrees outside.  Meanwhile, it was 75 here, with a nice breeze.  Then a huge thunderstorm came through! Normally we don't have thunderstorms here because the conditions just aren't right, but that's two thunderstorms in 1 week! The midwestern husband is happy about that! I love a good thunderstorm, but not the tornadoes that sometimes comes with them.  Not sure what we are going to do with being on the 2nd floor of a condo building.  Yikes!

We found a way to keep Abishai still for a few minutes! 

Going to miss downtown Charlottetown and places like Tim Horton's.  It's so gorgeous down there this time of year with all the tulips!  I didn't have time today to get pictures of the tulips, but imagine every "green" space being filled with them!

Saturday is Benaiah's birthday, and he LOVES Finding Nemo, STILL! I teased him today with showing him this kid sized lounge chair.  Finding Dory comes out on June 17th and he wants to be there for it's "midnight showing." Yes, we all have that movie that as a toddler we were obsessed with.  Mine was The Little Mermaid.  Justin's is Cars.  And I think Keturah's is Frozen.

We took the knife out of Abishai's hands pretty quickly, but we had gotten to Benaiah's birthday dinner already passed Abishai's nap/bedtime so he was wired.  He just wanted to use utensils to eat with!

Related much? (But I didn't notice that Benaiah had given me his "derp" face. Ugh!)

Birthday dinner: the 2012 winner of PEI Burger Love at Papa Joe's!  Happy birthday (on Saturday) 14 year old!

I tried to pick something I wouldn't make at home or would miss not being near the sea, so I choose blackened salmon covered in pecan maple sauce.  Oh my goodness! Just the right amount of sweetness! On some spinach and Island mashed potatoes.  Yum!

Then, it was off to Goji's for birthday dessert!  Jared had tweeted, "Two trips to Goji's in less than a month, and BOTH times, it has poured rain while we were in there."  We are all very full and ready for some sleep!  Oh wait, Grandpa took Benaiah to see X-Men Apocalypse, it's 9:45 pm showing tonight.  So they won't be home until after midnight.  All for the 14 yr old's birthday.  And he deserves it.  We have a 14 y ear old!  Crazy!!

Days 147-151 When thy eye is pink!

Oh boy, oh boy, has it been a rough 5 days.  I developed pink eye, plus a toothache on Thursday and couldn't be on any electronic device for more than a few minutes until yesterday (Sunday).  So, that is why I've missed so many posts.  And, because I couldn't see very well, I have only a few pictures to share with you.  And with two kids not being at home, there's not many pictures of them.  It's going to be a very inconsistent month I'm afraid.  We pack the truck to move in two weeks from tomorrow, so that's June 14th.  Abishai, Benaiah and I will fly to Indy on June 15th, while Jared and others will drive the truck and van back.  It's an early flight, so I guess I will see the sun rise while we are sitting at the airport.  Straight to Toronto and then to Indy.  Should be fun.  That means, we are down to the wire with packing ourselves up.  I have some purging I can do, but don't have to do.  There are a few more bigger items to be given away.  (Thank goodness for charities!)  There's still a couple of tourist type things to do.  And of course the good bye's.  I still don't like moving.  I don't like the chaos and energy it takes, especially in the last few days.  I'm thankful for a place to move to and a plan for where things will go.  (I will have a huge schoolroom with all our books and supplies in it!)  Change is hard, but it's been good to purge and it will be great to start with a clean slat again.  I'm looking forward to seeing friends and visiting some familiar places like the infamous Children's Museum of Indianapolis.  I will be definitely getting a family season/yearly pass to that place again! It's one of the world's BEST children's museums! So, without further words, here's what we've been doing the last few days (well, everybody has been doing while I lay in bed with my eyes closed listening to every podcast I can get loaded onto my phone.)  Bear with me, these are out of order chronologically because I pulled them from different sources.  I feel it's better to get the pictures and stories published than to achieve perfection with them.  Thanks.

One of the sweetest people you will ever meet came over to play with us on Thursday.  Miss Megan has taught the kids in Jr. Church, house sat and dog sat for us, worked at the Chrsitian camp the kids have gone to, and she started and finished her BA degree at MCC while Jared worked there!  She loves people and we will really, really miss her smile and servant's heart.  We love you Megan!

Megan LOVED Socks and watched him while we were on vacation.

I'm so glad that we saved our ball pit/toybox! Time for kid #4 to enjoy it!

Meanwhile, kid #1's foot is many times bigger than it was when he was 18 months old.  Benaiah's favorite movie is still Finding Nemo.  Can't wait to see these on Abishai this summer!

Can you say mini me?

Benaiah teaching Grandpa how to play video games! It was hilarious to watch!  Gary, like me, has a hard time knowing which buttons to press when and how to move the joysticks.  I think we'll stick to our day jobs.

Big boy wants to use his utensils and growled at his fork when he couldn't do it right!  Plus, he gobbled his lasagna that Jared made!  He doesn't like the ingredients separately, but the combination of them was a hit!

Ready to watch the Indy 500 in a pub!

Little man enjoying his fries while Daddy watches the Indy 500.

Funny story: Jared actually called the restaurant to ask if they could get and be willing to show the Indy 500 on their TV earlier this week.  Yes, you can take a Johnson out of Indy, but you can't take Indy out of a Johnson.  He always HAS to hear/watch the race.  ALWAYS.  And he's NOT a sports person AT ALL.  There was no sound at the restaurant, but at least Jared got to see it.

We were scattered across the continent, but the Johnsons still found ways to watch the infamous Indy 500.  Jared watched with Abishai and Benaiah in a pub.  I listened on the radio.  And because the event was sold it, it was actually televised for the first time in over 50 years in the Indianapolis area so Grandma and the middles watched it on the big screen!  Justin showed me that on Facetime.  Gary was on a plane for part of the race.  And I'm not sure about the New Orleans Johnsons.

Doggies make great pillow for snack time.

Finally, the right drops for this irritating issue!

Having fun at the Children's Museum with some old friends. Oh, the train exhibit!  A classic!

Some old friends, who, don't seem so young anymore!  You lay on this device and it spins you around as you look up at the celing at this amazing 4 story colored glass sculpture designed just for the msueum!

A new friend!  This little curly haired beauty was born in another country just like Abishai was because we've both been on the mission field.  Can't wait to meet her!

Reunited friends in front of the carousel that was resides on the 4th floor of the museum that you can ride on!

A new playground at a park we know well!  We had our wedding reception there, and lots of other group get togethers.

It's hard to choose your favorite at Steak and Shake!

Day 146 Thunder rolls.

Ok, I tried to cut down on the number of photos from today, but, each one tells a story!  We went out to Greenwich Bay and the sand dunes after a little bit of work in the basement went on today.  We will miss the ocean and the peacefulness found there, even when the thunder is chasing you all the way back to the car!  Thunder is a rarity on the Island and Jared kept saying, "I miss this from Indiana."

Abishai deliberately put the blanket over his feet so he could email on my phone just like I do or Daddy does.

Peek a boo eyes.  And a indy car racing hat!

We found a ton of these fathers in a circle with a diameter of about 6 ft!  Looks like the downy feathers of some birds.

On our way out to the beach.

When you have to climb the sand dune, you "wear" baby in a stroller.

Looking back on the water behind the dune.  It's a long, long walk, but worth it.

One of the sand dune peaks.  You HAVE to stay off of the sand dunes themselves.  They are constantly changing because of weather, but also, the ecosystem is fragile.

(Random pic because I pulled  in pics from several sources to day).  There are 44 trees that line this street and every time we drive down this street, the kids would count the number of trees.

There was actually no steps down to the beach because they needed repaired from over the winter.  But, Jared and Abishai found a way.  Abishai loved touching the (cold) water, and didn't mind the sand.  He's a true Islander!

Storm clouds rolling in chasing us all the way to the car.  Jared had me walking huge strides and let me tell you I'm going to be sore tomorrow.  Still, see that mist way over there?  That's rain!

Selfie with the sand dune.

Selfie at the beach.

I'm always fascinated by this kids' hair.  Fine and straight in the front, textured and curly in the back.

Keturah figuring out in what order Grandma should sew buttons onto some felt for a project.

Fazoli's for breakfast!  Or rather brunch since they had to get up really early (4am?) to get Grandpa to the airport, and then they went home and went back to sleep again.

Learning how to count American money.  Poor Keturah is only familiar with Canadian coinage.

Time for a manly chat?

Day 145 I'm seeing a lot of yellow!

Beautiful flowers!  It's finally spring!

I'm so glad I got to see these before we moved!

I think this is year 3 for this one!

My lonely tulips.  The other tulips didn't make it because of the snow that crushed them as they grew and stuff landing on them like shovels and things we were tossing away, etc.

Now they all have a driving as a toddler pic!

Caught in mid stride! He wouldn't sit down for pictures like he did last year.

How can a field of "weeds" look so pretty? Also, a town nearby has an annual dandelion festival dedicated to everything dandelions!  Did you know you can make tea out of them, or pancakes, or eat them sauteed?  Yes you can!

Jared put the flower behind Abishai's ear.  Too cute!

More progress! Two bags of trash, plus a big box for recyling, plus two more boxes of paper given away, plus one small box of electronics to give away.  Success!

This wall had 3 stacks of boxes, so today I tackled them.  Some were taken care of (see above) and some were added to the pile accumulating in the basement.

The pile grows bigger everyday!