Twas' the night before Christmas....

Twas' the night before Christmas.... Too much snow to go to Great Grandma's so we are stuck in town. With one crappy kid and the other being so helpful we are making biscuits and gravy for brunch. Naps will happen sooner then later today. Off to church then to Grandma and Grandpa Otto's to celebrate. When we arrive home, hopefully before Santa comes to town. Children will be tucked in to bed, so the visions of sugar plums can dance in their heads! Then to wake up to see who was naughty or nice in the Otto home this year. Off to Grandma and Grandpa Barnlund's to celebrate with more family. If the weather continues to hold out we may venture to New Ulm for one last celebration.

Wishing you all a Merry Christmas. With a detailed report this weekend of our wonderful days ahead.

Guess What...

Can you believe that Cody is a double digit kido! As a mom I can't believe that he is already 10 were does the time go? We are had our family birthday party on Saturday. It will be fun to watch Payten, seeing if she will try to help her big brother or not. She even had to get her big brother a gift, she has been chasing him down the hall when he gets home from school. Cody has a little shadow if he likes it or not he's got one!

On Thursday she found a present (and of course not hers)! Up to this point she has just been looking at them and touching them. But on Thursday I heard the "rip"! Too cute she just looked up at me and smiled.

Johnson Girls Annual Christmas Baking

Annual Christmas baking started 5 years ago. We started the first year just on a Saturday after skating school and finishing up on Sunday, less then 24 hours. Well 5 years in we have learned a lot! This year we started Thursday at 4:30 and finished up on Saturday at 6:00 pm. The only 2 things that haven't changed is we pick our date in November for the following year (yes we had 2010 date picked before 2009 happened) and its at my house.


We started this year on Thursday night with the list of things we needed in hand a way we went to Walmart and then to Cubs to finish up the special things we couldn't get at Walmart. Including over 3 pounds of pecans.

My kitchen table after shopping!



Payten getting her first baking lesson from Laura, next year Payten can help!


After making 15 different recipes we had fun putting all of our tins together!

PS a quick hockey update: Cody scored another goal for his team during the Sunday game. Cold rink in Waseca but another fun game for Payten and I to watch.

Snow Day!!!!

Some pictures from our snow day last Wednesday!

Cody and Payten are playing with the Fisher Price Bus that was Cody's when he was little. I have many pictures of him riding on top of the bus like it is a scooter. So that's how he loves to play with it and Payten. On our snow day he had her lay on her tummy on the top and he pulled her around.

Payten wanted so badly to go out and play with Cody in the snow. Not sure how many times he asked for her to come out and play too, but mean mom said no way.

Quick update!!

Last weekend we went to Brezzy Point for a hockey tournament! Trav goes with 3 of his friends every year during labor day weekend. So he had lots of fun showing us the places they have stayed and visit when they are up there. As for hockey the boys played awesome on Friday night even though they lost 2 to 5 to Lakeville South. The next game, well that didn't go as well, the boys just didn't seem to play together so that left us to play Sleepy Eye for our last game of the weekend. We ended up winning 6 to 1, with Cody scoring the last goal of the game. So for Cody's score card it would read 2 goals and 2 assists.


Payten is a busy girl. Her 6th tooth has cut through and she can take around 6 steps before she decides that she is still quicker if she crawls. So fun!


I told you she is a busy little girl this isn't the first time she has played with TP so know worries if you come to our house and have to look high and low for the TP its there, just not where it should be.


It is the annual cookie baking weekend with my sister Laura. We have to plan our date over a year ahead of time so that Laura can get Friday off. So it throws a little wrench into other plans that are happening this weekend too. But I know that everyone will understand, we all love our treats!

Hockey Parents!!

Yes we had our first Hockey Tournament in Huchinson. This year Cody made the Squirt B team for Mankato. He is one of only 5 1st year squirts that made this team. We had two games yesterday, a big eye opener for him playing 2 games in one night. And our 3rd game today. He didn't score any goals close a few times, but had some good passes. No penalty's which I think he was scared about. As parents we learned that at this level things can get pretty intense.

As for little sister she was a trooper. A very good little girl she fell asleep during the 3rd period which was crazy by the end of this period it was 3 - 3. Which sent us into a 5 minute sudden death over time, no goals where scored. Then we went to a shoot out it headed up with us making 2 goals the other team 0 goals. It was pretty cool we ended up with 3rd place in the tournament. Very neat for Cody to have this happen for his first tournament.

Saying Goodbye!

Were saying good bye to our car seat! And not to good reasons of being to big for it. I did all my research before Payten was born which seat would take us to at least 12 months and I got one that is up to 30 pounds. It was perfect!

Until the car accident, for those of you that don't know it wasn't our fault. Just in the wrong place at the wrong time. Did you know that if your car seat has been in an accident when the airbags are deployed they don't want you to use it anymore? :( SO with that said my plan to have her take pictures in the car seat until at least 12 months is no more! Thanks to Scot and Nan for letting us use Talyn's for awhile. We have a lot to figure out including what type of vehicle to buy. At this point we have decided that we will take our time and do all the research we want before we jump into buying anything, so I will drive Peggy's old car for the time being. Thanks

So here are the last of pictures of my peanut in her car seat!!

1 month old

10 months old

I wasn't kidding you when I said she doesn't like her seat.