Russian

Я добавила русский текст к поседнему посту - и буду стараться переводить все последующие посты на русский для моей семьи и друзей в Украине и России. Русский текст будет последовать английский. Надеюсь что это поможет всем знать как у нас дела и что происходит в жизне Джонсонов. (зараннее извиняюсь за все ошибки, я давно не писала по-русски:)

Christmas!

We had a wonderful laid back Christmas as it was just our little family. On Christmas Eve we enjoyed reading the Nativity story from Luke and singing Christmas hymns- Andre's favorite was "Away in the manger" from children's songbook - he really enjoyed singing 'asleep' part.
Speaking of the commercial part of Christmas, Andre has been well educated by all his favorite shows Christmas specials. He was most excited to get presents, in fact, one day we went for a walk around neighborhood to look at the lights, Andre saw a plastic Santa decoration, he ran up to the fence and screamed: "Santa, Andre want presents!"

{Мы провели замечательное Рождество. В этом году мы никуда не поехали, а остались дома и праздновали в круге нашей маленькой семьи. 24-го числа на кануне рожества мы всей семьей прочитали историю о рождении Иисуса из Луки и пели рождественские песенки.Благодаря своим любимым мультфильмам Андрей изучил все про Санту и чем он занимается – вплоть до того что когда мы были на одной из прогулок и Андрей увидел пластикового Санту он подбежал к забору и прокричал: «Санта, Андей хочет подарки!»}

Our somewaht out of it boys on Christmas morning. Boys let us sleep in (poor little Harper happened to catch a nasty cold the day before), and we didn't get to opening presents until 8 am.

{Наши сонные тетери под елкой в рождественнское утро. Нам повезло и малые проспали и встали только в 7:30! }

Checking out their stockings. The boys each got a movie.

{Андрей и Харпер проверяют что им Санта принес в сапожки. Бедный Харпер подхватил простуду, и сильно сопливился, поэтому на всех фотографиях с открытым ртом.}

Andre opening his first present

{Андрей готов к открытию первого подарка}

Harper wasn't much interested in opening presents (sickness is partially to blame for)

{Харпер не был особо заинересован в открытии подарков, я думаю что частично из-за простуды...}

Luckily we had Andre to assist all of us in present opening.

{...но нам повезло, потому что Андрей оказался экспертом по вскрытию подарков и принял участие в открытие каждого подарка}

A fun choo-choo train Harper got from Santa (thanks to an awesome consignment, I got our kids great toys in mint condition for cheap)

{Харперу очень понравился его паровозик (и Андрею тоже)}

Andre opening his present from my parents - Thomas the Train set. It ended up being the most loved present of all.

{Анрей открывает подарок от Иры и Саши – что оказался самым любимым подарком – Томас-паровоз с деревянной «железной» дорогой.}

The boys playing with their new toys.

We also had Jeff's brother Rick's family for dinner. Andre loved playing with his cousin Piper and the first thing he asked this morning was - "Where's Piper? I want to play with Piper". Hopefully they'll get to play a few more times before they head back to Ohio.

In short - our Christmas was a success.

{Малые заняты игрой со своими новыми игрушками. В итоге – мы провели веселое Рождество.}

Christmas Preparations

I love Christmas season - everything about it makes me happy. As we stayed in CA this Christmas, we once again got ourselves a beautiful real Christmas tree.

My last year's project was making stockings for our family, and yes - I made a total of 6 just in case, so I wouldn't have to make them again, but just to merely cut out and sew on the name. And I am sure glad I did it, because if I didn't, Harper would probably be stuck with some generic store-bought one this year.
On Saturday we had our ward Christmas party. The highlight was the appearence of Santa (one of our friends from the ward). Harper was curious of this strange looking, white-bearded man. Andre on the other hand was...

TERRIFIED! and here is a video proof of it. He would not get withing 20 feet of Santa.

What is it with kids and Santa? from Masha Johnson on Vimeo.For some reason the embeded video doesn't seem to work at this time, if you cannot view it here, click on 'What is it with kids and Santa link and it will take you to the page where you can view it)

I wonder when will this stage pass? Or will it ever? :)

Andre and I also made some sugar cookies, decorated them and delivered to our neighbors.

Andre (do you notice the new haircut I gave him?) was helpful in every stage of preparation, from using cookie cutters, to 'painting'. Here's the end result:

Harper is 8 Months!

I know I keep saying it over and over - but I can't believe how fast the time flies! My baby is now 8 months old. He is such a blessing to our family. We love him so much, and especially his brother Andre who is always concerned about Harper's whereabouts.

Here are some of the milestones:

-Army crawling - and he is getting better at it

-I started him giving Cheerios and he loves them, he is very good at picking them up and feeding himself. When at first there are many cheerios on his tray, he doesn't bother with picking them up one by one, but rather grabs handfulls and shoves him in his mouth.

-Speaking of mouth - when he finds anything on the floor, it goes straight into his mouth. I found out that I have to keep an eye on him at all times, as he is very quick.

-When he feels like it, he will wave 'hi' and 'bye'

I think that's about all I can think of now.

Disneyland

Last Thursday was the last day for passes at Disneyland until mid-January. I decided to go there, I also wanted Andre to see the fireworks (he really hadn't seen any good firework shows, and for the 4th of July fireworks we were so far away, that you wouldn't even be able to discern beteem a plane's flashing lights and fireworks). Though I was completely exhausted by the end of the day (we left the park at 10 pm) it was well worth it.

Andre is still afraid of the oversized characters and decided to sit back in the stroller, merely giving a 'five' to Mickey.

Andre on one of his favorite rides - Toy Story 2. (It's his next favorite after Monster's Inc. which we went on 5 consecutive times - he wanted to do more, but I was done - it also helps that there's virtually no line for the ride). I wish they would have a kid-sized glasses, but he manages.

Another favorite is the carousel. The boys were picked to be the princes of the ride and enjoyed it quite a bit.


Beautifully lit castle right before the firework show. Andre loved the show, and was very disappointed when it was over, he definitely wanted to see more.

Time spent with my parents

I had such a fun time while my parents were visiting. We got to do a lot of fun things, not to mention all the extra help I got. (Thanks again :). We were able to introduce them to traditional Thanksgiving meal, since they never happened to be in the U.S. around that time - they really enjoyed the turkey and all the sides, and even decided that it would definitely be worth it coming here every Thanksgiving - I would love it!

The kids and I came along with them to Las Vegas for 3 nights. I knew I wouldn't be able to do a ton of things, or depend on my parents too much - but I really wanted some change as we really never get to leave So Cal. It was also good timing as Jeff was quite busy at work and worked late hours, so he didn't miss out on any quality time with his family anyway (thanks for being such a hard worker). I really wished he was there with us, and felt quite bad that I got to have all of the fun. We (the kids and I) stayed at an awesome suite at the Palazzo. It had 3! plazma TVs- one in the gorgeous bathroom, and two in the room. Andre really like it in the room, especially the night when my parents had a connector suite, so he really got to run around. Beautiful waterfall and Christmas decorations in Palazzo lobby

On the second day I decided to go to a local children's museum - Leid Discovery Center. Andre had a blast there.

We got to make gigantic bubbles...

Pretend to be a grocer...

Mailman... There were many other fun things he got to do, but you can take only so many pictures.

I really loved all the beautiful Christmas decorations all the hotels had. I was able to take some cute pictures of the kids for our Christmas card.

On the last night there I took Andre to see the Bellagio fountains. Andre liked the show so much that we stayed for four - good thing they ran each 15 minutes.

When we returned from Las Vegas, we drove back to Claremont area to do some shopping at Ontario Mills - I love this outlet mall, too bad (or more likely quite good) that we don't live near it anymore. Later that night we went to see the lights in Rancho Cucamonga. There's a close cluster of streets where all the households go all out and decorate beautifully - I have never seen better light displays. There are usually a ton of people there, but we got there a little earlier and managed to avoid the crowds and see all the beautiful decorations. We must have spent at least an hour and a half walking around. It was a bit chilly, but well worth it. Andre loved it and did not want to get in the car in the end, he kept saying "more pretty lights, more santa, more snowman". (in case you ever want to see those or have time in the next few days - it is off 210 freeway, Sapphire exit, main lit street is Thoroughbred)I really wish I would live closer to my parents, as they are so much help and fun. We are planning a trip out to Ukraine in June, and I am very much looking forward to it.

Finally!

Since Harper has been very clingy and whiny in the past month or so, I relly wanted him to start moving. This last Thursday I decided to lay down on the floor with him and try to encourage him in hopes that he'll attempt to move and... he DID! It's an army crawl - on his elbows and knees. He still gets quite frustrated, as he doesn't move fast or far, so my frustration of his whininess is still there, but hopefully in two weeks time he'll be much better and for that reason happier. Here's my cute little guy in his first attempts at moving