Micah, Dorian's little brother

Micah was born today...
to my buddy, Laner's, daughter and her husband...
David is now the proud grandpa of two ... Dorian and Micah!
How sweet is this? Having your TWO kids see each other for the first time...
My buddy, Laner, is thrilled...relieved...delighted to have her second grandson...and to know her daughter had a MUCH easier birth than her first.
Dorian is either wanting his Ya-Ya...or his baby brother, Micah.
His mama wanted both of her boys... I think this is so sweet!!!

Dorian, who still looked like a little guy, all of a sudden looks so big. He is, after all, a big brother!
The family....
Brothers...

Congratulations to the family! He's precious!

An update!

These next two photos were taken today by the boys' YaYa...who happens to be my friend, Laner!

How absolutely precious!

Studly little men

What a wonderful weekend we had with our little men! (and their parents, of course!)
My little men had fun playing in the 'exersaucer'...or something like that, and the bouncer! Emerson was such a good little man to share his toys with his cousin, Benjamin.

They were all comfy in their sleepers. Emerson's had footballs on it and Benjamin was sporting his Texas Ranger outfit from my friend, Terri.
They kicked together...
They laughed together...

They enjoyed the warm weather in their plaid shorts together...At one point, Gabe commented how awesome it would be for our little guys, that they would be able to say they had known each other their entire lives!

How awesome for their Mimi and Papa to have them so close together - both in age and proximity!

I only took 280 photos...and a few videos!

October 16

October 16th...

Today is the day my parents got married...

Even though my dad is no longer with us, I still remember this day as their anniversary.
I always try to call my Mom and tell her I am thinking of her...not that I don't think about her every day...but on October 16th, I think of her and my dad...and try to remember which anniversary this would be. Um? This would be... would it be 59 or 60? My dad has been gone since 1980... I still miss him...we all still miss him....

I love you, Mom!

Relaxing with my guy

When I was 14 years old, I started dating my guy....who was 15.
We dated all through high school... he was and still is my very best friend.

We got married and moved away...it was hard, it was exciting, and it was probably the best thing we could have done. Oh, I would love to live around all our family - that's a fact, but we needed to learn to depend on each other, to comfort each other, to be the other's best friend. I look at my guy sometimes and think how very thankful I am to have him...to have gone through all we have together...to still be best friends...to still enjoy being together...I am so thankful my guy knew my dad...and that my dad knew him. I'm so thankful he knew Mimi and she knew him...that I knew his grandparents, and they knew me.
My guy hasn't been much of a traveler...and I love to travel. We've gone a few places, other than Texas...and now he's talking of branching out a little more. We went to Victoria, BC, one year in April...and had a fabulous time... We went to Washington, DC a couple of years ago and he became "Metro Man" for awhile here on the Johnston Chronicles....

This weekend we took a trip to Oregon, to the Jazz Festival, and had a wonderful, relaxing time. I think we've been going for 4 or 5 years. We drove there on Friday, listened to music and ate out at our favorite restaurant up there, Porters, on Saturday, and then shopped around and drove home today.

I remember looking at him as we were driving and talking and thinking...we have been blessed - with so much - with each other.

Our first fire of the year

Here it is, October 4th, and we lit a fire in the woodstove today.  My guy was getting a bit antsy…he watched the thermostat rise this morning, starting at 61 degrees in the house when he woke up. He went out to start watering the lawn, but the sprinkler was frozen.  I asked him if he thought it was necessary to water the grass since it was so cold. 

“It’s always ok to water the lawn,” was his answer.

Tonight, the house – or at least the kitchen – was 66 degrees, but he decided to light a fire so the house would be warmer in the morning. 

Ahh…it’s that time of year again!

Cheap Thrills

Fair warning...

If you suffer from arachnophobia, you may not like this post...

The yellow flowers are a distraction from the rest of this blog for those of you who may not want to view the following.... This is a pumpkin spider. They're beautiful...at least when they're outside my window.

This is a pumpkin spider running to catch his prey...

"Gotcha!"

I suppose I could call this poor crane fly his prey. Usually when you have a prey, you have a predator. In this case, however, the predator of the crane fly was...
No, it was not Emerson...it was not Benjamin...

It was their Papa...

As I was cooking in the kitchen, he came in, "Hey, come out and let me show you something." I'm sure not every person is as lucky as I am to have their guy show them such wonderful things.

He knows I detest the crane flies...can't stand them. So...in order to be my knight in shining armor, he picks them out of the yard and throws them in the web.

Actually, forget the knight in shining armor line. That's not true. I could think he was practicing so he would be great at catching bugs with Emerson and Benjamin. Or...maybe he's trying to get as good at catching bugs as Thalia? I don't really know. But what I do know is this...he was having a grand ole time throwing the flies in the web and watching the spider wrap them up.



If you're wondering why this photo looks a little different, it's because it's a different pumpkin spider. See, my guy wasn't content to just feed one spider, oh no, he's feeding multiple spiders. We have an overabundance of crane flies.Hopefully, we won't have an enormous population of pumpkin spiders next year since their parents were so well fed.

Like I said in the title of this post:

Cheap Thrills around here at the Johnston Chronicles!

I thought I better end this with something a little more pleasing to the eye...

31 things I love about Gabe

1. He and Emily have given us a gorgeous grandson...Emerson King!
2. He's a wonderful Daddy...
3. He marvels at everything Emerson does..
4. Each milestone he reaches...
5. He and Emily keep me up to date on all that's going on...
6. Emerson looks so much like Gabe...
Emerson may look like Gabe, but...
he has Emily's eyes!
7. Gabe loves every little thing about his son...


8. Gabe raised some chickens. Prior to that, he wouldn't touch an egg that wasn't white and from Safeway or Raleys!
9. I love the way he cooks...sometimes. I especially love his breakfasts...
10. He picked the perfect wife, Emily!
11. He's a communicator...
12. He stands up for Biscuit, even when he was worried that Biscuit felt threatened by Izzy's longer snout.
13. He loved his sister from the beginning.
14. He loves to hang out with his dad, drink coffee, and discuss the world.
15. He was my second child, my second son...

16. He slept through the night early...he was so big, I think he could hold a lot of milk!
17. He's always been inquisitive. When Lindsey was born, he wanted to be right by her. He first of all had to check to make sure she had feet since all he had seen was his baby sister wrapped up in a blanket!
18. He took to working his land with gusto...well, that might be stretching the truth. He did buy a tractor to make the mowing easier.

19. I love how he looks...
20. He loves family...He and Mike, Brenda's husband, became quick buddies.
21. He's always loved my brother, his UJ.
22. He was always ready to play with Joshua...or UJ... or whoever was ready to play with him.
23. He is so much fun to be around, always has been! Well, I guess there were some years when maybe I wouldn't have agreed with that 100% of the time. Gabe was a stubborn young guy...he used to have a temper...but he has mellowed with age!
24. He always loved his big brother, Joshua. He loved to be with Joshua, to play with him, to read with him, to watch cartoons with him...to play with Joshua's friends...
25. I love to take pictures of my boys together.
26. He was all boy...
27. He and Emily are so good to Ron and I.
28. He takes good care of Biscuit.

29. He's pretty much taught himself to play the guitar.
30. He's always been my friend...my very close friend...
31. He makes time for us...makes sure we know he loves us.
32. He's such a great guy...in so many ways...
33. He loves Emily...I remember the day he called and asked us to come visit him at college...and told us he had someone he wanted us to meet. That was the first, and only time, he ever said that.

34. He was an extremely easy birth...quick...very quick...
35. He's a wonderful brother to Joshua and Lindsey.
36. He loves to spend time together with the whole family.
37. He's just an incredible person...and I can hardly believe that today he is 31 years old!

Ok, so I listed more than 31 things I love about Gabe...I could keep going on and on...

Happy Birthday to The Boy...
Happy Birthday, Gabe!