A Typical Weekend

Hello everyone,

Well, we had a pretty typical weekend. Friday night and Saturday morning were spent at basketball games with Aislinn.


She is not in this picture. I gave my camera to a parent to take pictures for me and they stayed in the stands the entire time so all her pictures are from very far away, very dark and mostly of her kid. Oh well. I'll have to conscript Frank into being our photog next time. But I'm in the picture! I'm talking to the kids and at least two of them are feigning attention, the other couldn't be bothered it seems. Aislinn has been doing pretty good lately. She has been high scorer in 2 of the last 3 games. I know I keep talking about how good she is, but she really is. I introduced a new offense to the kids last week and she was the only one who totally got it, right off the bat! I think she is going to be my retirement plan. I just hope they start paying WNBA players better. LOL.

Right after basketball on Saturday, we went to a friend's son's birthday party. It was nice to catch up with old friends. After that it was an evening of movies. We watched "Transformers" with Mackendra (Aislinn was next door with the neighbours). What a great show. I watched it before, but totally enjoyed it again. Mackendra was a little confused by the show, and I guess the idea of "autonomous robots from an extinct planet" that can transform into vehicles is odd. Boy did that bring back some memories. I totally remember when Darren (my little brother) got Optimus Prime as a present. He was so stoked.


Well, keeping with the good ole days theme, I started bringing up old TV theme songs from the 80's and early 90's and quizzing Frank. He did really well. Try YouTubing these shows: Jem, Fraggle Rock, AirWolf, Knight Rider (can't wait for that movie to come out), The A Team, Family Ties, The Cosby Show, Hockey Night in Canada, The Smurfs, He-Man and She-Ra, MacGuyver, Mission Impossible, Murder She Wrote, National Geographic's Animal Kingdom, The Magical World of Disney, Dungeon and Dragons, The Fresh Prince of Bel Aire, TJ Hooker, Charlie's Angels, The Littlest Hobo, Little House on the Prairie, Sesame Street, The Friendly Giant, All American Hero, The Hulk, Wonder Woman. What a hoot!

Sunday was clean up day. We had the neighbour kids over for a bit. They are over here almost every day. Aislinn and Willow made some really cute figurines out of Play Doh.


Mackendra and I took some pictures of each other.

I look tired.


Mackendra looks so serious. Sorry, not a very flattering picture. She usually looks much cuter than this.

I also gave Tuck a grooming, a shave and a bath. He was getting so stinky! Now he is looking like he belongs to a family that cares for him.


I came across my kids being nice to each other. I'm sure every parent feels the same thing as I do when I see them playing nice and not tattle-taleing on each other or throwing things or actively bugging each other. You just have to document it, cause it isn't going to last long and when Family Services or the Police comes knocking you can prove that your family wasn't disfunctional all the time. I snuck up on them and got this on the camera.

Awwwww! This is awesome! This way Aislinn practices her reading and Mackendra gets stories read to her and I don't have to do anything! That last part is the best, the part about me not having to do anything. I didn't even need to bribe Aislinn to do this. She was just being a good big sister. And Mackendra really appreciated it.


Let's see, what else did we do. I went to pottery for a bit. Can't wait to get my stuff back. I will take pictures and upload them on this blog. By the way, most of you are going to get some pottery for Christmas (if you are lucky and I want to part with my masterpieces). I know you are waiting with baited breath. I also did a little scrapping. Here is what I came up with, more for my France book:


AAARRRGGGHHH! WTF! Why are the colors so weird? Ting???? What did I do wrong? Lets try another one.


Hmmmm... this one worked. I tried uploading the other one again, same thing. I hate it when electronics don't work the way they are supposed to. Soooooooo aggravating! Ok, I'm going to upload one more.


Yah! Hahaha. This picture cracks me up. When this platter came out, all our faces looked like her's. I love sushi, but OMG! We got this in this tiny fishing village somewhere along the Meditterranean coast in France.

Anyways, looking back at our weekend, I must say...we are a pretty boring family. Well, its only 4:37 pm on a Sunday night. Maybe I can get into a little trouble before the weekend is over. Wish me luck.

I Do's What I Do's

So, dear friends, my children have been in top form the last couple days. They continually come up with the funniest comments and I've always said that I should write them down. I never did...until now! Now I have this blog. Oh, I love this blogging thing.


Mackendra has always had a little bit of a edge to her. She is one independent little girl and is not afraid to say what's what. Often times, that gets her into trouble with her elders, but at the same time, it sometimes gets her off the hook. She will say something that you just can't help but laugh at, and her mischievous looks that accompany her sassiness makes us hard pressed to stay angry at her. She has a great sense of humour and her spirit is a joy. Most of you have heard the one nugget of pure gold that issued forth from Mackendra back when she was only 4. It is the title of this post. If you haven't, here it is:

Mackendra was colouring one day, something that she does very often. (I have thrown away more "artwork just for you, Mommy" than is decent). I asked her to clean up her papers and crayons as I was planning to vacuum. She didn't move. "Mackendra! Clean up you stuff right now." I stated a little more firmly. "In a bit, Mom." I received an answer this time, but not the one I was looking for. "No...right now!" My voice was reaching a higher decibel, she definitely couldn't ignore me now.

And here it comes...wait for it...


"Mom (sigh)..." she was rolling her eyes at me! "I do's what I do's", and she went back to colouring, believing that she had handled the situation.
I was stunned! I was taken aback, flabbergasted, struck mute, and in shock. I regained my senses after a moment or two and gave her back this zinger: "Oh yah? Mackendra...you do's what you do's when I tell you to do's it! Got it? Now get moving before you lose your crayons!"

Can you believe it? "I do's what I do's." That is priceless. Frank couldn't stand it. He busted up and before you knew it, the two of us were rolling around on the couch, wiping tears away. Mackendra? She was confused, thinking her parents were crazy, but she cleaned up her crayons.

Mackendra also has come up with some funny sayings regarding her thumb-sucking. We have been trying for quite awhile to stop her from doing this and she is getting increasingly creative with her excuses. "Mom, my thumb is very sneaky. He sneaks into my mouth when I am sleeping and I don't even know it! I tell him "No!" all the time, but he doesn't listen to me." And this one came last Sunday morning. "Dad, my mouth is cold." "And that is why you have to suck your thumb?" asked Frank. "Yup, he keeps it warm." Pause...."No, just kidding." I think she knew that wouldn't fly with us. What killed us was her little giggle as she confessed. She just had to be cuddled after that one.



Aislinn also comes up with some doozies. Frank and I went to a meeting with Aislinn's teacher this morning and during our discussion she reminded us about something that went down with my daughter. At the beginning of the year, Aislinn's teacher sent home a letter asking parents if they would like to be notified if their child didn't complete their assigned homework. I said, sure, that would be a good thing to know. Well, about a month into the new school year, Aislinn brought home a letter stating that she had failed to complete an assignment. I had to sign the paper and Aislinn had to bring it back to class. In order for me to make an impression on Aislinn, and hopefully teach her that I wouldn't tolerate this, as I was signing it, I made a very stern face and said, "Aislinn...I am very disappointed with you (kids hate to be disappointments), I don't want to see these letters from your teacher any more, do you understand?" Lots of nodding and sad looks followed with promises of doing better. It was taken care of. Well, about 2 weeks later, Aislinn forgot her Math text book at school and again failed to complete another assignment. I was waiting for the letter from her teacher, but it didn't come. I asked Aislinn about it and she looked at me in confusion and said, "I told Mme Di Fruscia that you didn't want to get the letters anymore." I guess I did say that. But it is not what I meant. Damn kid!


You definitely need to be on your toes with kids. They are smart little boogers. Smarter than we give them credit for.

I read a little tidbit that I want to pass on. Apparently, it was proven in some sort of scientific study, that children will ask for something an average of 9 times before giving up. So, if you can resist and not give in to their incessant whining and begging for an average of 9 times, you should be in the clear. I gave it a try the other day. Only I gave it a little twist. I picked Mackendra up after kindergarten and on the ride back home, she wouldn't stop talking. Finally she became fixated on one thing. "Mom, can we go to "Terry the Book Fairy" ?" (That is the name I made up so she could remember the name of the guy who runs the used book store near us). I was so worn out from answering her previous questions that I just remained silent. I remembered that scientific study. Well... she only asked 6 more times. I silently counted. They were right! Give it a try.

Next Generation

As many of you know, I played basketball when I was younger. In fact, my entire family played basketball. The Johnson family is probably the most successful basketball family in Canada. I played Div II down in the States, Ting, Rachel and Erika made it to Div I and Darren made it to CIS in Canada. Yes, it is mainly due to the fact that there were 5 of us, but it was also due to the fact that we all loved to play the game and worked hard at it. Our Dad started us at a young age, and in fact, he is still playing at a ripe ole age of 60+. He is preparing to play in his third World Masters Games in Sydney, Australia next Fall. How cool is that? My Dad taught us everything he knew. I have pictures of him playing somewhere, I just can't find them at the moment. I will upload them when and if I ever find them. Anyways, back to the Johnson 5. We spent our high schools years playing as much as possible, we went to every camp our parents could afford to put us into. Mom and Dad spent every weekend travelling to games all around the province to watch us play. We were a basketball family. Sure we played soccer and volleyball and ran track and field. But our hearts belonged to basketball. It still does. We have all found ourselves coaching the sport at one time or another. I ran my own camp in Grade 11 and 12 out in Merritt, BC. We tried to give back as much as possible. In fact I am still coaching to this day. Only this time, I have the pleasure of coaching the next generation of Johnsons. My oldest daughter, Aislinn, although her last name is Konig, is the next generation of Johnsons to play basketball. With all that basketball blood running through her, I was hoping and praying that she would not only play, but play well. You know what? She did and she does. I put Aislinn in her first basketball league last year and she dominated. Here is my very first layout I did. It was about Aislinn playing.


Aislinn is in her second year of playing now. She is only 11 years old but she made a select U13 team. I am helping coach her, and she is doing great. Everyone that sees her play says that she has great court sense. This is not something you can teach, this is something that you either have or don't have. It is in the blood. Johnson blood. I took some pictures of her during her game this past weekend.

A year older.


A new uniform.


A new team.


Another chance for me (that's me with the "plumber's butt" in front) to teach my child everything I know. Yup, we are well on our way to creating the next dynasty of Johnson basketball. The entire clan is hoping that she doesn't stop growing, that she grows into those size 8 1/2 woman's shoes and becomes our first post player. Keep your fingers crossed siblings.

Now we just have to work on Mackendra...


Oops...well...we're working on learning to swim first.

Halloween 2008 Revisited

Hi Guys,

I am publishing an email that I sent out to a couple friends and family on Halloween. It was pretty funny and I wanted to include it on my blog, mostly just to add content to the blog because it is so new and empty, but also because a couple people wrote back to say that they enjoyed the story. So...read on and enjoy.

Just wishing you a happy and safe Halloween. I hope I get to see pictures of everyone's costume! I will send some of my kids later on.

So, here's the tale of a 10 year old diva trying to decide on a costume for Halloween:

My beautiful daughter Aislinn had decided to be a cowgirl about 3 weeks before Halloween and proceeded to borrow her Auntie Erika's cowboy hat when we traveled up to PG for Thanksgiving. I was pleased that her costume was taken care of and it was going to be a simple thing and without hassles. I guess I was tempting fate, because as the spooky day drew closer, all of a sudden, doubt began to creep into her little mind. Our only job was to go to the reliable Value Village and purchase a checkered "cowgirl" shirt. Aislinn was already in possession of jeans, bandana, belt with big buckle, and boots that would serve as cowboy boots. Easy, right? I think I made the error in allowing her to come to Value Village to pick out that shirt. When we hit the store and she gazed upon the vast treasure trove of Halloween costumes her little mind exploded and her "easy" cowgirl idea flew out of her mind. I was not on guard, I didn't think I had to worry about Aislinn, I thought her costume was a done deal. I was trying to keep Mackendra away from the naked barbie section, my mind was otherwise occupied. Suddenly, my oldest appeared at my side and I heard these words, "Mom...I was thinking (always a problem, and I don't recommend it)...maybe I could be something other than a cowgirl...whatchu think?" My response? "Wha?...No, Mackendra, you can't have a barbie...sorry, what, Aislinn? Mackendra! Get back here right now! Do I have to grab your ear?!? I'm gonna count to 3! 1....2....... What?! Yah, whatever, sure, just hurry! MACKENDRA!!!!" With those simple words, I sealed my fate. I unwittingly unleashed a prepubescent, ADHD, 10 year old girl in the worst place possible! It was like she had planned her coup for when I was preoccupied. I was set up by a pro. I never saw it coming. Suddenly it was, " I wanna be......... a WARRIOR PRINCESS! Can I buy one of those swords?" Well, we tried finding the right warrior princess dress for about half and hour and that was a no go. Mackendra was abandoned in the naked barbie section as I tried to convince my oldest that maybe a warrior princess could be substituted for a gypsy girl, like Esmeralda from "The Hunchback of Notre Dame". That was a great idea until she couldn't find the perfect gypsy skirt. Another half hour gone. By this time, Mackendra had even abandoned the naked barbies and was lying on the floor under the clothes racks sucking her thumb. Did you guys ever notice how huge the dust bunnies are in those places? Doesn't anyone ever sweep there? I think there was 30 years of dust bunnies and they were attacking Mackendra! She started to cry. I told Aislinn at that time that I didn't care what she was going to be, but she had to get it in the next 10 minutes. I saw that "disappointed in my mom, I'm tired and going to make her life hell, I want things my way!" look in Aislinn's eye a bare few seconds before the waterworks started with her as well. So, exasperated, dealing with two crying kids I told Aislinn that we could come back another day, that we had 2 weeks to get a costume. It obviously wasn't the best decision for Aislinn, and she let me know...but we left Value Village without a costume that first day.

We tried again a couple days later...same result: indecision, frustration, dust, shouting, crying, stomping. This all occurred over about an hour. Finally, I had had enough. She didn't even know what she wanted to be. And this is after I had spent an hour with her at home, looking at Halloween costume ideas on the internet! Three hours, people! Three hours I had devoted to Aislinn and her Halloween costume. I think I deserved a little gratitude and consideration! But after being called "the worst Mom, EVER!" I told her, "that's it! I'm done. I am no longer going to help you with this. You have to find your own costume, use your own money, find your own ride to the store, everything! Good luck!"

Crap! Now I did it.

So, for the next week and a half, Aislinn moaned about not having a costume, but didn't do anything about it. I held firm, it was hard, and I had to have a pep talk from Frank on one occassion to stay firm and stick to my decision. Finally, last night, the night before Halloween, Aislinn realized that I wasn't going to give in. She started going through all the dress up clothes, and my clothes. She came out as a WAITRESS. "Who are you supposed to be?" I asked. Oops! Wrong question. But honestly, waitress' dress like everyone else, normal people. I couldn't tell! I kiboshed the "asking the nieghbor to drive her to the dollar store" idea. And finally...finally, she came up with a suitable idea. I did relent and helped her accessorize her outfit, but she came up with it by herself, she got everything from home, and I think she did a great job.

I will send a picture tonight. Hopefully...by tomorrow for sure!

Happy Halloween!

By the way, Mackendra's costume took about 10 seconds to come together and it was prepackaged and cost under $10! Love it!

PS I have the Halloween pictures. Tell me what you think.

The "Diva" for my Diva. Aislinn called herself a "Heiress, like Paris Hilton, but better", but to me, she was just dressing up to fit her attitude. By the way. She was a huge hit with her classmates. They thought she looked beautiful.


And here is Mackendra. Isn't she just the cutest? I didn't see another kid dressed up in the same costume as her, which was surprising as I bought it as a kit at ToyRUs.


And this is me. Yup, I dressed up. I even went to the kids' school like this. I made some babies cry! It was cool. I'm the Devil. I got the face paint idea from YouTube.


Here are some of the costumes from the kids' school.




Halloween went pretty good, we good a pretty decent stash of candy. Maybe next year we can convince Frank to dress up? Nah.

Oh yeah, here's my youngest sister Erika and her boyfriend dressed up. They went as Mr. and Mrs. T. You know "I pity the fool!!!" guy with all that gold jewelery and "The A Team"? Yah, pretty funny.


And these are my nieces and nephews. Pretty cute. Miss them!



Thanks for looking.

House Rules ( It's Hard Being a Kid)

Hi everyone. You have to thank my sister, Ting for getting me into this. Just like her scrapbooking, I find her blog so entertaining and a great way to post pictures, scrapbook layouts, and funny stories. I thought I would give it a whirl. I am a total newbie at this and obviously have a lot to learn, but I plan to do that as I go along. Please be patient and I promise things will get more interesting as I figure out how everything works.

So, on with the blog...

As the title suggests, this entry is about my kids. I wonder when they will learn that this is not a democracy. They do not have any rights, except for those that I give them. And I can take those away when I deem it appropriate. I do not need to explain to them why they have to do what I ask them to do, they just have to do it. I have always said that I parent using the two most efficient tools I have in my arsenal. Threats and bribes. I've read the parenting magazines and read the internet articles and watched Oprah and Dr. Phil, but these tactics seem to work best for our family. No, this is not a democracy, I would call it more of a Benevolent Absolute Monarchy. My husband, Frank and I are co-rulers in this kingdom. Being the Ultimate Ruler is not an easy job either. In fact, I would say it is very difficult and sometimes heartbreaking.

Take for instance last weekend. My wonderfully cute, precocious 5 year old, Mackendra was informed that she had to take a nap on Saturday afternoon before going to her sister's (Aislinn) basketball game. She refused. This is not allowed in our Kingdom. A lesson had to be taught! If we let this insubordination continue, a full-fledged rebellion might ensue and choas in the Kingdom would reign. First we gave Mackendra a second chance to make the correct decision, we told her that she was making a "bad decision" and said that there would be "consequences" to those decisions. (You have to learn our language to live and understand our Kingdom.) Mackendra shrugged her shoulders and said she didn't care and that she wasn't going to take a nap.

Actually, she whined and stomped around as she said this because she was tired and cranky, which precipitated the declaration of "Nap-Time" in the first place. She had made her decision and so we had to react swiftly and decisively. Mackendra was allowed to stay up, but she did not attend the basketball game. She didn't mind this so much. She finds it boring most of the time. She thought she had gotten away with her mini-rebellion. Oh ho! Was she wrong! For some reason, whenever Mackendra called Frank or I, she was not answered. And when it came time for dinner, there was no place set for her at the dinner table. Strange, she thought. She proceeded to go and climb up to get her own plate and utensils, but when she got to the table the food in the serving dishes had been removed. Mackendra, being quite independent slid off her chair and walked to the counter to grab the serving dishes, but wait! Why was Dad (read Absolute Ruler) taking the dishes away so she couldn't get them? Horror descended upon Mackendra seeing Dad placing the dishes on top of the fridge. "Whaaaaaat!?! I'm hungry! You guys are bad! I don't like you, Dad, and Mom and Aislinn!" (I don't know why Aislinn was included her, except for the fact that Aislinn was sitting at the table blithely eating the same food Mackendra was just now realizing she wasn't going to get.) Frank sat back down and the three of us continued to eat making remarks like "Mmmmmmm....this is really yummy. Can I have some more? Wow! This is so good Mom, thanks for dinner." Mackendra sat on the couch, trying to ignore us, occasionally giving us dirty looks. I think that night Mackendra had to settle for Halloween candy for dinner.

Noone talked to Mackendra the rest of the night. Aislinn was sent to bed and tucked in with a hug and a kiss. Mackendra was allowed to stay up. I'm sure she thought this was cool. She wasn't allowed to watch any TV or play on the computer, but she wasn't shuttled off to bed with her sister. She was shoved away when she came to cuddle on the couch with Mom and Dad, but still, she didn't mind that much. Suddenly, Mom and Dad got up to get ready for bed and all the lights were being shut off. Mackendra tried her parent's door, but it was locked and there was not answer to her entreaties. Wait a minute! Whose going to tuck me in? The crying started. "Aislinn, can I sleep with you?" Mackendra wailed. Her answer, "No! Go away." Good job, Aislinn.
After half an hour Frank went out to the kitchen, picked Mackendra up off the floor where she was sleeping beside, Tuck (the dog and only other lowly serf in our kingdom with absolutely no rights at all) and moved her to her bed.

Frank and I talked, I was starting to cave. I wanted to cuddle my girl and say how much I loved her. But Frank convinced me that that would have totally undermined what we were working for! Total domination! LOL. No, we just wanted our little girl to learn that the "consequences" of her "bad decision" to not listen to us, meant that she thought she could make better decisions than us, and she could do a better job at looking after herself than we did, and that meant that she could look after herself. That meant, she was "on her own". Mackendra was learning that being "on your own" wasn't very fun. Noone talked to you, you didn't get to play with things that you wanted to, you didn't get tucked in at night, and you were hungry while everyone ate wonderful foods such as crepes and strawberries with whipped cream the next morning. Yup, she was still "on her own" until just before lunch the next day.

It's hard to be a kid. Especially in an Absolute Monarchy. I think she learned her lesson though. I hope she learned her lesson. I hated doing that to her and Frank admitted that it was hard for him too. I just asked Mackendra if she liked being on her own...."No way!" Good answer.