NIKO

Arf! Arf!

Let me introduce myself. My name is Niko (pronounced Nee-koh). I am the Johnson's new puppy. I am a purebred male Bichon Frise (pronounced Bee-shawn Free-zay). I was adopted by the Johnsons on February 6, 2009, when I was 8 weeks old.

I am told that the Johnsons were not planning on having a dog for a while after Jazmin's death. However, they found they could not live without a dog in their lives, so here I am.

This is what I have learned so far. Miles likes me a lot, but does not like it when I lick him or try chew on his fingers or blanket. Miles does not understand that I have to chew on everything. It is a good thing Mom has a lot of chew sticks and chew toys all over the house. Dad lets me chew on his fingers and toes (oh, I guess just his fingers -- voluntarily). That's about all Dad is good for, as well as the food and water he provides every morning.





I've also learned I love boys. They like to play rough, which is fine with me. They also like to cuddle like everyone else. Max is my favorite boy. We like to play "Godzilla." That is where Max sets up blocks and little army guys in a fort formation and then lets me come trample and chew up army guys as the giant monster. We also like to play tug of war and tag. I spend a lot of time with Max.






I've learned Mikaela is the sweetest Johnson. She likes to carry me around and cuddle. I like to bite her hair. I especially like it when Mom puts me on Mikaela's bed in the morning to wake her up. I climb all over her body and get right to work on her hair. My favorite room is Mikaela's room because she has lots of clothes to lay on and toys laying all over the floor that I can chew on. Mom gets after Mikaela to keep her clothes and toys put away, but I don't mind.








One morning before church, Mom had a photo session while Dad was still getting ready. I was put in all sorts of goofy situations. In this picutre, Mom was trying to get both me and Miles to sit still at the same time. Good luck with that!




Don't you think I'm the cutest member of the family? I am fluffy, soft and like to cuddle every chance I get. I like to cuddle with Mom the best. She has the best hair to chew. As soon as Mom gets home I follow her around the house. We are pretty much inseparable. After all, she is the one that found me and brought me home.





My favorite thing to do to Miles is the "kiss torture." Some day he will like it.

It is great to be the center of attention. I hope it lasts!

I can already tell I'm going to like it here! As they say, it's a dog's life.

Our Sweet Jazzy

I've been avoiding updating our blog for over a month now because I have not wanted to report the passing of our sweet Jazzy. Jazmin died January 7, of old age. Jazzy was about 15 years old and the first dog I loved. Tears still come to my eyes thinking about her.

About a year after Paul and I were married, we decided to get a mini schnauzer to keep me company while Paul worked long hours. When Jazmin was a puppy, I would put her in my purse and take her everywhere with me and she never barked or made a sound. I snuck her into the grocery store, the mall, the movies, and work on occasion. Once we flew to California and took Jazzy with us on the plane in a pet travel bag. No one knew she was there. Jazzy was often referred to as our "hairy child" and to the dismay of our family, we treated her as such. Paul and I included Jazzy and Daizee in almost every family picture. (Daizee was about 12 when she died June of 2007.)

Here are a few pictures of the dogs over the years.

One of the big adjustments was when Max and Mikaela came into our family. The pups were curious about them and did not think anything wrong with cuddling with Max and Miki when they were babies. Jazzy was always the most patient with the kids and would let them pull on her. Mikaela always like Daizee better, which is evident in the picture below. We could not believe how gentle Miki was with Daizee even as a baby.

This was Max with Daizee about four years ago, which would make Max 6 years old.

Miles loves animals, which made Jazzy his pal.

I can't find all the pictures I took of Jazzy and Daizee prior to Max, Mikaela and Miles being born. There were some cute ones when Jazzy was a puppy. Jazzy was a tiny little thing. The neighbor kids used to come over and ask if they could play with Jazzy when she was a puppy. Jazzy was always good with kids.

Even though Jazzy and Daizee were not always obedient dogs, which drove my family crazy, they were wonderful to us. I guess what I really want to say is that we loved them and they made our live richer because of the love they shared with us.

THANKS JAZMIN AND DAIZEE FOR 15 AMAZING YEARS!

Summer 2008

In July 2008, we attended a Family Reunion at my Dad's Christmas Tree Farm in Alsea, Oregon. I think that was the first vacation in my life that I wasn't ready to leave by the end of the week. I could have stayed there another week visiting with my brothers and sisters, (step or not). While at the farm, we drove the 50 minutes to the beach the first day we were there. I could not resist spending as much time as possible at the beach. All my kids love the water, regardless of the purple legs they get from the water temperature. I love the sounds, sands and sun. Here are a few highlights of our trip.

Miles enjoyed playing with the new sand toys that I seem to have to buy every time we go to the beach because I can't find them when I am packing for the trip.

I love this picture because of the cute smirk on his face.

Mikaela wore this coat even though she was soaked up to her waist. Notice the pink legs, normally they are tan.

Max is enjoying the sensation of feet getting swallowed by the sand each time the water swoops in.

Mikaela and her cousin Adeline just excited to be wet, sandy and cold.

If you noticed all the kids are wearing coats that are too big. We were dumb and thought that since it was hot at the Farm, it would be warm at the beach. We were wrong! We didn't have enough coats for all the cousins and our kids so we shared what we had in the car.

Miles looking good with Paul's sunglasses.

Now we are back at the Farm. My Dad has a pond in his backyard that has a dock and fish and bull frogs and a canoe. It took us the entire week to get Mikaela in the canoe, but on the last day she was brave and got in. Can you see her in the middle? Mikaela loved it and was mad when she realized she could have been going in the canoe all week. My one regret is that I didn't get a picture of Max in the canoe. Max spent at least 2 hours a day in that thing.

Anyone that has spent more than 10 minutes with Miles, knows that he loves cars, trucks and tractors. When Miles discovered the tractor... lets just say that Paul and I spent a lot of time watching Miles sit in the tractor.

Miles also loves Dad's dog Kippers. They spent a lot of time together and aside from the tractor, this wagon was the second place we found Miles most often. Luckily for Paul and I there was always a kid around that would pull Miles and Kippers all over the yard.

Max found plenty of space to play with his airplane. Notice the pond in the background with the dock.

The ridding lawn mower was also another favorite for Miles. My cute nephew Isac was so kind to Miles. I think Isac was glad to have another kid smaller than him. It kind of looks from the picture that the lawnmower was moving, but it wasn't.

Bath time tends to bring out the uni-brow in Miles.

Fall 2008

I realize I am posting about things months ago, but I wanted to share these cute pictures of the kids from this past Fall.

For a while, Miles liked to dump all the toys out of his basket and climb in. After climbing in he wanted a select group of toys in the basket with him. In this instance, he wanted to look at a book. I think the messy floor was worth it!


Mikaela and I decided to have a tea party. We asked a couple of her friends to come over in a party dress and enjoy chocolate milk and sandwiches. I used cookie cutters and cut out shapes from white bread. We made flower cheese sandwiches, butterfly jelly sandwiches, and toasted duckie cinnamon sandwiches. The three of them ate an entire loaf of bread. Before the girls arrived Mikaela and I talked about what it meant to be a good hostess. She poured the chocolate milk for each of them and offered her guests the plate of sandwiches before she took one. I sat in the kitchen and listened to them talk and giggle. I can't wait to do it again!

My company had an employee appreciation day at the zoo. This is about the only picture I took that day. I need to be better at remembering to take pictures.

You may not be able to tell from the pictures, but Mikaela is a wonderful big sister to Miles. She often plays what he wants to play.

My only regret about this picture is that Max wasn't dressed for church when I took the picture. I wish the three of them were in it together. Maybe this Sunday we will have time for a picture before church.

HALLOWEEN 2008. Miles is a dinosaur. He didn't like the costume over his head so I had to shoot quick.

Mikeala likes to pose if you haven't guessed already. The Montessori school Mikaela attends assigns the children a character in history. This year she was assigned Pocahontas. Luckily it was a relatively warm fall. I'm just glad she wasn't assigned Betsy Ross.

Max likes Ninja's. Yes, the sword is real.

All of the pictures were taken in our backyard. I love our yard in the fall. I wish fall lasted longer. This year it only lasted until December 8th.

December 26, 2008

We are finally on-line!

I was impressed with my sister Leslie's blog, I wanted to start a blog also so I can share our lives with you. I'm not good at keeping in touch with my family and friends, so I hope this will be a fun way for you to see what the Johnson's are up to.

Christmas 2008, started early. Max woke up at 5:45 am, and crawled in bed with us. Paul and I told him we had to wait to go down to the tree until Miles woke up or until 8 am. After 30 minutes of Max not getting back to sleep, Paul was kind and took Max back in his room and the two of them chatted for the next two hours, while I slept. The next thing I knew, Max was waking me up and telling me he was going to go get Miles because it was 8 am. What I didn't know was that Miles was still asleep. That is one reason why Miles is not happy when they came down to the tree.

Now a happy boy, Miles is looking over his latest tractor. Miles loves cars, trucks and tractors. In fact, these are the three most common words he has been saying lately. So that is what we gave him this year.

Max was thrilled with what he received.

Rolling around in the wrapping paper is a family tradition.

Miles got him!

Mikaela loved her new art set and spent most of the morning drawing and coloring.

Isn't she gorgeous?

Since we were expecting a huge snow storm, we planned to stay home all day. It seemed like the day consisted of cleaning, cleaning and more cleaning up. After the wrapping paper was cleaned up, we decided to take the toys, gadgets and clothes out of their packaging. I've never removed so many screws in my life. When I was a kid, the most difficult thing in getting a toy out of its packaging were wires. Who would have thought a dump truck and a toy guitar would have twelve screws between them. Between the wrapping paper and packaging we filled two bags of recycled material and a bag of non-recycling. A few hours later we had to find the living room floor again and so we helped the kids sort their things to take to their rooms.

Paul surprised me and got me two more nativity's.

This one is from India.

I now have twenty-two nativity scenes...yep, crazy!

I hope you and your family enjoyed the day.

Merry Christmas!