Life and Times of The Johnston family: Lots To Catch Up On!

So after our super fun packed Memorial day weekend...we went back to real life. :( Tuesday was just Elizabeth's dance class(making it nicer to ease back into things). Wednesday morning Devin had his last session of his sensory playgroup, which went pretty well actually! Thanks again goes to my cousin Mary for coming and watching Elizabeth, which Elizabeth looked forward to every week! After playgroup I got everyone lunch, then Mary stayed and watched the kids while I went to Standard Optical for my eye exam, which went well...my eyes only got a little worse in the last 3 years so yay! I picked out my two pairs of frames, put transitional lenses in one set and was good to go! Thursday I dropped the kids off with Ketty at her work, then picked up Tony at the Trax station, then we went and CLOSED ON OUR CONDO!! Yes we are mortgage, HOA and utilities free!! And we have knocked out half a dozen medical debts since!(including Elizabeth's eye surgery she had at 18 months!) It was a huge weight lifted off our shoulders...such a blessing! And our condo sold in only 4 months and as far as short sales go that's great! And we had a total of 7 or 8 offers!! And Connie our realtor(and the best one in the world)who helped us find the condo over 6 years ago, got it sold for us for over asking price and fasst, and did it all pretty much probono....AND at closing gave us a $50 gift card to Cracker Barrel! I love that lady!! She is much more than just a realtor, she's an amazing friend! We went to Olive Garden for dinner(with an older gift card)and ate like royalty! It was delicious!! And a great evening away from our adorable kiddos. Whom we picked up after dinner and visited with the Nester's for a bit before heading home. Fun Friday was just a pj and show watching morning. In the afternoon Elizabeth had her last day of school! I'm so impressed and proud of how much she learned this year, and how far she's come...despite my dropping the ball after we moved at the beginning of the year. In the evening we did our grocery shopping at that was it. Saturday morning we got up bright and early and headed down to the Draperish area for a huge neighborhood yard sale(a great guy Tony works with lives in the neighborhood) this is our third year going to it and it did not disappoint! We found some great junior version games for the kids, and a fun play dough set, some kids books, and little things here and there for both the kids...but the best buy of the day is a story that must be told! We were coming up a street we'd never gone to in previous years and thank goodness we did! As we were going up I noticed a princess t.v. and as we got closer I noticed under the t.v. was the matching dvd player(oh it's important to know that the portable dvd player we were using in Elizabeth's room for her quiet time and bed time music and occasional movie watching while Devin does therapy, died that very morning.) So as we got closer I started thinking oh that's perfect for Elizabeth's princess room....but it's probably going to be $50 or MORE...but if it's close to $50 or if I can talk them down to that, it'd be worth it! But we only brought $100 so that would use up half of what we brought...but it's perfect! So I walked up to it and read the paper taped to it, and almost stopped breathing! It said "Princess TV $12"...yes TWELVE DOLLARS!!!!! I asked the teenage girl there if that price was for both the TV and dvd player and she said yes!! I swear I nearly fainted! I looked it over(a couple years of working at the D.I. in high school made me really good at looking used things over!) and it was in like new condition! Not a scratch or mark on it anywhere!! I told the girl we'd take it and Tony carried it and our few other finds to the car. Oh and it came with the matching TV, dvd and kid friendly dvd remote AND the manuals! BEST FIND EVER!!!! After that we found a couple nice little people sets and when all was said and done we only spent about $40, so we went to lunch at IHOP...which Devin very nearly didn't make it through, but thanks to friendly, concerned staff who brought us a fruit bowl(which he couldn't have cared less about) and a gogurt(which was the saving grace) and eventually his milk, he calmed down enough to play on my kindle until his food came. And lunch was pretty enjoyable. After lunch Tony dropped Elizabeth and I off at a library(I've been telling her I'd take her for a while...but Devin and libraries don't mix) and then took Devin to his parent's house for some alone/quiet time then joined us at the library where Elizabeth was reading everything she could get her hands on, and picking out book after book to check out. Once she had her fill she went and played with the little legos they had set out at a kiddie table. Because I had some books I wanted to check out for the kids as well we had to lean out Elizabeth's picks a bit(like she had to put a dozen or so books back)and we still ended up checking out 28 books! And she read probably 6 or 8 books while she was there! I sure love my little bookworm! Then we went back to Tony's parent's house for a bit until it was time to head to the Nester's for their annual birthday BBQ which was a lot of fun, and as always yummy food! Sunday Devin's cough and congestion wasn't sounding so good so we stayed home so he could get lots of rest and not share his bug. Monday morning I dropped Elizabeth off at Mary's house while I took Devin to feeding therapy...this is the most frustrating therapy because the progress is so slow...we're not even really working on him eating food...just tolerating it in the room or on the table in front of him, and often it feels like we're getting nowhere. But I am glad for the pediasure and the sense of knowing that he's getting what he needs to grow and thrive. After therapy I called the pediatrician to get Devin looked at as he just wasn't getting better, and wasn't going to be able to get him in for a while(like a couple days)so I just took him to the Insta Care that's across the street from his feeding therapy. And I'm glad I did, because he had an ear infection and bronchitis! Poor boy!! I visited with Mary, my Aunt Ellen and cousin Sarah for a bit then we came home. Tuesday morning Devin had what I call play therapy(because....well it is!) which is also a great work in slow progress. That evening Elizabeth had her first dance recital at Bravo, she was so excited to show daddy and grandma and my parents her fun dance! They reserve the front row for parents to switch out when their child is preforming, and show it on three TV's as well. I tried to get Devin to go with Tony so I could man the camera, but Devin would not have it(he's been such a momma's boy lately!!) so I told Tony to just take the pictures while I kept Devin(ideally I would have liked to have left Devin with one of our parents but he wouldn't even go to his own father so I knew a grandparent was not going to be an option!) So we go up find seats right in front of Elizabeth(I mean we were like less than 10 feet away from her!) The dance started and everything and more that could go wrong did!! Tony turned the camera on tried to take and picture and it just shut off, so he assumed the batteries were dead. I figured I'd take video on my phone since that only took one hand...little did I know that I'd need that hand to hold onto Devin! Literally two second into my video Devin shot out of my arms and bolted toward Elizabeth!! I shot up like a rocket and grabbed Devin just as he reached the black mat that was the "stage". He was NOT happy about his capture, but not wanting to miss Elizabeth's dance I just put my hand over his mouth and was so grateful for the probably too loud music! And watched Elizabeth do her dance. And she did absolutely awesome! She did parts of the dance I'd never seen her get before in all the weeks of practice...she didn't hardly miss a move! I was sooooo proud of her and thoroughly impressed as well!! She told me later she was actually a little scared, because she wasn't expecting that many people to be in the audience, which I think explained why she forgot to smile very much, but she definitely preformed really well under pressure! But sadly we didn't get any good pictures or video of her dancing...luckily they record it and provide a dvd! Thank goodness!! Most importantly though is that she knew how well she did the dance and was so happy and proud of herself! Her self-esteem was through the roof!! I snapped some pictures of her and one with her friend Phenley, then we dropped Tony's mom off at the Front Runner station, and then went home and had BBQ hamburgers and hot dogs in the backyard with my parents(we've had more dinners outside on the BBQ than inside). Everyone told Elizabeth how well she did and how impressed and proud they were of her, which just helped her rise higher and higher! Wednesday was uneventful. Thursday Tony had to do some stuff for work(after getting home)so we had to cancel scouts. Luckily(for me anyway)Tony took the kids with him while he took care of his work stuff. I ~~looked at endless homeschool stuff~~ relaxed for a while then got a call that my glasses were in! So I drove over to the mall and picked them up...and I LOVE them! It's so nice to be able to see crisp and clear again! For Fun Friday the kids and I played the game Memory(ok more like match the pictures...for Devin's sake) I was impressed with his matching skills! And even though it was really easy for Elizabeth she still enjoyed it. We had a BBQ dinner in the backyard(which the kids absolutely love cause they get to play when they're done and us adults get to visit). Saturday morning Tony and my dad worked some more in the backyard, doing dump runs and getting rid of all the junk and such. For lunch we carpooled to the Sizzler in Sandy for a Father's Day lunch with my dad's dad and family...it was great. And our kids did so well!! I almost wonder what was wrong with them! ;) When we got home we put Devin down for nap(though I don't think he went back to sleep as he fell asleep on the way home). Tony, Elizabeth, and my dad took Shadow to Petsmart for her grooming appointment, which was sorely needed! Then we had dinner in the backyard once again...it's so nice! Sunday we decided to let Devin sleep as long as he needed for nap so we didn't make it to sacrament meeting, but the rest of church went very well...including my mom's Relief Society lesson! We had a nice Sunday dinner on the patio in the backyard, and let the kids play. And that pretty much catches you up! There is a really good chance I've forgotten stuff, thanks to my flaky memory but that should be the jist of it!

Last Day of School pictures

Elizabeth's Princess TV in her Princess room!

And this is what you call compensating...since I have no pictures to post of Elizabeth doing her dance, I'll just post all the ones I took of her cuteness before at home!