The Johnson Family: Catching Up?

I'm not sure I should even try to back track. I just finished looking at some of my last posts and I can't believe how much the kids have changed. What a difference a year makes!
Lilah started kindergarten in the fall, and now she's just a few months from being a first grader. She loves school so much. Her teacher, Mrs. Lutton, is amazing. She is so kind and patient and fun and caring. I love her. Lilah is about to lose her third tooth, the upper left central incisor. It's really just dangling and grossing me out. Her first tooth was lost while eating an apple at the pumpkin patch this fall (her first kindergarten field trip). It was very fun and exciting.
Lilah just started playing soccer last week and is really enjoying that too. She is surprisingly coordinated (being a child of Jonas and I) and is pretty aggressive and competitive too (not surprising at all). Her first game is this weekend. She is really into writing, drawing, reading, making rainbow loom things, and legos. We've started bigger chapter books the past several months and it's been so fun to explore books with her.
Emma started preschool this fall. She likes it some days, but I am learning she is really likes to just stay home. We tried ballet for a month, and then gymnastics. She liked both at first and then grew tired of them. Now we just stick to school and running errands. Emma is most happy playing at home. She loves to snuggle and can be so super sweet, but is also very challenging. I feel like she's gotten less challenging in the past several months, so maybe we're turning a corner. She has developed a new love for coloring and drawing (about the same time she started preschool) and it is fun to see her cute pictures. She is still refusing to have her hair cut, so it has gotten quite long. Nearly to her buttocks now. At least she lets me brush it now so it's not always a tangled mess. And it looks quite pretty when braided.
Jonas Henry is two. So very two. Although if you ask him, he claims he's three. He loves to try to cross his little arms and disagree. "No". "I not doing that"! "My do it"! However, he can still be my sweet, snuggly baby. I can't seem to wean him completely. Not sure who is hanging on to it more, but I'm not complaining. I love that time with him at night. He loves reading books and singing songs. He's talking a lot more in the past few months and it's so cute to hear him put things together. He LOVES trains. We built him a train table for his birthday and they all play with it every single day. He makes lists at night when we are talking. He likes to tell me all the things he's going to do the next day. "Eat, play trains, go upstairs, take nap, sing songs, eat, play trains..." So very cute.
We also added a new family member to the Johnson clan. We got a puppy! Her name is Scout. We picked her out of her litter when she was 2 weeks old and visited her again about 5 weeks. She came to live with us at almost 8 weeks. She's 10 weeks old today, which means that we have survived more than two weeks with a puppy in the house. It's been quite an adjustment, but I think it's going pretty well. She's really a sweet puppy, and not very high energy. She has bursts of energy for about 20 minutes at a time, but then is ready to sleep for a while. All that growing I guess. She has gained 5 pounds since we got her, putting her at 17+ pounds now. Jonas Henry loves her most, and I love seeing them together. Emma is a little squeally and loves to run when Scout comes around, which always leads to a chase and more squealing. Lilah is calm and very directive, which is very helpful in Scout's training. Funny how all three kids can have such a different approach. Scout is also in school (two weeks down) and has improved greatly in leash walking and following commands. Pretty fun.

And now for some random pictures....

Sleepover at Aunt Katie and Uncle Dan's - Dec 2014