When Valentine's Day rolls around every year, I am reminded of how much I love the color pink...I mean, how much I love chocolate. I also love to remember Valentine's days from years past. My freshman year of college I put my intent in to the Little Flowers and for Valentines day sophomore year, Fr. Dave took me and a few of my girlfriends ourt for ice cream. Fun times! During junior year, I was dating Dan and he surprised me, with the help of my roommate Emily to sneak in my dorm room and decorate with the cheesiest decorations he could find at walmart. I loved it! I am not sure if Emily did though... And then senior yearwe were engaged and he decided to wear a shirt that said "i love lauren" - he wore it all day long. Forget the ring, that pretty much says I am committed! :) Life is a little different now, but so much better!
Last night Dan had Lifeteen and they had a special Valentines day dinner. He asked me to come and he showed parts of our wedding video and he talked about how to remain in the Father's love. It was so weird to watch over 60 teens watch me walk down the aisle and then say our wedding vows. It was beautiful and I am so grateful that we can share our love and marriage with them. I hope and pray that they will remain in the Fathers love and find their vocation through Him. I hope and pray that our family can remain in the Father's love, too.
Happy St. Valentine's Day!

I am going to start out by saying that I have always loved anything princess. Even in college my friend Vickie and I would occasionally drive around listening to the disney princess soundtrack. Silly, I know, but joy at the same time! I love having a little girl so I can continue to play princess with her! Today Dan is helping Anthony lead a Confirmation retreat and he isn't supposed to be home until 9 or so. On long days like this I have to brainstorm and think of something fun to entertain the kids. While Emma was napping I had the idea of surprising her with a princess tea party. I made a castle tent and even decided to dress up in one of my old bridesmaid dresses and play princess too. When Emma woke up she first saw me dressed up and she just looked at me. I asked her if she wanted to join me for a princess tea party and she said no. I was shocked and all of a sudden felt very silly! But then I embraced my silliness and talked her into putting her minnie mouse dress on. When she saw castle and tea party set up, she immediately jumped into pretend mode. We had a blast! Kolbe even tried to participate and was referred to as prince Kolbe. Needless to say it was a very successful afternoon and fun was had by all!

There have been many moments today that I have thought about blogging. I get those glimpses of inspiration and now that I am here typing, I am drawing blanks. What did I do today? I did recieve two phone calls back to back from two of my college buddies. Thank you Ana and Vickie for bringing more joy to my day! I started to make invitations for emma's birthday party, but sometimes I am just not tech savy and Sheena was kind enough to help me finish them. Emma's momma and Godmomma make a good team. :)

Emma is only allowed to have her pacifier at bedtime to help her fall asleep. This is a recent development and mom and dad are thrilled, Emma is dealing with it. Every once in awhile she will say things like "i am tired, it is time to rest," just hoping to get her paci back. And then there are more desperate moments like tonight when she dramatically cried out, "BUT I Neeed my paci and I Want my paci!!" I told her that I want a shower and I want daddy to come home, but sometimes we dont get what we want when we want it. She just stared at me and then asked again. Patience is a virtue. I guess.

Today I was putting the kids down for a nap and fell asleep as well. I woke up to the phone ringing, I thought it had been hours, but when looking at the clock it was only 15 minutes. hmm. oh well. I decided to get up, grabbed a diet coke out of the fridge, got a handful of pink, red and white m&ms and decided to go upstairs to the computer and try blogging again. So here I am and I don't really know what to say! I do wish that right now I was in Steubenville with the rest of the fam getting ready for Joseph's arrival. I also wish Dan didn't have to work late tonight. However I am grateful for these few minutes of quiet and for my coke and chocolate. mmmm....
Life around the Johnson household has been busy, but great! Dan and I are going to a Theology of the Body study every monday night together and I love it! it is so fun to get out with my hubby and take a theology class without having to be tested on it. :) Emma goes to the nursery and gets to play with a lot of kids and she comes home so happy too. win win. Last night I tried to leave Kolbe in the nursery for a little while, he didn't last long, he is such a momma's boy. :) When I went to get him, Emma was in the back of the room, dressed as snow white and telling the other kids where to go and what to do. She was apparently in charge of some game they were playing and they were all having a great time! I went back upstairs with kolbe and continued to listen to the session. The priest who is teaching was just ordained last summer and he is 28. ( i think :) ) He is passionate, young and on fire for Jesus! I love listening to him teach because he is obviously so in love with his faith and vocation.
Let's see, what else, I am out of m&ms and contemplating running downstairs for more...but before I do, here are a few pictures from Christmas!