Happy 29th Birthday BJ

In Memory of BJ

Happy 29th Birthday

We Love & Miss You

Love Gary, Shasta, Drew & Will

May 16, 1979 - April 18, 2007

BJ @ a Birthday Party we had for him one year.
29 Balloons that my mom released in

Bloomfield, NM today in memory of BJ.

Our Latest Things...

I just love being with my Big Brother!




Will & Drew had so much fun with this pamper box!
Could I please have that Star Wars Figure?

Hi there, the past month has gone by quickly. At one point at least one of us in the house was sick over the past 4 weeks. Drew got the flu, then I got it, then little Will and Gary ended up with a little of something this past week. Hopefully, the worst is over with all of it - it was not fun being home sick and then having the kids sick!

This was a tough month with it being a year now that BJ has been gone, at times it feels like it has been just weeks and other times it feels like forever. On the one year day, we did a few special things together to remember BJ. Drew has started asking a lot more questions lately about dying, death, cemeteries and heaven. It breaks my heart that he knows so much about this topic at such a young age. Drew has always been very mature and observant so Gary & I have really tried to be honest with him about what happened to BJ and that he is now in heaven. It sure is a lot for a 5 year old to take in.

Drew & BJ - 2004

Drew: Drew has started T-ball and is really enjoying it. Gary bought him some t-ball equipment and set up the back yard as a playing field. Drew has his last swimming lesson tomorrow and has really come a long way with that. He is now swimming with one bubble and jumps off the edge and goes under (with some assistance of course:) Drew is also on school vacation this week and has been busy riding his bike, drawing, playing with some of his little friends and catching up on Sponge Bob. Tomorrow we told him we would take him to the circus so he is quite excited about that:)

Will: Will is now mobile and on the move! He started doing a slither crawl just after he turned 7 months old and can move quickly, especially when it comes to Drew or Drew's things! Our pediatrician told us that Drew would be one of Will's favorite things and he has been right! Will just loves Drew, Drew can make Will laugh at any time. Will still has just 2 teeth on the bottom, but seems to be having more coming in. He is eating a little baby food and cereal 2x per day in his high chair and has started with some real food. He has had real banana and Gerber puffers. He also has had real apple, cantaloupe, ice cubes and carrots in his little mesh chewer.

Will with his Aunt Sam.
Drew & Will with our distant cousin Maura who came to visit from NYC.

Enjoy the pictures & Take care, Love Shasta, Gary, Drew & Will

Happy Spring! Happy Easter!

Will just loved putting this grass thru his little fingers.

Yeah - Spring is finally here! It has been a long winter here with lots of snow and lots of cold days. Will & I were in the house for a good part of the winter so we are looking forward to some walks and outside time :)

Will @ 6 months: Will is doing all kinds of new things. He now sits up independently, babbles constantly - he even said mama the other night! He now sleeps on his tummy - refusing to sleep on his back, I was flipping him over throughout the night so he would sleep on his back, but I gave up on that. He seems to enjoy sleeping on his tummy and sleeps longer now. Other new things - he is rolling everywhere to get places and loves to play with his little toys and yes - Drew is still his favorite person! At his 6 month checkup - he weighed in at 17 lbs 5 oz and was 27 inches long! He is not eating as much baby food - actually keeping his mouth closed when I try to feed him; he grabs for the spoon - maybe he is ready for bigger things? Oh yeah, he has 2 teeth now!

Drew is dong great also. We had a parent teacher conference and his teacher had nothing but great things to say. Drew is reading and writing a lot, he read a book to Will the other night all by himself and was actually sounding out words! He completed a basketball clinic thru his school for 4 weekends and really loved it! He is now in swimming lessons once a week and is enjoying that.

We hosted an Easter Egg hunt @ our house on Saturday. We hid over 400 plastic filled eggs and had about 20 kids come. The kids had a blast and then played outside together for a bit. Today Gary & 2 others cooked breakfast for approx 80 people for the Sunrise Service. He said it was lots of fun (Gary loves to cook), the kids and I did not make it out to the breakfast- the 3 of us ended up sleeping in until 7:30 (late for us!). Then we went to church and had an Easter Dinner at my Grandmother Black's house just down the road from us. Drew & Will had matching outfits on for Easter and looked adorable! Will had a great time with his little basket pulling the grass and gifts out and Drew had the best time with his black spiderman costume he got! We ended the day with a visit from Grampa Bill and Debi. Happy Easter everyone!

Cold and Snowy Maine

Drew with his Snowboard.

Mommy & Drew heading up the hill after sledding.

It has been really cold and snowy here! Currently it is 32 degrees F, which is warm for us:( Lots of snow storms, although here on the coast we don't have as much snow as up North - a friend of ours told us they have over 3 feet of snow in their yard!!!

We have made it out to go sledding a few times. Drew tried out his new snowboard, but seems to like sledding a little better for now:)

During school vacation week Drew had his first trip to Chuckee Cheese and loved it of course. We also spent some time with Drew and Will's 2nd cousins. They seemed to have a great time! It was so neat to see the 2nd cousins together since BJ and I used to spend so much time when we were little with my cousins Krissy and Andy. And now our kids are playing together.

Drew still keeps in touch with 2 of his friends from day care/preschool. He had one of them over during his school break. The 3 boys were together from the age of 1 until the summer before Kindergarten and had a great bond.

Will is getting so big and seems to change daily. He loves to smile and laugh, loves sweet potatoes, carrots, bananas and oat meal. He is now sitting up without support (for a few seconds anyway) and talks a lot! He is still not a great sleeper or napper. But, looking back Drew had a lot of the same sleeping patterns that Will has and now for the most part Drew is a great sleeper. So I guess I just need to give him some time! Will has his 6 month check up next week so I'll update you all again later. Take care, Shasta

2nd Cousins: Jackson (8 mo), Dawson (12 mo), Cayden (3 yr), Drew (5 1/2 yr) & Will (5 mo)

Great Grammie Johnson with 5 of her 6 Great Grand-Children!

Yes, all of her 6 Great Grand-Children are boys!!!

First Tooth!

We found Will's first tooth coming thru tonight on the bottom @ 5 months and 1 week! He has been chewing and sucking everything and loving frozen washcloths lately so we were not surprised to find it :)

Drew had his first Basketball clinic @ his school over the weekend. He was very hesitant at first, but once he joined in - he loved it and even made a hoop!
Will refuses to drink from a bottle so we started him on a sippy cup w/ some water.
Will's new exersaucer that he got for Valentine's Day.

Hello!

Will just before he tries rice cereal for the first time!

Will with Daddy's hat on.

Will eating sweet potatoes.

Will & Mommy taking a walk.

2/10/08: Gary and Drew made this incredible snowman and dog!

Hi everyone!
Will is now 5 months old! He is growing and changing everyday and having lots of fun! He has now tried Rice and Oatmeal cereal, a little sweet potato and some carrots. He seems to like the oatmeal and veggies, but is not to happy with the rice. He is sleeping a little better @ night, using a lot of baby jargon, rolling over both ways, sucking his little toes and just loving life. He is such a good little baby boy:)
Drew is really enjoying having a baby brother and loves to make Will laugh! Drew still loves Superheros...watching them on TV, dressing up like them, reading about them and playing with the figures! He has also been having fun in the snow and playing with all his little friends. Drew is writing a lot and reading a lot now and had great progress on his report card:)
In other news, we had a superbowl party which was lots of fun until the end, I am sure you all know the outcome and Gary is still walking around sad :(
Hope you are all well and enjoying your winter weather wherever you are! Talk with you soon!

Updates...

Will with his favorite "silky" blanket.

Will swinging with his Wooitz toy.

Will and Drew tonight with Will's big Elmo that he got for Christmas from Grammie Green & Elmer.

Drew made a fort with blankets and chairs & invited Will in.

Mommy & Drew.

Christmas morning.

Cousin Reanna, Drew and Will in NH @ Phyllis & Grampa Minery's house.

Bethany reading to Will.

Since both boys celebrate their birthdays on the 9th of a month. On January 9th Will turned 4 months and Drew turned 5 1/2 years old!

Hope you all had a great Christmas and New Year! We had lots of fun with Will and Drew on Christmas! We stayed in Maine, we stayed home Christmas morning, then we spent some time @ Drew and Will's Great Grammie Black's house and then spent the afternoon @ their Grampa Bill's and Debi's house. The weekend after Christmas we ventured to NH to spend time with Gary's family.

Will has been doing a lot better riding in the car, the trip to NH was a pretty good ride:) Unfortunately though, Will's good sleeping habits changed when he was about 2 1/2 months old. He started waking up every 1-3 hours and did not seem to like going in his crib. We have had very little sleep around here and I am exhausted from getting up to nurse him throughout the night. So we consulted with Will's pediatrician @ his 4 month check up and he assured us it was ok to start the Ferber method. Will just seems so little, but frustrated from our lack of sleep and knowing that Will needs to establish some good sleeping habits - we gave in. The Ferber method is letting your baby "cry it out" in his crib, however you go in every 5-15 minutes and soothe him. So we started a bedtime routine of bath (some nights anyway when we can squeeze it in!), baby massage, reading, nursing and rocking Will. The first night Will cried quite a bit. Drew and I cried a little too. It is heart breaking to let him cry. Drew actually snuck out of his bed and I peaked in and saw him rubbing Will's head and saying "it's ok baby". Will ended up sleeping for 5 hours straight! The 2nd night Will cried less than the first night! So although it was emotionally draining, we are all starting to get some sleep again and even little Will seems a bit more refreshed in the morning :)

Speaking of 4 months, Will now weighs 15.9 lbs (50th%) and is 26 inches long (90th%), his head measures in the 50th% also. He is now rolling over from tummy to back and trying so hard to roll from back to tummy, he laughs a lot (!), loves to sit up with support and watch everything, and is doing all sorts of other amazing things. We also got the ok to start Will on some rice cereal...we'll let you know how that goes!

I would probably say that one of Will's most favorite things right now is Drew. He is just fascinated with him and Drew has really taken on a wonderful big brother role. They adore each other. Drew makes Will laugh all the time, it is sooo sweet!

Drew has been doing great also, he has really lost his baby look and is growing up into such a big cute boy. He is starting to read and write a lot more now. He still enjoys Kindergarten, reading, drawing, working with daddy and dressing up like a super hero! He has mentioned an interest in Snowboarding and Karate...we'll see Drew:)

Drew is always saying some funny things...yesterday we had company and Gary started tickling Drew. Drew said "you better stop or your going to get me to act wild". *Drew dressed up like Superman the other day and started jumping around on the chairs in front of Will, Will was laughing hysterically! It was so funny!!! *Drew's Nanny Peek is always trying to get him to talk to her on the phone (she lives in NM), today he said I can't talk right now I am a really busy kid!

In the past month Will has met some family members that include his Great Grammie Pearl (Gary's grandmother) in NH, his cousin Reanna in NH, and his 2nd cousin Jackson from Portland, ME. We are also excited that we have a new baby boy cousin on the way!!!

We miss everyone that is away and wish we could see you more :( Love you lots, Shasta, Gary, Drew and Will

Oh yeah - GO PATRIOTS!!!! Yahoo!