The Little Artist

Drew had a fine arts festival at his school the other night. Here is some of his beautiful artwork! Fantastic work Drew!

Before the Art Show

Will with his Great Grandmother Black.

**Happy Days With Drew & Will**

Gary's new toy - whoops, I mean lawn tractor.

Mother's Day Hike on Beech Hill in Rockport.

Hi everyone, we've been busy the past month doing lots of things.

With the weather getting so nice we have been spending a lot of time outside!

Drew: Drew has been busy riding his bike, playing tee ball, trading Pokemon cards and playing outside with his little friends. Drew loves to entertain Will and make him laugh and he has started calling Will "Willie" - hmmmm, we'll see what happens with that:) Drew has a concert this week for arts and music. Speaking of art, he is quite the little artist. He draws everyday and can probably draw better than I can, he loves to draw animals. Drew is also reading and writing a lot and reads to us every night before bed. It is hard to believe he only has a few weeks left of Kindergarten and than he will be a first grader!

Drew climbing trees.

Drew doing his acrobatics.

Drew on Beech Hill Hike in Rockport.

Drew with the seeds he planted with his Great Grandmother Black.

Will: Will has changed a lot over the past month. WOW! He talks a lot of baby jargon, if we only knew what he was saying. He crawls and is into everything, he pulls himself up to stand, has 4 teeth and has started eating more solid food. He does not like the baby food as much and seems to be preferring to feed himself things like cheerios, real banana, bread, crackers, and yogurt. Will loves the bath, books, dancing and playing with his toys and of course Drew is still his favorite person! He still is not sleeping thru the night, but last night we started the Ferber method again, going strictly by it...it seemed to work and I suspect Will will be sleeping much better by the end of this week!!! Maybe thru the night even!

First Bathtime in the big tub!

Will with his little friend.
First Cheerios.

First time on a trampoline - loved it!
First time in the baby swing outside - loved that also!

Also, we have some exciting news! Drew & Will have a new little baby boy cousin named Wesley!!! Welcome to the World Baby Wesley!!! Enjoy the pictures & take care, Love Shasta, Gary, Drew & Will

OK, now what do I do with this thing?

Alright, there we go! :)

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!!!