"So, I heard you were...?"

I'm writing this post to get everyone up to speed on what's going on with us right now. Particularly, where we are living and what we are doing. This has been a bit of story to tell and I have tried and generally failed to tell in the tale briefly but properly.

Around July our company put together a proposal for a large project for the levee rebuild/reinforcement in New Orleans. Having been been in the office in Seattle on a regular basis for the last four years I was itching to get back out on a project. The timing was perfect. 

Lachlan had just turned 5 years old. Michele and I made the decision to "redshirt" him for kindergarten. With Michele being a stay-at-home mom, it meant we had about one more year to cast off the lines and have one more great adventure before settling down to real-life. And New Orleans seems about as near an opportunity to work a different country as we'd get. 

Fast forward to September, we had spent the last two months doing a sort of spring cleaning on our belongs. Lots of Goodwill runs and basically getting rid of anything we ought to have given away a long time ago. September 28th...we get the news. Our team was awarded the job and we are off to New Orleans. Or so we thought...

We had a storage unit and our belongs mostly moved out. The cars were ready to ship across the country. We were leaving it all behind except for what we could fit in one car. Michele, Wesley, and I flew to New Orleans during the first week of October to check out the city and find a place to live. She talked me down from living in the French Quarter and Uptown and we signed a lease on a nice little cottage in Old Metarie. We both flew back to Seattle but I purchased a round trip ticket originating from New Orleans. I even left a check bag with a friend in New Orleans because I was going to be back in a matter of days.  Or so we thought...

By the second week of October we were finishing out our Seattle bucket list and were down to moving mattresses and sleeping bags out of the house. And then we found out the project we were awarded had been protested by a competing contracting team. Under the legal provisions of the protest, the contract was to be reviewed by the general account office and resolved in no more than 100 calendar days. So we were still confident the conflict would be quickly cleared up and our family would be back down south by the beginning of the year. Or so we thought...

It appears now that the project contract will be re-evaluated and re-awarded in April of this year. This means we may be leaving or we may be staying. This is pretty much the limbo our family has been living in since July. After things got pushed back to April we started moving back into our place in Fall City. But I'm still sitting on a one-way ticket back to New Orleans and I have a bag full of books and clothes down there right now.

We are still excited about the opportunity to go down there but the we are little worn out by the uncertainty. At this point we'll trust God to take care of the circumstances and prepare to meet that challenges of tomorrow with joy whether they be in New Orleans, the Seattle area, or else where.

On the upside, as a result of this saga Lachlan and Silas now have a small family of stuffed alligators they sleep with every night. I guess that will be one more thing we'll need to pack....or not.

Wesley Dean Johnson

Rewind

So I got a bit behind but I was told by multiple friends not to let that discourage me. So here goes...

The boys were soaking up some November sun. I just love this picture!

November 2009 was fun and busy.

We made our way down to California to visit my family for Thanksgiving and while down south we made a trip to Disneyland. Lachlan LOVED it and we had a great time.

Out in front of Disneyland

Lachlan loved this car in Toon Town

Out and about with my family. Lachlan and Silas love their cousins

John and Kathy and their 4 kiddos, me, and my sister Karen and Joshua (my nephew) on the bottom is Jacob, Kate, Marcus (my nephews and niece) and Lachlan.

Bath time in California is so much fun with my mom...oh so snugly!

When we got home we hit the ground running. We wanted to start getting ready for Christmas so we made our way to a Christmas tree farm with our friends the Clayton's and cut down our tree. It was cold and wet but we had a good time.

They had this great red truck and Lachlan and Parker loved climbing on it.

Is it fresh??? Yep!

We had so much fun decorating the tree. Silas loved the lights and Lachlan really enjoyed decorating it.

We finished decorating the tree and took our family picture.

December 2009:

My friend Stella took this picture of the boys and I just love it. I love the pure joy I see in it.

My little photo shoot of Silas when he was able to sit on his own. I did the same thing with Lachlan at about the same age. The top one is Silas and the bottom one is Lachlan.

Silas


Lachlan

We decided to stay close to home this Christmas and we had a wonderful time. I started out the month by inviting some friends over for a cookie decorating party.

We went to zoo lights with Rian's sister Jodi and her family. It was so beautiful. I love Christmas lights.

Christmas morning...Lachlan loved his little kitchen (thanks mom)

We went tubing with the Clayton family a few days after Christmas. Lachlan loved it.

Happy New Year!!!

This is what happens when you walk away for a few minutes...

Love the hair ;)

Lachlan loves to crawl into the crib with his little brother

Silas got his 2 bottom teeth in. Look at that beautiful smile!

Silas loves to eat...and I love to watch him eat. What a cutie!!!

My sister Alieh came to Seattle for a visit. It was so much fun and the boys loved spending time with her.


February 2010

We have been having such nice weather...I took the boys down the street to the park.

Silas is so close to crawling.

Woooweeee I guess that's been life the last few months.

"You ok cow?"

In a nut shell...the month of October.

We had a great month of October and I thought I would share some memorable moments we had.

Silas loves bath time...and I love this adorable towel on him.

Our first ever family movie night...we watched the movie Bolt. Well, maybe more like a half hour of it. But, Lachlan did LOVE the popcorn.

We just painted this room red and Lachlan lovingly calls it special red.

Lachlan loves to pour things these days. This is my attempt at some fun projects for him to work on. He is pouring rice into small containers and loving it. He also loves to paint.
Painting a masterpiece...

Rice fun...

We had such a fun evening carving pumpkins. Silas went to sleep shortly after the first picture. Laclan wasn't sure about the texture of the pumpkin innards. We grew the 2 larger pumpkins in our back yard. We were pritty proud of them :)

Not sure what was up there:

Yucky...

The end result...

Silas is just learning how to sit up. Well, more like tripod himself up. We're getting there.

We had a great Halloween party and as I was getting Silas up that morning Lachlan located the candy and was trying to pry the candy open with a screwdriver. Pritty creative if you ask me ;)

Lachlan was going to dress up as a cow for Halloween but at the last minute I was able to get this super cute chicken costume. I guess he will be the cow next year.
And...the Halloween party. It was great. We had so many wonderful friends in our house and all the little ones dressed up was definitely the highlight. How to do you keep a bunch of kiddos 2 and under on the couch ....M&M's. Silas and his little friend Miss Cora (born 2 weeks apart)On Halloween we headed up to Rian's brothers house for a fun overnight and some trick or treating. We had such a great time. Here are all the Grand kids with grandma and papa.
Our little duckling:

Most memorable Lachlan quote of the month:

"You ok cow?" as he was standing in the meadow in the middle of a few cows and horses.