Interview with the Little Man

In 2011, I started a tradition of interviewing the Little Man around his birthday. I use the same series of questions, and I hope to continue doing this each year. This was the LO I made from that year’s interview.

This summer, I did another interview of him on video answering the same questions. I sat on it for a few months, then I saw a challenge from the Document Life Workshop. I knew it was about time that I did a page.

Here are the videos of the interview I did in 2012. Warning: they are not great quality. At all.  And don’t ask why they’re in portrait instead of landscape. I have no idea 😛

It’s cute seeing his little mannerisms, like shifting from foot to foot. His Dad is shifty like that too. 🙂

IMG 6060 from Jen Johnson on Vimeo.

IMG 6061 from Jen Johnson on Vimeo.

Here are the interview answers, in case you don’t want to sit through my terrible filming.

Favorite games- Supreme Commander 2, Synthesizer game on the DS, and Red Alert 3, Angry Birds Space, Dungeon Defender,  Zombie Farm, Munchkin, Zombie Fluxx, Go Fish

Favorite colors- Black, red, and blue

Favorite foods- The video got cut off, so I’m going to take a wild guess and say Pizza again, and thai food. He still likes vanilla frappuccinos and Daddy’s pancakes. He also loves ice cream and he raved about his stepdad’s bean soup once or twice this summer too.

Unfavorite foods- broccoli still, and my fish tacos (ha!)

Dislikes- Waiting in lines

Best Friends- Evan and Dakota

Then the video pooped out again, so I’ll fill in the rest.

Likes to read- Warrior Cat books and 39 Clues books

Likes to watch- G. I. Joe, Transformers, and X-Men

Favorite place- Florida

A new thing he can do- make Angry Bird videos

I wanted to keep the same general theme and colors for this year’s LO, so I picked a similar kit from my stash. I used the Sketch Challenge from Scrapbook Bytes as design  inspiration for the layout. Here’s the result…

Credits:
Star Power by Connie Prince

Thanks for looking!

Randomness

Just some random stuff from the past week or so…

Saturday we went bowling for charity with some people from Jason’s company. The proceeds benefitted Junior Achievement. I can’t say I was super excited to go initially. I’m a terrible bowler. So terrible that the last time I bowled I only scored a 12. And the guy from the bowling alley asked if I needed bumpers… also this was in front of my FIL, so that made it even more embarrassing for some reason.

We ended up having a really good time. As soon as we walked in and were doing introductions, one man shook my hand and said “Your husband is one of the smartest people I know”. That just made me grin because he is totally one of the smartest people I know too… and I know a ton of smart people 🙂

We brought the new camera, so when we weren’t bowling, we were taking pictures. I forgot to do my usual “I have a blog and do scrapbooking and such so do you mind if I plaster your face all over the internet?” speech, so I won’t put any up here. Except this one, which shows off Jason’s excellent form 🙂

 I’ve been working out here and there for the past couple of weeks. It’s crazy how out of shape I’ve gotten since I left work and I’m not walking 30,000 steps a day. I keep hearing all this junk about how working out gives you more energy. When does that start? It’s just making me tired…

I love Costco. I love Costco like some people love Target. I mostly love it for the ladies with the free samples of lobster dip. And apparently I love taking instagrams of the cart while waiting for Jason to finish looking at TV’s.

Oh and then there’s football. I love football season. Not so much for the actual football, but for the hours and hours of scrapping time. And pizza. And getting to see Jaws again. And C’mon man. And the Play 60 commercials.

Last Sunday was also National Step Family Day. Which according to Hallmark ranks right up there with National Apple Dumpling Day, National Cheeseburger Day, and Rice Krispies Day. I did talk briefly to the Little Man Sunday, so that was nice. And since today is National Talk Like A Pirate Day, I thought I’d just combine the two holidays and show a picture of my stepson as a pirate 🙂 From Feb. 2008. He’s so little!

So that’s a little bit of the random stuff going on with us. Oh and then there’s this… just because.

Yet another post about the Little Man

At some point I will return to blogging about recipes and scrapbook stuff. But right now while we have the Little Man, of course he’s top of mind. And I’m a huge fan of turning blog posts into journaling for scrapbook pages. So one thing I want to do this summer is to write down observations for later pages. I have to save up enough photos and stories to fill up pages for the other forty-seven weeks out of the year right?

Every summer when LM comes to us, he seems changed. Of course that happens. But it’s surprising to me how much things stay the same from year to year.

He still loves Angry Birds. Obsessively. We are currently filming an epic movie starring his plush toys. I will be making costumes. Scary thought.

He’s still super polite. He’s constantly asking if I need help with anything and offering to carry things.

He still jabbers… a lot. He doesn’t stop talking from the moment he gets up until he goes to bed. Which I really like (mostly).

He’s still very affectionate. He gives lots of hugs and pats on the back throughout the day.

He’s still a perfectionist and way too hard on himself.

He’s still a good eater and is willing to try new things. (So happy that he’s over the picky stage!)

He still likes blowing bubbles. Jason and I were in Target a few weeks ago lamenting that we were sure he wouldn’t like bubbles anymore this year. So glad we were wrong about that. I think bubbles are sentimental to me because that was one of the things we liked doing together when he was little.

He still loves to swim and we’re having an awesome time going to the pool throughout the week.

But a lot of things are different this year…

He has a new sister and talks about her a lot. I think he’s scared that she’ll be walking and talking by the time he goes back to CA.

He still likes traveling, but he wants to go to new places. When given the choice between going to St. Augustine and Tampa for his birthday, he actually eschewed theme parks and roller coasters for historic forts.

He puts the toilet seat down now! Hallelujah!

He’s becoming quite the musician. He played cello last year and is learning the guitar.

He and his Dad are playing more soccer than football so far this summer.

He started listening to audiobooks before bed.

We are having more grownup conversations this year.

He likes to cuss, but tries really hard not to.

He’s seriously into drawing comics. So far he’s already made one for Daddy and one for Grandpa.

I could go on and on… and on. It’s so much fun seeing how he’s grown and changed over the course of a year, but still being able to appreciate the things that remain the same. 🙂

So far, so good

“Nothing diminishes anxiety faster than action.” -Walter Anderson

This is a quote that can tell my life story right now. On so many fronts.

I had some anxiety this year at the thought of staying home with Little Man. Before this summer I think we had spent a total of three or four days alone together.

Okay there was a lot of anxiety. What the heck would we do all day? Could I keep him entertained or would I have to resort to using the iPad to keep him occupied? What if we spent all this time together and discovered we really didn’t like each other?

I scoured Pinterest for ideas of fun things to do. I harassed Jason for ideas. And then finally the day day came… and it was okay. We were okay. We still like each other.

It’s only been a few days, but we’ve worked out a routine for ourselves. We do projects. We play outside at least once a day. We cook together. We play soccer. We blow bubbles. Yes, we do spend time in front of screens. (I’ve gotta work sometime). But it’s not nearly as hard as I was afraid it would be.

And the best part? We’re having real conversations. Silly things, serious things, how much fun it is to cuss, how much he loves his baby sister and misses his Uncle Joe. I feel like I’m really getting to know him as a person.

And also… I get to be the “fun one” sometimes. Daddy was always the Fun One. I was the One Who Made Him Eat Vegetables. So that’s pretty awesome.

Simple Things Sunday

This is the time of year when I really appreciate the little things. Having Little Man in the house brings a new joy and energy to Jason and me. I get all gooey over the smallest things, snuggling on the couch, hearing his laugh… just everything. But the thing that makes me the happiest above all else is seeing how Jason and LM are around each other. Their faces just light up in such a special way that is so heart warming.

Linking to Simple Things Sunday