After watching her big brothers swim around for a while,

Ruthie decided that in the water was where she wanted to be. As soon as her feet hit the water, she began kicking and squealing in delight.

Notice that in nearly every picture, she is not looking at the camera, but off to the right of the camera. That’s because Peter was off to the right of the camera, and Ruthie wanted Peter to notice how much fun she was having.

Splash,

Kick,

Investigate the water,

and formally announce how much she loves the water.

I’m not sure where I was, but there were some events from our recent vacation that I do not recall. Apparently, not only were we detoured by a dust storm, but also a meteor shower.

Then there was some fire-breathing lizard in Sedona.

And, search me, but I definitely do not remember Sunset Crater erupting during our hike. Perhaps I was distracted by something else?

Welcome to the world of a 12 year-old with Photoshop at his disposal. You never know what you’ll find next on your computer desktop.

vacation |vāˈkā sh ən; və-|   an extended period of recreation, esp. one spent away from home or in traveling

We packed up early Saturday and said one final goodbye to the house.

After passing through the famous four corners–where we arrived from Arizona, parked in Utah, bought a souvenir in New Mexico, and drove off into Colorado all in a matter of a few minutes–we embarked on a most beautiful drive through southwest Colorado. Between the majestic mountains, vibrant colors, and the winding river along the road, it was almost too much beauty to behold at once.

Smack in the middle of this route is Telluride–a favorite destination for our family. We decided it was worth the extra couple hours of road time to stop, take the gondola ride into the city, and have lunch.

Waiting for the gondola…

Here is the breathtaking drop into Telluride from the top of a neighboring mountain. This is the only city I’ve been to that is literally surrounded by mountains. There is only one road that accesses the city from the outside, and it dead-ends at a mountain. It has always reminded me of this verse from Psalm 125: “As the mountains surround Jerusalem, so the LORD surrounds his people both now and forevermore.”

Judging by her squeals and bounces, Ruthie greatly enjoyed the ride.

Can you imagine walking out of your house every day and seeing this? These people are seriously spoiled.

To make a long drive story short, we ended up driving over 28 hours in two days. Upon arriving home, it was a sweet reunion for Molly and Ruthie.

We are amazed at how much there is to see in the Flagstaff area. Here we are nearly a week into the trip, and we haven’t even been to downtown Flagstaff yet.

On Tuesday, we visited Wupatki, another national park in the area. It’s a spectacle of 1000 year old pueblo ruins, among other sights.

The kids learned all about the Wupatki indians who lived in the area soon after the eruption of the Sunset Crater volcano. We observed a blowhole–the earth kind, not the whale kind–and felt cool air blowing up from underneath the earth. As the boys and I walked away, I looked back and caught a glimpse of Jeremy laying on it with his shirt pulled up to feel the cool air on his belly.

Oh, Jeremy. He has been quite a trip this week. I could blog for days with quotes from the mouth of this soon-to-be four year old. Since Jim has been toting Ruthie on our hikes, Jeremy has been my little buddy. We hold hands everywhere we hike, at times holding on for dear life (more on that later). Today, he said to me, “I like hiking because I have you all day.”

The Junior Ranger program is proving to be a gem on this trip. Derek, Peter, and Jeremy each earned their second badge at Wupatki as Ruthie looked on.

First, the test.

Then the pledge to respect and preserve national parks, and to encourage their family and friends to do the same. The effort that is required to become a junior ranger makes the badge exceptionally valuable.

…when you’re a three year-old with a vivid imagination.

1. Sword

2. Goggles

3. Belt

4. Tiara

On second thought, let’s leave the tiara at home.

Yesterday morning the doorbell rang at 7:30. It was the neighbor boys arriving for their daily run with our boys. It’s a great way for them run out their excess energy, and we like to call it P.E. class.

After their jog around the neighborhood, they congregated in the backyard and this is what I saw:

That compassionate second-born son of ours was shooting at ducks and geese with the BB gun.

Not only that, but he was teaching the neighbor boys how to get a good shot.

I can just picture the conversation they had with their parents when they returned home. You shot what with a what? And we thought they were nice boys!

It may have been their final P.E. class with the Johaniks.

You don’t realize how expensive baby food is until your baby, after a number of tries, does not eat it, and you end up either cleaning it off the floor or throwing it away. We’ve tried different fruits, various vegetables, we’ve tried mixing it with rice cereal, tried heating it up, tried it cold. But all Miss Ruth will eat is rice cereal. Call me a bad mom, but I am not buying any more overpriced convenience packs of pureed, watered down fruits and vegetables baby food. Table food is soon forthcoming.

Did I mention that she really likes rice cereal?

That Derek. He’s a good nut.

Ruth paid a visit to her cousins, Hannah and Ellie, the other day. While there, she was taught the fine art of accessorizing.

We know you’re almost here.

Despite 50 degree weather in the forecast, we put the pool up a couple weeks ago. The next day Peter asked for permission to swim in the icy water, and if it weren’t for his two older brothers gasping in shock at the thought, I believe he would have jumped in.

Derek had the dirty job of sweeping out the debris before the water went in.

Meanwhile, we made use of the leftover sand from leveling the base of the pool and made a hole-digging area for Molly sandbox.

The boys’ favorite pastime now is placing WWII German army guys on the top of a sand cliff and causing them to fall off. Boys. Speaking of favorite pastimes, biting fingernails seems to be Jeremy’s lately. I don’t know where he gets that.

This is turning out to be Bubbie week on the blog. He just provides so much material about which to write. It’s like having free entertainment right in our own home! Well. Not exactly free. We do have to feed him. And clothe him. But you know what I mean.

Derek has been teaching the younger boys spanish on the fly. For example, he asks them if they know how to say “dog” in spanish, and when they reply with the obvious “no”, he tells them the word in spanish.

This inspired Jeremy to teach me french this afternoon. Here’s how our conversation went:

Before his naptime, I read to Jeremy about some WWII french plane with lots of letters in the name. I told him it was french, then I pronounced it like a frenchman (i.e. I pronounced 1/3 of the letters).

Jeremy then asked me if I knew how to say “tree” in french. I said the obvious “no”. He said, “It’s ablee”.

I raised my eyebrows impressively and nodded “ohhh”.

Jeremy: “Do you know how to say wall in french?”

Mom: “no”

Jeremy: “It’s odee”

Mom: “ohhh”

Jeremy (looking at Ruthie on my lap): “Do you know how to say Ruth in french?”

Mom: “no”

Jeremy: “It’s addoo-bogu”

Mom (suppressing laughter): “ohhh”

This went on for quite some time. Sure he was probably prolonging the start of his nap, but it was awfully fun.

We have one in the family now.

His inspiration? Guido and Luigi from the movie Cars. On occasion, he even attempts an Italian accent. But he does take his job seriously,

from the uniform

down to the tools.

If you need work done on your wheels,

Bubbie’s your guy.

A certain three year-old in the house keeps us rolling on the floor in laughter much of the time.

I’ll save the story behind this get-up for another time.

Anyway, last week the kids learned a simple phrase about why it’s good to obey. It goes, “Obedience brings blessing, disobedience brings trouble.” This activity was mainly targeted to Jeremy. Did I mention that he’s three? Throughout the day, I would quiz him on the phrase. I’d start, “obedience brings…” and he’d finish, “blessing!”

So I thought we could impress Jim when he came home from work that evening. “Jeremy, let’s tell Dad what you learned today about obedience. Ready? Obedience brings…”

(long pause)

“Trouble” he belted out. I should have known.

We seem to have adopted some boys–three to be exact–who recently moved into the neighborhood. They’re nice boys, which makes it fun having them around.

Their dad is from Columbia, their mom is from Russia, and they moved from Australia. So when they’re over playing with our boys, I have begun to affectionately call our home, the International House of Boys. And then I get a hankering for pancakes.

Derek and Percy check out the fish they caught.

Derek and Peter were teaching the 8 and 9 year-olds how to play some good old American football.

First the teams strategize their plays. Our guys…

…vs. their guys.

They line up at the line of scrimmage.

And have at it.

As much as this smelly-sweaty-boy game warms my heart, what really brings a smile to my face is this:

Fulton, the 12 year-old, brings his homework over in the afternoons while the little brothers are fishing and playing football so that he and Jake can get their work done together.

Some things I have known about my dad since the day I was born, like the fact that he does not dance. Does not dance.

In honor of my parents’ wedding anniversary, I found a video which makes up for years of not dancing at weddings and other functions. I must say, he’s got some pretty good moves (not to mention superb 70’s fashion sense).

These tulips bloomed last year for the first time.

As beautiful as they were, there just seemed to be something missing.

They have bloomed again this year.

Even better than before.

Beautiful.

Throughout our marriage, Jim and I would often laugh at the thought of what a Johanik girl might be like. With four energetic little boys, we assumed a girl would be calm, you know, content to just sit on my lap for hours.

To aid this assumption, people have been asking for twelve years, you must be exhausted running after those boys! Comments like this led me to conclude that if boys are full of energy, then girls must be…not full of energy.

Until Ruthie came along.

Now I know better. She may have a high-pitched squeal and wear pink dresses, but she is every bit as energetic as any one of her brothers. At least so far. I’m sure there will be a day when she will sit with me for hours reading books and doing crafts together–maybe when she’s ten.

Here is what she does in the Bumbo seat. As soon as she starts her escape attempt, I like to ask her what she plans on doing once she does break free.

Truth be told, there are many reasons why I love my boys. But when I look out the window and see this, it just warms my heart. Whittling is such a boy thing.

There’s something about seeing him delight in something so simple–a knife and a stick.

Oh my.

Oh me oh my.

In what seems like the blink of an eye, Jacob Ryan has gone from this (never left home without Mr. Bear)

to this.

After rearranging furniture a few weeks ago, I found an old journal with some funny Jake-isms from when he was five years old. Here is what he looked like:

What better time than a twelfth birthday to share some of these embarrassing precious sayings? When he was nearly six, he confessed his sins to Jesus and asked Jesus to live in his heart. It was an exciting time! It was also a time when I realized that I needed to do a wee bit more teaching on who God is.

“When Jesus comes out of my heart I’m going to ask Him about the planets.”

Derek (age 3): “Jesus lives in my heart”
Jake: “No, Derek, there’s one Jesus (shows 1 finger), and He lives in my heart.”

“Jesus is making my heart bump around.”

Jake was busy fighting all the bad guys around the world and said there were too many and he couldn’t fight them alone.
Mom: “Ask God to help you.”
Jake: (after a long pause) “God can’t help me fight the bad guys. He gots no guns!”

You’ve come a long way, baby! Happy birthday, firstborn; I love you!

After church on Sunday, our family gathered back here for food and fellowship. Everyone brought food, which proved that “many hands make light work”.

As always, the kitchen was the hub of the house.

Auntie Chris and Ruthie. Couldn’t be cuter.

Hannah, Ellie, and Ruthie pose for a picture.

This is what it looked like when they weren’t posing:

Okay, back to posing:

This is actually a rare moment…Little Miss Serious is smiling for the camera.

Before the storms moved in, we were able to capture a shot of all the grandkids.

With grandparents.

Know therefore that the LORD your God is God; he is the faithful God, keeping his covenant of love to a thousand generations of those who love him and keep his commands. (Deuteronomy 7:9)

From Luke 24: On the first day of the week, very early in the morning, the women took the spices they had prepared and went to the tomb. They found the stone rolled away from the tomb, but when they entered, they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus.

While they were wondering about this, suddenly two men in clothes that gleamed like lightning stood beside them. In their fright the women bowed down with their faces to the ground, but the men said to them, “Why do you look for the living among the dead? He is not here; he has risen! Remember how he told you, while he was still with you in Galilee: ‘The Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men, be crucified and on the third day be raised again.’ “Then they remembered his words.

When they came back from the tomb, they told all these things to the Eleven and to all the others. It was Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary the mother of James, and the others with them who told this to the apostles. But they did not believe the women, because their words seemed to them like nonsense. Peter, however, got up and ran to the tomb. Bending over, he saw the strips of linen lying by themselves, and he went away, wondering to himself what had happened.

We celebrate Easter because Jesus Christ conquered death. He died so that we might have life.