Never a Dull Moment The Johnson-McCormick Family Blog ~

Today I picked the kids up from school in order to get them home sooner (sooner than taking the bus), to get homework done early, in order for us to attend a dinner event at Lehigh. It was a beautiful day and they were all in such great moods as they hopped into my car in the school pick-up line. I was in desperate need of coffee, so we stopped at Dunkin Donuts on the way home. I let them each pick out a special treat/drink — Owen & Kyle picked Sprite, and Meera picked chocolate milk. I still haven’t quite gotten used to the uniforms– they still look so striking to me– and I had to snap this photo as we walked out to the car.

My parents visited for the weekend. When they visit it is tempting to try to keep them all to ourselves and to hoard their time for just us. But it is also nice for them to really know our friends and ‘do’ life with right along with us. So, this visit I planned a big day for us Saturday — a Lehigh football game (vs. UNH no less!), with a big tailgate party afterwards. I invited a bunch of our family friends (Uhrigs, Kishore-Famolaris, Carolina & Ashley, Beverlee & Corey), as well as a few of my favorite football players to make guest appearances! We had so much fun with them all, and it was so nice to have my parents so central to it. It was a short visit but they got a big dose of our life, and we got to have them with us for a fun-packed weekend. Oh!– and they got to meet Dash too!  My parents’ visits are always so special, and it means so much that they make these long trips to spend time with us. Photo above: MorMor & MorFar at the tailgate party.

We also had the pleasure of a visit from our dear friend Greg (a former student of mine who has become a family friend), who brought his boyfriend for us to meet. This was so special for me, as I’ve waited years for him to find someone special enough that he’d want to bring him to meet me! I loved his choice of a great guy, and was just so happy to see and support these two so happy together. We had bagels and mimosas with them Saturday morning, and then went to the game together. I can’t express how honored I am, and how much it means to me, to have students come back wanting me to meet their significant others. Especially students who were, and are, so special to me. These moments are just profoundly sweet; they are one of the greatest joys of my job and life. Photo below: Garrett, me, Greg.

How to volley a volleyball.

How to tie shoes.

Waiting for the bus, under an apple tree.

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Playing with Meera.

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Running as fast as he can, to go greet Owen.

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Sunday we hosted a brunch for our neighbors in Sayre. We started the tradition of once-a-semester brunches last year. The students catch on quick that there is good food at our brunches! The food used to be the big draw…

…but now… now our universe has slightly shifted… and now Dash is the big draw…

Everyone wants to hold the puppy. He was literally held, non-stop, for the entire 2.5 hours of the open-house-brunch. And trust me, I’m not the only one taking pictures of students holding Dash. The iPhones are a’clicking just about non-stop.

The bambinos love these brunches because they get to have everyone over to play…

…and hang out…

…and just enjoy a Sunday with our favorite students as everyone heads into a new week. (This week at Lehigh is “4 o’clocks” — i.e., the first round of exams — so it was especially good timing for our brunch. The stress level around these parts is running pretty high right about now.)

At least once a week we feed the kids something simple for supper (and Braydon and I find something to eat later, after they’ve gone to bed), because we sometimes just cannot manage to get a real family dinner on the table in time. Between double work, and triple school, and a lot of homework, and everything else, as probably most families know all too well, pulling off a sit-down-family-meal is oftentimes practically impossible. Tonight was one of those nights. Homework was done, K & O were playing basketball in the hallway with Jon — as usual (they literally play every single day), and Meera was hanging out playing, while Braydon and I were scurrying to pull together a quick and easy meal for the kids.

Very spur of the moment, we invited Jon in to eat with them (as in, I shouted out our doorway into the hall: “Jon, do you want to eat mac-n-cheese with the kids?”). It was just mac-n-cheese… however… 1) mac-n-cheese is still K,O,M’s all-time favorite meal, and 2) Jon was just thrilled it wasn’t his usual can-of-spaghettiO’s-for-dinner. These four were just so happy to be sitting there eating that mac-n-cheese together. I could not get over the goodness of it all. Note: Jon is our Head Gryphon this year. We all absolutely adore this guy. The bambinos, especially, are just head-over-heels for him.

This photo is just a snapshot, but it captures the moment perfectly. We are living a very unique family lifestyle, and there are challenges and joys to it. The moment in this photo represents one of the greatest joys.

It is Meera’s turn to learn to read.

She’s just beginning.

I took these yesterday– exciting moments for a lazy Sunday morning.

Not sure who is prouder of the emerging reader: Meera herself, or her doting brothers.

I snapped these with my iPhone just as I got the kids home from school today… so they aren’t the greatest pics… but they definitely convey the idea: ‘Home From School!’ is a very exciting time around here these days — for Dash and the bambinos both. Reunited at last, after a long day apart! There is nothing quite like a kid (or kids) with their dog. And there is nothing quite like a dog with his best playmates.

I thought kids were a big hit on campus. And they most definitely are. But puppies…. my oh my! A puppy takes it to a whole new level.

So far, Dash has not left Sayre. But it has been nice weather, so we’ve been outside at Sayre a lot in the past three days. Dash has met a lot of students already, and a lot of students have fallen head-over-heels for Dash already. I’m pretty sure that Dash is well on his way to being the most popular guy on campus.

We got a puppy! His name is Dash!

He is a 13-week-old cockapoo. We are in love!

We picked him up — from the farm where he was bred & born — on Saturday at noon. It was a 3-hour drive, round-trip. We had narrowed the name down by the time we headed out that day. Meera was set on “Lightening Dust.” Kyle and Owen wanted it to be “Rainbow Dash.” Braydon and I decided it would be “Lightening Dash,” hoping that “Dash” would stick. And stick it did. Nobody has mentioned the lightening part since seeing him. He is Dash Johnson-McCormick. Here are some shots from the drive home:

We arrived, introduced Dash to our home and to Lehigh…

…and then, after much playtime and overstimulation, he promptly fell asleep.

…on Kyle’s lap. Which was a dream-come-true for our Ky Ky (who has never been a fan of cats, and has long wanted a dog). Kyle kept saying, “Is this a dream? Am I dreaming? Seriously, this is a dream, right? Do I really have a dog? Is this our dog? Is this really happening? This is the perfect dog. How did we get such a perfect dog?”

Later that night, once we had the bambinos in bed, Braydon and I celebrated our 12th wedding anniversary with sushi, a movie, and our very first, brand-new, puppy. Now, that was a dream-come-true. (How long do you think it will be before Dash no longer sleeps with his head just a couple of inches away from sushi, without even attempting to taste one morsel of it?)

(Note: that night was not a dream-come-true. Braydon and I were up all night long with a crying, whining Dash baby spending his first night in his crate. Yes, we are crate training. No, we didn’t give in to him that night. Yes, we were exhausted the entire next day. No, crate training is not easy.)

But the best dream-come-true is seeing Dash become part of our family. This is why we finally broke down and decided to get a dog:

Friday was Spirit Day for the bambinos’ new school. I can’t get over how much they (the bambinos) have already attached themselves to this place. I went to the pep rally in the afternoon before school ended. I wanted to see what it was all about. And I wanted to see how K, O, and M acted there. Getting verbal reports from them that school is “great” is different than actually being able to see them there, and seeing how they behave there. I was blown away by how true to themselves, and at home, the three of them were. They are working super hard (the academic work is much more challenging than their previous school), but they are holding their own and doing just great. Switching schools was a huge decision for us. So, it felt really good to see K, O, and M on Friday — really in their element — really happy, and really authentically them. The school mascot is a cougar (named “Paws”), and the school color is red. You’d think the bambinos had been going there their whole lives given their level of school pride.

Last night I had my late class (a graduate seminar I teach 4-7pm on Thursdays), so I was getting home around 7:15. As soon as I approached the main door of our building, I could see through the glass that something WILD & CRAZY was going on. As soon as I cracked open the door, I could hear something WILD & CRAZY going on. This is what I came home to: a ruckus and rowdy game of hallway dodge ball.

This is a new one. Our Head Gryphon, Jon, is the main instigator, but if truth be told, it is a whole bunch of guys in our dorm who are responsible for teaching our three children (yes, all three of them; Meera is very much a part of it) this new insane game. They form teams, congregate on opposite ends of the hallway, and then go absolutely nuts pounding balls as hard as they can at each other, attempting to pelt each other from each end of the hall. It is the loudest I’ve ever heard our dorm (ever — like, including the rowdiest of weekends). It is incredibly crazy to watch — especially given the multi-age character of the players.

They’ve been playing it a lot, but last night was super intense. All of them (young and old) were sweating up a storm by the time it got broken up by Braydon yelling (at the top of his lungs in order to have them hear him over their own volume), “BEDTIME!” The younger set then went to get ready for bed. The older set went to get ready to study. I don’t know who was dreading which more: the bedtime or the study-time.

Dorm Hall Dodge Ball. Craziness.

They asked me to take this picture before school yesterday morning, right after they discovered that they had all three chosen matching uniforms!