The Rambo/Johnston/Gourault Family

Wow - belligerent blogger!

Well, it's been several weeks since I have posted and I am feeling a little bit belligerent!  Especially since a VERY special member of our family has arrived!  On January 16, Rylan Joseph joined the Leese family weighing in at 8 lbs 6 ozs and measuring 21 inches long!  The day he was born, we were fortunate enough to be able to go meet him and snap a few pics of him and Cooper together.  It's so cool that Dave's cousin, Laurie (first pic below holding each other's babies!) had a son, Bryce Edward, two weeks before Cooper and then two weeks after Cooper, Dave's sister had a son!  Boys, boys, boys!  Here are a few pics of our newest family members.  :)

Color Run 5k

Last Saturday a couple of my girlfriends and I "ran" a 5k in Austin - a first for all of us.  We trained, we practiced, we planned.  However, no amount of planning could have prepared us for what we were about to encounter.  I picked Trish up at 6 am and we drove to Austin for a race that was supposed to start "promptly at 9 am."  We met Melanie and Beth at the race site around 7:30 and bundled up for the 40 degree wind chill factor.  We huddled behind a UHaul truck trying to shield ourselves from the biting wind.  We laughed a little, danced a little, and finally realized this was less fun than we imagined.  We surveyed the surroundings and wondered how bad the course would be after the torrential downpour the night before.  

Finally, around 8:45 we saw people start to line up so we followed.  We waited in line with around 6000 of our closest friends and waited and waited and waited.  Every once in a while the crowd would cheer and the masses would surge, but we didn't actually start running until 10:00.  Now, the COLOR RUN advertises "color bursts" at each kilometer marker.  However, the UHaul with the color got stuck in the mud and the wind was taking the color off into who knows where, so it was a bit of a bust.  The course was an absolute JOKE.  Mud.  SO - MUCH - MUD.  There were parts you absolutely COULD NOT RUN.  A lot of the course was uphill and people were losing their shoes in the bog, slipping and falling, and some were just sitting waiting for someone to help them along.  We stayed the course and did the best we could, sometimes running - sometimes walking - sometimes slipping and sliding and trying not to eat it.  

At the end of the race we celebrated for a minute with the other color crazed and mud covered "runners", grabbed a couple of bananas and then decided to head to Chuy's for a well-deserved cheesy, mexicany lunch.  :)  Beth lost her shoes to the mud in the middle of the course and Trish & I both trashed ours.  We cleaned up at the cars as much as we could and stripped off our colored and muddy clothes.  At Chuy's we saw a few other color-splashed diners and had to laugh.  It certainly wasn't what we expected, but we were now part of this little club.  Would we do it again??  Yeah.  Probably so.  :)

Pinterest Ideas #6-10

In case you missed it last week, check out these new, cool ideas for decorating/organizing your home using Pinterest!  101 Ways to do Stuff with Pinterest

Cooper is ONE MONTH old!

It's really hard to believe that a month ago we were at the hospital meeting Cooper.  This little boy just stole our hearts right away with his laid back attitude and chill personality.  Even today, one month later, he's still a sweet little charmer who rarely cries, eats well, sleeps well and is just a pleasure.  He's weighing in just at 10 pounds and we think he might be bigger than Jake!  He's cooing more and more and even flashing us a few smiles now and then.  It's flying by, but we ware just having so much fun getting to know our family of four!!!

Somebody scratched the record :)

We were driving to Houston the other day and Jake was getting bored - he hates mommy's car because there's no TV.  :)  The silver lining?  We got to listed to Jake sing ABCs...over...and over...and over again!  He would get to "Now I know my ABCDEFG..." and just start over.  I think my favorites are "el-o-el-o-p" and "whiney-z."  :)  Poor Cooper - he's going to have to learn to just sleep through this silliness.  :)  I look forward to both boys being back there singing me songs!!

 

Welcome to the family, Cooper!

A week ago, we were just a family of three going about our usually daily business.  Today, we are a family of four counting our many rich blessings!

 

 

 

 

 

 

About 2 months ago, we found out that another birthmother had chosen us.  We kept this information pretty quiet and really only told our families and very close friends.  The baby was expected to be a girl due January 3.  Wellll, on December 30 we found out we were the new parents of a baby...BOY!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Cooper Lee Johnston

December 30, 3:36 pm

7 lbs, 15 ozs., 20 1/2 inches

 

 

 

 

It was a very emotional experience for us with the birthparents, but they were grateful that we can provide the life for Cooper that they dreamed of him having.  We have to trust that this is God's will and we are infinitely blessed by the gifts of two birthmothers.  It is the ultimate sacrifice.

 

 

 

 

 

 

We are settling in at home and everyone is adjusting very well.  More pics to come - lots of introductions and visitors!!!  :)

Johnston Family Christmas

It was a wonderful Johnston family Christmas at the Coon Creek Farm this year complete with fabulous gifts, an amazing meal (thank you Chris & Gayle!) and a nice walk with a bonfire at the end.  We are so, so blessed to have family that we want to spend time with and are so thankful for our family members (and those on the way!)!!  I took over 300 pictures at the farm - it was really hard to narrow it down!  Here is a quick slideshow of some of my favorites...

 

101 Ways to Decorate Your House Using Pinterest (#1-5)

We had some friends over the other night and I found myself saying OVER AND OVER "Pinterest...Pinterest...Oh, Pinterest" every time one of them asked "Where did you get that idea?!"  :)  So, over the next few months I will aspire to use Pinterest to decorate our new home in 101 different ways.  Here is the first installment.  I give you #1-5...

1.  I have always loved the look of Roman shades and I can even use the sewing machine a little bit to make things for around the house. However, I know my limits and I know that Roman shades are difficult and time consuming.  So, when I saw this post on making FAUX ROMAN SHADES, I thought, now that's right up my alley!  The pic on the is the Pinterest post - my rendition is on the right.

 

2. When I saw this idea on Pinterest, I jumped on it right away for Christmas gifts!  The cost of prints + .97 frames from Wal-Mart = a GREAT gift for family!!  Oh, and a great look for my mudroom, too!!  The Flikr site has TONS of each letter - you just pick the combo you like and you're done!  Click here to see for yourself!

 

3. Our new house is fabulous, but the paint colors chosen by the previous owner were awful.  I mean - off the charts terrible.  The worst was our master bedroom - salmon pink.  (Try waking up to that every morning!)  I didn't really know what color I wanted to go until I saw this pic on Pinterest.  Behr Mocha Latte.  Yes, please.

 

 

4. Over the last 10 years or so, I have accumulated roughly a million mismatched photo frames that I can't bring mysely to get rid of.  What to do with these in our beautiful new home?  How to make them look like they are "on purpose" and not a wishywashy mess?!  An art ledge, of course!  $10 in materials, about 30 minutes for Dave to construct, and an hour or so to paint.  Voila!!

 

5. The kitchen in the new house is a little more grown up, a little more sophisticated than our last one.  To just throw the hand soap and dish liquid by the sink didn't feel quite right.  This beautiful alternative not only "churched up" my soaps, but gave me a way to show off a beautiful cake stand that I love!

 

 

Stay tuned for ideas #6-10!  You can also check out my new blog: 101 Ways to do Stuff with Pinterest!

 

Christmas with the Rambo/Williamson Family

Mom, Dad, Kanon, Guillaume and Hunter came to our new house for Christmas this year.  It was a WONDERFUL two days filled with lots of laughs, a trip to the ice cream parlor, an AMAZING raclette dinner, and plenty of FABULOUS gifts for everyone (including a roller coaster, new work gloves, and t-ball set for Jakey!).  Thank you, family, for all of our loot!!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

After all of the gifts had been opened and the wee one had been put to bed, the adults had some fun and even played some silly holiday games.  It really was a PERFECT family holiday!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

We also went to Beaumont to see Maw and Gran and have a nice family lunch.  Jake had a blast playing outside with a little broom and the gumballs.  :)  ANd he's no stranger to giving sugar - he gave his Great Gran a sweet little Christmas kiss!  We love you, Williamson Family!!!  Thank you Maw and Gran for a yummy lunch and the sweet gifts!

Jake's many bath time faces...

At the farm last weekend, Mimi and I were giving Jake a bath and we couldn't stop laughing at all of his faces!  Jake is definitely an animated child.  He was making a HUGE mess, but we couldn't help it - I had to snap a few pics of his silly mug.  :)