Johnny #10

Johnny is 10!!!!!! 

Our oldest boy has really grown and changed this past year. He is growing like a weed, finished his 3rd grade year strong and has developed an even stronger love for animals. His "old soul" personality makes us so happy and we are so thankful God chose us to be his! 

Here's a little bit about Johnny:

• Third grade had quite a few difficult challenges. Thankfully, he would talk through them with us and that helped him navigate the year. Academically he did great but was pretty challenged. He learned a lot about his learning style and how hard he needs to work to maintain good grades and we are so proud that he finished off the year with all A's and great scores on his characteristic traits!
• Johnny is still a typical boy when it comes to academic things....he can read very well, he can write well, and he does a great job at math, but most of the time, he just doesn't want to do any of it. And he will rush through his work quickly just to be done. He struggles a bit with spelling but found out that actually studying the words and working on them helps so much. He doesn't enjoy homework at all and will do anything possible to not do it. He literally will do anything else before homework. 
• He is still a "protector"...if anybody messes with his brother, they better watch out.....if someone is messing with his sister, he's gonna let them know.....if someone is giving his best buddy Simon a hard time, Johnny is all over it! 
• He has a long "fuse"....but when his fuse reaches the end, you are definitely going to know it. He can get pretty angry. 
• He still says he's not getting married when he's grown up. His plan is to have a dog and be a police officer. Although, he did develop a crush on a cute 3rd grade girl for most of the year, so his plans may change at some point. :) 
• He has an "old man soul" ....his elaborate, monotone stories are the best and he just fits right in with the retired crowd. He can tell a story like the best of them.....giving you all of the tiniest details.  
• His belly laugh will make anyone laugh and is one of the very best sounds EVER
• He can take just about anything apart and will! He loves figuring out how things work...which usually results in taking things apart.
• He is the absolute happiest when he is riding a tractor, 4 wheeler or lawn mower and loves them even more if he can drive by himself. He is really wanting a mini-bike, but we have said "no" on that at least for now. We purchased a used 4wheeler this past year and he has spent a ton of time on it. He has even started mowing the yard by himself!
• He can hear a sound from any vehicle and 9 times out of 10 can identify what it is (motorcycle, truck, train, firetruck, bus, etc.)
• He does not like to disappoint adults and it crushes him if he thinks someone is upset with him. 
• Johnny and Winston have a special bond. If Johnny is happy, Winston is there. When Johnny is sad or sick, Winston is there and Johnny immediately feels better when Winston comes around. They also get each other super excited and rowdy! Johnny has been a huge help with Winston....helping feed him, take him outside, gather toys, etc. etc. 
• If he's not really good at something, he easily gets discouraged. If he gets mad about something, he shuts down and needs some time to regroup. 
• He will play with pretty much anyone, but playing with his best buddy Simon is his favorite.
• Johnny is still pretty introverted but has learned how to manage it really well. He would rather be home by himself instead of with a crowd of people out and about somewhere. If he does go out and is around a bunch of people/in a group doing something fun, he is fine during the event but then wants to come home and retreats to his room to play with legos or transformers. 
• His favorite shows are: Bluey, Big City Greens and Star Wars
• His favorite movies: Transformers, Tron, Guardians of the Galaxy and Star Wars
• Clothing sizes range from 8-12 and his feet are size 4 or 5 depending on the shoe
• Johnny loves to help out....it doesn't matter what it is, he will happily help you with it! He has continued helping me in the kitchen as often as possible (dishes are his favorite but he loves to help cook too) and really has enjoyed helping John in the barn with the garden, lawn mower, etc. 
• Johnny absolutely LOVES breakfast! He will eat a large breakfast then not eat much for lunch or dinner. We've kind of started forcing him to eat through the day though because he's not real good at recognizing that he is hungry until he is "hangry". 
• His favorite food for breakfast is frozen blueberry waffles (or the twice a year donut-blueberry or apple fritter), for lunch he likes peanut butter and jelly, pizza rolls, a ham sandwich or chic fil a nuggets and for dinner he will usually eat a variety of things wether its pasta, hot dogs, spaghetti, rice, tacos, or pancakes...For snacks he really likes cheez-it and one of his favorite meals at any time is Scrambled Egg Sandwich. He's also still loving Pepsi/coke/fanta. He will almost always choose a fruity dessert/sugar cookie over chocolate. He will try ANYTHING! His favorite thing to cook is ramen noodles.
• He sleeps really well...he is usually in bed around 8:00 and will sleep all night. If he doesn't sleep through the night, he comes into our room and snuggles--he is the best snuggler! His stuffed lovie "Douglas" is still a favorite and he loves to line up his legos on his nightstand just before getting into bed.  
• He is our early riser....he is usually the first one up. He likes to have two ZBars or poptarts if they are in the pantry, while he sits in the recliner and watches a show until it's time to eat his actual breakfast and get ready for the day. If for some reason he doesn't get this alone time, he can be pretty grumpy. 
• His favorite books are: Dog Man, Hatchet, Holes, Bad Guys and Investi-gator. Graphic novels are his favorite!
• When he wants to (as with all kids)....Johnny follows a set of instructions very well and is usually very compliant with what he's been asked to do
• One of his favorite times is when mama comes home from the grocery store with bags of food....he is really good at helping me get the bags out of the car and carry them inside 
• He still loves to wear a hat and he pretty much lives in Under Armour clothes. Even on sundays to church he is in under armour clothes.
• He truly loves Mellany and Charlie and plays with them very well. He wants to do anything Mellany is doing and loves showing Charlie the "ropes". He and Charlie really play well together and do all things "boys".
• He has really great manners and is very helpful to others-holding doors open, letting others go first, bringing things to people, etc.
• When Johnny does mess up and it requires punishment we typically only have to take away technology time or send him to bed 10 minutes early and the behavior is corrected. He really dislikes being in trouble and disappointing adults. 
• His favorite song right now is just about anything by Imagine Dragons, Metallica and Kane Brown.
• Johnny absolutely loves his chickens! He currently has 11....7 from the original flock we purchased last year (we gave Spike to the neighbor down the road) and then we just hatched 4 chicks. He checks on them all throughout the day, makes sure they are fed and watered, lets them in and out of the coop, gets the eggs, etc etc. He really enjoys having them! 
• Playing the Nintendo switch, iPad and playstation are things he really loves!! And he is honestly pretty good at them (he almost always beats John and I). But, we do have to limit the amount of time he plays on them because when he plays, he is "all in" and it is hard to come back to "reality".
• When Johnny is zoned in on something, he literally hears nothing else....it can definitely be a good thing, but also can be very "trying"
• Legos are one of Johnny's favorite things to do (besides video games). He could sit and put together a lego set all day long if he wanted to 
• Johnny really enjoyed playing flag football again this past year and wants to play tackle in the fall. We've told him that will have to wait so we are looking into some sort of shooting sports competition. He still loves ninja class but is getting pretty bored taking the same class for several years now. He has also said this is his last season of baseball so we are looking forward to him trying something new in the spring! 
• Johnny really has enjoyed 4H this year. He is in the shooting sports project and had a blast with it. Shooting the shotgun was his favorite. He was hoping to show his chickens, but since their feathers don't look great, he will just be able to show the eggs. He's also doing a model project that he's really excited about. 

10 Year Wellness Exam

 Weight: 62 pounds

Height: 4' 6.2"

Johnny's exam was another great one that I will forever be grateful for! Dr. Fahler asked Johnny questions about his eating, friends, school, sports, chickens, technology habits, etc. and Johnny answered every question really well. We were in and out of the office in no time at all! So thankful for Johnny's health and that he is happy and active. 

Birthday Celebration

Johnny really wanted to go back to top golf for his birthday, so that's what we did. He wanted to invite Simon, but said we also couldn't leave out Charlotte. Gammy was still in town from our Naples, FL trip/yearly visit, so she was able to come too (which was great because she had never been!)

We spent two hours golfing and eating and celebrating our Johnny and it was such a great time! 

Gammy even won the first round!

Johnny's cake request: a chicken cookie cake. The bakery said they had never had a chicken birthday cake request before. :) 

While his celebration was a few days after, he opened his presents on his actual birthday. Lots of air rifles and supplies, a Gabb watch from us, a playstation5 controller, a hatchet and a lego set. Talk about one happy boy!

Happy 10th Birthday Johnny!!!!! 

We're praying it's your best year yet!!!