Introducing a New Beginning ...

I've been ruminating for some time. 

I loved this blog.

I love to click through the old links and looking at our life in China. 

... Remembering the places we visited, the emotions we felt. 

I wanted to keep blogging here, and hoped to capture our repatriation experience in the same space. But I had a hard time processing our repatriation process and writing about it in real time.

I turned to Facebook, but it seemed shallow by comparison.  I could post pictures, but not really tell the story. 

So I let the old blog lie fallow. 

Until this hit me ... 

It's time for a new space for our new time. 

This "Old blog" will always be there as a reminder and tapestry of those sweet days in Asia ... An intact accounting of our life in China.

The "New Blog" will feature what we are up to now ... @ the Bungalow, in the Backyard and places Beyond.

Come check us out 

And see what the repatriated Johnson's are 

up to in the Midwest!

Introducing ::

Life at The Bungalow ... a multi-tabbed blog telling a new tale

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Happy 11th to EHJ!

Breakfast in Bed is our tradition.

The brekkie was a little lack luster this year ... 

not even a fruit on the tray.

But, it was her request ... 

a bagel with cream cheese and a glass of eggnog 

(dusted with cinnamon).

I simply look the other way when I read the ingredients list of the eggnog carton. 

It's laden with corn syrup, and doesn't expire until February

 (shouldn't a milk product be slightly more perishable than that?) 

But, it's her favorite beverage, and fun to be a little indulgent!

A Little Sisterly Love

Even the thirteen-year-old, who sometimes needs a gentle reminder that the world does not revolve her,

needed no such reminder today. 

She bought and paid for a sweet little shirt for her sister, 

wrapped it, included a thoughtful card, a touch of humor and a favorite candy.

Her little sister has been thoughtfully choosing and saving
The Birthday Girl's favorite chocolates.

Last night, in seven-year-old style,

she dumped them from the bottom of her backpack

 and tucked them into a gift bag, along with a dinosaur stencil.

To her credit, 

The Birthday Girl gave equal time and appreciation 

to each of her sister's very different gifts.

{I love our girls!} 

On Being a Tweenager

She requested a hoodie from abercrombie kids this year.

As I stood in line after navigating a series of dimly lit rooms, in the loud, 

dark, cologne filled store, with underage cashiers ...

I promised myself two things :: 

next time I would buy online (even if shipping was $10), 

and 

I would let her enter into this new age gracefully  ... 

I will not rush her to the next stage of life, 

neither will I wish her to remain in world of Hanna Andersson.

{And when she the other gift she wants
 is a Dr Suess t shirt,

 I will rejoice,

 and order it on-line, 

and be glad that she's not yet completely moved on!}

Where Did the Baby Go?

Last night our younger two girlies piled into my bed to read a chapter of Little Town on the Prairie, a luxury often squeezed out on week night evenings because of basketball or homework. 
(We finally arrived at the chapter where Laura gets to ride in Almonzo Wilder's new buggy, behind his beautiful Morgan horses, and they, gasp, exchange name cards! It was a moment we've been waiting several books for! Everyone knows Laura will eventually marry the Farmer Boy from New York introduced in third installment of the series, in his very own book even; but it seems an awfully long time coming ... all the while we've grown more attached to the "young Wilder" who saves DeSmett from starvation. We've also been ponderinghow Laura would navigate this relationship despite his mean and bossy old sister, who made Laura's life at school so miserable.)
While snuggled, I nodded toward the chubby cherib on my wall and asked, "Hey, where did that baby go?"
"Mom," my middle (who would turns eleven today) replied evenly, "You make me feel bad about getting older."



I don't want to maker her feel bad. And I told her that. But really, how did she become eleven ... nearly overnight?

A Night @ the Movies

Next week our middle turns 11.
Tomorrow her fifth grade classmates are coming over to help her celebrate.
Here are some of the preparations we've made for the event ...
































{Our biggest challenge will be squeezing fourteen tweenage bodies into the limited real estate of our basement family room area!}
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Christmas time is here ...

Autumn Recap

{Halloween 2012}

{Pumpkin Farm with the Johnson Fam}

{election eve}

It's the eve of the 2012 election, and I think most people feel relieved that the negative ads and constant footage of the candidates will be largely finished in about 24 hours.


I happened upon an article today about the change of power happening in Beijing this month as well. Foreign journalists are being offered tours of model Chinese companies, have been gifted with beige press caps and back packs bearing strange Chinglish directions for use. But, the journalists are getting very little in the way of actual hard news on the passing of the leadership baton in within the PRC's communist party.


I find the contrast so striking.


for more on what's unknown in Beijing ::
http://world.time.com/2012/11/05/searching-for-news-journalists-covering-chinas-leadership-transition-get-hats-instead/


For more on US politics ::
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your computer
your smart phone
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