Life Lately....

Since the girls started kindergarten, life has been a hectic blur of whork, school, dance, gymnastics, soccer, children's musical practice - it never stops! This crazy schedule is also part of the reason why I haven't been a good blogger lately!

The girls are really thriving in kindergarten. I was nervous about putting them in separate classes, but their unique personalities are really starting to shine! Lacie is quite the eager reader and loves all things school-related, including homework; while Leslie tends to get frustrated and wants to go play after a few attempts at sounding out a word. In soccer, Leslie makes more goals than Lacie, but Lacie never stops running.... Every day when I pick them up from school, they have tons of stories to tell about the day - from what they did in enrichment, to who they played with at recess - which is usually not each other, to what so-and-so said in the cafeteria. I am loving being a mom of school-age children!

I'll close with a few pictures. For Halloween, Leslie was Princess Amidala from Star Wars, and Lacie was a cheetah. This is the first time they have been somthing different for Halloween, but they picked out their own costumes! They also recently dressed up for the 50th Day of School Celebration and sock hop. They were precious in their poodle skirts!

Not that things have any chance of slowing down any time soon, but I'm really going to try to be better about updating!

Let's Play Catch Up!

Yes, I'm still alive! I know it's been a long time since I've blogged, but I promise to try to do better! Since my last post, here's what's been going on:

I took the girls to their first concert in June - we went to see the Jonas Brothers in the new Cowboys Stadium in Dallas. They were in awe!

In July, we took our annual beach vacation with the Byrd family. Instead of going to Gulf Shores, AL like we usually do, this year we ventured even farther to Myrtle Beach, SC. It was a 15 hour drive, but it wasn't that bad since we stopped half way in Atlanta to spend the day at Six Flags over Georgia!

Also, the girls have started kindergarten! They attend school at University Elementary, and for the first time ever they are in different classes. I was a little anxious about this at first, but it has worked out nicely - and I always have twice the stories when they come home from school. Here are some pictures from their first day:

Lacie and Leslie with the crossing guard - Del insisted on this picture, but it's one of everybody's favorites!

Johnson Family on the 1st day!

Leslie and her teacher, Mrs. Quinn

Lacie and her teacher, Mrs. Oathout

They are really enjoying being in kindergarten. They have come home with tales of recess, new friends, songs they've learned in music, and so far the only complaint is that Leslie says naptime is boring! They are both getting good reports from their teachers every day, but apparently they each are pretty talkative.....they get it honestly!

After one week, Leslie got in "trouble" for breaking rule 2 which is something to do with following directions and talking. Her excuse was that it was Monday; she hadn't been to school all weekend, so she forgot she wasn't supposed to talk in line. Lacie's excuse for talking is, "I can't help it. I just talk, talk, talk. I love it! Talking's my thing!"

As the school year progresses, I am really going to try to keep up with the blog. I know it's the only way many of you get to see and hear about the girls!

Swim Team

I know it's been a while since I've blogged, but we've had quite an eventful summer! For starters, Lacie and Leslie have been on the Elks Club Swim Team! When the summer started, they could just barely swim from me or Del to the side wall of the pool, but they have become quite the little swimmers. Now, they can swim all the way from one side of the pool to the other (the long way) in any depth of water! They love to jump off the diving board and swim to the ladder. This has been the first summer that I don't HAVE to get in when I take them swimming. I usually still get in to play with them, but there have been a few times where I have been lucky enough to read my book on the side of the pool!

Swim team does have its drawbacks: practice was every day, Monday through Friday at 7:30 IN THE MORNING! Luckily, the girls were on the team with their friends, so every now and then we would carpool to practice. Over the course of June, the girls really improved in their swimming. During the 1st meet, they were both nearly 1:40 in the 25 meter freestyle race - complete with holding the lane rope during the swim. Eventually they made it much closer to the minute mark! I always think it's neat how the girls switch off at what they are good at; Lacie usually beat Leslie in the freestyle races, but Leslie beat Lacie in backstroke. They were still usually coming in last in their heats at the swim meets, but they were the only first-year swimmers in their age groups who were competing, so I think they did great!

Here are a few pics from one of their swim meets:

Getting ready for one of the races




This one is of Leslie getting ready to swim the backstroke.

Lacie swimming freestyle. One of my favorite things was her expression! Everytime they would come up for a breath, they had the biggest grins on their faces- they loved to hear people cheering them on!

Leslie swimming backstroke

I Know, I Know...

It's been a long time since I've blogged... I know it. Life just got busy! When I logged on tonight, I couldn't believe it's been over a month since I've gotten on!


Snickers has adjusted well to our family. She is still a very calm dog, but she does get excited from time to time... usually when we get home, when we feed her, and when she gets to go outside "to chase those squirrels".


The girls graduated from Elizabetta Renzi's. The next time they go to school, they will be in kindergarten! Here is a picture of them in their caps and gowns; I know it's not the greatest picture, but it's still cute:



Here's one with most of the kids in their class:



And finally, one of our family:






Since school got out, the girls have joined swim team. They have practice every morning at 7:30 for the month of June. It's definitely a chore to get there every morning, but they are becoming quite the little fish. My camera has been in the shop getting fixed, so I am short on pictures, but hopefully I will have some soon.

Leslie's Tooth

About a week ago, Leslie lost her 2nd tooth! Del and I were gone to the Campus Federal Credit Union Member's dinner and Del's parents were watching the girls, and several minutes after they put them to bed, Leslie came out holding her tooth! I knew it was loose, but I didn't know it was that loose! She said she was wiggling it back and forth in her mouth, and it just came out.


Her top two teeth are wiggly, but just barely. I don't think we'll having anymore visits from the tooth fairy for a while!

Play Time at the Park

The girls love to go to the "purple park," which is the AC Steere park. During nice weather, we try to go a couple of times a week, so today after school we took the girls and the dog to the park. Aside from playing on the equipment, they like to "climb" the trees. The trees aren't that old, so there's not much of them to climb, but if you were to ask the girls, they are regular monkeys!


a


Lacie can even climb unassisted! She climbs up and hangs like she is doing in the above picture, and wiggles and pulls her way up till she is standing like she is doing in the picture at the top.

Also, I overheard this conversation between Lacie and Del tonight at the park:

L - Daddy, what are those big things over there hanging from that dog's booty?
D - Those are called testicles.
L - Testicles? What are those?
D - Those are something that only boy dogs have.

Sigh.... I was hoping my child would be a bit older when she learned the word testicle. At least the conversation didn't go any further!

A New Addition to Our Family

Our family has a new addition! Introducing Snickers Johnson:
My week did not begin thinking we would be getting a dog. However, on Friday we came home and there was a puppy hanging around our front yard. It didn't have a collar on, so we put it in our back yard and took pictures intending to put up Found Dog flyers. Leslie immediately asked if the puppy could be named Princess Gabriella Johnson. Not knowing how long "Princess" would be with us (until we could find her owners), we went to WalMart to get a leash and collar and dog food. When we got home, we found out our next door neighbors had just gotten the puppy a few days earlier and she escaped. When they took her home, the girls cried and asked if they could get a real dog that could stay with them forever. So on Saturday, we went to PetCo because it was Pet Adoption Day. Snickers was the only small-ish dog they had. All the rest were big, loud, jumpy dogs. Lacie is afraid of any dog that jumps, so they were all out of the question.
Snickers' papers say she is 3-5 years old (although the vet thinks she is closer to 2), she came already house-trained, and she has had all of her shots. They only drawback is that she hasn't been spayed yet, but I already have an appointment to get that taken care of. She is the MOST LAID BACK dog I have ever seen in my life. Seriously. When we leave her to go to work during the day, she sits on the couch. She is there when Del comes home for lunch, and she gets up to greet me when I get home from work. After I take her outside, she comes back to her spot. Unless you are actively holding her or petting her, she is resting. I even asked the vet if she was sick since she was so inactive, but he said shouldn't complain about having a dog that was "too good"! She doesn't bark, she doesn't chew - she is perfect! All she wants is to be loved - and the girls are excellent at that! She sits and lets them pet her, brush her hair, and lay with her. Even Del - who once swore we weren't ever having an inside dog - likes Snickers!

She is Truly Her Mother's Daughter

Anyone who knows me well, knows I can't go a single day without Perez Hilton, my celebrity gossip know-it-all. I pride myself on being up to date with the goings on of all people of entertainment. Well, just last week, we were watching TV and a video came on of Barack Obama. I was curious to see if my children knew who the President was, so I asked, "Lacie, do you know who that is?" Lacie glanced at the TV, looked at me with raised eyebrows and said, "Ummm... Chris Brown?!?" Hopefully, you know what Barack Obama looks like, but just in case you don't....


Chris Brown, who has most recently been in the news for beating his fellow pop star girlfriend, Rihanna, looks like this:
I guess I can see the resemblance....... Last year, Chris Brown guest-starred on an episode of one of the girls' favorite shows, The Suite Life of Zack and Cody, so I'm really hoping that's where Lacie knows him..... but my friends are not surprised. My daughter does not recognize her president, but she does recognize a pop star - and a notorious one at that!

Johnson Family Stage Debut

Since February, Lacie and Leslie have been going to rehearsal on Sunday evenings for our church's first children's musical in many years - Pirates of the I Don't Care-ibbean. For two months, we went to rehearsals, listened to the music CD in the car, and practiced, practiced, practiced! This past Sunday, April 26th was the performance! Lacie and Leslie had a small "solo" that they shared, and for the rest of the time, stood in the choir singing the songs. Del even had a part! He played Johnny Bay, a baseball player who saves the game at the end. He had 4 whole lines, but LOVED being in the play. The staged area where the musical was didn't have very good lighting, so the pictures turned out dark, but the ones we took after were cute! Check out my theatrical family:

Trip to the Tyler Zoo

On Wednesday of this week, some friends and I took our kids to the Tyler Zoo. Between the 4 moms, we had 8 children between the ages of 10 and 3.

About 15 minutes after we got their, ever graceful Lacie fell and skinned both of her knees. My friend with the 2 year old brought her umbrella stroller, but Hunter didn't want to sit in it, so Lacie claimed it made her knees feel better to be pushed. She spent about 75% of her time at the zoo in the stroller. Miraculously, she was able to walk anytime she couldn't see and wanted to walk closer!

The highlight of the zoo trip was the bird part. If you've never been to the Tyler Zoo, they have this big atrium with all kinds of little birds. You have to pay $1 for a tongue depressor coated in syrup and bird seed, then you feed it to the birds. Each of the girls "caught" a bird on their seed stick. All was well until one of the birds "stepped" on Leslie's finger, which prompted her to drop the seed stick and the bird.


Lacie and Leslie are definitely like their mother in that they don't like to spend too much time at each exhibit. They looked at the animal, and were immediately ready to move to the next thing. While the rest of our group spent their time watching, Lacie would always ask, "Can we go to the next thing now?". At the zoo, they gave us maps that had pictures of the animals along the trail. Apparently on the map, there was a picture of an anteater, because no matter where we went in the zoo, Leslie would ask when we were going to see the anteater. Finally, we saw it. We ended the zoo trip with the petting zoo part, where the girls got to pet goats.
We had a GREAT time at the zoo. The weather was beautiful - not hot at all - and the girls had fun with their friends.

Easter Pics

This past week has been a nice week, with Easter and Spring Break all rolled into one. During the week before Easter, we had FIVE (that's right - 5) Easter Egg hunts to attend, one of which was at our church. Here are some pictures:

Here is one of all of us together:

In addition to the Easter Egg hunt, our church also had some craft stations and a cake walk. The girls each won a cake! Lacie won first - on her first turn - then Leslie wanted to stay and go again, and she won next! Here are the girls with the cakes they chose:

That night, the girls and I dyed Easter Eggs. They really had fun choosing which colors to dye their eggs.

On Easter morning, they were very excited to find the baskets the Easter bunny left them. They each got a jump rope, some playing cards, a notebook and a glittery pen, some sidewalk chalk, and some markers. Then they went outside to find the eggs the Easter bunny hid.

After a long morning of playing with our Easter treats, we went to church. The girls dressed in their new dresses we had been saving since they received them from their aunt for their birthday.