Christmas Day 2008

Christmas morning, the girls actually slept in till 8:00. We had a minor catastrophe right at bedtime. Leslie got out of her bed, tripped on a pillow on the floor, and hit her face on the board on the side of Lacie's bed. She had a nice nosebleed and a swollen lip, which you should look for in the photos! Needless to say, we were all pretty keyed up, so they didn't get to sleep on time. However, once they woke up, we made a beeline for the presents!
As promised, Santa brought the drums with cymbals and drumsticks and the pink microphone! Notice the tornado that hit my living room this morning!

For lunch, we headed over to my parents house, where we opened presents and ate!

Lacie and her new bike.

The girls posing in their new HSM outfits!

Leslie with her new Cabbage Patch doll. The dolls are still as cute as I remember, but have hideously awful names - Lacie's is Pauline Sherri and Leslie's is Bethel Kristi! Of course, Cabbage Patch dolls come with a pre-printed birth certificate, so the names have to stick.

"Climbing" a tree outside

Sleeping in their new Disney Princess sleeping bags

Of course, Christmas was a success. Tomorrow, we are headed to see "GranNanny," my grandmother, and the girls' only living great-grandmother. I'll post an update when we return sometime next week!

Christmas Eve 2008

This year, we spent Christmas Eve with Del's family. His parents came over that afternoon, and we went with them to a family friend's house. They say a picture is worth a 1,000 words, so this blog will be mostly pictures.Their dress-up Barbie heads

Leslie "reading" the instructions

Their "High School Musical" stage

Me and my girls :-)

All dressed in Christmas gowns about to wait for Santa!

Roller Skating Party

Last Sunday, Lacie and Leslie went to their friend Maggie's birthday party at a local roller skating rink. It was the first time in probably 2 years that they had been on roller skates, which proved to be quite an experience! I must say, that usually Lacie is the more timid of my my two children, and Leslie is much more adventurous, but Lacie took off once she had the roller skates on and did great! Leslie required a little more help and hand holding. The day was not without our fair share of falls, but I am glad to say that the less than graceful Johnsons escaped without any major injury or broken bones!

Lacie and Maggie
Daddy skating with his girls
Lacie turned falling into a posing opportunity.
"Spin me around like a dancer!"Leslie and Maggie
Lacie skating and posing.... again

Byrd's Community Christmas

In case you didn't know, I teach at C. E. Byrd High School, and every year we host Community Christmas. It's on a Friday morning, and kindergartners from all over the parish come to our school where they go around to different booths, make crafts, and see Santa Claus. It's a great outreach for Byrd, and the hundreds of kids who attend love it.
Even though they're not in kindergarten yet, Lacie and Leslie have gotten to attend for the past two years. Here are some photos:


They even got to meet Dorothy! Byrd's Drama department is performing "The Wizard of Oz" in January, so Dorothy was there to advertise. Here they are being interviewed with Dorothy for K-BYRD, our broadcast journalism show.
Of course, the favorite was Santa Claus. One of the children in attendance was overheard saying, "They have the real Santa Claus, not like the fake ones at the mall. You can tell by his beard!"

A Few Funnies....

After spending all of this time single, Lacie has finally caught up with her sister and has a boyfriend. His name is Patrick, and he is in her class at school. Apparently, sometimes she lets him kiss her, and she's gotten on "sad face" at school a couple of times now for trying to sneak out of her center to go be in Patrick's center so she could play with him. We've had the discussion about how she is a good girl and doesn't need to let anybody kiss her on the lips, and she said, "But Mommy, he is so good!" Ummmm... okay.....

And Leslie has announced to us her latest 'strategy for keeping Hayden interested. Yesterday, she had her hair in a ponytail, and she said, "Mommy, sometimes at school, I do this (and she takes out her ponytail and shakes her hair back and forth), but Hayden won't even look at me when I do it!"

Can I just lock them up now? If they're like this at four, fourteen will be a nightmare!

Natchitoches Christmas Festival

This past weekend, the girls had a very busy day. Del and the girls left at 8:00 Saturday morning to go to Natchitoches with our friends, the Hortons, for the "festible". The Hortons are from Natchitoches, and they go every year; they asked us to join them this year, but I couldn't go down until after my ACT class on Saturday afternoon.

They went to two parades, walked along the river, and went to parties with both sides of the Hortons' families. Home base was at the grandparents' house, which just so happened to be RIGHT on the river. When it was time for the fireworks that night, we literally walked outside and across the street. The grandparents' home is on the National Register of Historic Places, so needless to say, I was a little nervous about the girls being around so many antiques, but they were great!

When they were little, Lacie and Leslie were terrified of fireworks, but they were fantastic this year. It was just as much fun watching the awe on their faces as it was watching the fireworks. When it was over, Santa happened to stop off at the Hortons' house. Lacie and Leslie each took turns sitting on his lap and asking for their usual.... a drum set with drum sticks and cymbals and a microphone. However, Leslie whispered something else in Santa's ear, but she told me it was a secret. I wouldn't find out what else she was getting until Christmas morning! Hmmm....we'll have to work on that.

Below are some pictures of the kids:

My Sweet Leslie....

Last night, we were watching How the Grinch Stole Christmas, and out of nowhere, Leslie came up to me and said, "Mommy, I'm glad the Grinch stole Christmas." When I asked her why, she said, "Because I don't need Christmas, all I need is my family." Then she came up and gave me a kiss and a hug. It doesn't get much better than that!