The World's Messiest Birthday Party!

Today, Lacie and Leslie went to their friend Jordan's 6th birthday party. When the invitation said, "Don't come dressy, cause we're gonna get messy!" I knew fun was in store. This party is only for those who can handle total chaos and mess, but was so worth it. I overheard one of the kids run up to Courtney, Jordan's mom, and tell her, "This is the BEST birthday party ever!"

First, the kids decorated garbage bags that they wore as smocks:

Second, they played a game called "Alphabet Soup." They had cans of real alphabet soup and water in a wading pool, and the kids had paper plates. They had to dig through the soup to find as many words as they could.


Third, they played spaghetti toss. Jeff and Courtney had a huge ice chest full of noodles and an economy size can of spaghetti sauce. The kids had partners and had to toss the spaghetti to their partner and collect it in their containers. Needless to say, this just turned into a spaghetti food fight.

Next, they played "Cheeto Face." Each child put on shower caps and goggles for this one. They had whipped cream on their face and tossed cheese balls onto each other to see if they would fit on their face.

Last, they played with flour bombs. Each child had 15 flour bombs (kleenex with flour balled up in it) and had a free-for-all throwing it at one another.

Here is a shot of the whole birthday party crew.

While this was something I am definitely not brave enough to have at my house. The girls had a ball! It was funny because a few of the kids didn't want to play the messy games, but not mine. They LOVED it. One last shot of the messy girls before they piled in the car and went straight into the bath!
On a side note, I'm not sure if you can tell from the pictures, but the girls got about 5 inches cut off their hair today. We fought every morning over tangles and hair-brushing, so I finally convinced them (and their daddy who loves their long hair) that it was time to get it cut off. They look so cute!

Also, Rupert (our only surviving fish) died yesterday. We had another toilet-flushing funeral, and we are officially pet-less.

The Loss of a Pet

Lacie and Leslie have each had a betta fish for nearly two years now. On the day Lacie got her front teeth pulled in April of 2007, Del took her to the pet store to get a fish. She named him Rupert. Naturally, Leslie couldn't let Lacie be the only one with a pet, so she got to go the next day to pick out her fish. His name was "Sissa." When she bestowed that name upon him, I asked her, "Don't you mean Sister?" No, she was adamant; his name was Sissa.

I didn't have very high expectations for the fish. Every pet fish I had as a child died within a day, so when these fish lived a week, I was pleasantly surprised. A week turned into a month, which turned into a year, and nearly two years next month. We came in from playing outside last night and found Sissa floating on his side at the bottom of her tank. I had read that the average betta life span is 1 to 2 years, but they can live for 3 years with "excellent care." Since I would not consider us award-winning betta owners, I knew he would die sooner than later, but I was still surprised.

When Del told Leslie, she was sad, but it was fleeting. When he told her she got to flush him down the toilet, she perked up because as we all know - thanks to Nemo -all pipes lead to the sea! So she excitedly took him to the bathroom and flushed him down the toilet. As she did, she said this prayer, "Dear God, Thank you for Sissa. Please help him get alive again when he gets to the sea. Amen".

Other than thinking it's not fair that her sister's fish didn't die too, Leslie is good. Rupert is alive and well - much to Leslie's chagrin - but Lacie did say she would share her fish with her sister....

Lacie Johnson... Unplugged

We were treated to an impromptu concert this afternoon. Lacie brought a stool and her microphone, along with her guitar into the living room to sing her new favorite song - "Love Story" by Taylor Swift - for us. The lyrics are, "Romeo, take me somewhere we can be alone/ I'll be waiting, all we have to do is run/ You'll be the prince, and I'll be the princess/ It's a love story, baby, just say yes."

She ended the performance with, "I'd like to thank everybody for coming out tonight..."

Leslie's Turn!

Leslie lost her first tooth Thursday night. It had been pretty wiggly for a while, but she "wasn't ready." She also insisted that I was the only one who tried to pull it - not her daddy! My approach was to wiggle it back and forth. It was so loose that on one of my attempts at wiggling, it literally fell out into her mouth. Here are some pictures:

Lacie didn't like it not being all about her....

Making her required phone calls....

With her "one dollar bill with George Washington on it..."

Natural Photographers or Natural Models???

Ever wonder what would happen if you let two 5-year olds play with a digital camera in the backseat of the car on the way to Grandma's house? 51 pictures, 14 miles, and approximately 20 minutes later, here are a couple of the results.....

Soccer Team

Here are a couple new pictures from yesterday's soccer game. The girls are still loving it! It definitely makes our weekends more hectic with practice on Fridays at 5:30 and games every Saturday morning, but it is so worth it!

Warming up pre-game

An action shot

The other team makes a "bridge" at the end of every game for the kids to run through. The kids liked it so much we may have to start doing it on our own

The whole team with "Coach"

How Well Do My Children Know Me????

This is a post about a quiz that has been going around on Facebook. There are a list of questions you are supposed to ask your children, and you must record their first answers. I posted this on my Facebook a couple of weeks ago, but I thought many of you would also find it amusing. You'll notice some of the answers are spot-on, but some of them, I'm not sure where they came from:

I asked both Lacie and Leslie these questions. Lacie's answers are on the left; Leslie's answers are on the right..


1.) What is something Mommy always says to you?

-Don't do stuff; Go to your room

2.) What makes Mommy happy?

- when we brush your hair.

3.) What makes Mommy sad?

- when we don't brush her hair; when we get in trouble

4.) How does Mommy make you laugh?

- Going on a treasure hunt; you do funny stuff

5.) What was Mommy like as a child?

- played with her sister; small and little

6.) How old is Mommy?

- 33; like 1 years old or 2

7.) How tall is Mommy?

- I think almost as tall as Daddy, but he's a little bit taller; 12

8.) What is Mommy’s favorite thing to do?

- play; clean up the house with help

9.) What does Mommy do when you’re not around?

- clean up; watch TV with Daddy like when we're asleep

10.) If Mommy becomes famous, what will it be for?

- for a talent show; trophies and money

11.) What is Mommy really good at?

- shopping; cleaning up the house and working for money

12.) What is Mommy not very good at?

- chicken family; picking 2 kids up at a time (They always tell Del he is stronger than me b/c he can still pick them both up at one time; I can't)

13.) What does Mommy do for a job?

- work at the pharmacy at Walmart (not sure where this one came from); teach

14.) What is Mommy’s favorite food?

- broccoli; Ramen

15.) What makes you proud of Mommy?

- Treasure hunt; when you let me do whatever I want

16.) If Mommy was a cartoon character, who would she be?

- Scooby Doo

17.) What do you and Mommy do together?

- play and I brush your hair and go shopping

18.) How are you and Mommy the same?

- we dress alike; we both like pancakes and we both like Ramen

19.) How are you and Mommy different?

- when we don't dress alike; you eat everything and I don't eat green peas

20.) How do you know Mommy loves you?

- when you take care of us and love on us

21.) Where is Mommy’s favorite place to go?

- WalMart.