Pumpkin Carving

Now that the girls are older and more cooperative, we want to carve a pumpkin with them each year at Halloween. Last year, we did one for the girls to share. It was the basic triangle-eyed pumpkin. This year, we were a little more adventurous!
When we went to the store to pick out the pumpkins, we also got a pumpkin carving kit. It came with a handy carving knife, a scraper, and stencils for cool designs. This year, each girl picked out her own pumpkin, and Lacie chose a cat design while Leslie chose a ghost. But, before we traced on the stencil for Del to cut out, we had to cut open the pumpkins and scoop out the seeds - by far their favorite part!


All in all, it took less than an hour. The finished products turned out to be pretty cute! Of course, the carving kit came with glitter markers, so you will see smeared glitter all over the pumpkins...
The pumpkins glowed very nicely when we were done!

Fall Fest 2008

This past Sunday, our church had its annual Fall Fest/Trunk or Treat. Aside from food and inflatables, they had music and a Trunk or Treat, where all of the cars were lined up in the parking lot and kids went from car to car completing carnival-type activities and getting candy.

The girls got to wear their costumes. This year they decided to be clowns because they loved the idea of wearing a full face of makeup. Look how excited they are!
Here they are striking a pose:

Our across-the-street neighbor, Anna, also goes to our church. She is the closest thing the girls have to a big sister. They love Anna, and she plays with them all the time!

Most of the shots we took on the inflatables came out blurry, but here's a good one of one of them.... no, I can't tell them apart from far away in clown makeup!
Luckily, I took pictures of the whole costume, face paint and all.... I'm not sure if they will have face paint on Friday. We washed it off when we came home last night, but Leslie had itchy red splotches on her face where the paint was this morning. Unless I can find some new hypo-allergenic paint, they will be fresh-faced for Halloween!

Johnson Family Fun Day 2008

That's what we called today - Johnson Family Fun Day 2008. Today, Del and I both took the day off work and kept the girls home from daycare to spend the day with our children.

1st stop? Dr. Kendrick for the non-shot FluMist. I know, not fun, but not a shot.... Apparently the girls are old enough now for essentially the flu shot in a nasal spray. When we got there, Lacie told the receptionist, "I'm not sick. I don't need a finger prick or a shot.... only the flu water medicine."

2nd stop: St. Luke's Pumpkin Patch
We didn't get as many good pictures as we normally do. There was an elementary school class on a field trip, so it was crowded; plus there weren't that many pumpkins. Here are a few pics:

Lacie by herself... I couldn't get Leslie to pose

Stop 3: Louisiana State Fair
This was the main reason we took the day off work. If you go to the fair during the week before 3:00, you get in for free and the all-you-can -ride bracelets are only $10 instead of $24. We definitely saved a ton of money by going during the day. The girls rode tons of rides, went through the fun houses, and rode the big gigantic slide about 10 times! In some of the pictures, you will notice that Daddy rode with them.

Stop 4: High School Musical 3
This was the highlight of our day.... Opening Day for High School Musical 3 They decked out in their new HSM t-shirts, but their favorite accessory was the "Troy" necklace. If you are new to the HSM obsession (and it is an obsession), Troy gives Gabreilla a big "T" necklace because she is his girlfriend. Disney store sells these, so Del bought each of the girls one a while back thinking we would keep it till Christmas, but they were so excited about going to the movie that today seemed like an appropriate time for a present. The movie was AMAZING, and I was as excited as my children to see it. They even re-enacted some scenes for us afterwards, which you will see below.

Stop 5 (the last one): Byrd vs. Huntington football game
Leslie wanted to stay home with her daddy, so Lacie and I went to the football game. She and her friend Caitlin got to cheer during the last quarter with their new BFFs, the cheerleaders. I didn't take any pictures, but they were cute. At one point, Lacie (having just seen HSM where in the movie, they cheer "Go Wildcats!") cheered "Go Wildcats" when everyone else was cheering "Go Jackets!"

Johnson Family Fun Day was a total success. The girls went to bed easily around 10 pm. I'll bet they sleep in tomorrow... surely they were worn out from all the fun. With the girls starting kindergarten next year, I don't know if we'll get to take off from school and work for a Family Fun Day in 2009, but we enjoyed every second of this one!

Sneaky.....

The girls usually like to call Del in his office after I pick them up. Today, each of them talked to him while I was on my way to the store. Minutes after they hung up, we passed the McDonalds across the street from Brookshires. Leslie asked if we could "go to Old McDonald's for a snack." When I told her no, she said, "But Mom. When I talked to Daddy he told me to tell you to take us to Old McDonalds. He said we needed a snack!" Needless to say, Daddy did not confirm this.... :-)

A funny from Lacie - the other day at school, they talked about "vegenarians". When I asked her to repeat herself, she said again, "VEGENARIANS! you know, they take care of aminals!" When she grows up, she has informed me that she wants to be a vegenarian.

My Cheerleaders

This blog entry is going to be mostly pictures. Tonight the girls and I went to the Byrd vs. Natchitoches Central football game. It was Byrd's homecoming game, and the girls absolutely LOVE all the attention they get at the games. They went dressed in their LSU cheer uniforms (since Byrd is also purple and gold) and had their pompoms, so my good friend Stephanie - the Varsity cheerleader sponsor - let the girls go down on the field for the 4th quarter and "cheer" with the real cheerleaders. Needless to say, they loved it and completely ate up the attention they got from their new best friends Emily and Kelsey. I think the pictures speak for themselves.

Leslie cheering:

Lacie cheering:

Copying the "purple girls":

Trying to show them Leslie's "handstand":

Lacie and Jack the Jacket, or as she calls him "Bumblebee":

Lacie's Future Husband

The Johnson family is best friends with the Byrd family. Mandy and I have been friends since college, we work together, and Caitlin Byrd and Lacie and Leslie were born within 3 weeks of each other. Our families play together and we go to the beach together each summer. Tonight before the football game, the girls went with Caitlin to play at the school playground while Caleb - Mandy's 10 year old - was at football practice. When Mandy took the girls to McDonalds for dinner, this was the conversation she heard between Lacie and Caitlin...

Lacie - Caitlin, I saw Caleb in his uniform. He was sooo cute. I am going to marry him one day.
Caitlin laughed and said something silly.
Lacie - No, I really mean it.

Here are our future in-laws... Lacie is standing by Caleb :-)

Red River Revel

This past Thursday, we went with some friends to the Revel. The girls remembered going last year and were very excited to go back - especially with their friends. We went with the Moffetts, the Hortons, and the LeBlancs. Here is a picture of the whole group:

They made crafts, listened to (and danced with) the band, got their faces painted, and played. The weather was great - around 65 or 70 degrees..... we couldn't have asked for a better time!