Johnson Journal

Lindsey loves taking care of babies and stuffed animals. She will lay them down and put "blankies" on them. I was just on the computer and knew that she was being busy and talking to them. When I turned around, I saw that she had put every one of her stuffed animals on the couch. It was so cute!


















Case in point: I put Santa out for Christmas, and he is Lindsey's new bff! She will not stop hugging him!

Jared brought this note home from school:

I am thankful for my dad because he helps me understand God. He was born in a strong Christian family and he was the one who helped me pray to Jesus to come into my heart. I read the Bible with him every chance I get and he helps me understand the hard parts. Without him, I wouldn't understand the Biblical ways that much.

I am thankful for my grandpa because he is someone I can look up to. He is really funny. He can make everyone laugh. We love sports also. We always watch something when we visit him. He is someone I can stick with if I'm scared or nervous. I love him.

I'm thankful for my mom because she is helpful with projects that I need to do. She always reminds me to do work and checks it to make it right. She used to be a teacher so I usually get a good grade. Without her, I probably wouldn't do so good in school.

I am most thankful for my baby sister's 1st birthday. She is growing up and will understand Thanksgiving more. She'll get to see all her relatives.

When I think about Thanksgiving, I think about all the good food that we get because I grew up in a family of good cooks. Also, I think about how we get to see everybody and eat with them and just have a good time.

My best Thanksgiving memory was 2009. We all went to my grandparents' house and we ate a lot of good food. I ran in the Turkey Trot, which is a run, and ran one mile. Also, it was my baby sister's first Thanksgiving.

(I'm sure he's thankful for Lauren, too, although she didn't get a mention. And Mimi is the "good cook" in the family.)

After lunch, Lindsey and I were singing Happy Birthday to everyone in the family. Then, we pointed to our body parts, and made some animal sounds. She was a little distracted by the t.v., and got the idea to go swing when she saw some kids on t.v. swinging...so we ended up going outside to enjoy the fabulous, unseasonably cool weather we've been having.

Lauren is officially seven! We had her party at the bowling alley yesterday.






































Today, we went to Ihop for brunch after CCE, then went on a couple bike rides around the neighborhood to test out her new bike! She did great! It's a tad big for her right now, but once she gets herself up on the seat, she's good to go!



















For her annual charm, I got her the letter "L". I figured it's sort of an upside down "7"...right??




















Lauren is in first grade and loving it! She loves reading (although she sometimes goes too fast) and adores her teacher. She decided she wanted to try gymnastics this year instead of dance, and she's also playing soccer. She's totally into "silly bands" right now, and likes to trade them with her friends. She's a great big sister and likes to play with Lindsey and give her lots of hugs! She's good at entertaining herself- she'll sometimes just go into her room for hours and play Barbies, or house, or whatever... She can be moody at times, and is a very talented whiner when she gets tired. Mostly, however, she is sweet and loving and girly and pretty darn cute!

Thursday is Lindsey's Mother's Day Out day, so I made cupcakes for Lauren's class and brought her Sonic for lunch. Near the end of lunch, she was telling me that her tooth was really loose, so I felt it, and it was! (This is her first loose tooth!) I asked her if she wanted to pull it out, and she did! Right then and there! (So unlike her) No fear, no tears at the sight of the blood...nothing! We marched down to the nurse's office, got a little tooth necklace to put it in, she signed the "tooth board", got a certificate, and went on her merry way! For her trouble, the tooth fairy brought her a silver dollar!! So here's the new grin:




















Happy Birthday, Lauren!!! Love you!!

Today we were in the car, and Lindsey started sucking her thumb and looked so cute, I was going to take a picture of her. Well, when I got out my camera and turned around, she saw me and immediately got this goofy grin on her face and started saying "Cheeeese!" So I decided to switch my camera to video and took this:

I get a weekly e-mail from baby center and Friday it said,
"Where, oh where, has your baby gone? You have a full-fledged toddler living with you now"-Tell me about it! I haven't blogged in two months?! I just read my last post, and I don't even think I can list all of the words Lindsey is saying now! She is repeating a lot of what we say, putting two words together, and she is super smart! Today she saw a cowboy hat in the laundry room that I got the other night at a PTA meeting, and said, "Mimi's hat" because my mom brought a similar hat to the lake last week. Very sharp, Lindsey!






















So, what have we been up to...??
Jared went to Baylor Basketball camp the last week in June. He had a good time- they really wore him out! He especially enjoyed the last day when he got his basketball autographed by the Baylor players and got his picture taken with Coach Drew, Grant Teaff, LaceDarius Dunn and Mamadou Diene. Remember, he is my sports FANatic!!










































Over July 4th weekend, we went to Austin for a quick day trip. We stopped at the outlet mall in Round Rock, then went swimming with Carrie Youngblood and Laura, swung by Leslie's apartment, and headed home. We watched fireworks downtown on the 4th.

























Look at Lindsey's face! Do you think this girl likes to swim??







We also had a mini "stay-cation" and visited the Waco Mammoth site and drove around Temple, Belton, and Killeen one weekend. We ended up eating at Dead Fish Grill, which is a restaurant with a huge deck overlooking Lake Belton.






















































Then, I took the three kids to Houston for a week to visit Mimi and Pa (once they finally got back from their trip to Alaska!). We all had a nice time- the kids got to go swimming, bowling, to the movies to see Despicable Me, and to an Astros game with Pa. I had some mini-reunions with a couple friends from elementary school, and two from high school. We also had lunch with Grandma and Grandpa Jones!
















Wow!
I didn't think we did that much stuff this summer, but this is turning into a super long post!!

Got back from Houston in time for a visit from Uncle Matt, Kenzie, and Taylor. We swam in the back yard Saturday night, and went to the Mayborn Museum Sunday.











































For our "official vacation"- the first week in August we drove up to my grandparents' lake house in Livingston. (We stopped to say "hi" to Sam Houston in Huntsville on the way there). The kids got to do some fishing and swimming. We hadn't been there in 5 or 6 years! My parents came and spent a couple days with us there, and then we both went home, regrouped, and met at Schlitterbahn in New Braunfels. Everyone had a great time there! We spent the night, and went to Natural Bridge Caverns the next day.

























































































Now we're gearing up for school to start. So far, we're signed up for flag football, soccer, cub scouts, gymnastics, and Mother's Day Out. Here we go again!!

Thought I'd better write down all of the words Lindsey is saying before I forget-
14 months:













Duck-duck
Da-da
Daw (dog)
Ha-ha (hot-hot)
Uh- (up)
Hah (hat)
Daa- (down)
Uh-oooh (so cute...makes her mouth into a big "o")
Truck / truck-truck
Tra (trash)
Wa (and wipes hands together for wash)
Out-side (somehow sounds like "hot dog")
Bye-bye (sounds like da-da)
Wa or wa-wa (water)
Cookie
Ma-ma
JJ for (Jared)
Heh (head or hair)
Shoe
Ba (bath)
Da-du (thank-you)
Sissy (for Lauren)

Opens hands like a book for "book".
Points to head, hair, ear, teeth, mouth, toes, and nose when asked.
What does a bear/tiger/lion say? "Rrraaa!"
When she gives hugs she leans her head down and says "Aww"
Puts her own diaper in the trash.
Like to brush her own hair.
Loves baths and goes to the tub and tries to take off her diaper when you mention it.

Here she says "wa" for water...once right after the video begins:

Lauren's recital was last night. She was wonderful! I am so glad it's over. I love dance class, love the cute costumes, but I am so NOT a Toddlers and Tiaras kind of mom!!

Ballet: Spring- Vivaldi's Four Seasons















Tap: Little April Showers



Jazz: Walking on Sunshine

First and Last Day of
Kindergarten and 4th Grade!






















This year has seriously been a blur! A lot of my attention has been on Lindsey, but I turn around and already have a 1st grader and a 5th grader! Jared had another great year- although he says his favorite year so far was 3rd grade. He is still obsessed with sports, and was so happy that he got to run in the relay race on track day. They actually came in first place, and his class ended up winning the whole thing (What a great way to end the year!!) We are also very proud of his academic success! He made a perfect score on every one of his TAKS tests...again! He truly amazes me! He has developed a great love for reading. I think he ended up with about 335 AR points, and received an "All-Star Reader" plaque for reading 20 bluebonnet books. Since my mom is retiring, she used her remaning Scholastic points to get the kids books, and Jared has already zipped through the Percy Jackson series and is begging for more... He'll be through the entire box of books before next week at this rate! He made some good friends this year, and I have to admit that I shed a few tears when the 4th graders had their last walk down the halls of Woodway (The "Walk of Honor"). I feel so blessed that Jared has attended such wonderful schools and had such amazing teachers! He is looking forward to going to the brand new intermediate school next year.


Fourth Grade "Walk of Honor":


























Lauren had a wonderful Kindergarten year! Her teacher took tons of AMAZING pictures all year long and made each child a binder full of pictures and writing samples as an end of year gift. AWESOME! She was also lucky enough to be in a class with 3 of her good friends from preschool, and also made a few new friends that live in our neighborhood. She has become a good reader and writer. She started taking some AR tests this year and ended up with a little over 20 points. I also love her invented spelling! It cracks me up! (Especially how she spelled "shirt" on one of her recent papers.) She seems to enjoy school and strives for good behavior. She was devastated when she got on "yellow" (which only happened once this whole year!) Most days she would run in the door and announce, "I got on your favorite color!" (blue- which is better than green and means "extra good"). She is definitely ready for first grade!

Sadly, my three will never be at the same campus together again. Except maybe for college...AHHH!