All in the Family.

Looking for something to do this weekend, Annie asked if she could start a blog. I thought it would be fun for her so I willingly started one for her. But now that is has been 3 days and she is constantly asking me to put pictures on for her and make videos of her and her friends so she can put them on, I am regretting this decision a wee-bit! I barely have time to keep mine own up let alone hers. But hopefully she will learn and become a little more self-sufficient. For obvious reasons I made hers private, so if you would like an invitation, let me know in my comments. It is quite cute to read what she puts in it. And she and her friends like to make several comments. So if you do read, know she isn't that popular, just a bit "into herself"- like most 7 year olds, I imagine. And of course Katie wants a blog too, but I told she has to be more than 2 years diaper free and know how to do more than just play Polly Pockets on the computer!

Thanksgiving Diddy!

I know my posts have been a little heavy on the videos with Katie as the subject matter, but when Katie came home from preschool today reciting this poem, I knew I had to post it. My mom and dad are all over this kind of stuff, so this is a mini- Thanksgiving talent show for them. I hope you especially enjoy the mach-speed Katie goes into at the end.

Happy Thanksgiving!

A Peacock's Dance Debut

Katie has been patiently watching Annie in her dance classes for three years and now it is finally her turn to wear a fancy costume, put on makeup and dance on the "big" stage. She calls her costume a "peacock" dress. I'm not sure why. It may be because of the color or maybe because of the big plume like skirt. Either way she loves it. This video is her class practicing with their costumes for the performance in December. And since my parents won't be here for that, this video is mainly for their benefit. But if anyone else happens to watch it also , please know that Katie didn't get her skipping skills from my side of the family!

48 years of Friendship and counting

Three weeks ago I went to California to visit two of my oldest and dearest friends- Lisa and Lara. I talk about these two friends a lot, so I thought I would introduce them to you.

This is Lisa- Lisa Bay to those who know her in California. But I have known her since she was 6 years old and she hated her middle name "Bay" back then so I believe I am the only one who can call her just Lisa. We have been friends for 28 years- through elementary school, middle school- that's what it was called in Georgia- high school, college and all the years beyond. How many people can claim that! This is her at Norcross High School cheering on the mighty Blue Devils.

This is Lara- Oofer K. Johnson to only me and I know I am the only one who can call her that! We meet when we were 14 years old and had 3 classes together our sophomore year. Those were some good times- way too many memories to bore everyone else with here- but let's just say we thought we were hilarous! This is her playing basketball for the mighty Lady Blue Devils. Please note that I did not include an early nineties big haired sporty picture of myself because a.) I did not have big hair, b.) I was not what you would call "sporty" in high school- my sports career consisted of church basketball and a one week stint on the track team- and c.) I think I have included enough embarrassing pictures of myself on my blog to last a lifetime, but I'm sure Lisa and Lara are very glad I began my introduction of them with those pictures. Here are some more:

This picture is of Lisa and I when we were in Brownies together in Florida. I am the one holding a book in the middle with the glasses- beauty, eh! Lisa in the middle one on the front row with the extra pins on her uniform and the sassy yarn ribbon on her shoulder. Its pretty safe to assume that these were symbols of her going above and beyond in her Brownie duties! Lisa has always been an overachiever- but it takes one to know one and I think we are both working on that one!

This is Lara and I posing with IBC root beer bottles on Lara's high school ride- aka- "The Bruised Banana." If either one of us decides to quit our day-jobs- being a car model is a fairly safe bet for us to fall back on! It is still a mystery to us why we didn't have a date to the Homecoming Dance. In fact I believe this picture was taken on said "Homecoming Night" when we didn't need those lame dates and created our own fun. I'm just wondering when pleated, high-waisted pants are going to come back in. We rocked those!

This is the three of us, as Seniors, after we schooled the Juniors in Powder Puff football. (And by "we" I mean everyone else...notice how Lisa and Lara's black face paint is smudged from sweat and mine is still perfectly in tact. Oh- I forgot to put the powder puff game on my above- mentioned illustrious sports high school career list!)

Here we are with our boyfriends- well not really- but we talked a lot about this event- Lisa's 17th birthday surprise- during my recent visit to CA so I had to put this picture on.

Here we are at our high school graduation. Look at all that "honors" flare! Yea- we were all pretty much nerds and just in case that was up for debate- just check out our matching white flats.

Even though after high school we all went to different colleges, we stayed in contact and saw each other quite a bit for living across the country. The summer after we all graduated from college Lisa and Lara made a cross-country trip and stopped to pick me up. We then went up to Jackson Hole and Yellowstone. This picture was taken in Jackson Hole.

We really have been very good about getting together and making girls' trips a priority. This is us in the summer of 2005 at Eric's family cabin up near Park City. This is our version of Glamour shots or as we like to call them- "Laquisha Senior Pictures."

This is us at Panama City Beach back in 1991...

And this is us at Santa Monica Beach in October 2008! We were hot then and if I do say so myself- we are hot now! I really love and adore these two incredibly strong women. Besides my siblings, they have seen me through more stages of life than anyone. They are two of the most loving, authentic, caring and passionate people I know. Even though our daily lives are extremely different we all love, respect and support each other in our varying journeys. They have helped me become who I am. Here's to 48 more years of combined friendship. I can guarantee we will be doing Girls' trips when we are in our 80's! I'll be bringing the new recipes for everyone to try, Lara will bring the gifts from Mother Earth and Lisa will be making sure we are all on track with our lifetime goals and dreams. Thank you ladies for making me a better person. I love you!

What do you do to entertain yourself now that daylight savings is over?

This is what we do!

Nothing says the day after Halloween like....

1. A Happy Birthday Shout-Out to Mama Missy. Today is her birthday and she is very, very far away but we want her to know we love her and miss her. When we were little we would often make her "candy-grams" ("What's a candy-gram? I want one!"- Name that movie. If you really don't know, I will make one for you!) for her birthday with our Halloween candy. It was cute the first time we did it, but after a few years she got mad at my dad for letting us continue to make them. I suppose she wanted something a little more thoughtful and not just our sloppy-seconds from trick-or treating. Gosh- who does she think she is- the one who gave us birth or something?!? But I am guessing she would give anything for a hand delivered candy-gram from any one of us right now! I tried to find a fun silly picture of her to post with this, but I couldn't so I settled for this one of her with her several of her favorite people- her grandkids!



2. Grandpa and Grandma Pumpkins smiling without their dentures! Their lighted candle days are numbered, but they don't seem to mind.



I don't know why I think this so funny, but I do!


3. Posting of the kids' Halloween photos. Here are the cast of characters that will soon be added to our dress-up box.


Jack Sparrow

In my humble, unbiased opinion, Johnny Depp has nothing on this Jack Sparrow.

Sharpay

I loved telling people what Annie was going to be for Halloween- especially if they hadn't seen "High School Musical." They would look at me with a questioning look and say, "Sharpay- like the dog or the pen?" But if you know my daughter at all and have seen "High School Musical", it shouldn't surprise you in the least that "Sharpay" is the character Annie wanted to be.

Belle and a Ladybug.
Katie had insisted on being Sleeping Beauty for Halloween for most of October, but then she called a last minute audible- my husband should be extremely impressed with my correct usage of football terms- and decided she had to be Belle. Thank goodness for Aunt Jessica who had a Belle costume she could wear and have no less! And the Ladybug was completely enamored with the whole concept of Halloween once she figured it out.

4. Checking out everyone else's blogs for photos of their kiddos on Halloween. I think I'll go do that right now!