What a GREAT weekend!!

Well, we're back from our trip to Fredericksburg, Tx. I survived my birthday. We ate LOTS of food!!! The Cowboys Won!! UT, not so lucky & kudos to Arkansas!!! Lauren had a photo assignment, so we went to Stonehenge and Easter Island to get some pictures!! Ok, so we didn't actually fly to England or the South Pacific. There is a man in Hunt, Texas that probably has too much money and time on his hands. He went to the actual statues and decided to build it in the Hill Country. We also went to an old Catholic Church to shoot the two bell towers. We also found a pretty little waterfall.

Friday night, Fredericksburg lit up their park. It was so pretty. We went down and froze our tooshies off!!

Saturday, we left Fredericksburg and headed to Georgetown to visit Uncle Tom, Aunt Shirley & Cousin Janice. We ate MORE good food and had a good visit with them. Because of the rain and construction, we FINALLY got home around 6 pm last night.

I guess it's back to the real world tomorrow. I'm off to a birthday lunch at mom & Smitty's.

Enjoy a couple of the pictures from this weekend.

Toodles,

Chelley

Happy Thanksgiving!!!

Give thanks with a grateful heart, Give thanks unto the Holy One, Give thanks because He's given Jesus Christ, His Son. And now let the weak say "I am strong", Let the poor say "I am rich", Because of what the Lord, has done for us. Give Thanks! Give Thanks! Give Thanks!

Ok, so this Thanksgiving, I will officially be FORTY!!! This will be my first holiday without dad. But, I will be surrounded by my family, missing him inside, wishing he were here. We will be with Randal & Paula and will be stopping by to see Uncle Tom, Aunt Shirley & Janice. Lauren and I will be going out on Friday on a photoshoot. She has a school project, so we're going to find the old German Lutheran churches in town. Megan's taking her bike and the guys will have their fising poles. So it will be a great time for all!

I hope everyone has a very blessed Thanksgiving!!


Toodles!
Chelley

The Best Program EVER!!

Megan was chosen to be part of the All-City Choir. We've been getting up early every Thursday to get her to choir practice by 7 am! She's had a couple of after school practices and then this weekend she had practice on Friday night and Saturday evening right before the concert. The theme was America. It was the most AMAZING performance I have ever heard. The Jr. High schools and high school choirs performed and they were ok, the elementary & intermediate schools BLEW them away!!! The kids who have been part of the choir all three years, received the medals. Megan told us that in two more years, she will be receiving her medal!! I hope so!

Toodles!

Chelley

The Tooth Fairy Cometh!

Megan pulled her own tooth on Saturday night. She sat at the mirror, wiggling it and wiggling it until it came out! The tooth fairy's going rate is a dollar! Here's Meg with her hole and $$

Toodles!
Chelley

A Star is Born!!!!

Tonight was the 4th grade program. It was about heroes. Megan had a speaking part and the ONLY solo part!!! She was Nellie Bly. You will notice her mouthing words when she comes up for her solo......she was so skeeered that she forgot her words!!! Her music teacher calmed her down and gave her the words. She did an AMAZING job!! Turn up your speakers so you can hear her.



Toodles,
Chelley

Volleyball games today!!!

Megan's team had a double header this morning. The won both of their games. They look better than last week. More serves were going over and more passing was happening. Megan was captain today. Mike was making fun of me because I took pictures of her at the coin toss. You can see in the picture how he was avoiding eye contact!! In the video, you can see Megan serving the last two points to win the game!









Toodles,
Chelley

My First Two Years of Life

I've only scanned in the first couple of years of my life, so that is all you'll get to see right now. Here's a nifty slide show.

Toodles,
Chelley

Happy Birthday Renee!!

Today is my cousin Renee's birthday. She is younger than me, but only by 1 year, 11 months & 2 weeks!! Happy Birthday Renee!!

Cheryl, Cara & my fondest memories are when our grandparents took us to Roaring River. Aunt Evelyn, Uncle Buddy, Renee, Coburn & Chris met us up there. It was a week of sleeping on cots in tents, swimming with snakes in an ICE cold river, water fights, riding floats and waking up at 6 am when the fishing siren went off. I don't remember, but I think we only took showers once or twice during the week. My poor girls would die if they could only take a shower once during the week!!

Over the years we would go to Silver Dollar City and Dog Patch USA. We would also drive to see the Passion Play. We had some of the best summers and will never forget the memories we made there.

Toodles!
Chelley

Tick, Tock, Tick, Tock

Today is the day!! The scum bag is supposed to be arrested today! We are all on pins and needles waiting to hear from the detective. Hopefully, it will be soon! Note to self: Must focus on work....cannot obsess over this!

On a better note: Next Tuesday, Megan will be performing at the 4th grade PTA program. She has a speaking part and a solo!!! She is playing the part of Nelly Blye. She tells me last night, I have to make a costume!!! Hello, what kind of costume do you make for Nelly Blye???? I guess I need to email the choir director today!

We only have 1 1/2 weeks of school until we are out for a WEEK at Thanksgiving!!!!! Have you noticed the Christmas comercials ALREADY on the TV???? Ugh, I just can't handle Christmas comercials right now.

Have a great day!

Toodles,
Chelley

He confessed!!!!!

WOW!! The detective called our house this morning (before 7!!) to ask if we could come down to look at the video from the 2nd pawn shop. Mike and Matt went to the police station and made a positive ID. Matt didn't know the 2nd guy in the video, it's not the guy he usually ran around with.

The detective told me that over the weekend the thief called and left a message that his grandparents told him they were looking for him and he really didn't know why---ha ha!! So, after Matt id'd him, the detective called to have the thief come to the station. They questioned him for a while, he kept denying and denying it, and FINALLY confessed!!! After his confession, the detective brought out the dvd of him selling our things!!! So, now he will be arrested in a couple of days (it's the process!!), which will be the thief's 19th birthday!!! Ha-ha-ha. He wouldn't give up the 2nd kid. He only knew his street name and what he drove. He said that this kid has the rest of our stuff. The detective told him that he was going to take the wrap for the WHOLE crime, unless he gives up the other kid. The detective is confident that they will get it out if him soon!!!! So on Wednesday, he will be picked up and arrested with a Felony.

Toodles,
Chelley

A New Volleyball Season!!!

Megan had her first volleyball game this morning. It is so-o-o much slower after watching months of varsity volleyball!! It was fun!! When they would finally get to volley the ball over and finally someone would return it was a rare treat!! The parents would cheer!!! Everyone plays--they start with six and after you serve you rotate out and the next person on the bench comes in. Megan is the only girl on her team who can serve overhanded! It was so funny when she served the oooohs and aaaaahs that the parents made when she did it! I was bustin' my buttons!!! Megan is the team's cheerleader. When it is her turn on the bench, she is constantly cheering!!

Here are some pictures of Megan and the Sting in action.

Down and Ready

Serving overhanded

ACE!!!

You can see more pictures of Megan and the Sting at http://cjphotography.dotphoto.com/

Toodles,
Chelley

Updates of ALL sorts!!

The Robbery

Well, yesterday while I was cleaning and getting madder and madder because of what this horses hiney did to our house, I remembered what the cop told me, "Yes, we check the pawn shops, but you are welcome to do that, if you want." So, I googled and found a map of local pawn shops. I started with the ones close to the house then followed a route to Mt. View College (the person I suspected, gets a ride from Matt to school everyday!). So, sure enough, a Wii was pawned yesterday!!! I get a little more information and call my detective in charge of the case. Well, he calls the pawn shop owner and they talk, then I call the pawn shop back. I tell the owner I have a name of who I think did this, and he asked me for the name!!! I can't believe he was so cooperative and was willing to help. Sure enough it WAS the kid who rides to school with Matt!!! So, I instantly call the detective and he runs his name through all of the local pawn shops and found Lauren's Nikon and TWO dvd players at another pawn shop. About 30 minutes go by and the detective calls and asks if I was missing jewelery and I was......my wedding bands, a ruby/diamond ring, a nugget ring, and my promise ring, plus mine and Matt's class rings. Everything except the class rings were at the pawn shop with the Wii!!!!! So, Mike and I met the officers at the pawn shops, we filled out all sorts of paper work and the pawn shop owners (who, by the way, went to school with me at Lancaster!!!) GAVE us the Wii & rings back. They had given the thief only $150 for my 4 rings and the Wii!!! They were willing to take it as a loss. So, we went to the other pawn shop and found the camera and dvd players. The owners asked that we pay the $30 to them that they had give the thief, so we did. We are still missing a few things, but the cops know who he is, they know he had an accomplice and Matt ID'd him last night after he got home. Unfortunately, the cops went to the theifs house and his grandparents were uncooperative and would not give any information about him. So, at this time, we do not know what has happened.

VOLLEYBALL
Well, Lauren's season ended last night. The girls looked good and fought hard, but Flower Mound Marcus prevailed. All I know is that my head hurt and my ears were ringing when we left the gym!!! So, you will see in another post, volleyball is not over at the Johnson household.................

Toodles for now,
Chelley

Seriously!!!

Someone robbed our house yesterday!!! We know it happened between 6:50 am when we left the house for the day and 9:30 am when our neighbor drove by the house and saw the front door open. She really didn't think it weird because we do open the house on nice days and Matt's truck was parked out back. She didn't know Matt is out of town.

The tore the house up!! My bedroom got hit the hardest. They tore everything out of my drawers and desk. My DVD player was unplugged, but I found it under the covers on my bed. My jewelery box was thrown all over the room. I'm not sure what is missing or not. They got Matt's PS2 and the Wi he got for graduation, Lauren's 35mm camera, iPod and backpack. They also got a little DVD player that was a freebie. We are blessed because no one was home!!! They left my computer & cameras, CASH!!!, our tvs, phones, etc. The keys to Matt's truck were on his bed, they could have taken his truck!

They broke out the dining room window and went out the front door. I"m supposed to be cleaning up, but I just don't know where to start!!! I guess this has to be part of my giving thanks this month!! What they took were things!! Yes, they took my children's things, but they were just things. I have my husband, son & daughters and we are healthy and safe. We are feeling violated, but we are safe! I'm having a hard time leaving the house, but am working through that!!

Well, I have to go pick stuff up! I guess this is the Spring cleaning I didn't get to do last spring!!

Toodles,
Chelley