Three years old!- June.

So last week mama showed up with two new Clemson dresses for me.

I was really mad she made me try them on because I happened to be wearing my favorite Halloween shirt with the witch, the frog, and the ghost on it. The cheerleading outfit was kind of big.

But this little jumper was just right. Only in the south can you find cute little sundresses with a tiger paw in the front and "TIGERS" emblazoned across the back of the bloomers.

So why the sudden interest in Clemson-themed clothes? They were for my Clemson baseball game birthday party!

You know how much we love baseball, so when mama found out you can have a party on the balcony of the athletic center overlooking the field, she booked it right away.

She made me this baseball cake. She was so proud of it until she cut it open and it was still slightly underdone in the middle. How embarrassing. Good thing we also had cupcakes.

She piped on the red frosting icing stitches twice before she was happy with them and her thumb still hurts from squeezing the little tube of frosting. She says this may be the last cake she ever makes. Quit your bellyaching, mom.

At the mention of cake, the kids came running.

Run, Andy!

Even though we had a hard time getting the candles lit, I still made a wish.

We had all of our favorite baseball game foods- chips, popcorn, and hotdogs wrapped up in aluminum foil.

Finally, the time I've been waiting for arrived. Aunt Molly and Uncle Mike's presents came on Monday and I kept running across them and mama never let me open them. I was SO EXCITED to finally open a present!

Henry was right there to make sure I did it right.

I got lots of great things- including a Little People St. Patrick's Day train, My Little Ponies, a toy computer and lots of books.

Savannah loved her cupcake!

I was so excited that my best friend from school, Lilly, could come to my party!

Much too soon after opening presents, we had to leave the party. I was mad to leave my presents behind, but papa said I was needed on the field.

Needed for what? To throw out the first pitch, of course! And maybe the first person to throw out the first pitch while also holding a Little Pony.

McKain couldn't even believe it!

I was nervous about throwing the pitch because that big Tiger was standing behind me, but eventually I let papa put me down and Igot up the nerve to do it.

I think I got a good five feet on that pitch.

The catcher even let me keep the ball.

And he gave me a high five (I'm still talking about it).

I recounted the whole story to mama tonight and I even told her about how they were spraying the grass with water. If mama and papa were worried I wouldn't like my party, they were pleasantly surprised that they were wrong.

Henry came out to the field to watch and on the way back off, he gave one the of players a high five. Then all the boys got off the bench and came up to the fence to also give him high fives. As if we didn't love Clemson baseball enough. What a great group of boys.

Here's a haphazard shot of our party. The kids weren't really into it. The problem with a 1pm game is that a lot of nap times are being interrupted. We really appreciate that everyone messed up their schedules to come out and party with us! Lilly stayed and played with me until the 8th inning and Henry made friends with some kids from Charleston Southern. CSU is the unfortunate team that had to play our #4 ranked Tigers. We left when the score was 18-1.

What a great day!

With all the festivities on Saturday, you can imagine how surprised I was when I found out that my actual birthday was today!

I got this fancy "birthday dress" from Grandma and Grandpa. And all these ponies from mama and papa! (I have it on good authority that mama found a 7 year old girl who was moving on her ponies and mama bought the lot from her.) I also got my first Polly Pocket doll. Mama is going to call that as the next big thing in my life.

It's been such a great birthday weekend that tonight I've been lying in bed until well after 10:15 talking about my party, my friends, my cake, and my presents. When mama went up to tell me good night, I told her "I had a good birthday, mama." I tell already tell 3 is going to be a great year.

It's baseball season!- Henry

Last Friday marked the opening game of Clemson's baseball season. They're ranked #4 in the nation this year, so we're pretty pumped for this season. It's been sunny and warm, so we were confident when we planned to tailgate on Sunday with our friends, the Fines. Of course it turned out to be only 55 degrees (sorry to all of our northern friends), breezy and cloudy. But the delicious pork barbeque the Fines had smoked helped ease our pain.

Georgie stayed warm in her tiger costume- a hand-me-down from her younger cousin, Dash.

Now that is a fierce looking tiger.

It feels good to be back at the baseball field.

Georgie was the best dressed tiger at the game.

6 month comparison

I swear I have matching bathtime pictures of all the kids with their initials on their chests, but for the life of me, I can't find them. But I did find pictures of each of the kids at about the same age- a little over 6 months.

Obviously, this is Henro. He was still holding on to the most hair of the three. We refused to cut those 15 longs hairs on top of his head for a long time after the rest of his hair fell out. He hated baths and this may have been the first one he didn't scream through.

Junny Bunny was apparently sitting up. She was the chunky one of the bunch. Though she does look like she's smaller than Georgie and Henry. Her hair fell out much sooner and we cut the rest soon after. She's always loved baths.

Here's Sweet George, the bald one. And I suspect she'll be the tallest of the three. And in true Georgie fashion, she doesn't mind baths as long as you keep her nice and warm while she's in it. I think she'll really start liking then when she can sit up on her own and play in the water.

Half birthday!

Friday was Georgie's half birthday. Can you believe it's been 6 months already?

As per the last 6 months, Georgie still doesn't like to be left on the ground for too long, so she spends the majority of her time sitting in her bumbo, in the exersaucer, in her high chair, or now in the jumper. Thanks for the Valentine, GG!

Periodically, she let's us put her down and surprises us. She's rolled from her back to her belly for some time and now rolls from her belly to her back. (Something Henry did at 6 weeks. What a stinker.) But how can you expect a little girl to do anything on her own when she is always being helped by her big sister?

Henry swears that Georgie says "Bubba" now. And when she fusses, it does sound like she's saying "Bub-ba-ba-ba." (And thanks for my outfit, Miss Andrea- it finally fits!)
Of course, Sweet George remains our happy, social little girl. She gets to go to the gym with me in the morning and smiles and laughs at all of the kids (especially the ones who play with her). She's graduated from sitting in her car seat to sitting in the walker and Miss Donna told mama that she can even get it moving around the room (backward only). Since she's been going to the gym since she was 5 weeks old, she doesn't fuss when I leave. Henry's stranger anxiety as a baby has been eclipsed by his sisters' social skills.

Georgie's thumb has been playing a big role in the past few weeks. Though she doesn't suck on it, she loves to chew it. Maybe there are some teeth coming! But she doesn't chew it at bed time- she still likes her nuk then. She's still sleeping great at night. She goes down on her back and hasn't figured out that she can roll over in bed. Maybe it's all those layers.

Georgie loves, loves, LOVES to eat. That knocking sound is her feet kicking madly. She's had rice cereal-which makes her gassy. So we mix it with oatmeal and apple juice or apple sauce. We've also tried green beans. You can tell than the first try wasn't successful. But Georgie is so good-natured that she wouldn't even refuse food she didn't like. After a few more tries, she doesn't mind green beans so much. We've got a squash to try next, once I get around to cooking it.

This afternoon, we were eating lunch outside when Georgie ran out of food. She was fussing so I let her suck on an orange slice. Her eyes got big and she sucked it dry before I had to pry it out in fear she'd bite a piece off.

I tried to get a video of those kicking legs, but every time I put the camera under the tray, she'd stop kicking- of course. But at least the video is good for some good cuteness. Notice also that June wants to see "him." It's been six months and June still thinks Georgie is a boy. When you ask her if Georgie is a boy or girl, June just answers that Georgie "is MY baby."

Poor Junnie- Georgie.

Poor Jun-Bun woke up Saturday with a low fever. She spent most of the morning watching tv and feeling low.

After nap, mama found a little girl who was pretty sad.

That's feverish nap hair right there.

Papa dressed Junie and had a hard time figuring out how her smock worked. We're pretty sure this isn't right.

There were go.

June got a birthday card in the mail from Aunt Girl that specifically said "Do Not Open until February 28th." We hope you're not too mad, Aunt Girl, but we let her open it early since she felt so bad. The pony sticker card did wonders for her mood!

She even let me see it- until I tried to eat it.

Valentines Day and PNO- Juner.

Mama had a sudden feeling of affection towards papa on Valentine's Day (historically a "no-present" day) and decided to make him some candies for the occasion.

She was very pleased at how the chocolate, white chocolate, and butterscotch fudge truffles turned out. And their belly aches that night were a good indication of how good the candies were. Valentine's Day was a beautiful day in Clemson and we decided to have supper outside. Mama had a fit of extravagance and bought a bunch of out-of-season vegetables and made a delicious ratatouille. Of course, Henry and I had nothing to do with it.

Henry's school had parent-teacher conferences on Friday, so he didn't have school. Mama and Miss Juliet decided to take us to Greenville to visit the Children's Museum. It is notoriously expensive, but is coming to terms with reality and has temporarily lowered its membership fees. It may be the nicest children's museum we've ever been to and we're pumped that mama decided to use all of our Christmas money to buy us a membership.

After the museum, we came back into town and headed to the Clemson Baseball season opener. We are so excited it's baseball season again.

You'd figure after a long day like this one, mama and papa would be rarin' to get us home and in bed. But the Presbyterian Church was holding a Parent's Night Out to raise money for it's College ministry. and far be it from us to deny them funding. So we got to spend the evening eating hot dogs, playing and watching movies while mama and papa went out with all the neighborhood parents.

Miss Juliet and Mister Tony were so excited to get a evening away!

So were Miss Kerri and Mister Mark!

Last, but not least, were mama and papa. They all met up at Tiger Town Tavern (mama wanted to go to a bar) and then headed out to their favorite Japanese restaurant where they got to sit at the hibachi grill (a first for mama). It was so fun and the food was delicious. But next time, mama asks to the bar AFTER the big meal. The Turners are now known as the group's light-weights.

Henry reads.

Here's a video of Henry reading a Thomas book. He's really doing a great job reading. And that's coming back to get us in a lot of ways. Now he can call us out at a store when we tell him something is too expensive. And he's constantly telling us little things he's read. Today he told me about how Sun Trust is a bank we drive by and how they have a sign at the baseball games too.

Train Show!- Henry.

When we were home in Ohio, I saw a commercial on the TV about the "Greatest Train Show EVER!" Needless to say, I freaked out and made PawPaw rewind the commercial on the DVR about 10 times. We had to go. Unfortunately, we were leaving Ohio before the train show hit Columbus. Lucky for me, it's a traveling show and was due to hit Atlanta in February.

We packed up the car and headed down to the big city. The train show was awesome! But in situations such as these, having three kids really takes a toll on our picture taking. Usually, one parent takes me and Georgie and spends their time following me (and my step stool) around the train exhibits with a stroller. And the other takes June, who is increasingly not interested in train shows.

We did catch some pictures of when June and I had a good time rolling around on the carpet in the center's lobby. She was a horse.

We drove all the way to Atlanta for this?

After our afternoon snack, papa and I went back into the show and June stayed outside pretending she was a puppy and made about 20 laps around the carpet circle.

Georgie stayed in her stroller and practiced cute sounds.

We did feel obligated to get a few "train" shots. Check out how filthy June's knees are from crawling around on the nasty carpet.

We all wore our engineer bibs. A big thanks to Grams Cracker for subsequently sending down a pair of striped Osh Kosh bibs for me. Lots of moms stopped mama to ask where she got the engineer bibs for all of us. It didn't occur to us that Osh Kosh B'Gosh is a distinctly northern brand, but it does make sense. I guess we always took it for granted when we went to Osh Kosh, Wisconsin to visit the headquarters store.

I was so sad to leave. The best part of the show was the lego train. Legos AND trains? Like it could get any better.

Good thing you found those bibs, Grams. These are getting kind of short. When I wore them to school, I was shocked that no one commented on my sweet engineer threads. I guess they aren't as hip to train culture as I am.