Now that I'm sitting up on my own, I've been granted a great deal of independence. I can sit in my crib and play by myself when mama is putting away laundry and today I got to sit on a blanket while mama and papa raked leaves. We had so much fun outside, we all needed baths when we came inside.
And now I even get to sit up in my bathtub! Now I get to play in the water like the big kids.
If this isn't the face of a little girl who is a few weeks from causing major trouble, I don't know what it.
So the official name for the British pancake Fat Tuesday is Shrove Tuesday. And Miss Juliet really went all out. Pancakes, bacon AND blueberries!
Christopher wanted to help, but Miss Juliet said no.
Georgie got her first taste of pancakes. I think she liked them.
We've spent three evening with John and Christopher this week. Miss Juliet calls it the "slow limp toward the finish line." It is a little louder with 5 kids, but they usually throw us together in a room and open a bottle of wine in another room. On Wednesday, mama had all 5 of us by herself, but had a great time because she paid John and I to clean the house. We had a great time earning a dollar.
On Sunday, we were all whiny and worn out from a long week. We were driving mama and papa crazy and it had been raining all weekend, so we drove to Greenville to visit the Children's Museum.
Henry spent a good deal of time building cars for the friction ramp. I don't know if the cars ever made it to the ramp.
That little puppy showed up again and fell asleep amidst all these race cars.
Downstairs, Georgie was so excited there were baby seats at the water table! Good thing mama brought extra clothes.
I liked the dome under the big kids' water table!
We love this place! Unfortunately, a relaxing afternoon out of the house ultimately ended in disaster. As it turns out, tired kids need naps, not afternoons out. Georgie is very predictable. when she misses her afternoon nap, it's a guarantee that she'll be up from 3am to 6am. And that's good behavior compared to how June and I behaved that night. Needless to day, we haven't been allowed to stay up from naps since then.
A certain little girl in our house recently decided laying down is for babies. So she's been working hard at staying upright.
At first it was hard. She wanted wanted to play with her toys (George's George, as her little monkey is known) and she toppled over every time she wanted to grab something.
But slowly, she's getting better. She's now up sitting up for a few minutes at a time before she falls over. And she's getting good about rolling over on her side and straight to her belly instead of falling straight back on her head. We just have to make sure there's nothing to bonk her head on when she goes over.
Apparently, when you're sitting up, the gravity is extra strong on your tongue.
Here's the sitting girl in action. She even caught herself when she started wobbling. But who let that puppy in the house? This little puppy is always running around these days. And when it's not going to sleep in its house, it's demanding food with water on it. What a weird little puppy.
Grandma and Grandpa (or "Bramma and Pampa" to June) came back after their trip to Charleston for another weekend of fun. It was extra fun for the grown-ups because they got a babysitter and went out to a hibachi grill. They said it was so much fun and the chef kept lighting things on fire and threw shrimp at their heads.
The girls campaigned to sleep downstairs, but mama made them go up to bed.
June's birthday excitement continued when she got a package from Aunt Jenni and Uncle Jim full of Backyardigan books and a DVD. Based on that shorty dress, maybe we should have asked for clothes.
Fwank you, Aunt Jenni! She's so excited!
It's been a great week for themed food. Monday was Junie's birthday and the school's spaghetti dinner. Tuesday was National Pancake Day, so we had pancakes filled with squash, granola, and craisins. Delish. Wednesday was Dr. Seuss's birthday. We had green eggs and ham at school. I didn't like it.
Thursday was Green Beer Day- an obscure holiday recognized only in Oxford, Ohio and at the homes of Miami University alumni. Because Miami always annoyingly schedules Spring Break over St. Patrick's Day, the students had to come up with some reason to theme drink. Hence, Green Beer Day. In the spirit of GBD, mama made her own green beer to drink with lunch. And before you give her a hard time, she maintains that the first green beer of Green Beer Day should really be drank at 5:30am, so she was at least 6 hours late.
Back to theme foods. Tuesday was Fat Tuesday. Mama undertook her yearly tradition of failing to make pralines. This year, she failed at 4 batches. Seriously, one of these years it's got to work. Luckily, she didn't mess up the jambalaya she made for supper (with sausage, chicken AND shrimp!). We took the pot down to John's house where they were celebrating Fat Tuesday in the style of the Brits- Pancake Day! And for Ash Wednesday, we had cheese pizza because mama was babysitting John and Christopher by herself. Win-win! What a great week for theme meals!
June came home from school Tuesday with some battle scars. We couldn't get the particulars out of her, but we know that in June vs. the dinosaur, the plastic dinosaur won. The teachers said she didn't even cry. She sure looks tough.
For Christmas this year, mama requested one thing- she wanted to go to a Boot Camp that two of her friends had signed up for.
Aunt Jenni wanted her to take an embarrassing "before" picture looking frumpy and thick around the middle. Mama never got around to it, but this picture is almost as embarrassing. Man, Grams makes a delicious puppy chow.
So for four weeks starting in mid-January, mama took off with her friends 3 evening a week to go work out. She worked out like crazy, tracked her steps on a pedometer (12,000+ steps a day) and followed a low-glycemic, high protein diet.
During that month, she ran her first 5k in almost two years. Her 5k time was 29:52 and that was while she was doing interval training of 1 minute running and 30 seconds walking!
After a month, mama lost 11 pounds. More spectacularly, she lost 4 inches around her waist! Papa thinks it might be the thinnest she's been since they met 10 years ago. Mama says it's because down south she doesn't need that extra layer of fat to survive in case the car crashes into a snow drift and we're stuck for days before someone finds us. But she's still pretty excited that all of her skinny clothes are now too big.
Mama wants to expend a big public thank you to papa for coming home early 3 nights a week so mama could spend 2 hours by herself focused on herself. This is honestly the best Christmas present she ever got!
Grandma and Grandpa Seibert have been at our house 2 weekends in a row! They spent the week in Charleston and visited us on the way there and the way back.
Georgie put on her best dress and tried to grow some hair. Slow but sure, it's coming in.
Grandma got a three way cuddle from the Turner kids.
Mama took advantage of Grandma and Grandpa distracting the kids to make her favorite southern meal- grits and greens. We only get it when people come to town because it takes forever to took down the greens (in this case-kale, not collard) and cook the grits than cook the whole thing in the oven with eggs. It was delicious- or so mama says.
It was so nice outside, we spent all day in the backyard having fun.
Grandma thinks maybe it's time to put this dress away, but mama insisted I wear it just once. She now regrets having her girls in opposite seasons. All of June's summer clothes are getting too small now that it's warm!
Mama again took advantage of the built-in babysitters and went out for a bike ride. It turned out to be the BEST BIKE RIDE EVER, because she happened across this Fisher Price play kitchen that is almost exactly like the one she had when she was a kid. And to think someone just threw it in the ditch in front of their house! Mama and henry took the van back to pick it up and spent the rest of the afternoon hosing it off and scrubbing it with bleach. It was gross with animal hair and we don't want to know what else, but it cleaned up nice and we now have a new outside toy!
This must be the 1987 model and not the 1986 mom had. Notable upgrade include a functional chalkboard, a touch-tone phone (not a dial like mama's!) and a working water dispenser. To our dismay, mama said that we were allowed to dispense as much water as we liked, but under no circumstance could we actually drink the water. Oh man!
Grams Cracker, we hope this won't scare you away from visiting us this month, but we decided to give Georgie a biter biscuit. It was as gummy and messy as you remember it.
For a small update on food, Georgiana loves anything orange- specifically squash and carrots. She also like peas and almost went crazy when mama mixed all three together today. a flavor explosion!
Which leads us to our last shout out for the day- thank you Aunt Molly for the Magic Bullet you got mama two Christmases ago. We know it may have been a joke, but between homemade baby food, protein shakes and smoothies, we seriously use it at least twice a day. Plus it makes a pretty mean frozen mixed drink. You rock, Aunt Molly.
Last week, we decided to have a picnic lunch at the dock parks because the boys didn't have school. So we loaded up and met James and John for a windy fun afternoon. While there, they decided to crawl around and pretend to be puppies (June's very favorite past time). I had to watch from the stroller, of course.
Too bad June's nose was running. After all that crawling around in the dirt and wiping her nose with her arm, June was disgusting!
Seriously, this girl is about 4 days away from dreadlocks. Would someone please run a brush through that hair? Has no one heard of a washcloth in the Turner house? Mama interjects that the last time June got a bath (after a two week hiatus), she got a fever the very next day. Dirt is our best defense against the flus and stomach bugs going around. We've remained virtually untouched all winter long and mama says she's keeping our defenses high by only bathing us once a week- MAX!
This wasn't gross though. We love it when June nurses her baby with that big round belly of hers.
Of course mama's milk comes form the belly button, June.
Good news on the arthritis front! After almost 8 months, it looks like June's flare is finally winding down. She's walking with less of a limp and she's gaining mobility back in her ankle. We scheduled an appointment with the only pediatric rheumatologist in the state (he's two hours away in Columbia). We're hoping things will continue getting better and that we'll soon be able to get Junie's leg conditioned and pointing back in the right direction. Right now, her left foot permanently faces out and her leg muscles have atrophied because of her limp. We figure she'll probably get to spend the summer in physical therapy.
But even her newfound speed and agility doesn't alleviate the need for a cuddle sometimes. Papa came home one night to find Junie is quite a state. June woke up and demanded to get out of bed. But once mama brought her downstairs, she curled up on mama's lap and immediately fell back asleep. (Good thing mama had her Harry Potter close by.)
June didn't even wake up when they transferred her to the couch. That's pretty indicative of how the end of the week is around here. All of us are beat after a week of school and fun.
Are you ready for the maximum daily dose of cute that is legally allowed on the internet? (This might even rank up there with that baby laughing at ripped paper- seriously, watch it, it's adorable.) We had to hide the camera from June, but her she is singing the snacktime blessing from school.
