To celebrate the last week of school, we had a beach day.
That's June crouched over in the pink bathing suit.
When June got into her bathing suit before school, she said she wouldn't get wet, but I guess she changed her mind.
Snack time! They even gave me a popsicle. Mama should have brought me a bathing suit because I jumped right in the kiddie pool- clothes, shoes, socks and all.
Look whose hair is finally long enough for an actual pony tail?
What happened to little Junebug?
4 and a half years old.
Practically all grown up.
But even her old age couldn't get her to try the mango lassi mama made. In her words "I'm kind of not going to try that."
Mama found a $100 plane ticket to Indiana, so she and I headed to Atlanta for my first plane ride.
I was pretty good for the ride. Mama let me stand up and buckle and unbuckle the seat belt for most of the time. It's my favorite thing to do (while yelling "Buckle! Buckle!"). When I had to get back in her lap for the landing, she let me eat a sucker.
I took a long nap the next day. Mama and Annalise sat outside and made friendship bracelets while Annalise talked about school.
Mama and Aunt Jenni went garage saleing and found this piece of work for only a quarter. They were so excited they didn't even notice Cincinnati was spelled wrong until the next day. Which really only made it better.
Evie was great at taking care of me- reading me books and watching me while we played in the backyard.
Look at mama with a huge doughnut hole and a Lienie's orginal in a can. And the computer and a phone. Stay classy, mom.
Aunt Jenni caught wind of how much I like suckers and let me have one for dessert. I was so sticky that mama didn't b+other putting a shirt back on when we went outside to play. There goes the neighborhood.
Finally the big event- Evie's First Communion.
Mama and Evie's Uncle Jeff with their goddaughter.
Grandma and Grandpa Seibert.
And all the Tallers.
I have a new favorite person- Uncle Jim, or "Uh Dum," as I call him. I woke up every day asking for him (and sometimes Aunt Jenni). Here i am yelling at him out the window.
It was a great weekend. We had to fly home very early on Tuesday morning. (Like leave at 4am early.) Our flight back to Atlanta was much easier. Mama and I both fell asleep on takeoff. We had to get back early because papa had his tonsils taken out. But he's been recovering like a champ. In fact, he woke up speaking in a West Virginia accent and wearing a mustache (though I don't think the surgery had anything to do with that).
Why? Only because American University needs it for their website. Our very own got a one year fellowship at AU starting this August in Washington, D.C. That means the Turners will be packing up and (temporarily) heading to the big city. It will be hard to leave Clemson, but it's only for 10 months. And it's to our favorite city! Not only do Henry and I both remember visiting DC several times when we lived in North Carolina, we get to move to a city full of our friends! Henry's been itching to move again for quite some time (this will be his fourth home- and my third). And I'm so excited to be close to our friend Olivia.
So watch out, east coast. The Turners are coming.
Jo isn't so sure about all of this. Of all of us, she's the only one who has never moved.
But the promise of being in the Capitol for election year cheered her right up.
What else has been going on? Mama found a sari at a garage sale and set herself to work making a dress out of it. She was very pleased with the results. AND it's fully lined. Not an exposed seam in the joint.
Here's a close up. And there's still a good 3 yards left of the sari!
While Henry and I are in school, mama and Jo usually go to the gym. Then they come home and mama takes a shower while Jo reads book in our room. On this particular day, mama finished her shower and set to putting away laundry and cleaning up the house since JoJo was happy by herself. After a half hour, mama noticed that the room was very quiet.
It seems Jo grabbed her "menkie and nukie" out of her bed, surrounded herself with pull-ups and promptly fell asleep on the floor. In six and a half years of being a parent, spontaneous sleeping has only happened one other time. And that was once when I was 3 and sick. If this doesn't secure Georgie's place as current family favorite, I don't know what will.
Papa's turning 30 this May, but he was also scheduled to have his tonsils out on May 8th. (It went fine, by the way.) So three weeks before his birthday, we decided to throw a secret surprise party.
It was such a surprise that papa didn't even know it was for him when the cake came out.
Henry counted out 30 candles days in advance and painstaking arranged them in a "30."
Despite the fact that papa announced he'd be working that evening, we convinced him to come home and the party went off without a hitch.
Our friends smoked barbecue for us, we had tons of snacks, and everyone brought beer. Best night ever!
George thought she was pretty big stuff because she got to sit at the big kids' table and drink out of a cup.
You don't want to kow how dirty we were by the time the party was over. So some reason, a major theme with the kids was digging holes in the yard.
We kids had to be dragged inside when it finally got dark. The gauge of a good party is how many tears are shed when it's over. This party was awesome.
Mama was admiring her potato patch when we all decided we needed a push on the swingset.
June and I love to swing. June's always liked it. I've just recently overcome my fear of them. (Seriously, I wouldn't even go in a baby swing when I was a newborn.)
Henry pushed while mama took pictures.
Heaven forbid June do anything normal.
Then Henry took a turn too.
Guess who's tying his own shoes now?
While June might not be a conformist (ahem, veil), she certainly had proven to be very creative. How many other little girls play house with a pile of plastic bugs. AND bother to create an elaborate backstory?
We woke up the morning of the half to overcast skies and 40 degree temperatures. Good thing Aunt Jenni had gloves and hats.
The weather ended up being perfect for running and the course was very flat by South Carolina standards. I set a PR of 1:58. It was a great race!
But the real reason we came up to Indy was to go to Holi at the India Association of Indianapolis. We got a full meal and watched a bunch of kids perform, then it was time for the color.
If you haven't heard of Holi, it's an Indian spring celebration culminating in throwing colored powder at anyone you can get close to. It's crazy fun.
It was 65 degrees outside, which the Indians all declared to be way too cold, so they moved the color throwing inside.
I'm glad i didn't have to stick around to clean that up.
This video is from after things died down a bit.
When we thought it was all over, they hauled out more juge rice bags full of color and it all started over.
Our friend Dan came up from Louisville to join in the fun.
After the celebration, we were able to shake most of the color off, but you can still see how awesome my hair looked when we stopped in at the Patel Brothers for some Indian snacks.
Back at home, Cecelia got some snacks of her own. But she did have a hard time getting those puffs to her mouth.
Jo smelled weakness and immediately swooped in and ate all of C4's puffs.
On the way back home, we stopped in to get a tour of Louisville from Mister Dan. First stop, an awesome Indian restaurant.
Next, Louisville's famous Hot Browns. There was a lot of cheese in that thing.
The last stop on our trip was at a rest stop in Tennessee. After we used the bathrooms, the girls spotted an ad featuring the prettiest lady ever. My heart swelled when both girls screamed "Dolly!" and ran to get a picture.
