It's a Girl!

If you haven't already heard the good news, IT'S A GIRL!
June Elizabeth Turner was born early this morning. She is 8 pounds 2 ounces and 19 inches long. Becky's grumpiness seems to have disappeared. Jim is disappointed because he felt he should be able to name her since she was born on his birthday. His choice of name was "Luscious" for a girl and "Santana" for a boy. Evie wanted to name her "I love you sunshine". We may just call her that for a while. :)

Evie's final Birthday party

Of course, we had to find a time to celebrate with Evie's friends too! She decided that she wanted to go to the New McDonald's to play in the playland. Sounded good to mom too because that was a meal out!Evie, Mike, and Fiona explore the playland.
it was Annalise's first time in a playland at McDonald's. She must have been pretty excited because she pounded half a cheeseburger, some fries and half a cupcake. When she got home we threw her in bed and she threw up half a cheeseburger, some fries and a lot of pink frosting. Gross. Too much birthday for that kid. She is detoxifing with some nice yogart and vegetables.
Here they are enjoying the last of the cupcakes. I think they all had lots of fun.

On another note, the plague has descended on our house this week. Evie came home from McDonald's a little hoarse, but over night, it turned into a cough and fever. Jim has it too. It's hard to say if Annalise is also sick because of the grease or because of the bug. Mom is the only healthy one at home right now, but that will probably change by this weekend.

Evie's birthday at preschool.

In honor of her birthday, Evie was the VIP at preschool today. She got to make a book all about herself and choose what she wanted to bring for snack. Here's Evie in her classroom amongst the chaos. My hat is off to anyone who chooses to be a preschool teacher. The patience it takes to deal with 16 4 and 5 year olds is a trait I don't possess. Kind of like the cake decorating gene. They must be tightly linked.
Here's Evie sitting at a table with most of the boys in the class. Hmm...wonder what Dad will say about that. They made room so Annalise could enjoy snacktime with them. As you can see, Evie's choice of snack was cupcakes with neon pink frosting.
Evie gets into the cupcake
So does Annalise. In case you are wondering, yes, that particular food dye stains a kid's skin.
Evie was also the line leader for the day. Here they are on their way to wash off some of the frosting.
Post snack, the kids burned some sugar off in their big rec room. Mostly, all the kids ran in circle and jumped off the steps in the middle of the room.
After running for 5 minutes, Evie came over to introduce Annalise to her friends. They held hands all morning.
Evie was so gentle and such a good big sister spending time with Annalise. It really made my heart melt. Evie is growing up so fast!

Happy Birthday Evie!

Ever wonder what a fresh four year old looks like? Here's Evie first thing on the morning of her birthday. What a surprise! More presents!
Annalise is so happy to have pancakes on a weekday morning. She must have eaten 4 or 5. Watch out Oliver. Check it out, now that Evie is four, she eats in a "grown up chair" and Annalise has graduated to the "big girl chair". I guess this means we can put the booster away. Unfortunately, Annalise doesn't have the hang of sitting still yet. We will have to bungee cord her into the big girl chair.
First, she thought she would like to open her presents after preschool. But, as her pile sat beside her all of breakfast, she decided that she should open them before she goes to school. Mom and Dad gave her a watch and a book on telling time.
Next was a puzzle with 100 pieces and this interestinb bamboo tile thing. If we were living in a more eco friendly place, like Madison, this would be all the rage. Can you tell we are trying to find things to keep her busy this winter?
The family tradition of the "car wash" was waiting for Evie when she woke up this morning We all had to run through it before we got dressed.

Evie's birthday party

Wow, what a weekend. This is a pretty long post so get comfy. Also, if you have been reading up, you know that we are waiting for Aunt Becky's baby to be born. As of this post, no baby yet. But, since Aunt Becky can't be comfortable in the car for more than 3 blocks, the Turners couldn't come visit. So here is Evie's birthday party in detail. We started out the day at the Children's Museum. Evie and Natalie rode the Merry-Go-Round first thing.
Then, they took a lap around the track in the race car. Watch out Danica Patrick. Good think Sam Hornish is NASCAR now because I don't know if North West Ohio could handle 2 Indy Car racing heros.
Do these girls look tired? We sent them to the museum during Annalise's and Oliver's naptime so they could have some fun (and the house would be quiet). Evie and Natalie are riding the rotating couch to look at the Chuhuly Glass Ceiling. They both fell asleep on the way home.
Back at the house, we were getting ready for the party. This is the Fly Boat Cake that Evie requested. Let me tell you. This was a pretty simple cake to make and decorate, but, not with the assistance of an almost 4 year old. Everything was questioned. "Mommy, why isn't the frosting more purple? Why did you cut the cake in half? Are you going to eat that? Can I put the candies on? Why did you make 5 wheels?" Seriously, now I know why mom's decorate cakes after the kids go to bed. So you can drink a glass of wine and use four letter words liberally. This is a little known fact about me. I'm not a cake decorator. I'm a bakery caller. Those who know me will know that this is a huge cake decorating accomplishment even though it isn't covered in 10 thousand stars.

Ok, enough about the cake (can you tell it was a pretty big trauma for mom?)

Then we got down to the business of party! Here we are lighting the candles on the cake.
Everyone watches closely to make sure that the paper sail and the Wonder Pets don't go up in smoke. It was also Uncle Kevin's birthday this week. He turned 30. Wow, that's old. We made a special cake for him too. I had enough cake decorating energy left to pipe "Kevin's Youth, RIP"
Oliver wants to get the party started. He liked the blowers, unlike Stinks. We blew one for her and she burst into tears.

Down to the presents!!! Finally! What a pile! Oliver is excited and tried to open some too!
Thanks for the Keyboard, Aunt Becky and Uncle Brandon. We'll be making lots of beautiful music.
Uncle Kevin got some new nose hair trimmers. Presents get pretty boring when you get old.
Evie got two beautiful necklaces from her Grandparents.
Here's some present opening frenzy. Mom's cousin Karin, and her boyfriend Corey look on.

The next morning was tough. To come down off her sugar high, Annalise had a little chocolate donut for breakfast! Maybe that's why she was such a Stinker in church. We should have held the donut until after church!
Oliver still isn't walking. He said something about still being the baby until Aunt Becky's baby comes. We even tried to bribe him with a Fly Boat wheel (blue frosting covered little chocolate donut).
Stinks has barely recovered from the weekend. I'm not sure why or what she's icing, but it seems to help her feel better.

Thanks for all the gifts for Evie. We all had a great weekend!

Here's the birthday video. For some reason, it inserted down here.

Busy Day.

Today was a pretty busy day for us. First off, we were at gymnastics this morning. No pictures of that because I have to try to amuse Annalise for an hour while Evie flips and jumps around. Evie has beeen working hard on her "VIP" book for school next week. It's all about her and the things that she likes. She gets to take it and share it with her class on her birthday. She finished it today and wanted to show it to Links when she got up from her nap.
We got the tent out today and played in it. Evie has been playing with the mangadoodles a lot lately. This picture is a pretty good representation of what she almost always draws.
Annalise had a good time playing in the tent too. She has changed into a totally different kid lately. She got her last one year molar and 2 eye teeth. Her disposition is much better lately. Her vocabulary is also expanding. She can say cup, ball, and the very important words--mine, no, and more.
The other big development with Annalise is that she is showing interest in the potty. She normally wants to sit on it after Evie goes so we have been humoring her for the last couple of days. It has been paying off because we have avoided 2 stinky diapers in the garbage can! That's probably more of a factor of mom recognizing that look on her face and getting her to the potty. By the way, that's a lot of skin in this picture. No matter where we live, she is Minnesotan born and will probably be pasty like her mom and dad.

Evie and Mom cuddle down and "Boiler Up" ( we don't know what that means either) for the biggest game of season in Indiana. Purdue vs. Indiana. It's like the OSU/ Michigan game, but on the basketball scale. Evie had lots of questions about teams, scoring, and the graphics on ESPN.
Mom, this is the greatest ever. Thanks for moving from the state of hockey to the state of basketball.
You betcha--but we do wonder how the Gophers are doing in the WHCA.

Annalise takes a nap....

...sort of. What a Stinker. Uncle Bran, you have a full blown monster waiting for you.

Happy Valentine's Day

Hope you all had a great Valentine's Day. It was a clear, sunny day here so we went outside to soak up some sun.The Little Mermaid says Happy Valentine's Day. Don't let this cute face fool you. Despite what Grandma says about her still be a baby, she is speeding toward toddler-dom. And all the toddler tantrums that go with it... in Walmart. Let's just say that I can now say that I've abandoned a cart in the middle of a store. It's a good thing that she's cute or I would have abandonded her in the cart next to the "always low prices" sign and the clearance Peyton Manning Jerseys. On the other hand, I discovered that Jiffy Lube allows you to stay in your car while they change your oil. This also mean that your children stay strapped in their seats too and a parent doesn't have to haul them out. And, if you go before 9:30 on a weekday,you get $8 off! (Sponsered by Jiffy Lube)

Evie just about sums up her Valentine's wishes. By the way, she styled her hair herself.

Sure to make you smile

Big Sister had pigtails this morning so Little Sister needed one too.

Thanks Grandma and Grandpa Taller

We received a Valentine Package in the mail today from Grandma and Grandpa Taller! What a surprise. The girls with their gifts.
When they think mom isn't looking, they take a closer look.
It's not so much the toys that are fun anymore, it's the box. We had the toybox closed over the weekend when we had a grown up party and reopened it today. Annalise wanted to play with everything and then decided it was more fun to play inside. Fine by mom, she can't get out of there without help!

For Aunt Becky

Aunt Becky is having a rough time right now being 9 months pregnant and stuck in a bunch of snow. If you haven't updated your blog lately, you better update or she might call you up and growl at you for a while. Rumor has it that the only way to make her truly happy is to get her a frozen coke from Burger King. Stinks is ready to get dressed and starts peeling her jammies off in the kitchen
Evie has enough energy for all of us.
Aunt Becky, hopefully your baby doesn't burst out of your belly like Annalise is demonstrating.
Annalise channels Bono to tell Aunt Becky to watch her carbon footprint with this baby's diapers.

Ball Pit!!

We are finding out that no matter where you live and what the temperature is, winter just gets old after a while. You have to find ways to mix it up every once in a while. So we got out the ball pit and invited our friends, Mike and Andy over to play. Evie and Mike had a great time throwing the balls everywhere!
In a quieter moment, Annalise gets the ball pit all to herself.