Easter and updates...

I have not been on the computer in a week! Can you go through Internet withdrawal? Jeff's parents "Nana Janis and Papa Dale" were in town all week! They left yesterday after a yummy Easter lunch at Macaroni Grill. We spent the week playing outside, finishing the playhouse and going to the zoo. We all had lots of fun! I'm sure you all heard that it snowed here on Saturday... weird. So, as a consequence all of the cute Easter clothes had to be put aside for sweaters. Yuck. Anyway, here are some pictures of our week. Enjoy.

Jeff and Claire inside the new playhouse


Claire, showing off her new house

Luke loves his big sister!

Mommy and Claire dyeing Easter eggs

Family picture in front of the spider exhibit (Luke is in the sling that I am carrying)

Bright

Well, if your day wasn't bright already, I have a few things that will make you smile. The first is the SWEETEST video I have EVER seen! It is a video of two sea otters holding hands... don't tune out too soon on the video, the sweetest part is at the end! And your second treat... my new favorite picture of Luke! I hope this brightens your day!

Honesty.

Two year olds are very honest. They let there true feelings show, and they will always tell you what they are thinking. Claire is one of these two year olds. Yesterday it was very humid out, so I left my hair wavy. I honestly thought it looked fine, I don't prefer to do my hair this way, but why fight with the weather? Well, last night I was sitting on the couch and Claire came running in the room with my brush... she handed it to me and said "here Mommy, brush your hair, it looks yucky." No lie, those words came out of her mouth. I was amazed... mostly because she had the reasoning capability to look at me and realize that I needed help! What a sweet little girl.

Playing outside...

ipod

I once again have not posted in a while. I really don't have any cute kid stories to blog about. It seems like the kids are my main topic of blogging. Let's change things up... lately I have really loved listening to my ipod. I think it is somewhat of an escape for me. Don't worry, I don't have my ear buds in unless the kids are asleep. I love to listen at night when I can't fall asleep. I love to listen when I am on the treadmill. I love to listen when I work on a sudoku puzzle. My favorite time to listen is when I am cleaning. Anyway... Do you have an ipod? If not, you should get one. What do you listen to? What do you do when you are listening?
Here is a list of my favorites from my current playlist:

• Sound of pulling heaven down by Blue October
• You make me smile by Blue October
• What if you by Joshua Radin
• Winter by Joshua Radin
• Saeglopur by Sigur Ros
• Hey there Delilah by The Plain White T's

Of course there is more, but if I went on and on you would stop reading. You should really check out Joshua Radin, his stuff is great. If you watch Scrubs, you have probably heard him before. Also, check out Sigur Ros (i linked it in my playlist). They are from Iceland... very cool stuff!Anyway, I really do want to know what is on your playlist... I'm always looking for new music! So in a way, I guess I am kind of "tagging" you...

...by emily

Some of you have asked to see a few of my bags. Please check out my blog for my business
...by emily.

a list

So, I haven't blogged in a week. I really haven't had much to write about. We had a great time with my parents, we were all sad to see them go. Here is a laundry list of things that have been going on with us:

• I think that Claire has officially come into the "terrible two's" stage. She is wearing me out... we have never had discipline issues with her, and now all of a sudden it is necessary. Please pray for my sanity.


• Luke is getting two new teeth!


• I sold 2 bags last week!!!

See, I told you... not much is going on. Here are a few recent pictures...

Claire LOVES to smell flowers, even if they are just dandelions!

Luke played so hard that he fell asleep in his swing!

Luke and Papa Gerry

Nine Months?

Can you believe that Luke is nine months old? I can't! He had his nine month check up yesterday. He weighed 23 pounds and was 31 inches long! WOW! Claire only has him beat buy 4 pounds. Today he learned how to clap his hands... the cutest thing I have ever seen! He is SO serious about it. He is also cruising all over the furniture and around the whole house with his little car. I really think he will be walking with in weeks!
This video is one that I took of Claire a few days ago. Her new favorite thing is to stand on the fireplace and pretend it is her stage! (ABL taught her that.) She is singing Rock a bye your bear by The Wiggles and Jesus Loves me (the short version).
My parents are coming to visit this weekend, and we are SO excited! I will post pictures next week!

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Check out Claire on these two blogs: Sarah and Rozie

Playing with Hudson...

Today we got to go play with Claire and Lukes BFF Hudson! They had so much fun running around outside. Sadly, all three of the Turner clan got sunburned! Yikes... we are a pasty pale bunch! Here are some cute pictures of our fun playdate!

A few things...

• I feel really bad for Brittney. I wish everyone would leave her alone. I am really not a fan, but I just ache for her... she just seems so desperate.
• Did you see Harry Conick Jr. on Ellen yesterday? HORRIBLE. The first thing out of his mouth was... "I want to announce that I am joining the custody case for Anna Nicole's baby, I'm her real father." OK, WHY is that funny??? Can anyone tell me what is funny about a little girl losing her mother and not knowing who her real father is?
• 'Lost' is on tonight! I Can't wait!!!
• I found a plastic set of golf clubs for Claire today. She is SOOO excited about playing golf with Daddy tonight!
• Claire has started calling me Memi... i have no clue what it means or where she got it??? I think it is a mix of Mommy and Emily.
• I gave away all of my summer clothes, it is so warm here... i guess that means I need to go shopping!!!
• My Mom is coming to visit in two weeks... YEAH!
• I don't have any pictures to post... they are both too busy for me to get a good picture of either one of them... I will keep trying though.

Fun

Now that the weather is nice again, we have been having a ton of fun! Yesterday we played outside for a long time. When Jeff got home from playing golf, we went on a walk and the kids rode in the wagon. Luke had never been in the wagon before. It was so cute... he held on to both sides and sat up so straight. He saw birds and kids playing and dogs barking. I love it when babies get to the stage when they become more aware of there surroundings! When we got home we played more, and even got to blow bubbles. Claire loves to be outside! Today on my way home from Bible study the thermometer in my car read 80 degrees! Amazing!

Another fun thing was Valentines day. Jeff came home with two dozen roses for me, three purple flowers for Claire and a red heart balloon for the kids to share. The next night we went to a great Italian restaurant for dinner... the kids included! We all had lots of fun! One more thing to add to my fun list... I am going to Abilene this weekend to meet up with six of my best friends and roommates from college! We are going to have a blast... probably lots of laughing! I hope Jeff has fun with the kids while I'm away... don't worry, It's only for one night!!! :)

Oh, and here is a funny story... Our good friends Brandon and Jennie went to NYC last week. Jennie had asked me if there was anything that I wanted them to get for me while they where there. Well, I have always wanted a Louis Vuitton. I don't however think that Jeff would ever let me spend the money on a real one... so, a knock off will do just fine. I gave Jennie a picture of what I wanted, hoping that she could just find it on the corner. Well, no such luck. Being as LV replicas are somewhat frowned upon (i know, i know, i do feel a little guilty!) there were none to be found on the corner. So, Jennie asked a woman on the street if she had any for sale. The women led them a few blocks and into a concrete building, down some stairs and into a big room filled with bags. Are you getting the idea that this is a little shady? Well, they ended up getting me a LV, and a few other bags for some other friends... keep in mind that B and J are SO not the kind of people to do this sort of thing! So, I now own a very nice LV, which I am convinced is either very real and stolen, or the best knock off I have ever seen! Thank you B and J for going out of your way for me... what good friends you are! :)

one more try

Love...

Happy Valentines Day! I hope you all have fun plans for the evening! Jeff and Luke are taking me and Claire out to dinner- should be a romantic evening! :) Claire is very excited, mostly because we hyped it up. This post will be somewhat of a rundown from all the things I have not told you in the last few days.

1. Claire, Luke and I went to Dallas last Friday so that we could go to the aquarium with "Aunt" Lisa. It was VERY fun! Claire loved seeing the fish, and LOVED having all of Lisa's attention. (Pictures following the post.)

2. Luke can sit up now. I know, I know... the little guy is just TOO busy to sit, so why learn how to do it!

3. I am going to venture out and start my own "business". Some of you know that I LOVE to sew. Not just sew, but create things... bags, clothing, recovering furniture, etc. So, my business name is ...by emily. I will post pictures of my couture creations soon. P.S. I LOVE the word 'couture'. For many reasons, such as: it sounds fancy, it means "made by hand", and I just love the way it sounds!

Well, I guess you didn't miss too much since my last post! Have a great Valentines Day!

Luke's buddy

I had to post this picture... this is Lukes best buddy Korben. They are the same age by 3 days. Claire loves Korben too! I think if she had a choice she would trade Luke in for Korben!

Go Colts!!!

So, last night was a very happy night at our house! It was very fun to see Jeff's team win the Superbowl! Here are a few pictures to enjoy. In other news... Luke got his first tooth yesterday! Have a great Monday...

Jesus loves you.

Today I overheard Claire singing 'Jesus loves me' to Luke! If that wasn't sweet enough, she went on to say "Wuke, Jesus wuv you!" I have a very sweet hearted little girl... I am thankful for that.

Have I mentioned...

Have I mentioned that Jeff is a HUGE Colts fan? He never misses a game, or even an episode of Sports Center if they are talking about the Colts. So, needless to say, Sunday will be a very big day at our house! Here is a picture of the munchkins decked out in there Colts gear from the game two weeks ago. Claire is dancing in the picture, it's really hard to get a still shot of her! Jeff taught her how to say 'Go Colts', 'Touchdown Colts', etc.
Anyway, I haven't posted in a while. I felt like I needed to post so that I don't lose my readers! Your still out there right? I know some of you read this and don't comment... it's OK, I read blogs anonymously too. However, I would love to hear from all of you! So, if you are brave enough... leave me a comment!
What else is new in our house: Claire is sleeping in her "bid dirl bed!" (Big girl bed). She loves it, I still don't know how I feel about it... she woke up too early this morning. I started going to the Richland Hills Ladies Bible study on Tuesday mornings. I am in the Beth Moore 'Breaking Free' class. I LOVE IT! I also love having three hours to myself!!! Luke is so close to walking. He pushes things across the floor, walking all the way. All he needs to do is realize that he can let go! Yikes! As for Jeff, he has been working long hours lately, but that should end soon. Well, I'm off to do my wifely duties. Laundry :( yuck.

Picture this...

Today Jeff had to go in to work because it is a very busy time of the year for him. So, I had to take the kids with me to Walmart to do my grocery shopping. I HATE Walmart. I don't use the word 'hate' much, but for this situation it applies. Well, after I got everyone ready for the day we loaded up the car and headed out. When I left the house it was not raining, when I got gas it was not raining, but when I had to get the kids out of the car it started sprinkling. No big deal, I had an umbrella with me. We get inside and Claire starts crying, I can't really remember why. Well, I am going as fast as possible, and then she starts screaming. She wanted a banana... so she is screaming "NA, NA..." Everyone is staring. Then I look up and Luke has pulled both of his socks off, and they are gone. He must have dropped them somewhere. So, while Claire is drawing attention to us, know people are noticing that my infant has no socks on and it is 36 degrees outside. I could just hear what they where thinking... what a horrible mother! Her baby is freezing and her toddler is starving! Ok, I can handle the staring, you get used to it when you have a toddler. So, I head to the check out and look outside, it is now pouring. I got Claire out of the cart and let her hold the umbrella (which is 3 times her size) and I try to cover Luke up the best I can. Out the door we go... cars are not stopping for us to pass. Finally we get to the car. I turn my head for one second to pull out my car keys and then I looked down... for some reason Claire decided that she would sit down in a nasty puddle on the ground. You have got to be kidding me... I am NEVER taking the kids to Walmart ever again.

Here is a new picture of the munchkins... it's a good thing they are so cute!

Claire's turn

The last post I did was about Luke, so being the Mom that I am, I feel like I have to make things fair and post about Claire too! Here are some fun things to know about Claire.

Favorite food: apples, grapes, "bresast" (breakfast), and rice milk.

Favorite toy: anything Diego or "fakpak" (Diego's backpack!)

Favorite thing to say: Anything that I say, that I don't want her to say... ex: "Oh, my gosh!". Claire will repeat the phrase, then I will say "Claire we don't say that." Then Claire replies with "Mommy say that!". (it's really hard not to laugh!) Then I have to follow up with "I know, but I shouldn't of said it..." Like she really understands...

Claire does not like: Claire hates it when Luke looks at her when she is crying! She gets so mad and says "NO, Wuke".

Claire loves: playing outside, singing, taking naps, going to church to "play with friends", and sing the "Jesus song" (Jesus loves me), The Wiggles, Diego and Dora, Hop (her pink bunny), and helping mommy with "baby Wuke".

Claire is: very sweet, a huge help to me, a great big sister, and a very precious little girl!

Today Jeff took Claire to Cook Children's to have chest x-rays, a sinus scan, and blood work for food allergy testing! We are finally going to get some answers that will hopefully help us in making her feel better. The last few weeks have not been fun for her. She has been having a horrible time with her asthma, and I am confident that it is linked to a food allergy that I am not all ready aware of. Please pray that these test will give us some answers!

I will leave you with a new video of Claire singing a medley of all of her favorite songs: The Goldfish song (Wiggles), Everybody Clap (Wiggles), ABC's, and Jesus love's me.




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My big boy...

Can you believe that Luke is 7 months old? I can't. He was born 4 weeks early, and he seemed so tiny. Now he seems like such a big boy. He already weighs over 20 pounds. He is crawling and even pulling up on things. Just today I saw him try to walk around his pack and play. He didn't get very far before he fell, but at least he is trying! He is such a blessing. I can already tell that he has a very sweet heart, a gentle personality. Don't get me wrong though, he is every bit a little boy! Here are a few pictures of Luke that I took today. The last picture was taken on the day that he was born... it doesn't even look like the same child! It amazes me that a child can change so quickly. Look at his little hands in the last picture. They are bruised from the IVs that he had to have. Now he has pudgy little fingers that get into everything! Well, that's all for now. I just wanted to share Luke with you today!

Christmas

We had a great Christmas. Both sets of our parents came down... it was a full house, but very fun! Claire and Luke didn't know what to do with themselves having 4 Nana's and Papa's around. Jeff's brother was even able to come for a few days. Jeff, Dale and my Dad spent the majority of there time in the backyard building a huge swing set, and a great playhouse. The playhouse is still in-progress, but when it is done, it will be awesome! Claire even got a rocking horse that Jeff built her. This was his first attempt at wood working, and I must say that I am really impressed! Here are a few pictures from Christmas... I don't have them all yet, so there will be more to follow. We hope you had a Merry Christmas, and a Happy New Year!

New Pictures

Luke enjoying his first biscuit
Mommy and Claire building a gingerbread house
Luke is crawling!!!
Happy Claire

Thanksgiving and Birthday parties!

I haven't posted in a while. It seems like I haven't had a spare minute to write anything. Well, we had a great time in Colorado. The trip didn't turn out like we thought it would, but we still had fun. When we got up to my parents house we found out that there was a huge recall on my SUV. GM ended up buying my car back from us, and we got to buy a brand new Torrent! It was a little stressful, but it was a relief to drive home in something safe! The week after we got home I spent every second of it cleaning... yuck. We had two parties at our house on Saturday. The first party was Claire's Second birthday party. I still can't believe she is two! It was very small, with just a few friends, and Claire had sooo much fun! The second party was our life group Christmas party. I am so thankful to have such good friends. Now that the parties are over I can start getting ready for Christmas. Both sets of our parents will be coming for Christmas, we are very excited. I haven't even started my Christmas shopping yet.
Luke update: Luke is almost crawling! Actually, you could probably say he IS crawling, he is just lacking some coordination! He gets were he wants to go, that's all that matters! He is also eating solids now, and the boy LOVES his food!!
Claire update: It seems like she is a big girls now... she is talking in small sentences, and you can actually understand most of her words! She loves to help with everything, especially of it involves Luke!
And last but not least... Congratulations Kevin, Angie and Natalie, on a new baby girl! We are so happy for y'all. We can't wait to meet her!
Here is a quick slide show with pictures from Thanksgiving and Claire's party...

We made it.

Well, for those of you that wondered... we made it to Colorado. It was a lonnnng trip with the two munchkins, but we did it. Imagine this: Jeff driving, me in the passenger seat, Luke SCREAMING and Claire watching Diego for the 50th time. Oh, and The Killers playing really loud to drown out the screaming and Diego. Your jealous that you were not in the car right? Well, just thought I would leave a quick update! More soon...

Thankful...

Hi all... I'm sure that some of you received this link in an email, or if you frequent youtube you might have seen this too. I usually don't put things like this on my blog, but this one really got to me. If you have kids, or you want kids, you really should watch this. It's about car seats, i know... not that interesting right? Well, take the time to watch this. I learned a lot from this video. I am very quick to use the seat belt to latch Claire's car seat in to the car instead of using the latch system. Anyway, on a lighter note, we are off to Colorado for Thanksgiving! Should be sooo much fun! Here are a few things that I am Thankful for...

1. Jesus
2. Jeff
3. Claire and Luke
4. Our families
5. Our friends
6. Jeff's job
7. Naps

I hope that you and your families have a very blessed Thanksgiving!

What do you think?

"Do not kiss your children so they will kiss you back, but so they will kiss their children."
-Noah Benshea

How do you feel about this quote? I really like it.

hello there...

I haven't blogged in a while. I will catch you up. Last weekend we had some friends over for dinner. Fun was had by all...even the kids. In all, there were three 5 1/2 month olds, and Claire. Claire had a great time playing with Korben and Eliana, Luke is old news. Let's see... there was more medical drama in our house. I feel like a live in an episode of "ER". Luke had a reaction to an antibiotic. Jeff took him to urgent care, and I took him to his doctor the next day. He's fine, but while we were in the office the doctor noticed Claire's constant wheezing. She decided that her current meds are not working well enough, so now we have to do breathing treatments a few times a day. How do you get a 2 year old to sit still for thirty minutes you ask? Diego. Go, Diego, Go!!! Claire is SO over the Wiggles, she has moved on to Diego. Well, that pretty much gives you a snapshot of my previous week... here are some pictures for your enjoyment!


Claire enjoying some pre-dinner "dip"!

Korben and Luke (BFF)
Claire, Korben, Eliana and Luke Korben, Eliana and Luke
Luke and his pretty rash!
I'm sooo tired...

Naked again, and again...

Does anyone know how to keep a almost two year old from stripping? Claire will NOT leave her clothes on. Every time I turn around she has taken her clothes off. That is fine and all, except, it is getting a little too cold to be in the nude! This will be a short post... however I wanted to share two videos with you all. The first video is of Luke and his friend Natalie. As you will see, Luke LOVES Natalie! The second video is of Claire, Grant and Natalie jumping on our bed (Claire's second favorite past time. Her first is getting naked!) I hope you all have a great weekend.

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Happy Halloween...

Our little Peyton Manning

Daddy, Claire (the Colt's cheerleader) and Natalie (the OU cheerleader!)

Daddy and Claire

Claire and Luke are Colts fans for Halloween this year. They look so cute in there costumes, and they made Daddy very proud!

New videos

This is a recent video of Claire reading her "tweet book". She still calls most animals by there sounds and not by there actual names. We are working on that!
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Here is a video of Luke laughing. It is a little hard to hear, so turn the volume up! Luke hasn't been doing much laughing in the last few days... he is pretty sick. He has a double ear infection and a stomach bug. I feel so sorry for him. Hopefully it will be gone soon.

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Pumpkin fun

This weekend we had so much fun! We went to the pumpkin patch with the Mullins family. Claire and Hudson had such a good time running around and climbing on pumpkins! We also got to carve pumpkins at life group on Saturday night! How fun! Claire and her friend Selah sported the "diaper only" look while playing in pumpkin goo! Here are some fun pictures for you to enjoy! (There are also a few of Claire playing in the playhouse that I made her.)

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Abilene

This weekend we went to Abilene for our five year reunion as ACU. We had so much fun seeing old friends! Here are a few pictures from the weekend.

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Naked day

Today Claire decided that she would not wear clothes. After her morning bath I attempted to put her clothes on her and she screamed "NO, STOP MOMMY!" After several attempts she won, and I let her run around the house naked. This went on for 3 hours. Every once in a while I would mention the "big girl potty", but she said she was fine. Finally, she came to me and asked for a 'di-di' (diaper). I asked her if she needed to go potty, and she said no. I asked her if she did go potty, and she said yes. Oops. She showed me 2 little puddles... oh what fun. Once I got her dressed I went to start cleaning up the mess, that's when I saw it. Oh, my goodness, I wanted to scream!!! She had peed right next to my special diaper bag. Now, when I mean special, I mean... My amazing friends chipped in and bought me the Louis Vuitton of all diaper bags. The Petunia Pickle Bottom. So anyway, there it was, soaking up pee. I spent two minutes cleaning up the floor, and then an hour cleaning the bag. Don't worry, it is not ruined, and Claire finally did get clothes on. I think this will be one of those stories will be repeated when she is 20!

Just a few cute things...

Have you seen the website "Cute overload"? If not, you should check it out. It is similar to the Daily Kitten website, but with all kinds of animals. Jeff has a softball game tonight. I love taking Claire to his games because she likes to stand at the fence and yell "GO DADDY!" So cute. While we are on the subject of cute things... This is my favorite commercial. It would not let me embed the video on my blog so click here, and see for yourself. I laugh every time I see it, because I do the same thing in the grocery store. What funny things do you find yourself doing for your kids (if you have some!)? One thing that I have found myself doing is singing to Claire, IN PUBLIC! I would have never done that before I had her!