and then there were....teeth.

Yes, Lucas has 2 teeth that broke thru. Can you believe that? He will be 4 months tomorrow and has 2 teeth. Gabriella decided it was time he try a cheerio, alas he choked like crazy. No, I did not know she was feeding him cheerios, but I was close by so, crisis averted. I am thinking I might give him some cereal soon - the usual rice cereal to start. Then we head on to smashed up bananas and avocados. Yum yum. Just the cereal will be enough craziness to for a few weeks. It's so easy when all they do is drink milk...now I have to fit another kid into the feeding schedule! Anyway, I usually do most all my own food, so easy and better than having a billion baby food jars around. Lucas has also rolled over a couple times - say what?? Time flies I guess!
We have a wonderful garden planted this year thanks to the kids and Shawn. I am so excited to see what comes up. It's already grown a bunch - onions, tomatoes, green beans, carrots, potatoes, cucumbers and peppers...we'll see what happens and if we get to eat as much as the rabbits and squirrels do - where's that BB gun again?? ha ha
I have decided to stop "twittering". I gave it a shot, but it seems a bit over the top for me. I think that's why I can't get into Facebook either. I don't have time to read what 150 of my closest friends are doing every minute of the day. Interesting concept, just not for me. Plus, I had people following me on twitter that I didn't even know - little creepy if you ask me. I still love to blog, so that's not going anywhere.
Shawn is out of town for a few days to golf out in Georgia. Should be a fun little getaway for him. I will be so happy to have him back though! We have two weddings this weekend, one Friday night and one Saturday night. Should be an exhausting, fun time. Friday night will just be me and Shawn - yipee! And Saturday night we are going to take 3 out of 4 kids. Mom and dad said they would keep lucas since he goes to bed at 7. The others will be joining us for what I am guessing is going to be ALOT of dancing!! Shawn has taught the kids some great dance moves - can't wait to go public with those!
I better go do a headcount of all the kids -
Hope you are having the time of your life!
ST

pics as promised

Here's an Easter photo. Personally, I think it turned out pretty amazing considering the 4 kids under the age of 4. And YES, that is Gabriella in her first dress EVER. So fun!
And without further adieux (ado??):
Here is Bolt, the frog: (he is sitting on the rocks, sorry it's the best I could get.)
And there is the four fish: from left to right on top is Jose, Gus, Little Eddy and Nemo is right under Jose. Also hard to really see them, but at least I took the time to upload them!

Time for a little Jack Bauer -
Hope you are having the time of your life!
ST

4 fish and a frog.

We broke down and bought a family pet. NO, not a dog, definitely absolutely not a cat...we got 4 fish (one for each kid) and a frog (Shawn's frog). We have Austin's fish - Jose (no idea why he wants to call it that), Ashlyn's fish - Nemo, Gabriella's fish - Little Eddy (after Papa Turner), and Lucas's fish - Gus (I decided to name that one) and the frog - Bolt (after the sprinter in the olympics, not the movie). I will get a pic of them tomorrow and post it. They are all crazy little guppies that swim around like mad. The kids love it.
Besides getting the fish and frog, we did a ton of work outside this weekend (we meaning Shawn and the kids). Each of the kids painted a pot and picked out their own flowers to plant in them and they are in charge of their pots all summer. They were super excited about it and they turned out awesome. (thanks for the idea, Jennie!) We'll see how long they can keep them alive...should be interesting...
We also got our garden planted. I have some high hopes - as do they...we planted potatoes, onions, peppers, carrots, tomatoes and cucumbers. I hope we at least get a little produce out of it and that it doesn't all go to our pet squirrels and rabbits. We still have my herb garden to plant, but we'll get to that later. Shawn built a shelf off our deck to hang the pots from. I am most excited to get the herb garden growing.
As for now, I am absolutely exhausted and have a sore throat so I am off to bed to watch the Apprentice and hopefully get a good nights sleep.
Hope you are having the time of your life!
ST

Get to Work!!

The kitchen is finally taking shape! It's a slow process, but it's moving along nicely. Getting a kitchen renovation done with 4 kids could be a whole season of one of those DIY shows. We have have all the existing cabinets that we are keeping almost done - they need one more coat of varnish. We got all the doors this week - and they are BEAUTIFUL. We gave them their first coat of varnish last night and they look so cool!! Can't wait to get them up. I still have no doors on any of my cabinets - little bit "ghetto" in my kitchen to say the least. We have the counter top ordered and should be in sometime in the next couple weeks. We think we have a new sink picked out but are still debating. We like the black ones and think we will go with it since our counters are going to be really dark.
I got a bunch of work from the textbook company this week so I am super excited about that. That money will go straight into the tuition fund for preschool next year.
Potty training has gone amazingly well. Gabriella just cracks me up. She has changed quite a bit after the potty training - I feel like the tantrums we were having have pretty much stopped altogether - (thank YOU!!!) She hasn't had an accident in days and seems to go all by herself without me asking if she needs to go. SO COOL. And you don't dare help her - she wants her "privacy" and I quote, "I do it myself - get out mom". So there you have it - 3 potty trained kids, 1 to go!
We made a little trip to Manhattan this week - so much fun. We left Monday night to stay with the Payne's - they were so nice to let us crash in their basement. Then spent the day with Callie and the boys (and baby Taylor) on Tuesday. Kids had a blast and snoozed the whole way home on Tuesday afternoon. What a great break to the week. Austin is off school today and Monday for Easter so it's been nice to sleep in and be lazy in the mornings. I hope the rain stops soon and it will be nice for Easter, but it isn't looking like it's going to be so nice. We'll see...
Hope you are havin' the time of your life!
ST
ps - Happy Easter!!

Potty training 101.

Blek. That's what I think of potty training. SO draining, but exciting I suppose. It's kind of like a cheap thrill every time you have success in the potty, but other than that it's a pain in the you know what. Gabriella has done awesome, hardly any accidents, but knowing there is always potential for one is a bit stressful when going out in public. I finally had to venture out though. We had been stuck at home inside for WAY too long. Yesterday I had to invite myself over to Emily's just to get away - thanks for having us, Em! And today we ventured off to Wonderscope - so nice to be out, the kids had a blast. Grandma and papa turner are on their way here for a quick visit so the kids are excited about that. I am super excited to get a pedicure tonight!! Our moms group is meeting at a salon to get manicures and pedicures while drinking wine. MMMMM can you think of anything better than that?? So very excited for that. Good luck to shawn getting everyone to bed tonight...
Oh, this morning we had some fun - Ashlyn called 911 before it was even 8am. Great start to the day. I love having to explain to the police officer that we are really just fine...lovely. What are the chances that she can pick out the numbers 9-1-1 in that order??
Hope you are having the time of your life!
ST