Here I am

So, I post my big news about being prego and then I'm MIA for a week - ha! We're still here and we're still nauseous...oh well, comes with the territory I suppose. Not a whole lot going on here besides the usual. We have had some pretty crazy storms - we were suppose to get hit really bad last night, but it missed us...we've had a ton of rain this week - ugh. I finally broke down and turned the air on - made it til June 2 though!! I handed over the presidency of SGC (my moms group) which I was pretty excited about. I'm ready to hold a different position and have a little less responsibility for awhile. The new Pres, Emily, will do awesome and I am looking forward to the next year. I'm very glad it's Friday, although Shawn is in a golf tournament all day tomorrow. We're in the process of trying to plan a family vacation. Shawn is going to build a deck in the backyard after our patio gets poured soon. We are looking into the kitchen remodel which has to be done before the baby gets here. As for right now, Austin and Ashlyn are reading books to each other and Gabriella is wandering around getting into everything. We're deciding what are plan is for the day - might involve a big sale at the great mall and a park for lunch. Maybe hit the pool this afternoon - we'll see what the day brings!
Hope you are having the time of your life!!
ST
ps - thanks for the millions of emails congratulating us on the baby!! we love to hear from all of you!! Maybe I'll post some prego pics soon - apparently with your fourth baby you start showing in the first 2 weeks...

Three just wasn't enough...

Looks like Santa Claus will be bringing us an extra special package this year!! Baby T4 will be arriving most likely on Dec 26 (c-section). Our due date is really Jan 4, but since we have to have c-section...well, you all know the drill by now! Anyway, we've known for about a month, we're 8.5 weeks along and nauseous like crazy. Austin is really pulling for a baby brother and Shawn swears he saw a penis in the sonogram pic above (which is pretty funny since the baby barely has more than a heart right now and is only about 2cm long). Actually if you have any experience in seeing sonograms, you'll notice you can actually make out the head and body - absolutely amazing, don't you think?? We could see the heart beating while we were there too. Incredible. Anyway, that's our big news for the day!! (Oh - and much to Shawn's disappointment, there was only ONE baby in there NOT TWO, and trust me, he made the technician check 5 different times just to be sure).

Hope you are having the time of your life!

ST

What did I do today, you ask?

I am exhausted. How do three little ones wear me out so much? Well, not only did I keep three kids happy all day long (well, mostly), but I also managed to:
Vacuum all the floors
Bake 2 loaves of banana bread with Austin (chocolate chip by request)
Took 3 kids to Target to grocery shop (this is always a good time and I have had to become very creative as to where to put the groceries since I have so many kids)
Emptied the dishwasher
Filled the dishwasher
Emailed (of course)
Babysat James and Kiernan this evening and fed them dinner so Em and Jim could go on a date (Emily and I have a good thing going - we each trade kids once a month so that we can go on a dinner date with our hubbies. Are we smart or what?)
Cleaned up the toys in the backyard since it's suppose to rain.
Played toys with all the kids
Picked up and put aways toys about 17 times
Swept the kitchen floor 3 times
Took out 2 bags of recycling to the garage
Washed 4 sets of bed sheets and blankets.
Made 3 out of the 4 beds (Thanks, shawn, for making Austins - I forgot!)
Went for a long walk and bike ride with the kids (funny story - Austin was riding his bike while I pushed the double stroller. All of a sudden he jumped off his bike, ran over to a tree and started to pull his pants down - just in time I said Austin what are you doing? Of course, he says - I have to pee! That's not our tree I said and we immediately very quickly headed for home to use the bathroom. What's his deal with peeing lately?!?!)
Went for a walk all by myself while Shawn did bath and bedtime with the kiddos
And now I am sitting on the couch blogging.
That's the stuff I can remember doing today - I'm sure there's much much more, but who knows. But you know what? I'm happy. I love being a mom to my 3 wonderful children and wife to my amazing husband. I can't imagine not being at home with them everyday. I wouldn't trade it for the world. It may not be glamorous, but I am with my kids and that is what matters most in life. Unfortunately it won't last forever (although I might be looking forward to preschool in the fall just a little bit)
Hope you are having the time of your life!
ST

Tomboy to . . . . . GIRL????

I want you to look at the following picture and tell me what might look strange. Any ideas?? Well, I'll give you a hint - that's Ashlyn - you know, the one with the SKIRT on and holding a BABY DOLL. What? You didn't recognize her? You thought, surely that's not Ashlyn...I hate to admit it, but starting last week she wanted to wear dresses and has been carrying that crazy baby doll EVERYWHERE. I"m not sure what happened. Last Monday she woke up and wanted to wear a church dress. WHAT? I thought she was kidding so I laughed and then she got mad at me and actually, seriously wanted to wear a dress. Honestly, I really didn't know how to respond except to say, "no?" We just aren't dress wearing people here so I was caught off guard a bit. We eventually settled on a skirt rather than a dress. Every single person that saw her that day commented on her skirt - too funny. Maybe she's a girl after all!

Shawn has been working like crazy in the front yard and we are officially done! All of our front yard landscaping is finished. We even bought some potted flowers to set in the rock garden out front. It looks awesome. Now we are heading to the backyard and having a new patio done in a couple weeks. Can't wait!!

Gabriella has been cracking us up lately. She has quite the personality these days. She is so funny - constantly hamming it up and being super ornery. She is the only one of my three kids that is interested in baseball. She will actually go get the ball, put it on the tee, get the bat and swing and hit it - 14 months old!! Austin could care less, but is definitely improving on his swing a bit. I have a feeling Gabriella will be the athlete out of the three - she is super coordinated for her age (not sure about her brain power yet...)

Austin is having a great time also. His latest "moment" was this - Every night when Shawn does bath time with the kids Austin always has to pee as soon as the water turns on. Shawn is usually sitting on the toilet getting the girls ready to get in the tub and has to get up so that Austin can go to the bathroom. Well, last night Shawn was talking to Ashlyn and putting her in the tub. When he turned around Austin was up on the step stool, had one leg up on the counter and was peeing in the sink. When Shawn asked what he was doing, of course he said he had to pee. duh. Shawn said he didn't get mad, just stated that we don't pee in the sink. He obviously just didn't know there was a rule about that I guess. Don't worry, if you are coming over any time soon I did clean the sink. Life is never dull around here!
I think that's it for now. Hopefully the weather will be good here this week. We spent almost all day outside.
Hope you are having the time of your life!
ST

The finished product

The finished product!! Shawn did an amazing job building these walls - and I love the built-in bench. You will notice on the top of the high wall we have a "rock garden". This is our little piece of Phoenix. No one can believe we didn't plant flowers, bushes, etc. But, seriously, why would I pay for something I would never be able to keep alive or keep weeds out of?? And I still just love the look of the rock. We do have a huge pot that I will plant some flowers in when I find a minute that will sit on top of the rock in the corner. As for the pic with the longer wall we are now attempting to grow some grass back where the wood chip garden was. Great job Shawn!!

We were so happy to enjoy some outdoor weather today - had a big picnic lunch with a bunch of friends - the kids were so happy to be outside. I am sooo looking forward to summer!! Shawn and I got to go on a date Friday night - went to dinner with one of my bestest friends Aldog and Jens - had an awesome time. We all went to the Royals game, courtesy of Shawn's work, and sat 5 rows back, first base line! I thought for sure we were going to get to bring a baseball home for Austin (or a black eye) - I've never had such good seats.

I'll leave you with some 2 year old to 3 year old conversation.

To set the scene, Austin and Ashlyn got sent to their rooms for making some bad choices having to do with sand not staying in the sand box and ending up on people's heads. After they had spent time in their respective rooms I went to talk to Austin and tell him to go apologize to his sister. He headed upstairs and this is what I heard from a distance.

Austin: "Hey Ash, what are you doing?"

Ashlyn: "Sitting on my bed, reading a book."

Austin: "Is that what you always do when you get sent to your room? Just sit on your bed and read a book?"

Ashlyn: "yes."

Austin: "Huh. can I sit by you and read too?"

Ashlyn: "Sure!"

I couldn't help but chuckle, apparently my discipline is causing my children to read at an earlier age.

Hope you are having the time of your life!

Just Plain Busy.

That's what the Turner's have been doing. Shawn has been crazy busy working on a huge bid the last 2 weeks (Royals Stadium remodel - pretty cool, huh?) So, I have had the kids all day and night - yes, the worst is bath time. Those of you that know anything about my motherhood know that I can't stand bath time. Shawn always does bath time and bed time so when he works late I have (get) to do it. And on top of that, I have had tons of work coming in too (yipee!!!)
So, it's been crazy around here. Shawn and I have a date to watch "the office" tonight in 5 minutes - more updates later!
Hope you are having the time of your life!
ST

This One's for the Hudson's!!

Some of my fans have been getting quite testy about me not updating my blog...I won't mention any names, Michelle K (ha ha ), so here's a quick update -

I have been known to rarely put my girls in a dress. I'm just more of a jeans and shorts kind of girl, alright, I'm a pretty serious tomboy and could probably fit all the dresses in my house into a shoebox. Anyway, I put Ashlyn in a dress for church today and thought it was appropriate to document it. And since the Hudson girls are always in a dress, I knew I would have to have a picture to prove it to them that Ashlyn actually wore a dress - so here you go Hudson girls!! (I'm not sure where Ashlyn's left leg went, hmmm)

And isn't that the most sophisticated 2 year old ever??

Now, onto more important things, like home improvement. Shawn has been working his tail off in the yard the past couple weeks, until it snowed this weekend. Although, I don't know that he was real disappointed in the rain and snow since it meant he couldn't work in the yard this weekend and had to stay inside and play. Shawn has been building us a new wall in the front yard and it is turning out awesome. He pushed the driveway back about a foot and a half which is awesome and is rebuilding some flower bed things and made them into a bench instead (not so good with flowers). I love it - and I love to see him working on the house - great job hon!

I've had tons of work with the textbook company the past 2 weeks which is why you haven't heard much from me...sorry about that, but gotta make some money for Austin's tuition in the fall!

Hope you are having the time of your life!

ST