Gonna do better.

Here are some recent pics my sister took. Man, I have cute kids!
Look at my cute Lucas. Totally not paying attention to the picture taking...but soo cute. This pic cracks me up. It's not too often that I actually see myself with all my kids. Wow - I have quite a crew!



Here are some recent pics my sister took. Man, I have cute kids!

This is SOOO Gabriella. Love love love her.
I am really becoming a lazy blogger these days. Not sure why, but I think it has something to do with the fact that Shawn has gotten us hooked on watching "Lost". We are still in the first season, but it seems to take up the nights, hence putting my blogging time on hold. I am going to attempt to blog more though. Funny I say that...I started this post on Friday and now it's Monday and still not done! ha!

Just need to post something...

It's been awhile since I've been on here...so I thought I better come up with something exciting to tell all my fans (all 12 of you). Let's see. The weather has been absolutely gorgeous so we have spent the majority of our time outdoors. We've already been to the petting zoo, 17 different parks and played for hours in the backyard. Lucas has discovered a whole new play area called "the backyard". He was amazed the first time he got to go out and play and spend an hour and a half in the sandbox without moving. He had no idea what he was missing out on!! The only problem is that now when we are inside, he just stands at the backyard screaming at the top of his lungs. He is crackin' us up as usual, he has such a funny personality. And the looks he gives are priceless. He loves to get into whatever his siblings are doing and do just the same. He even did some coach-pitch baseball last night with Shawn and Austin!! And he hit the ball!! I think we have a baller!! Scholarship, baby, scholarship.
We had a wonderful Easter - the weather couldn't have been better. Had a great day with the fam. My mom is doing better, still learning to deal with the RA, but I think she is figuring out how to make it work. We even went shopping for a few hours on Sunday! That's how we know she's feeling good - 3 pairs of shoes were bought at the first stop. Go MOM!!
Today is dad's b-day - he doesn't seem to add a year to his age anymore though - he just subtracts a year from the years until retirement.
Shawn is working like crazy these days. Economy is still not good, he has a job which we are very thankful for, but the hours are long as there aren't many people left in his office. I'm sure Obama is gonna turn that around though....right right.

Ok, I started this post yesterday and just realized that I forgot to finish it and post it...it is now over 24 hours since I started the post. But now, I have more important things to do - like leave for the weekend!!!!!!!!! Yup, I'm headed to the hotel with some gals for some serious scrapbookin'.
Hope your weekend is as good as mine!

Not just a laugh...a guffaw...

Lucas laughs at everything. He is totally a social laugher. If everyone else is laughing, so is he. And the best part? He always covers his mouth when he laughs. Hysterical.
The kids aren't in school today so we are just chillin' in our pj's. I love no school days. I love having no agenda and no where we have to be. I am going to miss these days next year when Austin has school every single day - ugh. How will we ever get there? For now, I'm going to just love being home in my purple polka dot pants and KSU hoodie.
GO CATS!!

Go Cats!!

How 'bout them Cats??! Sweet 16, baby! What a fun weekend of basketball. Granted, my bracket isn't looking so hot anymore, but oh well - neither is my dad's. Next year I'm just going to wait for my dad to fill out his bracket and then do the opposite. Should work out well in my favor! (just kidding, dad)
So, we got about 10 inches of snow this weekend. Lovely. Should be melted and flooding here by Tuesday since we are looking at 65 degrees on Tuesday. The weather is all over the place - makes it exciting to pick out clothes every day. Kids got to make a snowman and 10 minutes later we were drinking hot chocolate.
Going to be a busy week here this week. School starts back tomorrow, meetings 3 out of 4 nights, shouldn't be long and it'll be the weekend again!

Now I am going to settle in on the couch for a bit.

Spring Break 2010!!

Ahhh...spring break. Spring break is awesome. We have had such a fun week. We started the week off with a trip downtown in which I drove all 4 kids down town by myself and even parked in a parking garage! Yes, I have a bit of a fear of downtown driving and definitely prefer to stay away from parking garages. Too many cars packed into one place and I am pretty much guaranteed to not ever find my car again. We spent the morning at Kaleidoscope, which is somewhere we use to go as kids too - it's basically one big room set up to do a million different crafts and it's all free. It's so much fun. And if you know my kids at all, they are obsessed with doing crafts. We do on average about 13 crafts per day per kid. So, as you can imagine, they had a blast. I can't wait to go back again. Then we went over to Crown Center and went to a free "fairy tale" exhibit that was lots of fun and finished off the morning with lunch at Fritz's (where the train brings you your food). Such a great day!! And we even found the car when we left. Oh, did I mention we went with 54 of our closest friends? So much fun. That was our Monday. Tuesday we packed up and headed to the farm! Austin, Ashlyn and Gabriella got to stay there until tonight with their other cousins, Bo and Christy. They love hanging out with their cousins and spending time on the farm. From what I gathered they mostly enjoyed the creek and splashing in the mud - good times!! Some of my fondest childhood memories are all from hanging out on the farm so we are so blessed that our kids get to do that. Thanks grandma and grandpa turner for taking on all the grand kids this week! So, with 3 of my kiddos gone, it was just me and Lucas. And it was awesome. We slept in, we went shopping, we snuggled, we played. It was really nice to get to spend time with just my lucas. And now the week is almost over - time flies. Summer is going to be here so quick. As for me I am going to enjoy a quiet night here - Shawn is out for Guys Night Out so I am going to snuggle up and continue watching some basketball.
Until next time - - - Go Cats!

{ And then she was THREE }

So, here I am really, really prego with Gabriella. Hard to remember back then. I believe this is right before we left for the hospital for the c-section. And here's what Austin and Ashlyn looked like before they became a big brother and big sister! How cute are they?? I can't believe how little they were when I brought Gabs home. Austin was still in diapers!!

And here's when Gabriella arrived.

Happy Birthday, Gabriella! My little Gabba Gabba is officially 3. She has been acting like she's 12 for the last few years, but she's really just 3. She is so stinkin' cute. I love her for so many reasons. She is truly independent, she's funny, she knows way more than any 3 year old should (thanks to Austin and Ashlyn) and she loves her siblings more than anything. I love that her most prized possesion is her polka dot blankie and she loves her some "Dora and Diego". I love her goofy, cheesy smile and I really love how she calls me "momma".
Here's a pic of a little b-day lunch we had...
And of course we had to have a pizza party with the fam at Gabriella's favorite restaurant, Pizza Street. So fun!

That's my little 3 year old. What a fun birthday weekend!! Can't wait to see what being three will bring!
And yes, that's Gabriella wearing a dress!!

{ Woop Woop for 32!! }

Before I get into the birthday week I just had...here's some new photos I just downloaded! Enjoy!That's my Gab and my Luke Luke. Aren't they cute reading books together?
Lucas thought it was hilarious to cover his face and peek out the hole of the book every time I took a picture. He would just giggle away. Such a smart little one.
One of the many snowy days we have experienced here. Snow has been on the ground since Christams Eve. Seriously, people...I am so over this snow.

I love that Lucas is walking - it's so cute!!

Is that really a picture of ME?? I even look like I may have fit in a shower that day! Woop Woop for me!!
Love you Lucas!!
Little BFFs.
My kids are getting so big - hard to believe. 5, 4, almost 3 and 1. How did that happen??

Now time for some adult pics....first let me explain my b-day festivities...
I have been celebrating my 32nd birthday for quite a few days now...I LOVE, love, love birthdays. I don't care how old you are, how can you not enjoy your birthday? And I have the best friends and family who didn't even get annoyed with me mentioning here and there (ha) about it being my birthday. Shawn and I got to go out Friday night to a fancy dinner with his work so we even got to dress up and have a fancy meal free of charge - nice. Had a great time (and as always - thanks mom and dad for watching my wonderfully behaved children). Saturday morning I got to have a birthday breakfast with my mom and sister. The best gift of all was just to get to hang out with them - NOT in a hospital. Mom is doing so much better and we even got to go shopping for several hours on Saturday!! Man, have I missed that! Then, Saturday night I had a little b-day party with some friends - so so fun. I won't give too many details, but I did beat someone in boxing (michelle) and according to the Wii, Shawn is 58 years old. The good thing is that according to the wii I am 54 - so I guess Shawn and I really are a good match! Oh, I almost forgot - Friday morning (on my real b-day) Shawn had made and hung a banner that sad Happy Birday Stephanie! How cool is that? And no, that was not a typo - that's actually what the banner said, Shawn had a bit of a spelling issue with the sign, but it was the thought that counts. I love banners. I don't think I have had one made for me in over 20 years.

Here we are playing a little Mario Kart. And yes, that's what Jennie (far right) looks like when she is driving her mini van too.
This is wearing I was demolishing Michelle in a little boxing match.
Yes, Michelle knows - she just got knocked out...Thanks for all the b-day wished everyone!!
I think 32 is going to be a great year.
Bring it on 3-2. Show me what you got!