You might be a Redneck if...

Well, I don't think I am a redneck, so my joke would start off like this:

You might get carted off to the loony bin if...



And the punchline today would read:

...anyone catches you sitting knee to knee with your son, in the bathroom, CRYING your eyes out pleading with him to "Please, POOP in the potty!"

Guess the hormones are catching up with me this week!  For me, the silly hormones are the worst part of pregnancy.  I cry at the drop of a hat.  I practically mildew on humid days!  WAIT! Who am I kidding!  Lately, the hormones have been so mean I don't need a humid day to mildew... I can do that all by myself!  I am my own weather pattern complete with off and on showers through out the day, fog (aka mommy brain), cloudy with a chance of rain (mommy brain with a touch of sadness), possible thunderstorms (watch out world she is on a rampage!!), torrential down pours (self explanatory) and misty mornings (aka June gloom or marine layer!).  I always like the joke about menopausal women... something about Al Gore blaming them for global warming!!  I feel like I am to blame for all the flooding in the Midwest!  Watch out loony bin here I come!!

Our family is desperately trying to hold onto the last little bit of summer.  Media tells us it is back to school time which means the lazy carefree days at the beach and parks are almost over.  But we are trying to hold out a bit longer!  Still going to the beach (perk: not as crowded!), going to the pool, eating lots of popsicles outside, etc!  Here are some pictures...

 Thanks to a wise friend I have been empowered to make something other than PB & J for our beach lunches!  Bean and Cheese Burritos!!  Man, I was getting tired of peanut butter and jelly! 

Notice the lack of crowds behind them?!  PERK!!  And Maggie is not yelling, she is doing "see-food!".

 And did I mention Bailey's big news??

She cut 10 inches of her hair and donated it to Locks of Love.  We are really proud of her!

 Oh yeah!!  And she has lost a million teeth!!!  Two on the bottom (the adult ones have already grown in) And FOUR across the top!!  Bad timing... she can't eat corn on the cob!!

 Yes.  Yes, she is a stinker.  When given two seconds alone she heads for the bathroom, climbs up the sink and either puts on my make-up, brushes her teeth or washes her hands.  This goes on ALL DAY!!!  I guess I could be thankful, except for the mess she leaves behind and the potential injury risk.  Other than that her instincts are spot on!

 Thanks Aunt Hannah, Uncle Nick and cousins Elena and Alex!  Will loves his Rocket Blaster!  And so do daddy and the girls!  I just realized Will is no where to be seen in this picture of HIS gift... I think he must be chasing the rocket daddy just launched!  Bailey is in her leotard because she just got done with her Tap Dance class.  With fun like this, dinner was put on hold for awhile!!

Remember a few months back, the rain boots picture?  When I saw ALL of them in their flips it just seemed like a great addition!!  With all the beach trips and pool outings you would think their little leggies would look tanner?!

Love you all!!  Have a great week!



"So... Where is your family going on summer vacation?!"

Well... it's complicated.  You see, we homeschool, so we can go on vacation anytime we want, finances permitting of course (they haven't really been permitting, but ya know!).  And then there is the fact that we live in one of the most beautiful places on the planet come summertime!  So my short answer is... "We have set aside every Friday from June 17th until it gets too cold as beach day!!"  We have only missed 1 Friday, and it was for good reason!  My uncle Jeff, cousin Missy from Vermont and my cousin Eric from Northern California, were here for the weekend!!  We lazed around Oma's pool or Uncle Larry's pool ALL WEEKEND!!  No need for the beach that Friday!  Family and resort like settings, made it feel like we were on vacation!  Missy even made shrimp curry one night for dinner!  So decadent, I felt like I was at a 4 star restaurant!  So much for her vacation!  We put her to work!  BTW lady!  I still need that recipe!

But I digress!  But then again, when don't I digress?!  Ok, ok, really, back on topic!  My favorite place the beach!  Every week we have had different friends and family join us!  Everyone knows the routine, we will be at Moonlight Beach around 10am, just north of the main lifeguard tower, close to the water, but not too close unless you want the ocean to rearrange all of your belongings and them take them out to sea, but close enough to see the kids!  God puts the people on our beach blanket that need to be there!  It has been so amazing and inspiring to really connect with whomever shows up!  The beach holds such a power yet gentleness, a frenzy to get there but sings to my soul once we are there, a time of exploring and just being kids without a helicopter mom around for my crew.  No fights, no crying (except when Maggie runs out of food), no bickering... just sweet sibling time by the shore, sharing, discovering and loving each other!  Can't wait for Lucy to join the fun next summer!

I love the beach.

Maggie and her peanut butter and jelly "sand"wich! 

 My favorite vacation spot!

My only gripe. The people who have tall chairs and set up directly between me and my kids.  Especially when the beach was NOT crowded... just look behind you, follow my gaze and shift a bit!

So who will show up this Friday?!  Will be on our weekly vacation, but feel free to join us! 

Moonlight Beach. 10am. (with a heavy emphasis in the ish!)

Love you, like I love the beach!

Who me?! Impatient?!!

Totally over this month by month recap of our life!  Here are the remaining pictures, each has a bit of a story, so that should be sufficient in getting y'all up to date!!

 Bailey's 1st recital!  She did a tap dance and a ballet dance... super cute, but soooooo long!  Almost 4 hours of watching other people's kids!  Puleeze!  Get on with it already!  Such a production for a bunch of kids!  There was even a mandatory dress rehearsal the day before!  Anyways, I volunteered back stage and had a good time helping all the little ones get ready! Anyone ready to play soccer or softball?... Please?!OHHH! And notice her front tooth is gone!!  The tooth fairy has been SUPER busy (and broke lately)!  More missing teeth to come in future posts!

 Just a lazy, fun day!  Will is in PJ's and, yes, that is lunch being served!  Yippee for forts!!!

Just call him Lumpy!  Still not sure how he fell off the chair, but he did.  Right onto the tile floor, onto his head.  A few days later we were at a hockey game and he fell backwards and got a lump on the other side of his head.  Poor guy!  He just wanted to watch the Zamboni!

Bailey danced at the Del Mar Fair this year, so she and I got in free!  Then daddy had a couple of friends who gave us free tickets, so the rest of the family got in free!!  This picture is of William being his favorite fruit farmer!  A TOMATO!  I think I will print it out make it the tomato marker for our garden!

Other notable happenings in late spring early summer...

1. My nephew Alex was born! So super handsome! Can't wait to meet him in person!

and one day later...

2.. Elena, my most beautiful niece, turned 2!  Talk about precision baby making!  Is that a sport in the Olympics yet?! Thanks Nick and Hannah for your fine work in making me an AUNTIE!!

3. Nate and I celebrated our 8th Wedding Anniversary & 15th Dating Anniversary!  Finally been married longer than we had dated! But truth be known, we are still dating!  Every Friday night he takes me out!  Looks a little different than it used to (dad's not paying anymore!), but man oh man, I still get butterfly's and look forward to just being with Nate!  Love him more today than ever!

4. Went to Palm Springs for a week and just swam!!  Seriously!  We same three times a day!  It was the best!

Alrighty then!  We are done!  Next will be posts on beach trips, haircuts and lack of teeth!!  And that should about round out our summer!

Love ya like Family! Oh wait...!

We can name him Peter... Peter... PETER PAN!!!

When we told the kids we were adding another kiddo to our family those were the words out of Will's mouth!  Totally cracked us all up!  The name never made the short list though!  Needless to say they were all super excited but ONLY for the possibility of a boy.  Even the girls wanted a boy.  They were tired of being Will's wrestling dummies!!  But alas... Lucy Marie will be here in mid to late November.  Again William had the quote of the situation, but I am not sure I should share it with you all.  You might think he needs counselling, or maybe you already think he needs counselling so this would just put the nail in the coffin!!  But I am all about being real and telling like it is so here it goes (guess you could say I really don't have a filter!  Oh wait!  Many of you already have said that!! lol!)!  "No!  I don't want a girl!  I will put her in the ice plant, let the bees sting her and the gophers eat her!"  Really he is quite normal and loving!  Thankfully Baby Moosie (as dubbed by Maggie) now gets hugs, kisses and zerberts (or raspberries, depending on how you were raised!) DAILY from her big brother.  Mommy doesn't mind the attention from her little guy either!

I will reward you now for all of the time you spend reading!  Here are some random pictures from the month of April!

So... this picture need a little explaining!  If memory serves me correct William is showing me his pet snail.  Every walk we go on he comes back with a pet snail, rollie pollie or WORM!!  My life as the mother of a boy has started.  "But Molly, why are they plugging their noses?" you ask!  Notice Maggie's purse (wristlet!).  She insisted on holding Jack's poop bag.  Apparently is was rather odoriferous! And look!  This is the 1st picture on the blog where she actually is getting hair!



Bailey is the 2nd Dancer from the right.  The danced at The Relay For Life, a fundraiser for the American Cancer Society.  It was a super cute tap dance. 

This is the beautiful outfit Aunt Hannah got for Bailey on her birthday! She feels like a real dancer in it! So far Bailey is really enjoying dance (she was in a combo ballet/tap class in this picture). But more on that in a future post!

Other big things in this month... We moved back into town.  My mom's house felt like the boonies.  11 miles to Costco? Are you crazy?! Lol! And of course a wonderful, quiet Easter.  He Is Risen.

Getting there!  Only a couple more months! And then we are all caught up!

LOVE YOU!

We are now onto Marvelous March!

In our family March Madness is truly March Madness!  There are 6 birthdays (Great Grandpa Dave, Bailey, Maggie, Grandpa Dave, Aunt Hannah and the fabulous Auntie Kate!) and College Basketball!!  Do any of you remember the picture of me in the hospital, in labor with Bailey, and basketball on the TV... apparently I had relinquished all control of teh remote at that point!  I tried looking for that picture but couldn't find it!  Heidi Jo, I think you snapped that one!

I kinda sucked this month!  We did a bunch of fun things, but I really didn't take any pictures!  Nathan and I were SUPER sick on Bailey's birthday, yet I still managaged to make her a cake and we celebrated at Red Robin.  Normally tradition is Mommy cooks your favorite meal, but when Mommy is feeling green, the family goes red... RED ROBIN!!

Not bad... for a sick family.  Nobody touched this thing for 3 days.  We finally started feeling better then he was demolished!

 We had lots of family help us celebrate the girls' birthdays!  Bailey picked Fancy Nancy as teh theme!  Everyone came in their fanciest attire and even wore lots of beads and feather boas!  Yeah... wish I had pictures of that party!  Would have been awesome blackmail material!!  And since she is getting older, we told Bailey she could choose one friend and we would take them (just them, no Will or Maggie!!) to dinner and ice skating!  Kinda backfired on us since her best friends are twins!  We had a great time with all the girls listening to their giggles!!

Some randomness from the month!

March seemed like a rainy month!  Good thing we had our rainboots!  This is one of my favorite pictures!!

New meaning for "Don't ask, don't tell!!"  I am still not sure how this happened and I probably don't want to!

And later in the month we confirmed that Turner Baby #4 was on the way!!

Totally a Marvelous March!



No, Maggie don't push the...!! CRUD! No it won't turn on anymore......

Yeah, so back in early 2011 (January sometime, I think) our little, precious, button pusher, pushed the power button on our computer one last time... but thankfully we have talented friends (Chris Williamson, proud papa of baby #3 born July 15th, Andrew Cole).  Our computer, through the work of his hands, came whirring back to life late last week!  And, so now I will work very hard this week to catch you up on all the highlights, and maybe some lowlights, if only I can find a comical to present them to you!  No one wants to read about Debbie Downer!

February

Looking back on the month, we were on the go!  Between CLA boy's basketball, field trips and parties we hardly had time to breathe!  But what fun we had...

 We went with Oma and Grandma Lisa to Bate's Nut Farm to feed the goats for G-g-goat week.  The temperature caught (read: WIND!!) us off guard.  It was freezing!  We had a rather rushed picnic!  And the green growth coming out of Will's jacket is The Grinch, or as he calls him, "Grinchy".

Below are pictures from our Dairy Party with the Benson girls!!  We learned all about cows and the great things they do for us!

Wahoo for Kefir!!!

                                                                 

Making Butter!!! Sorry, about the awkward view!

Apparently not everyone enjoys kefir?!

 We also had lots of crackers and cheese and finished the day with ice cream!!  I think they were all backed up for a week!! Yeah for PediaLax!

Then next week they learned about Horses!  We are so blessed to have a family right in our church and school that has horses!  Anna (holding Bailey in teh picture below) competes at the national level in Dressage.  Currently she is 1st in her age group in the nation.  You WILL be seeing her in the Olympics very soon!  Yes... she is that good!  We got to help her prep "Holy Man" for practice, watch them train and then give him a bath, brush and feed him!  It was such an awesome day!

Anna, Bailey and Holy Man

 We also went to the Zoo to see the new Elephant Odyssey, watched lots of basketball (boys lost in the 1st round of playoffs and girls lost in the CIF Championship game) AND Bailey started taking a combo tap and ballet class!!  But more on that later! 

"They make me look like... Me!!!"

***Found this draft post, upon restart of the 'puter!!  It's from January 26th, 20ll. It never got finished so just enjoy it for what it is....

The title quote is directly from the mouth of the boy.  It was his debate clinching, argument ending, statement on why he should wear his cowboy boats... with his navy blue, hawaiian print, boardshorts... and his orange, longsleeved shirt... rather than his light-up tennis shoes... to church.  Apparently those (the afore mentioned light-up tennis shoes with boardshorts and t-shirt) make him look, as he so eloquently put it, "weird."  The cowboy boots and boardshorts (in the middle of January, mind you) paired with an orange lonsleeved shirt, make him... well, him!  And to be quite honest he is right.  This is also the boy who insists on wearing his chonies (when he decides to actually wear them for 10 minutes) backwards.  It really bothers him that Woody and Buzz and Mr. Lightning McQueen (as he refers to him!) and Mater are all on his butt where he can't see them.  So I guess it is better to give oneself a wedgie and see his people.  Ahh the things we do for our friends!

Today I got a picture of Maggie that just delights me!  She is wearing a pink tutu and playing with her brother's motorcylcle!  She is such a dicotomy!  I love it!  This was one of her first forays outside in a few days.  Last week she battled a temperature of 101-103+ and this week it is/was croup type symptoms.  As my mom and grandma would say, "Poor Bessie Bones!"  Don't ask me... but whenever they said it I knew I was really sick and they would take care of me!