A Smattering of Summer

Just last night Nate looked at me and said something to the effect of, "WOW! We have had a great summer, but I think we need to start putting the 'One Chore a Day' focus back into our schedule!"  And by the looks of all the pictures I had to choose from to post, I COULDN'T AGREE MORE... with the GREAT SUMMER part, I am still trying to wrap my head around the whole idea of chores, school starting back up and our "Do Anything That Floats Our Boat" Saturdays!!  Soccer on Saturdays is inevitable and learning to help around the house is imperative to our success as a large family... but we do have the freedom to delay the start of school a tad, and we just might!!

SO here are a few more "happenings"from our summer.  Some pictures are just teasers for entire posts wanting, desiring, needing to be blogged.  I really will get totally up to date before school starts!  We just may not start school until December!  HA!

These pictures ARE IN NO ORDER WHAT-SO-EVER!!!  Sorry if that hurts your brain!

Back in June Nate Turner Real Estate (aka: Us!) hosted our 2nd annual summertime client appreciation party!  We had a local Hawaiian Shave Ice Company cater the event, so Nate and I could just hang out with and say thank you to our clients without all the clean up and serving!  Our kids were stoked because they didn't have to answer to mom and dad every time they wanted more!!

Michele Pollard holding Jeffrey J.  They even match!

Not having to ask mom and dad for 2nd's or 12th's makes for crazy looking tongues and technicolor bowel movements the next day!  I am just speaking truth!  We keep it real around here!

Guess what color her pants turned?!!

Saddest part of the day is when the bounce house guys deflates your fun... oh well, more shave ice anyone?!

Just your average Wednesday at the grocery store with Oma!  Those are not my kids, they are used to things like this and would never stop and stare at Oma like that!!  I think she will kill me for posting this, but hey, at least I didn't post it on Facebook! Gotta keep something for blackmail!

Loving my red Keds!  My friend Lindsey bought some too!  Now we are twinsies!  Except she is 5'11... skinny... and a great dresser... But other than we totally look alike... from the ankle down... when we both wear our red shoes!

Two of my bathing beauties!!

Hello downhill sidewalk, my name is Maggie, aka "Timex" The girl takes a lickin' and keeps on tickin'! Yeah... didn't cry and did not want a band-aid until after our day at the beach.  That is when we met Lifeguard John!  He now waves when he sees us on Friday's!  He is either waving "Hello!" or shooing us away hoping we don't come near him!  I prefer to think he saying Hi!

 Remember Will and the seat belt incident? This is Maggie's leg stuck in the railings of our bed... for this she cries.  Go figure! Again, I had visions of the fire department coming into our house to cut away our bed, to free Maggie.  I wasn't scared for her or how she would react, I was terrified for the firefighters having to navigate their way through my room to get to her!  Let's just say, I rely HEAVILY on the "Do as I say, not as I do!" aspect of parenting.  After all, I am the Indian Princess for the Kickapath Tribe.

Does my heart good to see my girl reading!!  Aunt Mary gave her this series for Christmas and she loves it!!  Written by Whoopi Goldberg, it's all about little girls and the drama and excitement surrounding ballet class!

Yup, yup!!  Bought a pop-up!! This is one of those teasers!! One whole post just about our camping craziness!!

Thank Heaven for 7-11 day!!  Last year July 11th (get it? 7/11! FREE Slurpee Day!)  was during the week, so mommy may have fudged the rules a bit and we went to multiple 7-11 locations while daddy was working!  However this year daddy took the day off to join us!!  Our one treat this year was superb!!

Happy 4th of July!!!!

Hope you are enjoying your summer as much as we are!!  Can't remember the last time I had so much fun!!  And we still have over a month to go!  Wonder what kind of trouble, er, I mean FUN we can get into next!

Love you all!  

Remember to smile at someone today!

La Vida Loca and Lovin' it!!

So when Ricky Martin burst on the scene with his high energy, hip swingin', sweat producing, belt out at the top of my lungs in the car song, "Livin' La Vida Loca", I am not sure my life is what he had in mind!  What?! You.. don't... remember... that song?  Are you un-American?  Ok, let me set the scene... it's 1999, and I have just recently graduated high school, Bob Newhart gets his star on Hollywood Blvd, Star Wars: The Phantom Menace is in theaters and Ricky Martin is making every girl swoon!

Ok!  So now you remember the song!  We can move on!

There are days I feel like I am livin' the crazy life... not la vida loca, that is too glamorous!  The crazy life!  But awwww, I love my crazy life!

 First day in Oma's pool for the Summer!

 Got his arm stuck in the hole where the seat belt comes out of.  Lots of sweat, snot and tears!  I had visions of the Escondido Fire Dept, using their jaws of life to rip apart my car to free his little arm!  He was trying to get he new green car.  Daddy saved the day, had to buy a new green car and the fire department wasn't involved!  All in a day's work!

 Fun birthday party for Cousins Elena and Alex!!!

 Love these faces!

 Face painting courtesy of Aunt Mary at the Escondido Street Fair.  Bailey had a dance performance there.

 Another one bites the dust!

 Date Night Padre Game!!  Man oh man!!!  I really love that guy!  And it's not because our seats are in the All-You-Can-Eat Section either! But they were, and I love that too!

 Christian Life Academy (CLA) graduated 13 students this year... This is Cameron, the little brother of one of the graduates, holding JJ (about 4 months old).

 2013 Recital

 Bailey danced the "Summer Waltz" by Tchaikovsky.  Finally got a perk from being the littlest in the class!!  She was lifted and twirled on stage!!

Will's 1st diaper change!

 Brothers!  I love this picture!

L to R: Alex, Elena, Will. Maggie, Sydney, Calvin, Jacob, Lucy, Joanna, Bailey, JJ and Amelia  

All of Sid and Patty's (Nate's mom) grand kids!  The Farrell's came to visit from Colorado!  We had a great time with them!!

So that's our crazy summer thus far!  I will post later about some projects we have done and trips we have taken!  And if anyone is interested I will blog a bit about our upcoming school year.  We aren't starting until after Labor Day, so there is still time!!

I need a tad bit o' HELP!!

Hey friends and family!  

A little help here... 

I am thinking of applying to be a contributor for a blog I really love, 

and I need to submit two writing samples.  

This is where you come in!

Would you please let me know, 

either by commenting on THIS post 

or on Facebook, 

{Or you could call, email or text me!}

which blog entries are your favorite??

Thanks a bunch in advance for your help!  

The application needs to be in by April 13th.  I will keep you posted!  

Smile at someone today!!  Love you all!

A JJ Story....

It all started the week after my Grandma Ellen's 80th birthday.  You see, that week was so magical!  We had family in town for her birthday from all corners of the country.  And is you know anything about me, the first thing you know is my love of everything family.  Many late nights were spent going to the airport for pick-ups, talking, laughing, catching up and of course eating!  So after the wonderfully whirlwind week, my family went back to their homes and we tried to return to a somewhat normal routine.  You see, having a 7 month old at home makes NOTHING normal!  And on top of that, I started feeling ill!  "Must be that I am out of my eating and sleep routine!", I said.  "Give me a couple of days of clean eating and great sleep and I will be back to normal!", I said...

Fast forward one week...

Still feeling yucky, Nate says, "Could you be... naw, not possible, right??" "Right!", I respond! "There is no way I could be... or could I be?!"  OH CRAP.  I was.

How do you tell you family and friends you are pregnant?  For a 5th time. While your baby is only 7 months old?  You pray.  Then breathe.  Then pray some more that it's not twins!!  All in all people took in stride.  Only a few sour comments, but hey, when the national average for family size is below 2.0 kids per family, I guess we are bound to be second guessed!  But a baby in any circumstance is a blessing!

So, all the name calling began!  The kids would only talk to us about boy names.  This house had a staunch "No more girls allowed!" policy and it began to worry Nate and myself.  So just between us we decided that if this baby was indeed a girl, we would name her Charlotte and call her Charlie.  Hopefully that would avert any crisis!!  But a boy name eluded us.  William David was a difficult enough decision.  Many wondered about a Nathan, Jr. but Nate wasn't interested.  Then all at once it became so incredibly clear.  We were in Idaho, enjoying our summer vacation, visiting my uncles, aunt and cousin, when it just hit us... Jeffrey James. Two men in my life that have always meant so much, Uncle Jeffy and Uncle Jimmy.  It was perfect!!

After (thankfully) finding out a boy was on his way, the real fun began!!  A c-section date was picked, arrangements for the other 4 kiddos were made and the pre-op check-in/blood draw with Lucy as my tag-a long was complete.  And the most exciting part????  Palomar Hospital has been doing renovations to the Labor and Delivery Floor and I get to see it!!

My appointment for delivery was at 10am.  At about 9:30, we heard loud cries of pain and exhaustion coming from next door...  a woman was in the throws of delivering her baby, and MY DOCTOR was also HER doctor!!  When the anesthesiologist came in, he asked me to turn off the TV so he could go over the procedure.  A few minutes in to his spiel, he asked for the TV to go back on, because he couldn't concentrate with all the screaming.  Seriously... it was that loud!!  Needless to say, we had a good laugh.  Then I met the nurse that would accompany me through out the surgery and recovery and JJ's nurse that would be with us too.  After the 2+ hour delay (due to McScreamy next door) I was becoming quite hungry (last meal and liquids was at dinner the night before!) so my nurse would do everything to take my mind of that fact!  She was a riot!  JJ's nurse kept encouraging us to go for #6, to "even up the genders!"  We later found out she is the oldest of 6 (3 and 3)!!  Together they started us off on a wonderful journey!

Once the surgery commenced everything was perfect!!  My doctor, Dr. Cizmar, even cleaned up all my scars!  Now I only have one c/s scar!!  While he was sewing me up, Nate, JJ and the awesome nurse went to OUR recovery room (more on that later!).  I got to follow about 5 minutes later!

They have converted two L&D rooms to recovery rooms.  The significance you ask?  Well, I am glad you did!  Because with my previous 4 c/s all my surgical recovery had been done alone, next to someone who probably just had their gallbladder removed and nurses ran around tending to ALL the post-op patients.  I would be without family or my baby for hours!!  First baths, first meetings and first cuddles were not seen by this momma.... Until NOW!!!!!  The 5 of us (two nurses, mom, dad and baby) were ALONE in our room, while JJ got his bath, that I WATCHED!!!  Then as soon as he was sparkly clean, the nurse gave him to me to cuddle, inspect and eventually nurse!!  Less than 30 minute post delivery he was in MY arms!!!!  JUST GLORIOUS!!!  A true answer to prayer!!!  After an hour or so of recovery, the 3 of us were transferred to our hospital room, then we started having visitors and I was much more ready to let others hold him!!!

Our nurses were so great and accommodating!  One even remembered us from when Lucy was born!  All the apple juice I could drink, pain meds on call and not a one of them demanding I wake up for them to take my vitals!  Such sweet ladies!!!

So as you can see... what started off as a crazy surprise, ended up being a most amazing gift!!  I truly loved this experience.  Thank you to all the nurses, from beginning to end, that made this an incredible gift.

JJ at 5 1/2 weeks

Love you all!

Molly and Troupe

Jeffrey James

You can call him Jeffrey James, Jeff, Jeffy, Duffy, JJ, Jay and El Cinco.  You can even call him Gus!  Just don't call him Late for Lunch!!

Introducing 
Jeffrey James Turner.

Born February 15th, 2013, 

just before lunch time!

Weighing in at 7 pounds 7 ounces 

with a length of 21 inches!

Fresh out of the happiest place on earth!

He looks so calm!  Only because he really has no idea what is in store for him!!

Going home from the hospital.  

Bailey picked out his coming home outfit and I fell in love with this orange, fuzzy blanket!!  Even though we have 5 gazillion blankies, I figured he needed one of his very own!!

Sittin' with mommy at 2.5 weeks!

Big sister love.  

I really couldn't do this whole 5 kid thing, if it were not for Bailey.  She is the most amazing helper EVER!!!  Thank you, my beautiful Sweet Pea

Gotta look handsome going to church!!  

Thanks Mrs. Kemp for my tie onesie!  Made by Too Tutu Cute!!

Lucy is in LOVE!!!!

Trying to be a photographer.... Clearly I am not!!  My subjects move WAY TOO fast!  

I will leave it to the professionals!

When I have a few extra minutes in the very near future I will post his birth story!  I had the best time of my life at the hospital this go around!  Everything was good, perfect and felt so natural!  So for now, enjoy the pictures... JJ is yelling my name.  Apparently he thinks he is hungry!  Love my littlest guy.

Our Field Trip to the Museum of Making Music

Back in November we go together with a few of our friends and went to the Museum of Making Music in Carlsbad.  Let me tell you... if you haven't been stop reading this right now and GO!  Just Go!  Yes, it is that good!!!!!  My uncle Larry is the CFO of NAMM (National Association of Music Merchants) and thus was able to treat us to a first class field trip!  He was even able to procure one of the best volunteer music docents they have!  She was so kind, knowledgeable and patient with our crew 14 kiddos ages 1 yearish to about 13!  It is so hands on and just filled with music both current and old, familiar and new!  At the end of the tour they have a room just for trying out instruments!  Everything from guitars, to harps, to drums!!!  The kids played and experienced ALL of it!!!!!

While we were enjoying our hands on time, the marketing department got wind of rag tag crew!  That day they were slated to begin creating a PSA for Museum and Music in general.  The crew from marketing came down to the exhibit, saw ALL the kids and began filming the kids and taking their pictures!!  Such an awesome moment for everyone involved!  My uncle has kept me in the loop...

 This picture was used as the museum's Christmas card!!!!

 Lucy and the Bongos!

 Love this one of the Guys!

Mags again.

Apparently there is a bus in Chicago with my darling daughter's face on it!!  And the boy to the left of her... our friend Jacob!

She is also on a billboard in an airport somewhere!!!!

I was also sent a rough draft of the TV spot.  Once I figure out to upload that I will share it too!!

This wonderful morning at the Museum of Making Music truly inspired our family!!  For Christmas we got a keyboard and Bailey and maybe Will will start piano lessons in the coming month!  So far everyone is just having a blast making their own music, singing and dancing together!  It's a regular variety show here every night!

I am overjoyed at my kids foray into music!  This fall Bailey began soccer, following in Nate's and my cleats, but we always felt that we wanted our kids to experience more than just sports as extracurricular activities.  One of those things being music.  I CANNOT read music and have never EVER played an instrument.  The same goes for Nate.  Thank you Uncle Larry for opening up the world of music to the Troupe.  So far it has been awesome, however, once Bailey begins violin lessons, I will send her to your house for practice!!! Ha!

Love you all!

The DUDE

The Dude

~Definition from Wikipedia~

Commentary in orange by me

Dude is an old term, recognized by multiple generations although potentially with slightly different meanings.  From the 1870s to the 1960s, dude primarily meant a person who dressed in an extremely fashion-forward manner (pajamas and cowboy boots... at the same time.  But most comfortable in his birthday suit.) or a citified person who was visiting a rural location but stuck out (clearly the other way around, but he sticks out just the same, wishing he lived in a rural location!!). In the 1960s, dude evolved to mean companion, a meaning that slipped into mainstream American slang in the 1970s (companion... loves his sisters and his family.  He is also a wonderful friend.). Current slang retains at least some use of all three of these common meanings (Our DUDE). 

This post is dedicated to my guy.  Not my OG (Original Guy, that would be Nate), but my Buddy, the Boy, Dude, source of some frustration, giver of great big bear hugs, gentle soul with the tough exterior, William David.

 Sandwiched between two lovely sisters, he is forced to play dress up.  They treat and dress him like the King and Prince he is.  During their homemade productions, he is mostly off "stage" as the announcer or stage director.

 And oh my! How funny and smart the Dude is!!  Just a week or so ago, we saw a friend at Target.  It has been awhile since we have seen her or her kids (now in college and high school... just crazy), but the chance meeting is ALWAYS warm and wonderful.  After taking a gander at my growth... er belly, she asked, "So, are you guys 'shutting down the factory' after this one?!"  Before Nate or I could answer, William bursts out, "Nope!  I don't think so. We want more!"  The 3 adults looked at each other rather stunned, that he not only understood the euphemism, but also had a definite opinion on the size of our family, AND in his humble (cough, cough... we are working on humility!) opinion our family should be bigger.  Apparently he doesn't understand the 50/50 chance of more girls!!  We all laughed and threw our hands in the air!

His desire and need to help the afflicted is overwhelming.  He is always the first one with a band-aid and washcloth to help a fallen sister, is my shadow while taping the "Football Boys" and the guy willing to give up time with friends at bible study to sit with his Oma while she recovers in bed from being ill.  After Lucy clocked herself in the head 3 nights ago with a pokie Christmas decoration, Will ran to the bathroom got tissue, ran it back to Dad and Lucy, then ran back to get a band-aid. Later that evening Nate asked, "So Will, you are very compassionate to people that are hurt and sick.  Do you think you will want to be an EMT or Paramedic when you grow up?!"  To which he replied, "Nah... I think I will be a doctor."  This mama will do her best to hold him to that!!

With another boy on the way, due to be here in just a short few weeks, my momma heart is a little worried.  Can I be what TWO boys need?  I was content being his everything, until he filled my spot with a beautiful young women someday.  But can I be enough for two boys?  Will William feel pushed aside?  He is such a tough guy, but underneath that rugged exterior he will always be my little boy.  So fragile and vulnerable, easily embarrassed and disappointed, yet confident, strong, determined.  My Grandma, his Oma, reminds me always...

"Never take out of the BOY, 

what you can't put back into the MAN."

Love you Dude.

**Photos courtesy of 

Max Holtzhouser, Woodhouse Photography.**