Easter Egg Hunt- June.

The zoo was so fun and we were so tired from staying up late, Henry and I both got up extra early.

I wanted my blankie and nuk, so I went upstairs to my bed to get it. When I brought it back downstairs, mama said no. I was not pleased with this decision.

Before mama knew how wiped out we'd be, she promised Henry he could go to an Easter parade that started at 2pm. I stayed at home and took a 4 and a half hour nap. Mama hoped it would rain and they'd cancel the parade, but the weather held off.

We got to the parade a little early, so we sat down to wait.

While they waited, mama played around with the manual setting on her little camera.

Click on the picture to zoom in and you might see some of the freckles that are starting to form on Henry's nose.

Here's the first half of the parade.

There was a dance group and this was the second half of the parade. No wonder they only shut down a block of Pendleton.

The big finale was the Easter Bunny. He personally passed out a piece of candy to every kid there.

After the parade, all the kids immediately lined up for the hunt. Luckily, there were 2,000 eggs for about 200 kids. Henry was excited about the hunt and took off when the siren blew.

He got about 16 eggs!

They were saving the eggs for next year's hunt, so Henry emptied out all of his loot. After the hunt, he painted a sun catcher and watched sack races, tug of wars, and egg tosses. His boldness hd worn off by then and he refused to take part in any of the races.

Riverbanks Zoo- Henry.

On Saturday morning, we got up early and set out for Columbia. Mama said we were going to the zoo! We met up with her friend from high school, Mister Brent, and his family.

I was so excited to ride the train and as soon as our friends arrived, I grabbed Braeden and we rode the train together.

Junie thought the goats were so funny. Unfortunately, none of us kids were that excited about the animals. My favorite part of the zoo was reading the map and bossing people around to where we'd go next.

But the zoo had tons of other fun things to do. There was a little picnic area full of sticks to bang against trees. June was the only one to get a stick to the head, but she was okay.

We spent a lot of time playing at the playground. June loved going down the slide.

Even papa got in on the fun.

Braeden had fun too, even though we kept him up from taking a nap.

We think the mid-day Icee helped. Braeden also has a brand new little brother named Avery. He's only 2 and a half weeks old. Mama didn't get any pictures of him because if he wasn't snoozing in his car seat, mama wasn't letting go of him. And at only 8 pounds, he was quite easy to tow around. Mama held the baby so much that June must have thought he was ours. Whenever Braden got close to Avery, she gave him an earful to stay away from our baby.

Back at the playground, June practiced climbing up the slide.

And sliding back down.

Adjacent to the zoo is a very nice botanical garden. We made the walk over, despite the fact that all of us kids were pretty tired.

I had fun running through the gardens and looking at the fountains.

It was a great time to be at the gardens. Everything was in bloom.

We found a little kid-sized house to play in while mama looked around the garden show that was going on. We got there right as the show was closing down and she got a great deal on an Abelia bush for by the front steps.

She took June to go pick up the bush, but June was easily distracted.

But she did sit still for this cute shot.

We had to walk back to the zoo to get to our cars. I really wanted to ride the tram back, so while everyone else walked back, mama and I waited 20 minutes for the tram to show up. when it did come, everyone ran so fast to it that the seats were instantly filled. Mama and I couldn't find a single one. Mama told me we'd have to walk back, because she certainly wasn't waiting another 20 minutes in line only to get pushed out of the way by people too lazy to walk 3/10th of a mile downhill back to the zoo. I was on the verge of the biggest meltdown known to man when two teenagers flagged us down and offered us their seats on the tram. What nice kids! Mama is never going to say anything bad about teenagers and their skinny jeans again. They certainly helped us divert a huge disaster.

After the zoo, we went back to Braeden's house for some pizza and to play outside. For as tired as we all were, we really were wound up. We left at 8 and June and I both managed to stay awake until 10pm. So much for wearing us out for the ride home.

Posing- June.

Mama loves these jammies on me. They make my belly look even bigger than normal.

Mama lets us watch the video of the baby whenever we want. Any guesses on whether its a boy or girl?

Thursday night was a very special pancake night. Instead of syrup, we got to dip our pancakes in whipped cream. Big hit. Plus, mama didn't have to scrape syrup off the table.

Mama saw a little girl with two big braids and tried to replicate it on me. I wasn't so cooperative sitting still for my braid. Plus, my nose was runny, so my hair was gross from all the snot I'd rubbed in it.

I was in fine form after supper and spent some time posing for the camera.

Another favorite of mine.

Papa joined me on the floor for some cuddling and tickles.

We worked on my handwriting, but it has a long way to go.

Papa was helping before he was ambushed.

And prepared to be ambushed yourself- by extreme cuteness.

Baby Gus at 20 weeks.

Wednesday marked the official halfway point of my pregnancy. At 20 weeks, I'm happy to say I'm feeling good (no more upset stomach), have more energy (though I still take my daily nap, it's only about 45 minutes long instead of 3 hours), and have finally started gaining some weight (due mostly to my insatiable appetite and Brandon's willingness to get me McDonald's after 10pm). Although I think I've been feeling a little kick here and there since about 14 weeks, the baby really started going at it last week and the kicks are now strong enough to be felt outside by both Brandon and Henry.

On Wednesday, we got to go see the baby during the ultrasound. Brandon got to go, thanks to two of our awesome neighbors who took care of getting Henry to school and entertaining June.

Here's a shot of its face. I think it's going to be an alien.

Or maybe an angry cursed pirate.

Well, this is cuter. We can say with some certainty that at least one hand has all five fingers as this little booger kept its hands up next to its face for most of the ultrasound. Here baby Gus is waving to us or practicing for Beatles Rock Band.

More hands to the face and a look at a nice round belly.

I think Gus may be sucking his thumb in this one.

I said "he," mostly because I'm tired of saying "it." But I also could have said "she." For the third time, we didn't find out if it's a boy or a girl. We figure we've already got enough boy and girl clothes for 100 kids and it doesn't really matter for room sharing purposes because Henry would probably have a nervous breakdown if he didn't get to share a room with June. And even if we had wanted to know, that baby was curled up tight and probably wasn't going to let us have a peek.

Having a 4 year old during this pregnancy has been a ton of fun. Henry in a really good place right now (we're getting along and the fighting and most of the whining has tapered off). And he is very good about letting me have my time to rest when I need it and has taken over most of the childcare for June. Plus he asks the best questions about babies. We showed him the pictures from the ultrasound and he wanted to know everything.

"Why did they only take pictures of the baby's bones?"

"Did they take the baby out to take its picture?"

"If they took it out, why didn't you get to bring it home?"

"How did they get a camera through your skin?"

Why is the baby only black and white?"

"Why didn't they take pictures of it's legs?"

The doctor's office also sent home a video of the ultrasound, which I think Henry has watched close to 20 times. Last night at 10pm, he woke up and had to ask me a very important question:

"When you eat food, does it go into your belly and hit the baby on the head?"

Apparently, he was very concerned for the baby's welfare and the fact that it would get an extreme close-up of any Long John Silver's I might be inhaling late at night. (Best. Food. Ever.) We had a late night anatomy lesson and he seemed to be satisfied that I wasn't going to hurt the baby with my poor late-night food choice (well, at least not physically harm it).

If you're at all interested in seeing the video of the ultrasound, here is all 6 minutes that we got on tape. And here's the play-by-play companion:

:00- The color is the blood flow to the baby's organs.

:10- Face and hand.

:25- That little tremor is the ultrasound technician shaking my belly trying to get the baby to move its hand. It gets more pronounced as the video goes on as she literally shook my belly over and over trying to get the baby to roll or change position. It was kind of embarrassing.

:40- Lips and nose are in place.

:50- Good spine shot.

1:15- We're starting to head downstairs. See if you can spot anything.

1:47- 8.0 magnitude earthquake!

2:15- The baby is laying still and you can see its little heart going.

2:55- Either the baby just yawned or screamed out a demon's curse on the woman skaing it around.

3:40- The start of some good profile shots.

5:15- From the chart, you can see that the baby is breech. I also looked up what all the measurements meant, and though the baby is measuring totally normal, it has a small head and long legs. What? Maybe this is the wrong baby!

Feel free to examine closely and make your predictions on to whether we're having a Kenny or a Dolly. Winner gets to babysit. All 3.

A few bizarre quirks- Mama.

Though we know the Turner kids are geniuses and the most beautiful boy and girl ever (in our opinion), that does not leave them without a few quirks.

Today, June insisted on wearing sunglasses from the moment she woke up- a la Dale Earnhart. She usually wears them upside down and gets mad when I turn them over too. But she got it right today.

After lunch, she switched sunglasses and insisted on coloring. I've never seen a kid love to color like she does. Right now, she's specializing in coloring eyes, ears, and page numbers.

The hardest to handle quirk of June's these days is that she insists on her socks being perfect at all time. She especially hates it when the seams in the toes sticks out even a tiny bit and will lay on the floor yelling "Sock! Sticky! Sock! Sticky!" Some of her socks are getting too small and the heel bump (for lack of a better term) will migrate down her foot, which is also a major source of drama. If I can't fix it on the first try, I've just resorted to taking her socks off entirely to avoid a fight. Luckily it's getting warmer.

Henry got to go to the store this weekend and pick out new shoes. We don't want him to look too dorky and his pale stick legs look goofy enough in shorts without having to compete with the fact that he normally wears dark socks and black tennis shoes (math teacher in the making!). I especially like this outfit because he looks like a basketball player and his one-size-up shoe almost looks proportional to the rest of him.

(June is still wearing the same size shoe (5) as 7 months ago. I have tons of completely adorable shoes for her (all 6s), but my kids feet just refuse to grow. At least Henry is still outpacing Andy down the street who wears a size 8 and turns 2 in June.)

Henry got in on the coloring action this afternoon too. It was great for me. I got to eat lunch and check my celebrity fashion blogs while they colored quietly. This particular page has taken Henry three days to color this much because every little piece has to be different. When he brings home art from school, I've noticed that half is very meticulously colored while the other half is scribbled blue. I think he usually runs out of time and has to finish his projects quickly.

Here's a close-up of that nasty nose scrape. It still makes me squeamish. I don't know how it didn't break.

Since I came down with a stomach bug a few weeks ago, Henry has been mysteriously experiencing stomach aches right before bedtime. Never during playtime or at school. just before he goes to bed. I think he caught sight of the Pepto Bismol I took and is dying to try some. Despite the fact I continually tell him I don't have any stomach medicine for kids, Henry suffers under the hope that repeatedly saying please will somehow sway me. We've been careful not to give in on any multiple "please" request, because we don't want to start that monster. But part of me wants to give him a swig of pepto, just to show him that not all medicine is delicious and bubble gum flavored like the ibuprofen he gets. One mouthful of that awful pink stuff might permanently cure him of ever wanting medicine again.

It's no secret that June would trade all of us for Dora the Explorer. I've been trying to get a good video of her reaction of pure joy when we turn on an episode. This isn't the best, but it does show her dancing and immediately running to the couch to pull up a blanket. (We're all blanket people now.) I think the growling is directed either at Swiper the Fox or the bull. She also loves some little guy called Tico and sings the Backpack song as "Dak dak, dak dak, dak dak." Honestly, I try not to get too involved because Dora gives me 24 minutes in which to shower and get things accomplished and it's also probably one of the top ten most annoying kids shows of all time. Sorry, Sadie and June.

Welcome Spring- June.

The weather down south has been awesome, and we've been spending hours outside every day. It's been in the 70s all week and many people have been reminding mama that it technically isn't even spring yet. Today officially began spring and temps reached 75.

Mama's been wanting a patio set and got her birthday present early this year. Papa said if we were going to get one, he wanted it now before it got too hot to use it. Lucky for us, we found a great used set on Craigslist that met all of mama's requirements, most notably mesh seats and an umbrella. We've eaten most of our meals outside since we bought it, including lunch today, which included hot dogs on the grill, a full pound of strawberries...

...and popsicles!

Yes, I am in a high chair. One of our neighbors dropped it off this week for us to use when the new baby comes. I've been begging to use it and mama found that I'm very happy playing with toys in it. This makes it much easier to get yard work done when I'm not crying for someone to push me in the swing.

And have they been getting work done! Mama paid Henry to clear out a rock garden and all the extra rocks have been going to the walkway above the steps, which had many bare spots. Mama also spent time yesterday pulling up the border logs and digging a new trench for them since they were always getting kicked over.

In that tiny little hole in the sidewalk, there used to be a fig tree, but it completely blocked the front step, was starting a crack in the sidewalk, and didn't produce any fruit. Mama did some research online and came to the conclusion that a fig tree needs vigilant trimmings and this one hadn't had any in quite some time. She also learned that supposedly it's very easily to propagate new trees from trimmings, so we planted 3 branches in the backyard and might have a little fig orchard some day (though we're not holding out hope). Now that the tree is gone, mama noticedhow dirty the bricks are and wants to rent a power washer. Also, the railing on the front steps is rusted and needs fixed. We should have left the tree up. Now we'll never know which door people are knocking at.

Back in the back yard, we've been working an developing a garden plot. Mama's been working in the compost she's been piling up all winter, but it doesn't disguise the fact that we're working with just clay and rocks in the back yard. Mama didn't want to put down the money to buy potting soil, but did get some plant food to sprinkle in. She and Henry planted broccoli (from plants), and peas, carrots, and sugar snap peas from seed. Those two plants up front are the strawberry plants we planted, too. The people at the Lowe's tried to convince mama to buy all plants, but they cost three times as much as seed and she didn't want to put too much money in a garden that we're not entirely sure will grow. We're still planning on tomatoes, beans (green and cherokee wax), peppers, and peanuts once it gets warmer, plus a second crop of carrots and peas in the fall.

Here's the other rock garden mama and papa cleaned out. When we were down for our naps, she planted mint (which they don't sell seeds for, apparently), cilantro, parsley, basil, rosemary, oregano, sage, and dill.

Under our window box, we have a constant friend- a little lizard Henry named June, because he loves me so much. It's always basking in the sun right under our window, but might not stay much longer because papa destroyed its nest.

Mama is trying to decide what to do with this little spot by our second front door. Does anyone have any ideas? We'd like to do something besides planting more azalea bushes, but really don't want to put in much effort in keeping it nice.

After supper, we were going to go to a Clemson baseball game (we go at least two a week) when Henry bit it on the driveway. His nose was bleeding and papa took him inside to fix him up. Mama was afraid his nose was broken and she won't get involved with broken noses, so she stayed outside.

While they were upstairs, I got to eat my baseball game treat- a sucker.

Delicious!

Buster eventually emerged from the house with band-aids on his nose, hand and both knees.

Mama assumed they wouldn't be going to the game until Henry burst into tears and demanded he could go, even if he had to limp heavily and hold his hand like that the whole time. Mama caved and we got to go. We got to run around until we were both on the verge of meltdowns. After two straight days of being outside in the garden for hours and up late at baseball games, we were pretty zonked when we got home. But Henry was still sharp enough to catch mama in the act of sneaking candy in the van.

Henry: What's that sound?

Mama (quickly hiding her box of Nerds): What are you talking about?

Henry: What's that shaky sound?

Mama (not wanting to share): Maybe we drove over some leaves.

Henry: I've never heard them make that sound before.

Mama: We'll we probably already passed it, whatever it was.

Henry: That sounds has been following us all the way home.

Mama sits in silence while papa tries not to laugh.

Henry: I just wonder what it could be.

Mama: Fine. It's candy.

Henry: Can we have some?

And he scored us each a handful of delicious Nerds!