While Papa and Juner slept in until 10 am this morning, mama and I worked on a special Father's Day present for papaIt's a tie, if you couldn't tell. And it's wrapped around a bottle of Dad's Root Beer.
We all got a great present for Father's Day this year. We're excited to announce that the Turner family is relocating once again. This time we're moving farther south to Clemson, South Carolina. Papa has accepted a tenure track position with Clemson University. (If you don't know anything about the world of academia, this is a really big deal, especially in this economy.) We're happy to have a guaranteed job for the next 6 years.
While mama is a little leery of moving farther south into the region of millipedes (she saw one- it was huge) and palmetto bugs, she and papa saw Clemson is a great town. And we already even have a house! Thanks to the crummy economy, they had a good pick of houses and we able to get the one they wanted for much less than the asking price. Mama said it has a big yard and lots of room for our toys. And it even has a guest bedroom so people can finally come visit us and not have to sleep on the couch.
I told mama I want a red room with purple and orange polka dots. I guess they weren't able to find that house, but this will do.
On Wednesday, Grandma Seibert came down and picked up mama to go to Columbus to go to a quilt show. We were so excited that mama didn't want us to go that papa took us to the zoo.
I was very willing to sit on all the statues.
June posed for a shot, but was not pleased to spend any time in the stroller. She wants to walk everywhere now, but never wants to hold hands or go in the same direction as anyone else.
Someone was nice enough to take a picture of all three of us.
We didn't see many animals at the zoo, but had fun looking at the pond, playing at the playground, and walking up and down the ramp to view the lions.
We had a great time and didn't have spend hours looking at bolts of fabric. Surprisingly enough, mama seemed to be pretty happy that she didn't have us there too. Thanks for driving down to the show, Grandma!
My favorite thing to do to help out in the kitchen is to play in the pudding drawer. I broke into the muffin liners and decorated the whole house with papers.
In her latest effort to totally embarrass me, mama got me a new bathing suit. She normally objects against bikinis, but this one has a built in swim diaper and if there's one thing she hates more than bikinis on babies, it's spending money on diapers (disposable swim diapers are expensive!). she says i can wear this under a one piece if I'm feeling modest.
Today, we just took a day to relax. PawPaw was in Wisconsin for guard stuff, so we just hung out with Grams and enjoyed the weather.
After a great super at El Campesino and a fun trip to the dollar store for supplies for our vacation (yes, we still have one vacation left), we decided to spend the evening in the yard before the mosquitoes made their debut.
Henry agreed to a shot, even if it gets him in trouble with Pawps for parking in the bushes.
I tried out the new magnifying glass Henry picked out at the dollar store. I think this is how it works.
And this is how the scooter works too. right?
Then I wandered around the house and tried to steal the bubble from this little fairy. It didn't work.
You might remember that Jazz and I haven't always gotten along. Now that I'm walking, I'm bigger than Jazz and we've become very good friends. We are always together and give each other hugs. And since Jazz's new arthritis medicine kicked in, we've been having fun chasing each other around the yard.
We are even such good friends that we share food. In this video, i'm just teasing Jazz with my bread, but there have been multiple occasions where we've both taken licks at the same food and thoroughly grossed Nama out.
These are two filthy kids.
Mama really likes how this shot of Henry in the General Lee turned out.
Before they came inside for a bath, mama and Henry brought in the paper and the mail. Henry had fun swinging the paper and trying not to hit any cars.
While mama and papa were out living it up, we stayed in Ohio with Grams Cracker and PawPaw and Unkie Adam and Aunt Katie. We tried to be good, and hopefully everyone still likes us after almost a full week of us. By Tuesday, I think Aunt Kate was ready to throw us out when both June and I got 103 degree fevers. Luckily, we just needed a day in front of the tv and by Wednesday we were fine.
When mama and papa came back, they took us to try and get a few nice pictures taken.
For the first time, we got some really good pictures taken of me. The secret? Mama said she would give me a dollar to spend if I was a good boy. Mama thinks this shot will get me on the cover of the next Judd Apatow movie.
What an innocent look.
I think this picture is funny. I like to point out my buck teeth.
Sadie also took some great shots.
Wha an angel.
Then it was June's turn...
Her pictures, well, turned out. What a stinker.
Then we tried to create a beach shot. I pretend shoveled sand into my bucket, until Sadie stuck her shovel in my bucket and I freaked out.
This is mama's favorite shot. We had fun playing "bucket head."
June wanted to try, but her bucket was too small.
Mama wanted a nice shot of the two of us, but June wasn't into it.
We're best friends.
This one's not so bad.
I hammed it up for another round of solo shots.
And we finally got a good picture of June.
Sadie tried to walk to the water, without much success.
And looked cute with her pail.
We tried for one more group photo and had some success singing the ABCs. June was really excited and danced the whole time.
Before we told Henry we were leaving him in Ohio, he expressed interest in how the garden was doing. ("I can't wait to see how big our garden is!") We think it's because there has been a lot of rain and thunderstorms lately. We told Henry it rains because my garden needs water and stops raining when it has enough. (Just wait til your kids start asking "why?" about every little thing.) Well, Henro, here's your update. Grams, make sure Henry gets to see this if you can get him to stop watching the videos I posted.
Our onions look good, I think. Are they suposed to fall over like this?
The potatoes, peppers and tomatoes are taking over the back yard. We need to get some posts for the tomatoes to climb. Look close and you can see a few blooms.
And the sunflowers, radishes, peas and herbs are thriving. We're going to pick fresh cilantro for our fiesta chicken salads tonight.
And here's mama looking smug with her new haircut. It's so hot down here that we all knew it was just a matter of time before Grandma chopped it all. I think it's still a little too long on top. I don't know if it's the new lack of hair or maybe I'm just getting used to the South, but it doesn't seem as hot this year. Today the car thermometer read 99 degrees and I didn't pass out immediately. Give me a few months.
Why else I am so happy? It might have a lot to do with how quiet the house is. After we got home at 3am on Thursday morning, I slept in until noon, spent the afternoon at the eye doctors picking out some very hip glasses (they have lime green on them!) and eating sushi with papa. Then we went to Greensboro and won second place (in a coin toss tiebreaker- boo) in a trivia contest and even went to a smoky gross bar to order cheese sticks. Sorry kids, but we can't have that kind of fun when you're here. Today, I didn't even get dressed until 5pm, ran for the first time since I hurt my foot, and am now thinking about spending the rest of the night watching movies. Hey Coopers and Turners, do you want to keep the kids for the rest of the summer?
For those of you wondering where we've been, the kids are in Ohio and the parents are in North Carolina. Aunt Katie agreed to watch Henry and June if we stuck around and helped out with Sadie until she was done teaching school. We are very grateful for some time off and hope that after her time with three kids, they still want to give Sadie a sibling some day.
Back in NC, we're taking advantage of our kid free life by doing a few necessary things- like eye doctor visits (we both got the hippest new glasses you'll ever see- mine have lime green accents), dentists, etc. But we're also enjoying the finer things, like sleeping in late, going out for sushi, trivia night in Greensboro, and updating the blog with a lot of videos.
This is pretty old, but I often forget to check the little camera for videos. But it's too cute not to post. While we were at the Outer Banks, we visited the Currituck nature center. It was pretty boring for kids. It had a lot of duck decoys, outboard motors, and one fish tank with big fish, but also lots of grass covering the noisy pump that Henry was desperate to see. The kids made the best of it engaging each other in a game of chase. June even tried to join in.
This video makes me a little sad. Evie is a tall and skinny 5 year old. She's not our little monster Evie with the chunky thighs anymore. But June made us feel better by launching herself into full monster mode.
Speaking of monster, June has reached full blown terrible toddler stage. We didn't realize how easy we had it with Henry. Though always pretty high energy, he's been a pretty easy going guy. He's not a fighter and follows the rules most of the time. Little sister is not going to take it easy on us. She knows all the rules and makes sure you're watching before she knocks over trash cans, pulls plugs out of sockets, or runs for the stairs. She's a big fighter when it comes to toys and has gone fist to fist with Sadie and Audrey (who are both much bigger than June). We're thinking of calling her "Scrappy" because she'll stand her ground even with big kids. (Henry always just looked incredulous when other kids took his toys- then just found something else to play with.) She refuses to hold hands when walking in a parking lot or driveway (you know, when safety counts). She has also perfected the temper tantrum. This one is pretty mild. She's been known to throw herself on her back and flail her limbs wildly.
You'll remember that last week we spent a morning at the Science Museum. It's different now that June can walk. Now that she's not confined to a stroller, she's really taking notice of the animals. She really liked the turtles.
And the perennial favorite remains the big keyboard. June was excited to walk across it on her own. Look at that face. Pretty cute. Also cute, the little yellow jumper that used to belong to mama when she was a baby.
These last videos are pretty cute. While at Grandma and Grandpa Cooper's, the girls started dancing, so we cranked some Don Henley (a Cooper favorite) and let the kids go wild. "Unkie" Adam introduced Henry to the Beach Boys, so Henry has also been requesting "loud music." Sadie can belt out a mean "Bop bop bop ran." (Barbara Ann). June did some deep squat dancing (she's trying to bulk up her legs) and Sadie did a few spins.
Henry wants to be a break dancer and practiced his "cartwheels." (Really just somersaults.)
Then everyone practiced their jumps. June's landed her on the floor, Henry got some air, but Sadie's were the funniest. You've got to give her credit for the effort, but those meaty legs are going to stay earthbound for a while.
Finally, Sadie showed off some very promising headbanging.
On Sunday, we came back to Marion to pick up Bubba. Unkie Adam and Aunt Kate came up with Sadie to hang out with us for the evening.
It was such a nice day, they just threw all the kids out in the yard.
Henry practiced his lawn golf skills, while I practiced tossing the corn hole bags. No one was injured with all that was tossed. Papa did hit mama with a wiffle ball once.
Henry and Sadie became best friends while I was gone. I guess there was a lot of wrestling.
PawPaw is working with Henry on his swing. He's actually a pretty good hitter. And he's even better at telling everyone else how to swing.
I sat on the deck and bossed Sadie around. I accumulated the entire pile of bocce balls just by pointing and grunting.
Sadie says I'll get mine in due time.
The lawn golf balls become very nice necklaces.
How many can I string on my arms at once?
Henry was very happy to see us. He had a great time sleeping outside in the tent with PawPaw and was still wearing the same clothes that we left him in on Friday. Grams says that fun can't take a break for baths.
It's a tie, if you couldn't tell. And it's wrapped around a bottle of Dad's Root Beer.
It's a tie, if you couldn't tell. And it's wrapped around a bottle of Dad's Root Beer.
I told mama I want a red room with purple and orange polka dots. I guess they weren't able to find that house, but this will do.
