More of DC- Juner.

We're still in DC. Today we visited the campus of the Walter Reed Army Medical Center to visit a hidden gem of DC- the National Museum of Health and Medicine. We got to see the bullet that killed Abraham Lincoln and all kinds of medical oddities. Miss Colleen liked the human hairball exhibit and mama was really impressed with the megacolon (it's just like it sounds). I liked it too, but when we visited the exhibit "From Fetus to Birth," I got really freaked out by the row of babies with very rare birth defects. You should check out the link to the website and make sure to visit it if you go to DC.
We actually made it home in time for naps. Connor took a good nap while mama and Mister Josh went out for a run. Mama can't brag too much because Miss Colleen just ran a marathon on Sunday, but it was nice to get out to run with someone else.

Tonight, we got ready to go out to eat at a nice Italian restaurant.

Mama dressed me up in my fancy birthday dress from GG Parsons.

It looks pretty good!

No luck in smiling for the camera.

Do I have to leave this thing on all night?

We tried on the black shoes Sadie gave me, but they're still a little big.

But it was pretty late by the time we were ready to go out, and since I only napped for about a half hour, Mister Josh agreed to stay home with me. Why do I always get left behind? Mama says she had a great time without a messy baby though.
After they got home, mama took advantage of a cuddly Connor. None of her babies cuddle like him. He even fell asleep in her arms. What a nice feeling.

To Mama, from the boys

These videos are a bit long and not terribly exciting. They serve two purposes: first, to give Mama a glimpse of what she's been missing; second, to show GG&GG the magic of their Christmas gift to Henry, the GeoTrax Bridge Fly-by Track and its daring pilot, one Mssr. Loopy Loco.

Meanwhile back at home- Henry.

Mama and Juner left me and Papa to fend for ourselves at home. Luckily, my friend TJ invited me over for the afternoon, so I didn't have to sit with him at work while he gave an exam. Miss Kathy sent mama pictures of our afternoon. It certainly looks like we had a good time.

We ate popsicles.

Mama can't wait to hear the story about the bandages on TJ's knees.

And built towers.

I got to play with the bubble machine TJ has been telling me about.

But the best part of the afternoon was TJ's train real model train set. Papa says I haven't stopped talking about it yet.

The Turner Girls go to Washington- Juner.

Mama and I left the boys at home and headed to Washington DC to go to Miss Leah's house.

Miss Colleen and Connor also flew in from Cincinnati for vacation.Since it was raining, we were forced to spend all day walking around a mall. Later, Miss Maggie came over and we had a fun evening at home.



Despite the fact that neither of us had naps, we stayed in pretty good moods, but our mamas still put us to bed early.
We had a good time, but also spent a lot of time fighting over toys. We weren't happy when they made us pose together.

My mom is so embarrassing. She made us take a bath together. I know she'll get this picture out in 15 years.

Despite being 3 months apart, we're almost exactly the same size.

But Connor doesn't have quite the same belly girth that I do.

Miss Leah gives bathtime a big thumbs up.

After we got our jammies on, we jockeyed for position at the window.

Then, the girls spent the rest of the night trying to get me to walk.

I'm getting better and took 7 steps on my own.

More pictures? Can't you just put us to bed already?

Connor and his mama snuggle before bed.

After we went to bed, the party really got started. Miss Maggie made and awesome chocolate espresso cake for mama's birthday and Miss Leah made an excellent chicken pot pie.

Good friends and full bellies.

Spring Folly and a party- Juner.

On Friday Gracie and Audrey came over for a playdate which turned into a cookout when Miss Becky revealed she didn't know what a bratwurst was (the atrocity!).

The party got loud when the Budnick-Hurrs showed up and mama spent the rest of the night yelling at kids to stop coming in and out of the house. Finally, papa turned on the tv to try and get Gracie and Henry to settle down.

Mister Paul and I settled in to watch Bob the Builder.

On Saturday we headed to Kernersville to the Spring Folly (also so we had an excuse to go out to supper at Cook Out, our favorite restaurant that serves burgers and Lexington style barbeque). We got to the festival a little late and the peculiar fair people were starting to emerge. But the police and fire equipment were still out on display.

Also on display were two cars that were in accidents.

Henry had a lot of questions about why there were car crashes and the cars broke. Mama tried to explain that they were probably driving to fast or not being careful. We went back to look at these cars 4 times.

We walked around and watched the live acts and searched the booths for bargains. Mama did buy me some new hand made hair barettes. The barettes I wear are all the rage down here, except most little girls wear huge bows that take up half their heads. We haven't ventured into that territory yet. On our way out we saw the most fun game yet. It was two water balloon launchers ponted at each other. We watched for a long time and ever got our legs wet.

We had to take a picture of June when we got home. This is the new dress she got from Aunt Girl for her birthday and it's adorable!

This morning mama and papa have given me a lot of attention to try and get me to walk some more (we're up to 4 or 5 steps and I giggle the whole way). We think Henry is a little jealous because now he insists on pretending he's a baby. It's worked out pretty well because he climbed in June's high chair and just wants to sit there and play cars.

Well, it's nice except when he demands that he pooped and needs a "diaper change."

Gracie's soccer game- Henry.

Mama was named the unofficial photographer of Gracie's soccer team- the Purple People Eaters. So yesterday morning, we got up and braved the light sprinkles (everyone there sat under umbrellas the whole time and it never rained- don't get us started) to go see Gracie play some soccer.

She tried to get some action shots for the video yearbook Mister Andy is going to make, but three-year-old soccer mostly looks like this.

Or it involves a little kid goofing off. This one spent most of the game singing into a dandelion.

This guy is the star of the team or at least the only one athletic enough to run and kick a ball at the same time.

Miss Becky grabbed Juner for a little fun.

What a pretty girl.

The four loudest kids on the block.

Mama and Miss Becky are counting the days until Gracie and I go to 5 day a week, 6 hour a day summer preschool. It's going to be the best summer ever!

Gracie gets some direction from Mister Andy.

Gracie's pretty good at soccer and ever scored a goal, but she was also very willing to sit out whenever she got the chance.

Audrey and I made a great cheering section. I was mildly interested in the game, but spent more time pretending to sleep on the blanket and yelling at people for waking me up.

April 30th, a day that will live in infamy- June.

Aunt Jenni, start saving up your ice cream money, because you owe me a blizzard.

I've been showing off by standing on my own lately. Mama decided it was high time that I start walking on my own, so last night they got out the cattle prod started some intense training. Henry tried to help motivate me with my blankie, but that kid is intense. If I walked to him, he'd probably just jump on top of me.

Grandma Cooper thinks I've been able to walk for months, but am just too stubborn to do it for anyone. Who would think I'm stubborn?

Finally, I took a few steps. This is the best that mama and papa got on video, but they said we can still count it.

Bedtime update- June.

We're willing to try anything to get Henry to go to sleep.

We heard about sewing a nuk inside a stuffed animal. That way, the child still feels close to his nukie and has a new lovey to make him feel safe. So we found an extra nuk around the house (actually, Henry found it on top of a very tall dresser- it's like he has a sixth sense for nuks). Then Henry picked out a stuffed animal- a truck, of course.

Then we opened it up and bid the last nukie farewell. Henry was excited about feeling for his m nuk inside the truck for about 2 seconds. Now he tolerates having the truck in bed with him, but it certainly isn't a comfort.

We're mostly past sobbing inconsolibly every time Henry goes to bed and have just moved on to getting up about 15 times before finally settling down and going to sleep. It's driving mama crazy because she has missed most of her shows from running Henry back up to bed. He never comes down during commercials.

We've also tried bribery in the form of candy, matchbox cars, and the promise of visits with his friends, but to no avail. Our latest strategy is the old exhaustion method. We got him up at 6 am this morning and are hoping he'll just bo too tired to fight. But in our experience, the more tired Henry gets, the more energetic he is.

Despite our frustrations over bedtime, we still find Henry mildly amusing from time to time. Here's a few funny things he's said this week. To mama's displeasure, he has become very aware of what other people call their parents. When talking about other kids, he is very careful to refer to their parents as "mommy" and "daddy." He also thinks it's a very funny joke to call mama "mommy." She doesn't like it as it took her long enough to get Henry to stop calling her Becky.

Yesterday on the way home from school, Henry was chatting nonstop (what's new). Our favorite topic after school is what we'll eat for lunch. Usually it's peanut butter and jelly, grilled cheese and pickles, or bagels with fruit on top. Yesterday, Henry focused in on vegetables, proclaiming that his favorite vegetable was baked beans and he'd never have to eat anything else again because beans are a vegetable and he chooses baked beans. Mama argued with him for a while that baked beans are really a legume in sugar sauce, but he wouldn't hear it. Luckily, he still agreed to eat his corn before he got his bowl of baked beans.

On a cross-town trip, Henry announced that he needed to pee. As we were only a few minutes from home, mama asked if he could hold it until we got home. He decided he wanted to stop and use a restroom in a gas station. Because I was with them, mama did not want to stop and try to deal with two kids in a nasty gas station bathroom. But could he please hold it until we made it home to our potty? This launched Henry into a 5 minute lecture on how "those buildings have restrooms with toilets. Our house has a bathroom with a potty. I don't want to go to the bathroom, I want to use the restroom." Luckily he talked so long he forgot about aving to pee until we got home.

We try to give Henry positive reinforcement as often as possible, becuase it feels like we spend most of our time yelling at him and saying no. Apparently, this is already annoying for him because yesterday mama applauded him for making a good choice and he chastised her not to say those words because "good" and "choice" are bad words in this house. Unfortunately, the phrase "What the heck?" has passed his strict standards and is often muttered under his breath.

Finally, after lunch today, Henry told mama that his belly hurt and that he had to stop eating or he might throw up. Mama was a little concerned, but he didn't mention it again. When she put him up to bed, he was actually quiet and didn't come out for a while. She patted herself on the back that we might actually have a breakthrough. But 2 minutes later, Henry came downstairs and lifted up his shirt to show a belly covered in band-aids. He said the "George stickers" (our band-aids have Curious George on them) made his belly feel better and that it doesn't hurt any more. Mama wanted to take a picture, but it a drill sargeant about not encouraging Henry to get out of bed. So she just sent him back to bed. The good news? He hasn't come out again and appears to be asleep!