Auburn Girls

Last weekend I had a college girls' weekend in Florida. It was 3 glorious days of no diaper changing, no disciplining, no tantrums, no tattling, and no kids meals! I missed my boys but mama needed this!

I flew to Pensacola on Thursday and we stayed at Joanna's condo at Perdido Beach. We ate out for dinner, we had chicken salad for lunch, we sat at the beach, we lounged by the pool, we read books, we laughed, we cried, we napped, etc. We had a fabulous time and are already talking about next year.

Natalie (friend of Joanna's that joined us for dinner) me, Kate, Callie & Joanna

Joanna, me, Kate & Callie

We missed Ashlee and are counting on her making it next year!

Discussion about Father's Day

Me: Hughes, what should we get Dad for Father's Day?

Hughes: maybe a new pencil

Me: oh, that would be nice

Hughes: or maybe a new football?

Me: ohhhhh

Hughes: Oh, I know. How about an Auburn tiger shirt? (I just smile because I know David would flip that even his sons want to get him AU stuff and not Clemson - running joke in the Turberville family - the first couple of Christmases David got Auburn gear from my family)

Me: Well, maybe we should get him clothes.

Hughes: Why?

Me: because Dad is graduating from law school next year and he'll need to wear nice clothes every day

Hughes: oh, so we'll get him fancy clothes

******************************

Banks wants to get him either a dinosaur or Batman. Somehow I think he's not comprehending the full idea about gift giving.

Why is my mind going completely blank for this Father's Day?

End -of-the-year-picnic Island School

On Friday, The Island School had their end-of-the-year picnic and "graduation" for its rising kindergartners. Hughes was in the first 2 year old class so he is the first full graduating class to come through. We have loved it here and Hughes has thrived. It is sad for him to be leaving but we'll still have Banks there and I'm more shocked that I am going to have a child old enough for kindergarten. Where did the time go?

How did we go from this? First day of The Island School - Almost 2

To this? Last day of The Island School - age 5

Hughes with Miss Kate

He loves her!

Hughes and Conley

They are both heading to Harbor View Elementary next year. In fact, about 90% of the rising kindergartners from The Island School are going to Harbor View.

Collins supporting his brothers.

Hughes getting his graduation "crown". The kids decorated their hats and the teachers wrote on their hats which school they are headed to. A lot of Harbor View crowns!

Also, each kid got a portfolio that Miss Kate had made them.

Hughes and William

Banks' class sang some songs and Banks knew all the motions. His teachers gave them all a copy of the songs and we have been jamming out to it. Banks really likes to sing the songs in front of the mirror and watch himself do the motions.

Banks and his teachers Miss Amanda and Miss Devyn

We had a great year at The Island School but we are ready for the summer. We are ready to slow down a bit, hit the water park, hit the beach and just relax.

Next year, Banks will be in the 4-year old program and Hughes will be in kindergarten.

Wow, times flies when you're raising children!

Baseball Picnic

We had our end-of-the-year baseball picnic at the county park. This was a great idea because the kids could run between the playground and the spray 'n play and it wasn't rushed after their last game. For the most part, Hughes had a great team and a we love his coach, Coach Rod.

We were missing some teammates but here are the boys waiting for their trophies.

Coach Rod giving Hughes his trophy. Coach Rod said a little about everybody before he called their name and he described Hughes as "always listening and following exactly what he told him to do".

And a BIG surprise for Banks was that Coach Rod had gotten him something special, too - a medal for showing his support of the team and of Hughes. Banks was super stoked that he got a medal and wore it for a couple of days nonstop. As I've said before, we love Coach Rod and our boys sure do love him. In fact, when we play baseball in the backyard Banks wants David to "be" Coach Rod.

Karate

Hughes finished up karate a couple of weeks ago. He's been taking at his school this year and has loved it. Although we don't hear much about it occasionally Hughes does bring up Mr. Reggie and show us some of his karate moves. Of course, my camera acted like the reject that it is and had a hard time focusing on anything. We did get some great video and Hughes doing a jump kick in front of the entire class.

Blurry but Hughes is the kid in the black shirt in the mirror.

Hughes and Mr. Reggie

Some professional pictures taken recently. Excuse the blurriness factor of my pathetic camera.

Hughes' 5K Transitional Class (Conley is absent)

Teachers: Mrs. Lisa Ritter and Miss Kate Davis

The boys' school pictures. I opted to take them together. Too bad the background is hideous, the flowers are awful & Banks is missing his neck.

Collins' 6 1/2 month picture.

Bike-a-thon

Yesterday at school, they had a bike-a-thon. All the kids brought their bikes, scooters, or three-wheelers and their helmets. The 5K Transitional class went first out front.

The majority of the class ready to go. There were some with training wheels, some without, some intense twin three-wheelers, and some altogether crazy driving!

Everybody is ready! The class goal was for everyone to do 25 laps. I'm proud to say Hughes made it around twice before complaining of being tired. He took a little break and then gave it another two laps. He wasn't the only one but he was definitely the first. I think we need to work on stamina. He chose to take his scooter but he still is a little unsure of himself when it comes to riding his bike especially on pavement.

Hughes & Kieran.

Kieran loves dinosaurs as much as Hughes does and he often talks of her. He even took her a gift on Valentine's Day!

Hughes in action.

Banks' class did the bike path on the playground. As you can imagine, lots of pile-ups, very slow, & lots of frustration from Banks. He kept telling his classmates to "go, go, go". Banks is very good and fast at riding his "batman" bike as he calls it and he wasn't liking the slower pace his classmates were taking.

Banks looking bored.

Pile-up at the turn. Miss Devyn trying to clear the pathway.

Banks and this little boy in the yellow totally dominated the bike path. They were by far the most comfortable on their bikes.

The Boys

I seriously need a professional photographer following me around. Do you know how hard it is to get all three boys looking at the camera and smiling? Most days I would just settle for all three looking in a similar direction but occasionally I try to get some decent pictures of the three of them. The other day just didn't work out.

Seriously Collins - open your eyes.

BANKS! put your tongue back in your mouth!

Hughes - look at the camera.

Trying to get the sillies out.

This is the best one.

1/3 of the group smiling

1/3 of the group looking at the camera

But we do love our brother!

Collins, this started as a little quick photo shoot of you but you were in a serious mood and refused to smile no matter what crazy antics I tried.

Collins being tackled by all of Banks' love for him!

I promise he is a very happy baby and often smiles just not at this moment.

Photo taken by Hughes

Hughes - Baseball

We have one more game of coach-pitch baseball this season. Hughes has made tremendous strides since the beginning of the season. He's pretty good about getting a hit every time he's at bat and when he doesn't get a hit he's pretty good about not letting it bother him. It was a scorcher out there today but he stayed tough and played his best.

Drinking lots of water

Hughes, Wyatt & Conley

Hughes up at bat. You can see the ball coming in to the shot. Hughes hit it and made it to first. Mr. James is always our catcher and always has lots of encouragement for Hughes.

Sliding into home plate.

He does this a lot; however, he always comes up about a foot short and forgets to touch home plate. Oh well, sure does look like he's having fun.

Banks - Soccer

Banks had his last soccer clinic of the season. He has loved every thing about soccer and has really done a good job participating and listening to Coach Paul & Coach Tyler.

Getting in the stretches before he does the drills

Oh yeah, right in the goal. He's a leftie with his kicking.

Listening to Coach Paul

This was Banks' first opportunity to play an organized sport. Although, there were no games just learning the basics and practicing drills, Banks did a great job. He showed a lot of potential as long as you were using his red "spiderman" ball. By the 3rd clinic, the coaches figured out which ball they used really does matter and it wasn't just Banks. A lot of the other players had the same emotional ties to their soccer balls as Banks does with his. So, once this was figured out everyone was happy and ready to the drills.

I'm not sure what we will do in the Fall. He's also really interested in baseball.

Kentucky Derby Party With a Royal Twist

*I love a costume party. When I'm told to dress-up or don something fancy, then I will try my best not to disappoint.

Suzie hosted a small Kentucky Derby Party this year and threw a royal twist with it. Instead of just sun hats, we were to wear fascinators in honor of Prince William & Duchess Katharine's recent nuptials. I loved the idea from the minute we talked about it. Now, I'm not one to go and buy some expensive hat. I am one to break out my trust old glue gun and get creative.

I offered to make David a top hat but he declined. I went with yellow because it matched my shirt and that's the color the Queen wore. So, I thought it was befitting of me to wear yellow, too. After all, I am Queen of my house. The big boys were in the splash pools in the backyard.

Some wore sun hats, some wore fascinators.

Laura, Me, Elizabeth, Suzie & Kelly

My Boys

We didn't win the race with our horse but we had a great time.

My hat was made out of a paper plate using a coat hanger to keep it's "v" shape. It was covered it yellow satin fabric from Walmart and I used some feathers off of Maemae's hat that she really did wear to the Derby last year. Throw in a headband, some yellow netting, couple of glue sticks & lot of blisters on my thumbs and you have my masterpiece. It was a fascinating fascinator!

A boy and his dog

Collins is now 7 months old. He is working on sitting up but doesn't have much interest in rolling over. He can do it - he just doesn't care to do it. He's happy on his back for now. He hasn't quite gotten down the "eating food" yet. His tongue still does a major thrust forward after every bite so I'm now sure how much he's really getting in his tummy. He loves the boys, loves Charlie, and, oh, love the baby swing on the swingset outside. He could swing all day long if I let him. He is currently getting over his first cold and loves the nasal aspirator - seriously, he laughs when we do it to him. I guess it feels great and funny at the same time.

Here are some pictures I snapped the other day while Collins was lying around. Charlie is so sweet and just came up and started cuddling with him. For as ferocious as Charlie's reputation is, he really is a sweet dog.

Gettin' some lovin'

I think I'll use him as a pillow.

The beginning of a lick - you can see the tip of his tongue.

He still gets 4-5 bottles/day - 8oz. each. He's all kinds of baby food but I think he enjoys yogurt the most. He takes 2 great naps/day but can definitely be flexible if we're out and about with his brothers.

Collins,

you're growing up too fast. I need you to slow down.

Love, Mom

Just Saying

Here are some recent comments from the boys:

(Collins sneezed)

Hughes: Collins just "bless you'd all over me"

Banks upon waking up from a bad dream came pounding into our bedroom at 4:30am. We thought he was saying he "teetee'd" in the bed but upon inspection his sheets and pajamas were bone dry. We still couldn't understand what was going on but he refused to get back in his bed. So, I did what any normal mother would do. I put a sleeping bag on his floor and let him sleep there. He wanted to get in bed with us but I know how that story ends up - mama gets no sleep because she is kicked the rest of the night.

So this morning I was talking to him about his dream. I finally figured out what he was saying after only asking him to describe what happened. His description words were hairy feathers & a beak. Oh, you mean chicken. Okay, so I got the word he has been trying to tell us. He had a nightmare about a chicken being in the bed with him. I told David about it and he said "oh no wonder. He took me into his room this morning and told me that it disappeared".

Tonight at bedtime, Banks was hesitant to get in his bed. I had to pull the covers back to show him that there was no chicken in his bed or his room.

Hughes got upset with me on the way to school this morning because I didn't bring him a drink in the car.

Hughes: Mama, I don't like you.

Me: Hughes, that hurts my feelings and you shouldn't say mean things like that. Say that you're upset with me.

Hughes: Mama, you're fired. (I swear he's never seen The Apprentice)

Let it be known that I haven't brought him a drink in the car for quite a while because I threw all the sippy cups away and now we only use regular cups - huge blessing by the way. I no longer find random sippy cups behind furniture, under the car seats, etc.

A couple of weekends ago, we traveled up to York to celebrate David's grandmother's 90th birthday. She had a very busy weekend of three birthday parties - one for her close friends, one for family and one for everybody under the sun. She's spry, she's mobile, and she'll throw a zinger at you if you let your guard down.

Back Row: Kevin, Vicki, Andrew, Scott, Rhonda, Me, Hughes, David, Neal, Jackie

Front Row: Deyna, Kate, Mrs. Pat, GiGi, Aunt Nancy, Dr. Dave

Some grandchildren had already "hit the hay" so this is GiGi with her two daughters, one son-in-law, 5 grandchildren and spouses, and 2/5 great-grandchildren

We love GiGi and we hope we have many more birthdays with her!