My dad and step-mother recently came to visit for a few days. Dad had a conference in Columbus at the beginning of the week, and then they came to see us at the end of the week. Dad hadn't seen Eli since he was about 3 months old, and my step-mother hadn't got to meet Eli yet. We all had a lot of fun. Eli went right to Papa Joe and gave him a big hug and kiss when he saw him. It was so cute! Eli loved reading books with Grammy Sandy, and always gravitated to the dinosaur pages! It was so cute! We went to see some of the area must-do's! We went to Jungle Jims and perused the many aisles of goodies, went to Newport on the Levee, walked the Purple People Bridge, and ate at Frisch's, Rib City, and Claddagh. It was a fun time!
"READING" THE BOOK CATALOG
HANGING OUT WITH PAPA JOE
HANGING OUT AT THE LEVEE
PEEKING OVER THE BRIDGE
MY DAD AND STEP-MOM
ELI AND VINCE
ELI WITH HIS PAPA JOE AND GRAMMY SANDY
Tuesday, September 22, 2009
Visit with Papa Joe & Grammy Sandy
Thursday, September 10, 2009
So Studious
Last night, Eli grabbed my reading glasses off the table (that I just started wearing this week while I'm on the computer mind you!) and immediately put them on. They are pretty weak, but I didn't want him to be looking through them too long, so I snapped some quick pictures while I could!!
HMMMM - WHAT'S DOWN HERE?
PUSHING THEM UP
SOOOOO CUTE!!
Labor Day Fireworks
The City of Cincinnati does a huge Fireworks show on Labor Day weekend around here. There isn't a huge display at 4th of July. Nope - the celebration here is Labor Day Weekend. And of course, it's only a few blocks from our house! Well, we don't leave the house on that day! People start putting out blankets the day/night before and traffic is just awful, so in our best interest, we stay put! Besides, they estimate that almost 500,000 people are down on the Riverfront, and I really don't want to be in the middle of that crowd at 10pm!
So, this year, we watched the fireworks on our large screen tv. We turned out the lights, and all sat around watching the show. Eli was excited at first. He kept saying, "Look, Look! BOOM!" The excitement lasted about 10 minutes into the 30 minute show, and then he wanted to play. It was fun though seeing his reaction to it all. Maybe one year we'll venture near the river to watch the fireworks, but for now, we are very content to sit on our cozy couch, and watch them in the comforts of our own living room!
Mmmmm - Goldfish!!!
Eli LOVES Goldfish. He will go right into the snack drawer, pull them out, and start to eat them (before we catch him that is!!). Heck, we all love Goldfish for that matter!!
LOOK LOOK!!!
YUMMY!
Eli's iPhone
Eli now has his own iPhone. Now before you think we went and got him one, think again! We are budget minded around our house! It's an older version that Vince had around the house that doesn't have service and wasn't being used. So, Eli was always using my phone to play his games (letters, numbers, colors, puzzles, etc). So, in order to get my phone back, we decided to use the older phone for Eli. Boy, does he love it! He'll wake up from his nap asking for his game! It's been great too - there are a ton of free games that we can download for him and all in the while, he's learning his numbers, colors, animals, puzzles, etc! There's one puzzle game that he couldn't do on his own at first, and now he won't even let me near it, and he's mastered it so well!! It occupies him, keeps him happy, and all the while, he's learning something! What could be better?!
THIS WAS WHEN HE WAS USING MINE UNTIL HE GOT HIS OWN IPHONE
TAKING A PICTURE WITH HIS IPHONE!
SHOWING DADDY HOW TO DO IT!
Our Artist
Here's the picture Eli drew on his Magna Doodle the other day while waiting for dinner to be served!
OF COURSE - It's a face! He's so talented!
Angel Food
Thanks to my friend Karen, I learned about Angel Food Ministries. What a BLESSING this is to us to be able to get some groceries once a month for next to nothing!! And the food is really good too :-) That always helps!!!
So, here's our standard box for August that we got for $30:
1.5 lb. Ribeye Steaks (4 x 6 oz.)
3 lb. Split Chicken Breast
1 lb. Boneless Center Cut PorkChops
2 lb. Mac &?Beef Dinner Entrée
1.5 lb. Breaded All White MeatChicken Nuggets
1 lb. 80/20 Lean Ground Beef
1 lb. Bake or Fry Fish Sticks(32 sticks)
1 lb. Frozen Corn
1 lb. Frozen Baby Lima Beans
1 ct. Cello-Wrapped Iceberg Lettuce
2 lb. Sweet Potatoes
15 oz. Pork & Beans
1 lb. Rice
32 oz. 2% Shelf Stable Milk
Dozen Eggs
Dessert (which was Lemon Frosted Pound Cake - that is served at Starbucks! YUMMY!)
Then we also got the fresh fruit/vegetables box for $22 and this is what we got:
lb.Premium Fresh Idaho Baking Potatoes
2 lb.Premium New Crop Large-Medium Yellow Onions
1 headPremium Fresh California Sleeve Romaine Lettuce
1 bagFresh Gourmet Caesar Salad Croutons (5 oz.)
1 pintPremium Fresh Vine-Ripened Grape Tomatoes
1 headPremium Fresh Green Cabbage
1 lb.Premium Sweet Cello-Pack Carrots
6Premium Tree-Ripened Peaches
1 lb.Premium Fresh California White Seedless Grapes
1Premium Fresh California Vine-Ripened Honeydew Melon
1Premium Fresh California Vine-Ripened Cantaloupe
4Premium California Valencia Oranges
4Premium California Large Juicy Lemons
WOW! You can't beat that! It's definitely a budget help each month and planning the menu around what we receive is fun :-) The menu changes every months, so that's always great too for some variety. It's available all around the country, so you should check it out and see if it's available near you! There are no restrictions on who can purchase it. Just go to Angel Food Ministries and check it out!!
Thursday, September 03, 2009
Chocolate Chip Cookies
So I made cookies last night, and it was just frozen dough that was already pre-portioned (school fundraiser for a co-worker), so I had Eli help me. I gave him the dough and he was putting it on the cookie sheet. Well, he got to one of the balls of dough, and looked at it, took a bite out of it (or at least tried since it was frozen), and said, "Mmmmmm, Yummy!" And then looked up at me and smiled! SO cute!
Then after dinner I asked him if he wanted a cookie and he said "no". So, then I said, "They're chocolate chip cookies!" And he looked at me with his eyes wide open and said, "CHOCOLATE?!?!" I gave him the cookie and he picked the chocolate out of the cookie and then handed the chocolate-less cookie to me!
I JUST LOVE THIS BOY SO MUCH!!
Tuesday, August 25, 2009
They're Starting To Get Along!
They'll sit together on the same couch pretty close to each other! That's an accomplishment!!!
Such a Morning Person
These pictures were taken the other morning right after Elijah was woken up by me (6:00am!!) Not sure where he gets his morning person skills from!! 
YOU CAN STILL SEE HIS TIRED EYES!
LITTLE RASCAL!
Night Night
Eli has this funny thing about him (well, many funny things!!) He will take a pillow off of the couch, put it on the floor, lay down and say, "Night Night" and then he'll say, "LIGHT!!" Meaning, it's time to turn the lights off so he can go night night! He's such a funny kid! This was him pulling his antics last night!
Here He's Telling Me To Turn Off The Light!
NIGHT NIGHT!
Popcorn
Popcorn is always a staple in our house. We get the big boxes of it at Costco because we eat so much of it, especially Eli! He could eat a whole bag of it by himself if we let him (and we almost have a few times!!!)
SNEAKING ANOTHER BITE!
WAY TO DIG IN THERE ELI!
Stickers!!!!!!!!!
Eli LOVES stickers! He goes crazy when he has them around! Take for instance him and Vince the other night :
HE KEPT SAYING, "IT'S STUCK!"
ELI EVEN FOUND THAT ONE LITTLE SPOT WHERE DADDY'S HAIR IS STARTING TO RECEED!
Thursday, August 20, 2009
Nap Time Craziness!
I got Eli up from his nap the other day, and I'm not sure what he did during his sleep, but his shirt was REALLY messed up!!!
Almost 16 Week Pregnancy Update
Well, I haven't been as good as updating this pregnancy as I was with Eli! Maybe because I'm chasing around a 2-year-old, as well as 2 dogs and a cat! It's crazy in teh Turner household to say the least! Well, here goes!
I'll be 16 weeks on Monday - hard to believe I've already gotten to this point!
I haven't gained ONE pound (that's right ZERO) so far in the pregnancy. I'm sure the non-stop nausea helped that one!
My thyroid levels have remained pretty good this pregnancy, and I haven't had to change the dose on my Synthroid yet. They'll continue to monitor it monthly and make sure my levels are where they should be.
I think I have finally (knock on wood) surpased the morning sickness, which was actually morning/afternoon/evening sickness.
I have graduated from morning sickness to headaches, non-stop most days, and heartburn.
I felt the baby move yesterday for the first time! What an amazing feeling! Kind of makes the nausea and headaches and heartburn all worth it!
My recent cravings are/were:
Cucumbers with mayo
Tomatoes with mayo
Strawberries
Italian Food (pretty much any kind!)
Greasy pizza (I know, BAD!)
Caffeine Free Coke Classic
Now, my cravings tend to lean towards pizza and Italian. I've really only been drinking water non-stop (trying to help the headaches in case I was dehydrated). I feel like I'm going to float away with all the water I'm drinking!
I have been SO tired this pregnancy, but again, chasing around a 2-year old and many pets, and working full-time will do that to ya!
Otherwise, I'm feeling pretty good! I'm so excited that God has allowed us to have another child. I have another appointment in a few weeks, and then hopefully we'll be finding out SOON what we are having! I am SO anxious to find out and hope this baby cooperates with us as well as Eli did!
We'll have that ultrasound and then another ultrasound at around 26-28 weeks that is also a fetal echo. Vince has a heart valve defect, so they will be checking the baby in utero to see if this baby will have the same problem/different problem with their heart. Please pray with us that this baby will continue to be healthy and will not have any heart problems!
We have a girl's name picked out, but still haven't decided on a boy's name! Who would have thought it would be so hard to name your child! I want to have names picked out before the ultrasound, so once we find out what we're having, we can stop calling the baby "IT" or "Queasy" as Vince likes to call him/her!
Thanks to everyone for their congratulations and well wishes. We are so blessed beyond we could ever ask or think!
(SORRY ABOUT THE CRAZY EYES! I THINK I WAS TRYING TO GET VINCE TO TAKE THE PICTURE QUICKLY!!!)
Elijah-Isms!
Eli comes up with some of the funniest things! I love seeing his imagination work and how he incorporates that into everyday living!!!! Here's some of Elijah's recent conversations!
* The other day, Eli was eating lunch, and threw his cup on the floor. Vince looked at him and told him that we don't throw our cups on the floor. Eli looked at Vince, straight in the eyes, and said, "ALEX DID IT!" (Our dog!) Our son's first lie - oh vay!
* This morning when dropping Eli off at my sister-in-law's house, we were walking inside, and it was still pretty dark out (6:30am is early in my book!) And he said, "IT'S DARK. NIGHT-NIGHT!" Yup kiddo - If I had my way, when it's dark out, it's time for night-night!
* This morning right after Eli woke up, we were in the living room and he was talking to Mia (our new dog) and then he pointed at me and said, "COME HERE!" When I didn't jump off the couch, he came to me, and started pulling on my foot, and said, "COME HERE MOMMY!" Then my foot wouldn't budge, and then he groaned, and said, "IT'S STUCK!" That's one of his famous phrases around our house. If something doesn't move when he tries to move it, then it's always "STUCK!"
* Eli has this thing with Cowboys lately - not sure where he got it! But, whenever he sees a horse, he asks, "COWBOY?" The other night he said "COWBOY", so I asked him what a cowboy rode, and he said, "HORSE". Then I asked him what a cowboy said, and he answered, "YEE-HAW!"
* The other morning I was going upstairs to wake Eli up so I could take him to my sister-in-law's, and in his confused morning state he asked, "WHAT'S HAPPENING?!" I would feel the same way if someone came and woke me up a few hours earlier than I normally get up!
* Yesterday morning after I got him up, we went downstairs to cuddle for a few minutes, and he got right off my lap, when over to Mia's cage and started petting her through the cage, and said, "HI BABY!" Maybe cause we call her our baby girl!!!
* The other day, we were driving our cars separately to the garage so I could drop off the van for some work. While Vince and Eli were driving in his car, they were going over all the names of the relatives. When Vince asked Eli about Vince's mommy and daddy, and where they were, Eli answered, "HOUSE?" Vince then told him that they were in heaven with Jesus. Then Eli kept repeating "JESUS". Then Vince asked him again, and Eli answered, "JESUS' HOUSE".
* Eli loves watching his Little Einstein's DVD in the van in the mornings (or whenever he's in the car for that matter)! This morning, as we were driving to my sister-in-law's, it came to the part where they were "MOOING" one of the songs. Well, Eli just was mooing along and singing away this morning. Not bad for 6:30am!!
* He's so cute (all the time I think!) when you ask him where the baby is, and he lifts my shirt up and pats my belly, and then gives the baby a kiss! He's going to be a great big brother!
Well, there's your Elijah-Ism installment for the day! We have plenty more where these came from! Oh to be a 2-year old again!
The Things We Do To Our Dogs!
SHE'S DEFINITELY POSING IN THIS ONE!
POOR GIRL! (VINCE DID THIS TO HER!)
