First Snow

Monday we had a light dusting of snow during the wee morning hours...

 

It was just enough to stay for a little while, but was all gone by the end of the day...

But! Yesterday, I woke up to an email from the county saying school was canceled! And the snow hadn't even begun to fall yet! The kids were thrilled. (With the exception of McKenzie... who would rather go to school and hang out with her friends!) I made the kids eat breakfast and let the snow fall a little more before bundling them all up and sending them out...

Addison was so excited... and poor Tyler wanted to go out so bad, but it was a little too chilly for him. I need to go find him a snowsuit and boots! So I let him watch from the spare bedroom windows. 

How sad. This picture makes me feel like a mean mom!

 

Trevor got to try out the new sleds we got a few months ago. Lesson learned after not being able to get any sleds last year after the first snow came... not even ONLINE! They were ALL GONE!

 The kids stayed out for quite a while.  I was amazed at how long Addison stayed out... but learned that not even peeing her pants can ruin the fun of playing in the snow. She was soaked when she came in for hot cocoa!

Trevor came in soon after, but went back out with McKenzie and the neighbor kids after finishing off his santa mug full of hot cocoa.  He came screaming up to the front door a while later needing to pee.  Poor guy, I couldn't get all his snow gear off soon enough.  

Lesson of the day: Always come inside at the first urge to go to the bathroom.  Consider the length of time it will take you to take off boots, snowpants, gloves, hat, scarves, coat.  (Because you KNOW Mom won't let you run through the house to the bathroom dripping wet with clumps of snow falling off with every step, no matter how loud you scream and cry.)

This morning, I caught Addison feeding her little brother some yogurt:

(and yes, she still loves wearing winter hats around the house)

Article about Nick on Central College Website

There is a real nice article just posted on Central College's website.  For those or you who don't know, Nick graduated from Central College in Pella, Iowa.

Go HERE to check it out!

Texas Wedding

This weekend Nick and I flew to a good friend's wedding in Texas.  Nick's parents flew out to stay with our kiddos while we were away for 2 nights.  Ben (the groom) asked Nick to be his best man. 

Nick first met Ben in flight school when they were in Corpus Christie, TX.  Then they both got stationed in Hawaii and did 2 deployments together to Okinawa and Iraq. Ben helped Nick with our addition on our home in Hawaii. And while our husbands were deployed, Ben always checked in on us girls to make sure we were doing okay, so in return, when Ben deployed, we took care of him and made sure his fridge was stocked when he returned.

We arrived in Fort Worth on Friday afternoon in time for the rehearsal at the beautiful Ashton Hotel. *The bride-to-be mentioned seeing one of our favorite comedians, Ron White, in the lobby there earlier in the week!

After the rehearsal, we gorged ourselves at Cattlemen's Steakhouse.


After recovering from eating too much food, we met up with our dear friend Alaina, who also made the trip to Texas for the wedding, and one of her local friends....And we drug Ben out on somewhat of a bachelor party!  We started out at Pete's Dueling Piano Bar, which was an absolute BLAST! Then Alaina begged and pleaded with us to go to a Karaoke bar just two doors down.  And although we feared the velvet couches in that place, we managed to have a blast listening to Alaina sing, and watching her work her magic to drag Ben and Nick up there with her to duet as well!  Then there's always those few people who sang that should never come near a microphone again (no, not me....strangers!).... but they made the night 'entertaining' as well.


I think we left that place sometime after 1am! Yikes!

The next morning, Nick and I went downtown to the Stockyards and walked around all the neat shops there.  We managed to pick up a pair of cowboy boots for Nick, and me some cowgirl boots! 

YEEE HAW! 

AND... the highlight of MY day there.... we saw the country singer Pat Green in line behind us while purchasing Nick's boots! *swoon* 


That afternoon Nick and Ben met up for a relaxing afternoon of man talk and cigars at a nearby sports bar.... what did I do?


ABSOLUTELY NOTHING.... and I loved every minute of it!  I lounged on a super comfy king size bed between about 5 pillows, with my Starbuck's hot caramel mocchiato and some little vanilla bean scones and watched some TV.  
It. Was. Heaven!


Later, Nick came back and got in his penguin suit, then Alaina came over and we got ready and headed over to the wedding.  Ben looked handsome, with not a worry in the world... and his bride was GORGEOUS! The wedding was absolutely wonderful and it was a great event to witness!

The cake table

Here's a close up of the fabulous groom cake... a CH53D!

We partied on at the reception with Christmas music, fabulous food, and yummy gingerbread cookies made by the bride herself!  

Nick had Alaina and I in tears during his rockin' best man speech. (All that military talk)

(Only Nick can wing a speech and nail it!)

 Mr. & Mrs. Turner <3

 The Hawaii crew (we miss you Drew!)

 Me & Alaina

 The handsome best man

 The happy groom and his best man

But... by 10PM, the guests had headed home, but wouldn't you know the night was still young for us! Nick, Alaina and I called up our friend Sara who lives 20 minutes away (who also used to be in Hawaii with us) and we headed out to Lonestar (which has like 7 bars in 1) and did some more Karaoke, dueling pianos, and even ended our night with some dancing! (Thanks Nick for watching our purses while us girls danced the night away!) That night it was well after 2am by the time we made it back to our room! 

Sara Krahulec, Me & Alaina Ladner

The next day we headed home to our kiddos! It was a fun filled relaxing weekend that was much needed! We witnessed two wonderful people get married, and met up with some old friends who I miss dearly every day!  I can't thank Larry and Judy enough for letting us have that opportunity! (But that still doesn't count for a honeymoon Nick!.... I'm still waiting for that trip!)


Head on over to Alaina's blog for several more pictures from our weekend in Fort Worth!

"Major" Turner...

Nick received a phone call from his Commanding Officer this morning congratulating him on being selected for Major.  Although he won't pin on the rank for about another year and a half, it was nice to know he has 'made the cut'- as he put it!

Yesterday, we received a very special Christmas card in the mail:

Addison is 3!

Three years ago today, we had a beautiful baby girl just 6 weeks after Nick returned form his first deployment to Iraq! 

Addison Elizabeth

8 lbs 9.8 oz

1 year

2 years

...Today our little Addison turned THREE!

She got a candle on her donuts this morning!

Last night I had made her some pink sparkly cupcakes! After breakfast, we packaged a few up and took them to dance class with us to share with her ballerina friends! They LOVED them!

After dance we had lunch... followed by some pink sparkly cupcakes...

Then Daddy came home after being gone a couple days on duty and brought Addison a Disney Princess Pillow and matching sleeping bag!

A singing telegram from Grandma and Grandpa "Bob" came this afternoon, 

Once McKenzie and Trevor were home from school, she opened up her gifts!

 Trevor was her handy dandy assistant

 She loved her dress up clothes from G'ma an G'pa 'Bob'

 She served us all (wooden) cake from her new birthday cake play set (in her heels) and then played Elefun with Trevor and Tyler.

For dinner I made her favorite meal: Meatballs & Cheesy Potatoes

And she was still wearing her dress up clothes until she went to bed.

Happy Birthday to Princess Addi!

Oh Christmas Tree(s)

Nick and Addison went on a tree hunt yesterday to look for a very tall tree to go in our 20 foot living room! They returned with this 12 foot Douglas Fir!  This is the first ever REAL LIFE tree for the Turner Family! It smells wonderful and I'm sure this is the start of a new tradition.

It didn't take them long to get it placed in the stand and ready for trimming... but we had to get ready for our squadron's annual Charity Basket Party.  We raised over $6,800 for the Semper Fi Fund! Nick and I didn't win a basket, but the money spent was for a wonderful cause and we had a really great time!

This morning the kiddos and I got up and started trimming the tree.  I dug out some red and white lights, and saved all our handmade ornaments and helicopters and other 'special' ornaments for this great big tree.

(I need a much bigger tree skirt for this.  I dug out my grandmother's handmade quilted tree skirt, hoping it would work, but it's way too small.)

I put our big pre-lit tree up in our 'sitting room'  by the front door soon after we returned from our Thanksgiving trip!  It is trimmed with red and gold. Notice the bottom is a little bare.  After losing a few ornaments to Tyler's bouncing experiments, I had to move them upward. (I knew better)

Last year after Christmas, I got this little fiber optic tree for 75% off. The kids love it!

This tree is upstairs in the hallway between the kids' bedrooms.

 This is the nativity set my mom got me last year! LOVE IT!  

(And these trees don't count as Christmas trees... even though Nick thinks they do!)

I have a lot more decorating to do. So there will be more pictures to come! I just can't believe Christmas is only 20 days away! I better get some more shopping done!

Too pooped to shop...

Tyler and I dropped Addison off at school and ran a few errands this morning. By the time we made it to Target, Tyler was apparently ready for a nap. While browsing the isles, I looked down and saw him SLEEPING, while still hanging onto the bar. His poofy coat kept him upright.