Ready and waiting.

Today has been a different. We got up and worked outside. We have been cleaning up the backyard so that things won't get blown down. I got the lawn mowed.

Then the boys went down for a nap. Kev decided that he would take Joey to see the Star Wars Movie today. They were going to go tomorrow, but he was afraid that the weather wouldn't be good enough to go.

I got the pleasure to stay home with Luke. He started talking to me. We talked about all sort of things. He said words and phrases such as bird, Oh bad, poo, what's that, cat, meow, dog, window, people, apple. Some of these words were new for today. The other day when we were at Walmart he said "Oh fire truck!" Yeah there was a fire truck in front of walmart.

Speaking of the fire truck. While we were in Walmart shopping we saw the fire men. Joey had his black spiderman costume on and he pretended to shoot webs at the fire men. I said "Oh Joey, you shot webs at those firemen, that wasn't nice. I sure hope there won't be a fire soon, because they won't be able to move fast." Joey then explained "When Peter Parker wears the black costume he is a little bad and the black costume make me a little bad also."

4 year old orientation

We met Joey's teacher, Mrs. Nancy. She is a really laid back lady. I think she will be highly organized, but she will have to. He will have homework. Mainly because she says the kids want it. His home work will be to practice writing the letter of the week and to bring something to school that starts with the letter of the week. She says it can be as simple as cutting something out of a magazine. This weekend we have to work on a scrapbook page of Joey and his family. I think we can handle this just fine. Mrs. Nancy didn't have much of a meeting today, most of the other teachers did. Mrs. Nancy says she isn't a meeting type of person. She had a letter typed up that pretty much covers everything. There is a teacher's aide that works in his room and her name is Shoni.
Joey finally got to go on the playground. He will love it on the playground. They have a ton of bikes and outdoor toys.
He didn't want to leave. Before we left we got him his very own St. Paul's Lutheran Church Preschool shirt. He decided his daddy needed one also. I will try to send pictures of him tomorrow.
When Kev picked Joey up today from Mrs. Kristie's he told him he had a surprise for him. He wouldn't tell him. When he got home he showed him his shirt. Joey told him "Daddy, you can wear it now!" So Kev is wearing his shirt now with pride.

Sleep I must do

Today I need to get as much sleep as I can. I work tonight. Then tomorrow at 9:30 I must have Joey at St. Paul's Lutheran Church for orientation. So the plan is Kev will drop the boys off at Mrs. Kristie's tomorrow morning like normal. I will come home from work and get myself ready and get the needed paperwork. I will pick Joey up at 9am. I will just call when I get there, so Luke doesn't see me and think he can leave also. Then I will take Joey to orientation. We will stop get some lunch, then I will drop him back off at Mrs. Kristie's house. I will head home for some much needed sleep, so I can return to work on Friday night.
We are watching Gustav and hoping that it isn't that bad. I did talk to Joey about it a little this morning. He is suppose to start school on Tuesday, but I am sure that if this storm is going to be here and bad then it will be canceled. He will be heart broken.

Sleepy this morning

Well the boy who likes to go to sleep no later than 7pm was up till 9:45. Then at 3:30am he came running to my room yelled "Mom" and then went running back to his bed. I decided it would be a smart thing to just lay down with him for a little while. Well he kept getting up and saying "My bed!" He had such a proud look on his face. I never knew you could be so excited and proud over a bed you couldn't sleep.
Kev ended up coming into help me around 4:45. Thank goodness. As much as I find it cute now, I didn't find it much cute then.
This morning I woke him up at 8am and he didn't want to get up.

Finally

Finally at 9:45 with his daddy sitting at the foot of his bed, he got to sleep.

My baby is growing up

Today is the big day. I went to Koala Mattress and bought Luke his very own big boy mattress. Now we had to move Joey by this age, because he was trying to climb out of his bed and I feared he was going to fall out and hit his head. Luke is a way worse climber, but has never tried to climb out only in. We decided to move him out of his crib because of my shoulder.
Sunday we took him to Target and he picked out his bedspread. He made it very clear that he liked the one with balls on it and the sports theme. So we got that for him.
When Kev got home he went up to Koala Mattress and picked up the mattress that I had purchased earlier. After we ate we started converting the room over to a big boy room. We first took down the crib. This made me a little sad, it has been up in our house for 6 years. We had it down for a little while between Joey and Luke, but we knew it would be used again.
Then we got the new mattress in and ready for Luke. Luke was super duper excited about this. As soon as his bed was ready he got on it.
Now it is going pretty well. It is 8:23 and he isn't asleep yet, but he hasn't been crying or anything like that. We have learned that he is way quieter than Joey was. He can play in his room very quietly.

This bed is all mine

I must check it all out.

I love this bed

Ready for a Good Night's sleep.

I get my own pillow!!!

My boys

Luke is getting so big. Just in the last several days have I noticed a huge difference. He is his mother's son. He keeps learning new words, but it seems his words revolve around food. He says Apple, Banana, cookie, watermelon, juice, bread, popsicle and candy pretty well. The other day he was playing in his room and he went to the bathroom so he he gather up the supplies about 20 diapers and put them in his bed where I change his diaper and came to get me. He was so happy to say "See!" and was pointing at his bed. He talks about Joe frequently also.

Now that brings us to Joey. He starts school next Tuesday, on Friday we will go to Open House. He is super excited about this. He got a post card in the mail from his teacher yesterday. He is ready for school. I always said I wouldn't send my boys to K4, but the time is right and he is ready. I am not sure I am ready, but it is the right thing for him. He says that he is most looking forward to making friends. He also told the babysitter that at VBS that he met some kids that weren't nice and if he doesn't want to hang out with them he doesn't have to. That is smart thinking.

Is it over yet???

Today has been one of those crazy days. We took Luke shopping for new bedding. With my shoulder still bothering me, we decided to move Luke to a mattress and box springs on the floor. This week we are going to go buy the mattress and box springs. So today we took him and he picked out a new bedspread. Joey tried to talk him into Spiderman or Superman or The Hulk, but Luke is his own man. Luke knew exactly what he wanted. He wanted a Sports theme bedspread. He kept saying "Ball! Ball!"
This afternoon I put some more Over and Out down so that we don't have fire ants. I have to put it down in March and then they start appearing again about now. So I put it down again.
This evening I cooked a pork tenderloin, mashed potatoes, carrots, and asparagus. We had some bread also. Now hear lately Joey is trying to get us to cook something different or eat no dinner at all and then wants to snack all evening. Kev decided that tonight was the night to put a stop to it. He ate his bread with butter, he choked done a small bite of tenderloin and screamed and cried that he hates carrots. He sat there for an hour then was put in the bath and to bed. In his bed and proceed to cry and scream and throw a terrible fit until I went in and let him have it. Since then he has been very quiet. No he didn't take a nap so that is the other issue.
Luke seems as if he still isn't feeling right. Today he has been messing with his ear some. He has been fussy and he also didn't take a nap. So I plan to take him to the doctor tomorrow.

Why would I need sleep???

So since Saturday someone at this house has been sick to their tummy. We thought everyone was over it yesterday. I took Luke and Joey to the babysitter this morning. It was no time and the babysitter called and said Luke was sick he had really bad diarrhea. She said he was crying and just seem to feel bad. I went got him. He went down for a nap at around 11 and got up at 2pm. Since he has been with me he has had no diarrhea and he doesn't seem to feel bad. He went down for a nap without lunch, but ate some macaroni and cheese and a popsicle after his nap.

I have to work tonight and well I went down after Luke and was afraid I wouldn't hear him so I didn't sleep well. So tonight will be a long night.

Shot again

The last time I went to see Dr. De Jong he told me to get things prepared for surgery. Today he said that I improved more than he thought so I got another injection. I go back in 6 weeks to see my progress. I was shocked. I agreed to it, because the cortisone makes me feel better.

Luke woke up this morning and yelled "Mom, I'm up!"

The boys are at Mrs. Kristie's because I have to go to a class this afternoon. I am sure they will have fun.

The Life of a Nurse: A Man's Perspective Date:

A friend of mine sent this email to me today and it just seemed like something I should share.

The Life of a Nurse: A Man's Perspective Date:
Ah, such mysterious, wondrous creatures are nurses. What treasures lurk beneath those crisp, white uniforms....What young man doesn't have fantasies of discovering those secrets for himself? SCREEEEEECH!!!!!!!!!!!!! Reality check! I've been married to a nurse for a quarter of a century, and let me tell you, nurses are not what you expect (and I don't even care what you expect, because you are wrong!) Let's begin by tearing down some of the more famous assumptions about nurses right off the top: The Nurse as Sex Kitten: Any man who lived through the early seventies or has made it a point to rent such famous videos as "Night Duty Nurses" or "Student Nurses" or "Night Duty Student Nurses" or any one of several dozen nurse-centric skin flicks will immediately believe that all nurses have heaving bosoms, just millimeters away from popping out of skin tight white uniforms. You will also believe that nurses always wear white garters, fish-net hose, and stilettos. This, of course, is a handy dress code because movie nurses spend *a lot* of time hopping in and out of patient's beds.) The reality is that most nurses wear scrubs -shapeless, draping hunks of cotton that could cause you to breeze past Pamela Anderson without a second look. Shoes are white and chunky with blobs of things on them better left unexplored. Socks replace white hose and garters, and when is the last time anyone saw a nursing cap? Graduation, perhaps?
The Nurse as an Angel: If you want to hear the latest gross jokes, just find a nurse. Some uninformed males seem to think of nurses as angelic creatures: demure and loving, a cross between a nun and their mom. Well, hate to bust your bubble, guy, but as a group, nurses are some of the rawest folks you'll ever run into. I don't care how sweet and demure they may look on the outside; inside is someone who has seen things that would gag a maggot, break your heart, or drive a normal person nuts. So most nurses develop a very wicked sense of humor squarely lodged in the black-to-sick side of the scale.
Also, in case you are looking for angelic sympathy for the little boo-boo you had in the shop, forget it! Let's say as a typical male klutz, you manage to saw your finger off. You go running to your nurse wife who is on the phone with a nurse friend of hers. As she continues to talk to her friend, she gives the stub a good eyeballing, slaps a towel on it, takes out a baggie to put the severed digit in, and tells you to get some ice while she is explaining to her friend that her dummy husband just sawed his finger off. As you stand there bleeding profusely for 15 minutes she calmly finishes her conversation as though nothing is going on until finally she says, "well I guess I better get him to the hospital."She hangs up the phone, looks at you, sighs and calmly says, "let's go." You have just learned an important lesson. On the nurse scale of emergencies, yours is about a minus 9! As my wife has told me, "when you are on a ventilator, with six drips running, your head down and your feet up, then you're sick. Anything less than that isn't worth getting excited over!"

The Nurses Mutual Benefit Network: As a male either dating or married to a nurse, you should realize one important thing. There are nurses everywhere. That, in itself, is no big deal. The fact is, every nurse knows other nurses who know more nurses, so that by the time you are finished, a nurse on the Island Nation of Chuuk who observes you doing something you shouldn't has the immediate capability of getting word to your wife. This system is way more reliable and efficient than the Internet and has existed for a much longer time. Take it for granted that your nurse wife will know about anything you have done, good or bad, before you get home!
Your Social Life with Nurses: Nurses hang out with other nurses and soon you may find that all your friends are married to nurses. The reason this happens is because in situations where nurses mingle with nonmedical folks things can get ugly. For example, you are out to dinner with your nurse wife, another nurse couple, and two civilian couples. The nurses sit and chat, discussing fun things like bleeding bowels, open sores, how much fat was sucked out of some patient, projectile vomiting, traumatic amputations, etc., all over a nice pasta dinner. The nurses carry on talking as the civilian couples turn funny colors, make faces and suppress their gag reflexes (and this is if the nurses don't have any really gross things to share like the homeless guy with maggots in his bleeding sores!) After several dinners and gatherings like this, you will soon find your circle of friends has shrunk significantly. The key to avoiding this is to do the following: Never go out in mixed groups with more than one nurse. A lone nurse is ok. The trouble starts when you have more than one, and when that happens, keep the regular folks away. Also get used to the idea that some friends and neighbors will take advantage of the fact that your wife is a nurse by calling at all hours of the day and night for advice. This may include male friends "dropping by" to show your sweetie his rash. The best advice I can give is to just deal with it and hope it isn't contagious.
The Health Ramifications of being with a Nurse: Most nurses have been described as having the constitution of horses, which isn't true because I've been around horses and they get sick more often. The reason for this is pretty simple. After about 3-5 years on the job, nurses have been exposed to so many bugs that they either end up dead or full of every antibody known to mankind. (If you want the ultimate booster shot, just get a blood transfusion from a nurse who's worked in a hospital for 20 years!)
You don't have all these antibodies, though, so when she does come home with mild sniffles, a week later you're flat on your back with the worse case of the flu of your life!! Oh, and if you are the least bit squeamish, don't even think about the bugs she brings home on her clothes. It will mess with your mind as she talks about her Resistant TB patient, the patient full of body lice, or the one with poison ivy in his mouth! So don't ask.
Conclusion: Ah such mysterious, wondrous creatures are nurses. You
know, they really are and I thank God every day for my nurse!

Happy

I have my computer back!!! YAY!!!

Goodbye to an Era

So Joey fell asleep after Sean's wedding without his blanket. He woke up the next morning and announced that he didn't need his blanket anymore. The next evening he told us he didn't need it and slept another night without it. When we got back he decided that he wanted it, but didn't need it. He didn't take it to Mrs. Kristie's today and took a nap. He mostly seems to not need his blanket now. Now I won't have to have this battle when he starts school, but it makes me a little sad.

Proud

Kev came home today very proud of himself. He had a district meeting with all the science teachers. Kim Waldon, who is in charge of science for the district, named all the wonderful things that are going on with the science departments. At the end she said "Well I must mention Kevin Turner. He took his students to the MATE competition. I feel that he can talk about it better than I could." He said many people came up and ask questions and told him what a great thing he did for his students.

Without a computer

Luke got extremely dirty at Old Man's Cave.

My sweet boys after we were at Old Man's Cave.
Mom, Me, Aunt Sue, Luke and Joey
Joey was amazed that Aunt Sue's front yard was corn.
Luke was amazed that he could just run and run at Aunt Sue's house. Joey at Old Man's Cave pretending to be a bat.
Me and the boys. We never found the old man.

Got home and tried to charge up the laptop and it wouldn't. So I took it in today and they feel that it is a bad battery. It will take up to 4 days before the man can look at it. So pictures and posts will be few and far between until I get the Apple back. I am currently borrowing Kev's computer from work. It is extremely slow.

I will add the pictures from my Aunt Sue's house and Old Man's Cave.

We are Home!!!

We left early August 2 and made it to Bowling Green, Kentucky. We decided to stop at the Corvette Museum on the 3rd before our long trip. The boys were great in the car. Luke loves to watch Elmo in the car.

Kev, Luke and Joey with a 1962 Corvette.

Luke and Kev looking at the Corvettes.

Joey patiently waiting on Kev and Luke

We got to Chillicothe, Ohio at about 4pm on Sunday. We ended up going to Sumburger for supper which was super good. Then we took the boys on a walk and then Joey got to catch lightening bugs. He was sort of impressed with them.
Monday morning we got up and headed to the Ross County Fair. The boys got to see lots of animals. Joey got to see the quilt that Granny made him that got 1st place.
Then in the afternoon we headed to Waverly to see my Dad and my Grandma. I was also very blessed I got to see several of my old neighbors.

Dad, Luke, Me, Joey and Grandma

Ann,Me, Aiden, and Luke

Ann was my neighbor for years and years. Aiden is her grand-daughter my other neighbor, Angie Hoselton's son.

Joey loves to hold babies.

I was lucky enough to get to give Aiden a bottle.

On Tuesday we headed to the Hocking Hills to Old Man's Cave. The pictures from that are on a different camera so I will post those later.
On Wednesday before we headed to Columbus, we stopped my Aunt Barb's house. She had her Grandson's there.

It is pretty much impossible to get 4 boys to look at a camera.

We spent Wednesday and Thursday in Columbus. We spent some time with GB and BB. Then we went swimming for a little while at Grandpa Turner's house. Thursday morning I got to see my dear friend Kim and meet her husband Josh. We went shopping and mainly hung with GB.
Friday we headed to see Aaron, Jenny, and Sarah. Kev got to meet his niece for the first time. It was really cute, he told GB "I get to meet my niece for the first time. I am an uncle, I have never been an uncle before."

The Cousins, yeah Luke had better things to do.

Joey and his Sarah.

Luke and Sarah doing what they do best.

Granny feeding Sarah cupcakes.

The Birthday Girl!!!

This brings us to August 9, 2008 the wedding of Sean and Leslie.

My handsome husband

Kev escorting his Mother in.
Karen
The Ring Bearer
Joey got tired.

Mr. and Mrs. Sean Turner

Me and Luke before the wedding.Me and some very handsome Turner Men.David (Kev's uncle), Luke and Kev. Luke David was named after DavidGB and LukeyGB and Annie

Great Great Aunt Annie and her Luke

Joey dancing with Megan

Dancing. Luke danced a ton and we have no pictures of it.