Beating the Heat...

Ty figured out how to get a skewer through the balloon without popping it

Tian as always is leaps and bounds ahead of her brothers...She figured out how to blow bubbles this week and hasn't stopped yet.

Proof of her bubble blowing success

Yes, it has gotten this bad. The air conditioner pooped out on Thursday and we are waiting for parts. Honestly, it isn't too bad we just hang out in the basement

ummm...not sure Puff (or Ty) is enjoying this brilliant idea :o)

Trace is 3

Our BABY is 3

We can't believe it, but our 'baby' is 3!!!

Trace could not have been more excited for his birthday. For the past few weeks he has asked relentlessly if today was his birthday. He asks so many times that usually everyone feels like shouting. It had gotten so bad that when the nurse at the doctor asked him how old he was he wouldn't answer because he wanted her ask about his birthday :o)

June 18 finally came and not without much adieu. He squealed coming down the stairs when he saw the balloons. It was a great start to the day.

Tom asked him to close his eyes...

Tom was so excited to give him the motorcycle ....

Well it fell kind of fell flat...

AFter a good breakfast - waffles i swhat the 'King of the Day ' wanted we opened a couple presents and we weren't sure who was more excited
We THINK Tian caught him before his tongue made contact.

Just keep this in mind when you eat at our house :o) Yes, he is still in love with Spiderman


This picture says it all

Grandma saved he day with the unbirthday magic wand . Earlier a teary Tian said,"I want today to be MY birthday..."

warming up to the motorcycle

The year of Trace...a repaired palate, growing to 37 inches and 37 lbs ( our little sphere). Trace has probably progressed the most this year - he can speak pretty understandably now and in full sentences :o) We thought that would NEVER happen. NOt only that but in the last few months he has deveoped an attitude AND a sense of humor. He can trow a temper tantrum to rival Tian, can stamp is foot like nobody's business and can shout "NO!" very convincingly. HE loves to tease Tom that he will wear "lipstick and finger polish" and then laugh when Tom says,"Trace you're a boy!"

He LOVES Chinese food, Cheerios, all fruit, most veges, in fact, Trace LOVES to eat. He Loves baseball - watching , playing cheering and epecially the concession stand. He loves TV (anything), but most he loves to be outside and to wrestle with his brothers.

He hates being hot and time outs.

What we love most about Trace : the devilish twinkle in his eye, he is a snuggler ( I love it! ) , his sweet little smile and most of all his little hop - skip walk. I can't beleive he has only been here with us 15 months. He is definitely a Turner.

being Turners

The barbed wire buffalo in Nebraska

He just can't wait to play....

Trace is nothing else is thorough about eating chicken

Not quite sure how Tian got this idea. In fact, our dryer is a regular part of Tian's entertainment. They are eating suckers and as I was folding clothes she informed me not to take her pillows...

We wonder why we can't fatten Trace up any further...well this is SMALL sample of how he walks It reminds me of TJ when he was little. He used to skip everywhere. Trace's is more of a 'hop, jump maybe I can kick Tian and you will think it was an accident' sort of thing

Youth Conference 2009

Crummy pic, but proof Trev did dance
Grant and Marie wowing the kids with the swing dance

Playing Duck - duck - goose ( yup, that's Grant in the middle after Trev tagged him :o)
The champs of the 3 legged race ( Trev and Grant)
Trev is on the youth committee and was asked to fill water balloons - quite a disappointment to him...not

This was Trevor's 2nd Youth Conference and he had a great time. Unfortunately for him, he had to spend it with me again :o) HE seemed to have a great time in spite of my company - even managed to put a hole in the wall while pillow jousting ( I didn't ask for any more details after the name). HE will be enjoying assisting a professional repair the wall this week.

NO pictures, but they assisted the Red Cross in distributing information on home fires and renter's insurance.

Ty's 11th Birthday

Can you believe he is 11?!?!?

Ty has had a busy year Webelos Scouts, Tae Kwon Do, getting his braces off. having 4 teeth pulled this year to bring the total to 9 ( so far all baby teeth)

Ty's favorites: oreo ice cream, chocolate cake, his favorite color is still black ( isn't that a sign of something bad...?), loves Chinese food, loves to wear under armour clothing ( his mom his cheap so he settles for the knock offs :o), hates getting up in the morning, loves staying up VERY late, loves Batman - Dark Knight ( although his mom won't let him see it again), loves reading the Eragon series, loves playing outside and with his pets, Tae Kwon Do and playing catcher

Ty hates getting up early, cleaning his room, onions and getting bossed around by Trevor .

Ty is most proud of earning his green belt and finishing all the requirements for all of the Webelos pins and eraning his Arrow of Light.

Ty is hoping grow 2 feet this year (I guess you shoud set your goal high ( no pun intended)), become a First Class rank in Boy Scouts, earn the Brown belt in TKD, make the all star team in baseball, learn Algebra.

This year I am most proud of how Ty is such a great big brother. He loves to teach Tian and Trace new things ( mostly good). He is so patient and always willing to be with them. He has also really started to enjoy reading more difficult books and is learning to balance his time. Ty is generally happy and most peopel ove to be with him becaseu of his positive attitude. He is also learning (and exercising) more self control. I am excited to see him grow this next year, but sad that he is not a baby anymore....

Trip to Clear Lake

The children's room at the Clear Lake library. That is an incredible mural in the background. The icture doesn' do it justice.
the facade of the library ( remeber this used to be the Masonic temple)

We had a chance to go visit friends up in Clear Lake. Obviously, Tian and Trace immediately made friends with Raleigh and his scooter. Poor Anne was left in the dust. Trace even talked him into taking him all the way to the library on it. The library is beautiful and it was nice to see how much it had grown. Anne took us on a tour to see how things have changed since we lived there. Our old house looks good ( sorry TJ no picture).

We were also able to see Tory and Kim Fyfe. Tory is older than Ty!!! It is awful to see other people's kids grow too. Laura is doing humanitarian work in SE Asia and Brian is in the Marines.

Tian was excited to meet Tory ( also from China) and told Anne she needed to ,"talk to that Chinese girl."