the start of a new season.

Today marks a very important, very special, and very significant day in the life of the Turner household! Today, my amazing husband is starting his 3yr. journey of completing a BA in Business Management. This is something that Shawn has wanted to do for a long time and something that he feels so strongly will better serve him as he looks forward in his career. There were many circumstances that prevented Shawn from achieving his bachelors degree when we first entered college together in 1998, and he has been incredibly blessed to have his worth and value to a company recognized by the largest tile manufacturer and distributor in the US, despite not having a degree. But looking forward, he has realized that this is something that will be important and something that he desires to achieve, not only for himself but for our family. I cannot even put into words how incredibly proud of him I am. I know that this is NOT going to be easy. Not only does he work full time running an operation with only two other employees, but he is also an amazingly involved father to two young kids and a committed husband that does not want to miss a second of time with his family. Yes, this is going to take sacrifice from all of us, but we are ready for it! I am so excited to stand behind him and be the supporter, cheerleader, encourager, and helper I need to be every step of the way.

When he began researching schools that offered undergraduate degrees online, it became very clear early on that Liberty University was among the top, best, and most recognized online learning communities available. And to top it all off, Liberty is a Christian university that offers incredible opportunity to not only earn a degree but to grow stronger in the knowledge and understanding of a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. Wow. Shawn has shared with me some emails he has received from his professors and I have been blown away by the way the professors have already communicated to the students of each class that one of the objectives for the class is to help them grow in their faith and walk with Christ. Amazing. Something SO foreign to me, having never experienced a Christian education. There has already been a bit of jealousy on my part regarding this Christian worldview that Liberty and all of its professors/classes present. One class in particular would be Philosophy. Now, my experience with Philosophy was, to pit it lightly, a complete nightmare! Seriously, I dropped the class at UNCC after the first 2 weeks b/c it was so completely horrible and I was so completely miserable! I do NOT think analytically, I do NOT like debating philosophical topics, and I could care LESS about anything related to the topic! So, I ended up having to take the course at UNC-Greensboro one summer. My experience there was nothing any better. I was "lucky" enough to have an atheist as a professor who found it necessary to give me a failing grade on my final paper since it was written from a Christian standpoint. Not cool. The only thing to say is that the textbook for Shawn's philosophy class is titled "The Encyclopedia of Christian Apologetics." Wow, what a difference.

So, here's to an amazing semester babe!! I love you and I am so proud of you!!!

brothers and sisters

I must say, the one thing that I have loved so much about the past 9 months has been watching Reilly and Braxton's relationship grow. Man, when I say that Braxton's face just lights up with the biggest smile when he sees his sister, I mean it! Reilly went away last weekend to DeeDee and Poppi's house. Braxton and I met them for lunch in Salisbury to pick Reilly back up and I wish I had a camera to capture how excited she was to see him! She must have hugged and kissed him for 5 minutes! All through lunch she had her hand on his arm and just kept kissing him. It was so super sweet. He laughs the most when she is playing with him. I just love seeing their relationship grow.

Yesterday I got a couple large boxes from the UPS guy and I couldn't wait to make one of them into a house for Reilly to play with. Wouldn't you know, the first thing she did was to ask if Braxton could come in and play with her! He didn't seem to mind too much, so that's just what we did! I can just see them in a couple months, once he's walking and really getting around....they are going to be inseperable!!

Last night, we decided it was time to give Braxton a try in the "big" tub (yes, we've still been bathing him in a smaller, baby sized tub). Reilly was SO excited to get the chance to take a bath WITH her baby brother! Braxton had a blast! He just sat in there, kicking his legs in excitement, and reaching for whatever toy went floating by. He just loved it. Here's to MANY more bathtimes together!!

"the BOX"!

Let me start by saying...I LOVE TRADITIONS!!! I am a very traditional, like-it-the-same-way-every-year kinda girl. I love my family's Christmas Eve traditions. I love that we go to Blowing Rock every October. I love doing the same things year after year! I get so excited just thinking about starting traditions with our family. I came across an idea for a new tradition to start from a friends' blog (http://franklyjournaling.blogspot.com/2010/01/new-year.html) and I loved it!!! To re-cap the idea, you get a plain box in January and have the kids decorate it for the current year. Then, throughout the year you fill it with any special momento, be it tickets from a special show/performance, a program from a special service, newspaper clippings, etc.

So, here's our first annual "box" painting! Of course the paiting got a little carried away towards the end...which just added to the fun!! Reilly decided Braxton needed to have his handprint on the box since he wasn't able to actually help with the paiting. And then she thought mommy and daddy should have their hands painted as well:) It's all for the memories, right?!!

I can't wait to look back through this special collection of memories at the end of the year!

a couple funnies...

from this evening. Both of these statements were said by Reilly Turner within a 45 minute time frame....which is why this child keeps me laughing AND on my toes!

(scenario: Braxton has been pulling up on his knees in his crib lately, so we finally decided it was time to lower his mattress! Due to several circumstances, Shawn wasn't going to be able to do it for the 4 nights, and it really needed to be done NOW. So, I decided that I would just do it by myself. I had just finished putting everything back together after a successful operation and was holding Braxton on my lap while Reilly watched.)

me: Braxton, you're getting so big...you're crib looks like a big-boy crib now! I don't want you to get bigger!! (turning to Reilly) I don't want you to get bigger either, Reilly. Can't you stay little forever??

reilly: but mommy, I want to ride go carts.
(everytime we pass the NASCAR speedpark at Concord Mills, we tell her that she can ride the go-carts when she gets "bigger"....this is what she came up with during my sentimental moment of wishing my kids would stay little forever.)

(Later on, I was exhausted and had been running around ALL DAY. I put Braxton down on the ground in front of some toys.)

me: Reilly, I just need to sit down for a minute by myself. You and Braxton play over there for a few minutes.

Reilly: mommy, are you in "time out"??

me: absolutely! I am in time out. Let mommy have a time out for a few minutes, please.

(I should put myself in time-out MUCH more often...what a great idea, Reilly!)

enjoying having Daddy home!

We have had such a special treat having Shawn home for the last 11 days! The kids have loved having him to climb on, wrestle with, laugh at, and snuggle with. I'm sure it's been a nice break for them to not have to just have ME all day everyday! (I bet I get pretty old and boring after a while!) We have been pretty lazy this week, not doing too much that required actually leaving the house. Plus, it's been ridiculously COLD which has made me want to remain INSIDE as much as possible! we've built plenty of fires, had lots of hot chocolate, and watched many "Mickey Mouse Clubhouse" episodes....Reilly's on "vacation" too:) On New Year's day, after watching 14 hours of football, Shawn and Reilly made smores in our fireplace since the fire was SO hot from buring all day! She LOVED it!

Tomorrow, we will all go back to reality. Daddy will go back to work. Reilly back to school. And Braxton and I back to our normal routines. Bummer. It sure has been nice to have a little break!

Here are some pics from the week...

Look closely in this next picture....the FIRST tooth has finally made it's appearance!! and the 2nd one is not too far behind!

the Christmas Story...according to Reilly.

Here's the video of Reilly giving her take on the Christmas story.....precious. (click play and then click pause for a few seconds while the video loads before watching it!)

Jesus' Birthday Party!

We had such a fun Christmas this year. Reilly is at a great age to really experience the magic of Christmas. She was very proud of the fact that she could tell you the whole Christmas story (the story of Jesus' birth). even now, a whole week after Christmas, every book she "reads", she ends up interjecting the Christmas story events! I was blown away that she actually let me videotape her giving her spin on the events as they happened. (as soon as I can get Blogger to upload the video, I'll post it! UGH!)

For the first time in almost 20 years, we did NOT celebrate Christmas Eve the way we've done all this time. Instead, we went to church with Grandpa and Nanny, came home to a great dinner, opened a few presents, and had Jesus' birthday cake with ice-cream. I must add a tiny detail that is quite ironic and pretty funny. My favorite kind of chocolate cake is "Devils Food cake"...b/c it's so moist and just yummy. Well, as I was planning on what we would have for Jesus' birthday cake, I thought surely He would haven liked the same kind of cake I do, so a "Devils Food Cake" is exactly what I made...for Jesus. Does that sound wrong or bad to you?? Maybe an "Angel food Cake" would have been a better choice?? Oh well. Maybe next year:)

We woke up Christmas morning and let Reilly in on the Santa secret. It was really the first time we ever told her about Santa leaving presents during the night. Don't really know if she got it, but I do know that after she came down and saw the presents that were out for her, she picked up her new "cell phone" and called Santa to tell him thank-you!! The most favorite gift, and the one that she hardly lets out of her sight, was a Dora purse with a pink cell phone and an EIGHT-pack of flavored chapstick!!! She even held the purse with both hands all the way to the beach!! We had a yummy french toast breakfast and then loaded up the car and headed to Ocean Isle Beach to be with my family at my grandparents' house. Memama of course made an over-the-top, awesome Christmas dinner. It was a bit sad and akward not having Mymike there for the first time, but it was very special to have almost our whole extended family together, in one house, with Memama. Here are lots of pics to recap all the happenings!



oh, the new purse!
"my very own cell phone?!!!"
Big boy chair and a FOOTBALL!
Princess Scooter

chapstick that gets applied once every....46 seconds. seriously.....
FOUR generations!