Snow Boots

Our friend Cynthia gave Turner some Toy Story 2 snow boots a while back. When he first got them he insisted on wearing them around the house and everywhere we went - pants or no pants :)

More Boonshoft Fun

Turner and Ali both liked the body shop area of the museum. There's car stuff on the walls, car parts in cases and a truck you can sit in. Sharon may or may not have used the truck bed as a diaper changing station for Miss Ali! T and Ali played really well in the truck together, for, you know, all of two minutes which is about their attention span!

I don't really remember what the theme of the room with the computer was, but Turner could have cared less. He just wanted to press the keys and play with the mouse - two things that are off limits at home. He looks so cute!

Our last stop was the dig pit. It's made of teeny tiny pieces of rubber, I think from old tires or something. Big kids can dig for dinosaur bones that are at the bottom. Little kids like Turner can use it as a sandbox. He loved, loved, loved the dig pit. I think this kid's going to need a sandbox at home, except, nevermind because this germaphobe mommy probably cannot handle that! Oh, and speaking of germs, I was very nervous to go to Boonshoft with all the germy kids and stuff. I sucked it up though. The only thing I kept T from was the water table area because a friend's son drank from it and got a mean stomach bug. Overall, I was very proud of my relaxedness (Is that a word?) over the whole experience. Hopefully, we can go with Sharon and Ali again soon!

Way Back Wednesday

Yikes! Life has been busy and I have lots of pictures to catch up on. Let's start this Way Back Wednesday with Halloween and then a little Boonshoft action. First up - Halloween.

Aunt Lele and I decided we'd try a theme for all the cousins this year, so we let the big boys decide. They picked Mario and Bowser from Mario Brothers. Alex was actually a ninja turtle with cones on his back to be more Bowser-esque. (Shhh. . . don't tell - he'd be uber disappointed). Anyhoo, the babies were going to be mushrooms, but we thoguht they'd just take the mushroom heads off, so Aunt Lele decided gold coins would be better.

Honestly, I was not really sold on the whole coin idea. I didn't think anyone would know what the babies were. But, I was very, very wrong! They were the hit of Jefferson Street! Aunt Lele decorated a wagon like the bricks from Mario, I got gold mylar balloons to tie to the wagon for coins and we played the Super Mario Brothers 3 theme music from i pod speakers. It was super fab!

TT and the Bean hung in there well over an hour too, thanks to some snacks courtesy of Aunt Lele. I tell you what, she's always thinking. Here are a few shots of T.

And now, for part one of the Boonshoft. Sharon and I took Turner and Ali there back in November. It was a lot of fun. They have all kinds of cool rooms with hands-on activities the kids can do. One of Turner's personal faves was the recycling center. Kids sort things by material (glass, plastic, paper) into the recycling truck, and then empty the truck and do it again. T was really into putting things into the recycling bins and pushing them around. Next best thing to a laundy basket!



Christmas Card Pics

Aunt LeLe and I took T to Cox Arboretum this year for his Christmas card photo shoot. We went early one Sunday morning at the end of October. She takes super fantastic pictures, and I was more than pleased with the results!

I'd actually never been to Cox Arboretum even though it's only about 10 minutes from home. Turner liked running around on and off the paths and we pretty much just followed his lead. They also have a dog that lives there and roams around. He was some sort of collie, and Turner thought he was great. You can tell he is used to all the people because he let Turner pet him. Most dogs go running when they see a rambunctious toddler :) Jut ask Lucy!

Anyhoo, we used these pics for his card, which looked like an ornament so I (and anyone else who cares to) and put it on the tree every year! A big gracias to my sister for designing our card . . . GRACIAS!

Tuken's Orchard and Farm Market

Grammy and I took Turner out to Tuken's on 35 past New Lebanon. Aunt LeLe took her brood there and said they had lots of pumpkins to choose from and a super sweet petting zoo. She was right, the petting zoo was perfect. They had mama/daughter sheep, mama/daughter llamas, a potbelly pig, two goats, and a miniature horse!

It was just us looking at the animals, and T even got to feed the sheep. He thought it was fun at first, but then the sheep's lips touched his fingers and he took off screaming. That was the end of our petting zoo experience.  

Before that though, he watched Mommy feed the goat, and petted the llama and the pig. To be honest, I think Mommy was more pumped about petting the animals than T, and I had a fantastic time!

Turner was much more excited to investigate the pumpkins and tried REALLY hard to pick up some of the big ones. We picked out a nice round one for our front porch and grammy bought us some apples and old fashioned coconut candy for the ride home. It was a perfect fall excursion for all of us.

When Mommy Gets Out the Camera

Sometimes I have a really hard time getting pictures of Turner. He loves, loves, loves my camera. Usually when I get it out, he doesn't notice right away, but as soon as he does, the photo shoot is o-v-e-r. As you can see below, he was a super happy kid playing with the laundry basket, until he decided he needed to have my camera. A tearful flailing toddler emerged, and the camera had to go away. It's rough being one.

Bern's Fall Fest

A few weeks ago Turner and I went to the Fall Festival at Bern's Garden Center in Beavercreek with Sharon and Ali. They had a bounce house (we did not go into that injury-waiting-to-happen) a balloon man, face painting, pumpkin decorating, a coloring contest, and lots of snacks. The best part is, it was all FREE! Turner pretty much liked running around touching the pumpkins and gourds the best. He also entered the coloring contest in his age group. We haven't heard anything about winning - bummer. We painted a pumpkin, and had a great time with Sharon and Ali. The pictures might tell another story, but he did enjoy himself - really!

Mommy held T's hand for the yellow parts of the face. T did the white all by himself and added stickers.