Down and Derby...

(not the best picture but Ben trying to help Connor with flag)
(at the starting line)

(coolest named car award winner)
(the winners with the scout master)
(so proud! Don't you love how nicely he is wearing his uniform?)
(the end of the track)
Although the Australia news is exciting, if I don't blog about the Pinewood Derby soon my boys won't be very happy!

After a couple of deployments and other delays, the boys finally got to have their derby this past Friday. While working on cars,Ben asked each of them, "would you rather have a car that goes fast, or one that just looks cool?" They both answered, "looks cool".

They loved their cars! I think Connor ecspecially. He had a hard time naming his though. I told him that his cousin TJ had named his car the Scorpion. So Connor, who really admires his cousin TJ (although they haven't seen each other for a looong time) decided to name his the "Flaming Scorpion".

Our den was in charge of dinner so I was busy in the kitchen with the other Moms. Of course I made it out to watch the races though!

The Tigers (Connor's den) had flag that night. They are the youngest den and it was so cute to watch them. None of them could hold the flag up and so had to have Dad's assist them. Too cute.

Connor's had a lot of good runs and so did Ethan's.

Ethan actually tied for 3rd place out of the whole pack. Oh and his car's name was the Pikachu mobile! He got to race again against all the other winners. The other boys were all Weblo's so he was pretty excited. He came in 4th but was very happy to recieve his 4th place ribbon. Connor was awarded with the "coolest name for a car" award. So although there were no 1st places for them, they were very happy.

It is always so hard to watch your kids compete and not win. During the last 4 heats, you could see Ethan's face go from elated to let down in about 30 seconds. In the end, they all went home happy...and that makes Mom happy!

Did I say I was spoiled?

Next month, Ben and I are heading off island. With no kids. I am so excited that I can't contain myself! :) Ben is trying to take care of his leave, I have to double check our dates with the family watching our kids but other than that we are good to go. And where are we going...AUSTRALIA! So excited!! I am just like Sandra Bullock in While You Were Sleeping...I will finally have a stamp in my passport. Ben has been to so many places, me I am usually at home with the kids while he experiences the world! LOL

So many people travel from Guam. We however, are not willing to go into debt for leisurely travel. We have so many people say, "yeah but you can get cheap plane tickets..." then they tell us the price for one. Which we remind them we would have to multiply times six. Thus, we haven't done any traveling. Our vacation to Hawaii was paid for by the Navy. At least most of it.

I was totally shocked on Saturday morning when we saw the offer through MWR ( a Navy program). The price included flight and hotel. I thought he was being sarcastic when Ben said, "hey do you want to go to Australia?" But he wasn't. We just had to find a babysitter. Which we did!

In less than a year, the two of us will have been able to go on 2 trips by ourselves? Having 4 kids I didn't think that would be possible. Harmony thinks it is sooooo unfair. I tried to tell her that, Ben and I were together before she was even a thought! I also told her that she was lucky to have parents that want to be together! She still thinks it is unfair but I will bring her back stuff! :)

So I know some people have been there, so what do you suggest we do? Eat? Anything that you didn't feel was worth the cost? We are going to be in Cairns for 4 days and 3 nights and I plan to pack in as much as I can! We can catch up on sleep when we get back right?!

Sooooo excited!! I have visions of sleeping in, eating new foods, traveling to new areas, all with my favorite person! :)

Shout out

Yesterday I met Ben at the ball field. I had dropped the boys off and he came shortly after ( to relieve me of my watching-baseball-practice-every-Tues &Thurs.-from 5-6:30)When I saw him he had this kind of bummed out look on his face.

I asked what was the matter and he said, "just a bad day at work". Later he told me the rest of the story. I hate to see that look on his face. It makes me sad.

So I just want to tell Ben how much I love him. He works so hard to provide for the kids and I. I have been able to be a stay at home Mom since I had Harmony. I know that there are a lot of women who would love to stay home and can't. But thanks to my hard working hubby, I can. I may not have the biggest house or the fanciest car, but I am well taken care of. Dare I even say it? A little...spoiled! :)

Ben is such a hard worker. Not just at his actual job, but in everything he does. His church calling, his duties as a father...everything. He is involved in what the kids are doing. From helping the boys (and me!!) with Scouts, to learning all the kids name's on the boys baseball team, from playing legos for hours, to taking the kids to movies or to go play baseball in the backyard. He is a wonderful person. No wonder he is so tired all the time! :)

Even though Ben is Navy, he still has to get his Architects License. So he has been busy studying away. Unlike the engineering exam, this one has more than one test. I think there are 10. He passed the first and is now onto the 2nd. They don't tell you your scores just pass or fail. But I am sure he did very well on the 1st!! So after a few months of studying, he goes in to take his test today. I know he is going to do great but I just want to wish him luck anyway!

I know he will be embarassed by my mushy gushy blog post, but I don't care. He means the world to me and I am grateful for all he does for our family! Love you honey and GOOD LUCK ON YOUR TEST!

sleep deprived

(This picture has nothing to do with this post. I just don't like to have too many picture-less entries)

3 nights ago, I barely fell asleep around midnight. This was not due to a lack of trying. Just couldn't get comfortable. Ben nudged me at 6:30 (this is when I go get the kids up) and he said I just snored on. I woke up at 7 and was shocked at "how long I had slept in". It put me behind for the rest of the day. *Sigh*

2 nights ago, I spent from 12-2 throwing up. I am still not sure why. I felt completely fine afterwards. However sleeping from 2-6:30 is not a lot of sleep. I was GRUMPY. Harmony decided to make her own lunch, and I got upset because I felt like she wasn't grateful for the lunch I made her. Hello? A little tired are we?

Yesterday, I was sooo tired. There was nothing I could do about it. I just slept walked my way through the day. Seriously. Finally by 1:30 I put Ivan in front of his V-Smile. I went and laid on my bed and slept until after 3!! I only woke up when the kids got home from school. But I was still tired. I just kind of laid around all day. Dropped the boys off with Ben, and let him know to pick up McD's for dinner on the way home. I am awful I know!!

While they were gone, Harmony and Ivan and I, all ate dinner (also McD's) and than laid on my bed and watched a movie. After watching Finding Nemo a million times, Harmony put in a "girl movie". So we watched Polly World. The boys came home and had dinner and baths (did I mention I still hadn't gotten out of bed?) Then I sent all the kids off to bed. Ivan and I watched Veggie Tales( uhm I was just trying to get sleep) when Ben came home. He sent Ivan to bed. After Bones, I rolled over and fell asleep. I slept until 6:30 this morning.

Because of the whole "lying around all day and not doing anything" I am a little behind today. But my friend just called and I am not babysitting today. Wahoo, no babysitting and no scouts. I feel free, light and most importantly AWAKE. Time to get my house back in order.

Like I said, there really isn't much going on that is blog worthy. Just in case you didn't believe me!

Hmmm...

Dear Faithful Blog Readers,

In recent months and weeks I have found out that there are more of you than I ever realized!! How exciting. I just wanted all of you to know that even though it has been over a week since I updated...I am not ignoring you. There is just nothing blog worthy going on. Hard to believe, I know!! But every time I sit and think " I need to update" nothing comes to mind. So please know that if/when something exciting occurs, I will let you know. Until then...well you are just going to have to read some other blogs!

update

I have had a lot of people ask how I am feeling and doing with the pregnancy. So here goes...

This Sunday I will enter my 25th week! It is hard to believe that time has gone by so fast. Although I know the closer I get...the slower it gets! Because of my early labors, I am going to start going in and getting checked at 32 weeks. Hard to believe that is only 7 weeks away! We are really hoping to push his delivery off until 4th of July weekend. If we make it that far we 1)most likely will not have to go to Japan and 2) Ben will be able to make his trip home in Aug 3) if I don't have to go to Japan...I get to go on my trip in Sept! So let's all pray that Mason decides to wait!

As for me, I have been feeling fine. I have started to really show and I have had a lot of people comment that, " wow you look pregnant". I always answer with," because I am". :) I know that when you start out on the not so smallish side, it is harder to tell if someone is preggo or just...well you know. So it is nice that it is now at the point where I can say yep, there is a baby in there!

Mason has started to do all of his in the womb aerobics! I can constantly feel him kicking around and doing his thing.

The only "problem" I am having right now is a lack of sleep! I am almost into my last trimester, and seem to just have no energy! I feel tired all the time. Plus I can't seem to get comfortable at night so I do a lot of tossing and turning. Add a bathroom break 2 times a night and you see where I am. Last night I fell alseep a little after 9. I slept soundly until 1:30 and than was up every hour. Ben sleeps on his side or stomach, but at 4:30 this morning he was on his back. So I snuggled up to him and promptly fell back to sleep. Until he pushed me off! He said he got too hot! So no sleep for me.

I have always read it is natures way of preparing you for what is about to come! The kids are still very excited. Ivan was playing with a flashlight yesterday, and shined it on my belly. He started laughing and said, " I got it on Mason!". He also told me that Mason will like him.

So that is it. Nothing too exciting! Of course if anything gets more exciting, we will let you know! Just pray I start getting some sleep!

This Monday morning...

(birds nest treats)


(the end result)
(not a very pretty picture (food photographer I am not) but that was the ice cream cake)
(eating ice cream cake)
(The Junior GS troop, ready to go home after a long night!)
( Way to go Harm!!)
**********I started this post when it says I did. However, after a major power outtage and some very bad whiney days from me, it took awhile to get back to it!

It is 8:26 am on Monday. The kids have been gone for almost an hour. After a 4 day weekend, Ben is back at work. The dishwasher and washer are both humming away. Ivan is playing and watching tv (with no one to fight with) and Astro is taking a nap. Can a morning get any better than that? (yeah and than we had a nice long power outtage. 2nd one in less than 24 hours!!) So here is what is on my mind today...

**I felt like such a SINNER for not being at church on Easter Sunday. Why weren't we there? Because here, it was conference weekend. So I sat at home and watched conference. It was delightful but...still didn't quite feel the same!

**Saturday night I went to return some movies...and was pulled over for a sobriety check. I have never, not once, been asked to do this. There was a big concert here and so they were checking anyone who came on to base. Yes, even innocent pregnant women driving mini-vans. And just to put everyone at ease...I passed! :)

**Harmony went camping from Thursday night to Friday. I picked her up and she was feeling car sick on the way home. It is an awful road anyway, but with little sleep and eggs for breakfast...well not a good combo. I did manage to drag her to the NEX and to the commissary. Around 3 pm she was throwing a fit, and so I told her to go lay on her bed until she could calm down. We saw her Saturday morning at 6 am! She completely crashed! She had no idea that she had slept that long, just that she felt hungry!

**Speaking of Ms. Harmony, she got 5th place in the science fair! She was so excited and wore her ribbons on her wrists for a long time. She is totally anxious for next year's!

**Remember a while ago, when I was asking for lunch bag ideas? Well, upon doing some research ie. "google", I came across "Bento" sites. Have you seen these? While I don't feel that I would ever have the time,patience, creativity or energy to prepare a full Bento lunch, I am obsessed with looking at them! Harmony loves it too. The boxes and other "gear" are way expensive but I told her if I could find something on sale...we will see. Let me see if I can get this link to work, if not, google Bento and I am sure you can find tons of stuff! Here is hopefully the link...
http://www.laptoplunches.com/

**Easter weekend was a pretty typical weekend for us! We spent Saturday cleaning rooms, laundry and working like crazy. And yet at the end of the night, I didn't feel like I had accomplished much! Ben told me, " you can run that washer and dryer all day,but you will never, never be done with laundry." Thanks for the reminder dear!!

**Sunday the kids dyed eggs, put stickers all over plastic eggs( they made one for Mason...awww) and opened baskets. We made bird nest treats and I made an ice cream cake that everyone devoured. It was good!Ecspecially after taking Astro for a walk when it was still nice and hot outside! We had a traditional meal and the kids really enjoyed eating "crashed hot potatoes". I found the recipe on Pioneer Woman Cooks and everyone loves them. Ecspecially Ben, but I was suprised with how much the kids did. It's a yummy recipe, let me know if you want it.

Ivan and I are headed to the NEX to get some outside toys. Today is my last den meeting and so I am just going to let them run around like crazy! Sounds fun huh? I am so grateful to be almost done with scouts. The boys were great, parents were supportive, but it just takes a lot of energy and creativity, which I do not have in my possession right now! :)

Whole Lot of Lovin'

I was recently tagged by the Lovely Lisa, to blog 10 things that I love. I have a lot of loves. But I think the most obvious are the hubs, the kiddo's, church, etc. So we are going to skip those (not that they aren't important!!!!) But move onto daily loves....

1. A clean house. Ours rarely is. No matter how hard I try, usually 10 seconds after I have cleaned it is messy again!I try to remember that my kids are only young once and I shouldn't worry so much about it. But why do they have to be young while living in filth? Hmmmm

2. When my meal planning works. Some weeks I have everything planned to a T. And all week long, I just pull out what I had planned. No one eats a late dinner, or gets served pb&j!Other times, well I don't do as well. It is a work in progress!

3)Along with the above one, would be a full pantry, freezer and fridge! It is the days when those are empty that I have no dinner ideas! Hmmm,what do you make with__________ is not my strong suit!

4. Having a good mail day!! With fun catalogs, magazines, packages or letters, cards, etc. I love a good mail day. With most people not even sending mail (and simply doing emails) I miss this!

5. A long hot soak with a good book! Ben has promised me that some day(when Messiah comes, right Mom?) that he will make sure I have a nice huge, tub. I make do. Although I swear the one we have now is one of the smallest so far!

6. Family time. When the kids are getting a long and we are just laughing and playing. Does this always cost money? Nope. But sometimes it does. I love to all be together!

7. Baking. I love to bake things for Ben and the kids. Oh yeah...and myself! Back in the day, when the kids were little, they didn't eat as much. And so I always hated making huge desserts (like a whole cake) because I always ended up eating it! But now that they are older, we hardly get any before it is gone!( I have a post about Ethan coming up that talks more about this!)

8. Being on time. We are always rushing from one thing to the next. I hate being late. I do.I feel bad for people who might have been waiting on us. My Dad used to always tell us that "if you are not 10 minutes early, than you are late". I think that stuck with me!

9. Being productive. I love at the end of the day when I have a to do list that is all crossed off. I love that satisfaction. Staying at home, I have a lot of other things calling to me, than Ben for instance. He goes to work and doesn't have his video games or books, his tools etc. I am surrounded by "my stuff" and it can make it easier to avoid doing things "I am supposed too".So I love a good productive day!

10. All of you! I love that I can keep in touch with you via emails, blogs, facebook etc. I love that if I am feeling down, you are all there to lift me up. If I have good news, you are all here to celebrate with me. I love that I learn about new recipes, books, websites, products etc all through you. I love to hear about your lives and what you are doing. I love my family, friends and my computer...because that is where some of my friends are!

So now to tag people, I am going with Heidi ( I loved her top 10 post at Christmas, so how about another round?!), Alisha (for the same reason. She did a great top 10 post at Christmas and I have been using Clorox anywhere spray ever since!), Susan( just cause I love her) Oh and Darla for that reason and because she hasn't blogged for awhile and Christy! (She hasn't blogged for awhile either!) If any of you are just dying to do this on your own, go for it. Let's share the love!

completely DERAILED

My spring break plan of getting lots done that is! I started out with such high hopes. But with all 4 kiddo's being sick, and Ben waking up this morning saying, " The kids got me sick", well life is not all fun and games here at the Turner home! Ah well such is life right?

Last Saturday was spent out at the ball park! Baseball will be a major part of our lives for the next month or so! This game was held down by the beach at an area called Polaris Point. This is where we also went camping and have 4th of July.

The boys played their best and oh my heck it was hot out there! We had a nice breeze but imagine standing out there in dark blue shirts, long black pants and with the sun in your face! Harmony and Ivan had a hard time holding umbrella's and playing DS's (life is rough) so they camped out in a little spot under the stairs.

Afterwards there was a nice big bbq and the kids got to play in the water. What a way to end a game right?! It was a long, hot day but the kids enjoyed it!

Monday was spent cleaning house. I mean, what kid doesn't love to clean on Spring Break? :) Mean Mom!

However, yesterday they were driving me crazy and I knew we had to get out of the house! Ben suggested I take them to see Monsters VS Aliens in 3D. I was laughing so hard at the kids. Harmony was constantly ducking to get out of the way of things! Ivan kept taking his glasses off, so I would tell him to put them on. He would always reply, " I already put them on!" He did finally leave them on though. Ivan is hit or miss at the movies. He LOVED Bolt and sat glued to the screen, but Tale of Desperaux did not capture his attention and I spent my time trying to get him to stay in one row. But luckily, he sat and watched the whole thing without one problem!

Tonight we are headed out on date night!! Yay! Besides Home Depot (aren't we romantic?) I am not sure what else we are going to do. We are unsure of where to go for dinner because Ben said, " I can't taste anything anyway!".

Then tomorrow we are swapping with friends so they can have a date night. Harmony leaves to go on her camping trip in the evening. She is so excited for it. I need to get her to pack this afternoon.

So there you have our Spring Break up until now! As I have been sitting here, Mason has been kicking a lot. It is so fun to finally feel him in there! :)

Internet & Spring Break

Like many others, I use the computer to avoid things. I mean of course I am spending my time wisely...facebook, cleaning ideas, Mom "things",craft ideas. But while I am doing this I avoid, a messy house ( it will be there when I get off), my kids(it's ok they are busy watching tv, who needs Mom?) my husband (how much time do you spend on facebook? That is a real question posed by him the other day!!)

So it is time once again, to take an internet break. I love these breaks. I honestly do! I get so much done and don't feel like I wasted my day and week away. I will check my email, so don't worry if you need to get a hold of me.

But for this week, my spring cleaning list is substantial. My nesting instincts are in high gear and I plan to make good use of them!

I will post again on the 13th with all of our baseball pictures, Easter Egg hunt, Spring break fun, Harmony's camp out, visit to the museum etc!

Have a great week!

Is that a challenge?

I was reading a blog ( I read waaaay to many) and there was a challenge issued. To not eat out for 30 days. The logic behind it? 1) See how much money you save by not eating out and 2)to see how much healthier you feel.

So I decided to do it. The whole month of April. So yesterday (April 1st for us) was great! We made it the whole day. :) However, I forgot about something...

Ivan has afternoon pre-k on Thursdays. So when our schedules don't conflict, Ben and I meet at the NEX for lunch. It is just a way to have a "date" without getting a babysitter. I love going out on dates with Ben and with spring break next week...that won't be happening! So what is a girl to do?

I am going on a date with my husband, are you kidding me?! At first I told him no, but what is more important? Me saving the money that I will spend on lunch, or being with my husband on one of the busiest days of our week? He even has a b-ball game tonight right after the boys practice.

So I will continue on with the challenge, but not at lunch. Not today. Ben is more important! :)