She Did It!

Grace decided to she wanted to read me Hop on Pop by Dr. Seuss today.

And, girlfriend read the entire book.  

And, it's a long one.

So proud of her.

 In case you've never ready it before......

“Hop on Pop” by Dr. Seuss

UP PUP Pup is up. CUP PUP Pup in cup. PUP CUP Cup on pup.

MOUSE HOUSE Mouse on house. HOUSE MOUSE House on mouse.

ALL TALL We all are tall. ALL SMALL We all are small. ALL BALL We all play ball. BALL WALL Up on a wall. ALL FALL Fall off the wall.

DAY PLAY We play all day. NIGHT FIGHT We fight all night.HE ME He is after me. HIM JIM Jim is after him. SEE BEE We see a bee. SEE BEE THREE Now we see three. THREE TREE Three fish in a tree. Fish in a tree? How can that be?

RED RED They call me Red. RED BED I am in bed. RED NED TED and ED in BED

PAT PAT they call him Pat. PAT SAT Pat sat on hat. PAT CAT Pat sat on cat. PAT BAT Pat sat on bat. NO PAT NO Don’t sit on that.

SAD DAD BAD HAD Dad is sad. Very, very sad. He had a bad day. What a day Dad had!

THING THING What is that thing?

THING SING That thing can sing! SONG LONG A long, long song. Good-by, Thing. You sing too long.

WALK WALK We like to walk. WALK TALK We like to talk.

HOP POP We like to hop. We like to hop on top of Pop. STOP You must not hop on Pop.

Mr. BROWN Mrs. BROWN Mr. Brown upside down. Pup up. Brown down. Pup is down. Where is Brown? WHERE IS BROWN? THERE IS BROWN! Mr. Brown is out of town.

BACK BLACK Brown came back.

Brown came back with Mr. Black. SNACK SNACK Eat a snack. Eat a snack with Brown and Black.

JUMP BUMP He jumped. He bumped. FAST PAST He went past fast. WENT TENT SENT He went into the tent. I sent him out of the tent.

WET GET Two dogs get wet. HELP YELP They yelp for help. HILL WILL Will went up hill. WILL HILL STILL Will is up hill still.

FATHER MOTHER SISTER BROTHER That one is my other brother. My brothers read a little bit. Little words like If and it. My father can read big words, too. Like CONSTANTINOPLE and TIMBUKTU

SAY SAY What does this say? seehemewepatpuppophethreetreebeetophopstop Ask me tomorrow but not today.

The End!

Way to go, my sweet just turned 5 year old who begs to learn on a daily basis.  You surprise every day.  The way you are going with this whole learning thing, you will by far surpass me by age 6.  Keep up the great work. 

Happy 8 Years of Wedded Bliss

It feels like so much more than eight years, and I mean that in the very best way.  I feel like we have been married our entire lives.  Every year things get better as we grow and change and find out more and more about who we are and what we enjoy.  

This really has nothing to do with the hike other than it's where we parked,
but it's shows how beautiful Ellensburg is.  It forever will take my breathe away.

The start

We have never done gifts for our anniversary.  Don't get me wrong, we love receiving gifts but since we have know each other we have always preferred an "experience" & special time together over a gift. It's the best "gift;" a gift of a wonderful memory.  And, 8 years later we still feel the same way.  No gifts, just incredible quality time together as a family.  And, this year we upped the antsy.

This is where we stopped for lunch.
I thought it was as high as we were going (hence the "victory" arms) but alas we had a good hour more
of climbing and about 1200 more feet of elevation to gain.

Being able to look down at the town was such a neat experience
and the mountains in the background were so stunning

 For our 8th anniversary we went on a hike-a hike up Manastash Ridge ("The hike starts steep and continues steep for 2 miles on exposed desert terrain all the way to the top of the ridge at memorial point, gaining about 2000 ft. ") with Grace.  I had never done this hike before so I had no idea what we were getting ourselves into. This was the hardest hike I have ever been on and it kicked my tush.   I felt exhilarated and proud-proud that we didn't give up and kept climbing even when my heart was pounding a million miles a minutes, couldn't breathe, was fearful of the coyote & rattle snakes and felt like I couldn't go on.  Grace was there to remind me that God was taking care of us and would always protect us.  

That is the point where we wanted to end up (there is a book there for people to sign when they make it up there)
...at this point we were about 3/4 the way there

 When we got to the top it was a pure VICTORY. 

The very tippy top.

 -Deep Breathe-

and

-Sigh-

Part of what we hiked up

Ellensburg to the right

Excited that she did it!  

Everyone up there and everyone we passed going there and back could not believe Grace hiked it.  Let's just say she's a little bit determined and by a little, I mean a whole stinking lot.   Loren did  carry her on his back up the two steepest parts as there was no way she would have been able to do it with out falling/sliding down but other than that she rocked it BIG TIME! 

"Mommy, I'm so glad we never gave up!"

-Grace

God, thank you for creating such impeccable places for us to explore.

Places that remind me just how big you are and how much you love us even though we are so small.

And, back to the car we go.....at the every end of the trail

And, the other thing Loren and I like to do to celebrate is go out to eat, just us, on our anniversary.   We don't go out to eat very often, just not economical for us so it's a very special treat when we get to.  We save up for weeks/months in advance and then eat at a place we've been drooling over for a very long time.  Loren chose the Valley Cafe. He use to work there when he was in college at Central.  It's where he learned to use an espresso machine, thus starting his career in coffee.  His boss way back then was our waiter for the evening and he helped make our anniversary a very memorable night.  The following day was going to be his 31st wedding anniversary and he shared with us wisdom on keeping a marriage growing and strong.    

The food was very scrumptious.  The atmosphere was perfect, not too fancy and not too casual-just in between, kind of like us.  It was a special night.  

A BIG thank you to our friends the Stahly's for watching Grace for us so we could go out and have a few hours alone.  

Happy Anniversary Loren.

Here's to a million more years of wedded bliss!

You are my best friend and I will always love you.

Oh The Places You'll Go; By Dr. Seuss

February 2006; 7.5 months pregnant; West Palm Beach, FL

I write this on the eve of my 8th anniversary.

Loren and I have been best friends for 10 years, 8 months and 5 days.

It has been an incredible journey.

And, who knew 5.5 years after meeting we would be having a baby together.

A baby girl that would change the course of our lives.

A baby that would grow up before our eyes in the blink of an eye and daily challenge us to be better people.  A baby who would give us a little glimpse of what God feels towards us, His children.  

I started this post back in April when Grace turned 5, but life got in the way and it just wasn't the right timing.  I have to be moved to write something.  I have to feel it and tonight as I listen to my girl in her room belting song after song while she tries to settle and go to sleep, it feels right.  

Boy were we so excited to have a baby.  I miss my baby bump.

Being pregnant was the most beautiful thing I've ever gone through.  

 Congratulations!

Today is your day.

You're off to Great Places!

You're off and away!

 You have brains in your head.

You have feet in your shoes

You can steer yourself

any direction you choose.

You're on your own.  And you know what you know.

And YOU are the guy who'll decide where to go.....

 ...OH! THE PLACES YOU'LL GO!

You'll be on your way up!

You'll be seeing great sights!

You'll join the high fliers

who soar to high heights.

  You won't lag behind, because you'll have the speed.

You'll pass the whole gang and you'll soon take the lead.

Wherever you fly, you'll be the best of the best.

Wherever you go, you will top all the rest.....

  ....Oh, the places you'll go! There is fun to be done!

There are points to be scored.  there are games to be won.

And the magical things you can do with that ball

will make you the winning-est winner of all.

Fame!  You'll be famous as famous can be,

with the whole wide world watching you win on TV....

5 weeks old at her baby dedication

 But on you will go

though the weather be foul

On you will go

though your enemies prowl

On you will go

though the Hakken-Kraks howl

Onward up many

a frightening creek,

though your arms may get sore

and your sneakers may leak....

 ....You'll get mixed up, of course,

as you already know.

You'll get mixed up

with many strange birds as you go.

So be sure when you step.

Step with care and great tact

and remember that Life's

a Great Balancing Act.

Just never forget to be dexterous and deft.

And never mix up your right foot with your left.

only 2 days old

And will you succeed?

Yes! You will, indeed!

(98 and 3/4 percent guaranteed.)

 

Kid, You'll Move Mountains....

So,be your name Buxbaum or Bixby or Bray or Mordecai Ali Van Allen O'Shea, you're off to Great Places!  Today is your day! Your mountain is waiting.

So....get on your way!!

Favorite Memories, By Gracie Turner age 4 (as spoken): 

When we were playing mud table,  I really liked it when my friend Grace Statema was over.  I love you Grace Statema, you're my best friend.  Me and Grace Statema had some makeup on.  We had so much fun sneaking up doing my mom's makeup.  We snuck and then we had to get in for a bath.  We liked that.  The End, Bye.

-Gracie Turner

Favorite Memories, By Jennifer Turner:

Oh my dear Gracie Statema!  There are so many happy memories, it's difficult to narrow it down to only a few.  We've so enjoyed having you be part of our lives and watching you grow.  I've particularly enjoyed watching the friendship between you and our Gracie blossom and grow into more of a sisterhood.  You two have been through so many growing hurdles and fun times together and have learned so much from those experiences, it's hard to imagine those early years without you!  I love the way you and Gracie Turner can effortlessly laugh just for the sake of laughing and enjoying being together.  I love the creative and simple games you two come up with that entertain you repeatedly.  Some of your favorites are: "stuck in the couch" (getting behind the cushions and pretending to need rescuing), "love tunnel" (crawling around and through small spaces), and "surfing with mama" (standing on our rocking recliners with your babies/lovies while rocking and chanting "surfing with mama" before flopping down and either screaming or laughing).  When you're not playing made up games together, you're being creative in other ways.  There are two recent memories that really stand out: "Makeup" and "Deck Painting". 

"Makeup" - When you and Gracie Turner were new 4 year olds (June 2010), you had the idea to have a wedding.  To a 4 year old, there's no better way to prepare for a wedding than to apply numerous layers of makeup.  Your mom and I (unsuspecting of what you two were up to) were talking and enjoying our quiet time visiting... until we realized it was a little too quiet.  When we went to find out what you gals were up to, we discovered you in my bathroom with ALL my makeup out and applied in heavy amounts.  It was all over both of you (your faces, arms, legs and feet - not to mention the floor).  It was too hilarious a scene to be angry, so we ran for the camera instead.  :)

"Deck Painting" - Just one week later, you two were at it again, but this time with paint.  It started out innocently enough - painting on the art easel on the back porch.  But one thing lead to another, and soon you were painting each other and then ultimately the deck.  You girls were having so much sweet fun, we just let you enjoy the moment, and again, got the camera.  This was another Statema/Turner play date that ended with a very much needed bath - only this time, it was in the kiddie pool outside on the deck :) 

Life is just not the same without the Turners right near by. 

We need to invent teleporting so we can spend warm summer days together.

I can't believe the last 3 years have gone by so fast and you're getting ready to turn 5!  We're looking forward to many more years of Statema/Turner adventures.  We love you dearly.  Happy 5th Birthday, kiddo!

-Jennifer Turner

I'm not fabulous with words... but Deanna wanted Grace to know she misses her very much! That she thinks Grace is so much fun and she wishes she could play dress-up and ride bikes with her. She wants to wish Grace a very happy 5th birthday and hopes she has a super awesome year! ♥ to you both : )  -Melissa Aivaliklis

D & G

-

I don't have many memories of Grace.  The one that always sticks out to me is when Jesi, Alicia and I got to meet Grace for the first time. We were getting ready to head out for Spring Break, but you had just had Grace.  The three of us came over to your house just as you guys got home from the hospital.  I don't even think Grace was 24 hours old yet.  We all held her and told her what great parents she had been given.  I felt so special because you had allowed us to come over right when you came home because you didn't want us to wait a week to meet her!

I love seeing all of your pictures of Grace growing up.  I hope one day I can be the great mother you are!

Rosie

A great big thanks to each of you who wrote something special for Gracie's 5th birthday.  

We will treasure your words forever.