Happy Thanksgiving!

The cousins
Aprons for the Turner women!



Surprise...look who's going to be a big brother! Baby Eli and Jack...Congratulations Jess!
There is much to be thankful for every year but I feel particularly blessed this year.
Last year I had a little piece of my heart living halfway across the planet and now she was making pumpkin cookies w/ me last night.
Oh how I love THanksgiving! I believe it always must stem from whatever childhood memories we have of that particular holiday. I made Mike watch the old Miracle on 34th Street last night w/ me to start of the Holiday right :)
I've havent done "Black Friday" shopping since I was 16...tomorrow I embark w/ my mom on a very early morning...these deals better be cut out to all that they are supposed to be!

All dressed up and no where to go

Here's a sneak peak of this years Christmas cards! Notice the height difference of Jacob and Sova...they are only 13 months apart but this weekend I had to return a size 8 to the store because they were to short for my 5 year old!
Sova-Grace was in love w/ her 'ballerina' dress...she twirled around and said, "no take it off mommy...later...not now...Sova sleep in dress...no take it off" about 22 times. The smile says it all!
She was really disappointed that I would not put on a pretty dress too.
I think Caleb looks like a little dough boy :)

FIsh lover monkey hater

I've never met a child who when reading a bedtime story w/ pictures of farm animals in it - the child sees a chicken and says, "eat it" and then goes to the Beta fish bowel and says, "Sova eat the fish?" I told her no and she said, "awww yes, Sova eat the fish."
Walking through pet stores is fun too...she saw a large fish tank and said, "ohhhh...Sova eat it." I
I guess she really enjoys eating her fish and chicken! We found out that she does Not like monkeys and the Rainforest Cafe. She sat on my lap the whole time and when dinner came she said, "mommy...eat and GET OUT!"

Let's see...lately I've been regretting my last post about loving November...I forgot it gets dark and cold early. Ya see after dinner the kids used to go outside to play w/ Mike- while I get to clean up in peace. Now it's dark and freezing and there is no peace :)
I really dont know what to do... we've been playing hide and seek for weeks now w/ the same 4 good hiding spots- Mike stands in the middle of the room w/ a sheet over his head and they still love it!
Mike has resorted to laying on the floor and letting the kids jump all over him. Then it leads to taking out ALL of the couch cushions and clobbering Mike. THis is one very crazy time-the kids are all beat red and and take turns between laughing and crying. Tis the season!

Also I just realized that After 2 1/2 months of Sova being in America...her language is 95% English! Today I noticed that she rarely if ever speaks Oriyan...It truly blows my mind how these little children can do this- but they do. She obviously has a very thick (and quite adorable) accent which will remain for quite some time I think...so many people dont understand what she is saying- but she is saying the english word- just a w/ an accent and maybe a little bit wrong (ilifent = elepahnt) So much worrying for nothing!

Hair extraganza- done doting big brother Jacob

Little buddies- I dubbed as , 'the twins' (where you find one- you'll find the other ;) Caleb recently said, "mommy, I love Sova- Grace."

Cousin sleepover
Yay…November! This is my favorite month…I just love it- thanksgiving is my faverite holiday, pumkin is my favorite taste, and I love the crunchy leaves and the smell of chimney fires- I even love the dead trees…I especially love that all the scarey Haloween decorations that I have been trying to have my kids avoid, will be taken down!

If Sova could beg to differ I think she would…a very frequent word she uses is ‘cold!’ as her tiny body shakes. She is our weather girl- every morning she opens the door and steps out- then she runs back in and slams the door and says, ‘COLD!’ and laughs…I wonder what she thinks about this coldness- she doesn’t like to take off her shoes because she thinks our floor is cold. When I dress her in the morning and put on her socks she says, “wait’ then she runs to the kitchen tile- slowly puts her tip toes on the tile to test it- then she screams, cold! And runs back to me to put on her socks. The snow will be interesting!

Her language has taken off-
Whenever she leaves my side- whether going outside or even the other room, she says, “I’ll be back.” She is reassuring me- I guess- it’s really funny.
Most frequently used words: in a couple minutes, in a little while, later, (is there a theme here? Sadly does this mean that she hears these words the most?) she sings ‘clean up clean up everybody clean up’ and “brush brush brush your teeth’, we only celebrated one birthday so far and she knows the song, at week 4 she was humming the Indianna Jones theme song- how could she not sometimes I hear it it my sleep (the boys love lego.com indiana jones game)
When her balloon broke I told her it popped- so now anything that is broken is ‘popped’-
She almost only plays with her doll which has recently gotten the name “Lulu”
She will fall asleep napping by herself but at bed she wont sleep unless one of us lays w/ her. She still screams bloody murder when mike puts her to bed but instead of an hour of screaming it’s 5 minutes!
She saw me cutting Calebs hair and she said, “ no cut Sova’s hair!” No chances of that anyway!

She talks about her friend Shasmita almost everyday but not in a sad way. Occasionly she will talk about the other children in the orpahnage but not as frequently…she told me that “Shasmita- America, Sipra - India” (her other friend in the orphanage) …she’s smart…much smarter than I ever expected- In fact I really think she is ‘bright.’
She talks almost as much as Jacob…possibly equal! Never did I think that was possoble…God must think that Im one patient mama! Even though she’s gabby w/ us she is shy around new people and situations. If someone says hi to her, she will burrow her face in my neck and hide.
She LOVES to clean…she picks up great- sometimes I have had to stop her because she was doing the boys job. Many times when I am about to do the dishes she runs to the sink and says, ‘no mommy clan up…sova clean up!’ She not only clears the table but she happily Hand Picks every crumb on the table and then scrubs it down-better than I would have. She has a great memory- if I said, ‘wheres calebs socks?’ she ran out to the swingset where he left them hours ago-
She likes to brush calebs teeth for him and she always wants to sleep in his bed…once in a while she does- it’s so cute- we have found all 3 if them in the bed sleeping a couple times.
I thinks she is hinting that she wants ME to dress up more…she has brought my heels to me and has brought my India bangles to me…when I put her in a dress (ok…that’s like everyday) and I say ‘pretty dress’ she says, ‘mommy too?’ She tells me how she wants my hair done and lets me know if my pony tail is getting too messy.
She still is obssessed w/ soap- any kind- bars or liquid she loves to wash- the boys will beg that I don’t wash their hair and she beggs that I will wash her hair.

Last night we had friends over and we were showing them Inida pics w/ Sova on my lap- when we got to her orpahnage- she said, ‘Sova's home’ I said- ‘yes, in Inidia that was Sova’s home- now this is Sova’s- in America w/ mommy, daddy, Jacob and Caleb... family' and hugged her- I then waived and said 'bye bye' to the orphanage picture and said ‘Sova’s home now’ and pointed to the room…she smiled and shouted, “Thank you mommy! and gave me a huge squeeze”
Your welcome little girl! :)

She is pretty amazing.