Good News!

Today Ruby rolled over for the first time! I set her down and she immediately did it. Did she do it again or did I get a video of it, no. But next time I will have the camera ready. We also found out toady that my car finally cleared customs!! it only took 3 weeks (insert sarcastic smile here). Now we need to get plates and pay all the fees so hopefully in the next couple of weeks we'll have it back!
I also managed to get an appointment for allergies on Friday. I am severely allergic to something in this country and I intend to do something about it. My sinuses and allergies have been bothering me for weeks now. They are so bad that I can't wear contacts most of the time and they have triggered migraines. And this country is SO sunny and bright that if I don't wear contacts, I can't wear sunglasses, and then I can't leave the house because I can't keep my eyes open to see. The girls are even sticklers for making sure they have their sunglasses before we leave the house.  So hopefully Friday I'll leave the hospital with allergy AND migraine medicine so I don't die, ha!
I'll post some photos tomorrow, I still need to upload some from my camera. Oh and Ruby is 5 months old. Seriously, where does the time go? It's crazy!
-K

Our Mother's Day

We had a really nice Mother's Day this year. They just keep getting better :) We woke up and went to a brunch that the Club on base was hosting. The girls LOVE going to their brunches; they always call them parties. They gave roses to each of the big girls to give to me and they were so proud of that. We enjoyed a yummy breakfast, a breakfast that the girls willingly eat and eat a lot of it, I might add. Then we headed to the BX and commissary to get some things for dinner.
One of the great things about our patio set is that the table has a fire pit in the center of it. We can roast marshmallows, enjoy a warm fire, or we can grill with it. So Steven grilled up some chicken for me and it was wonderful. He even grilled a couple of hot dogs for the girls just in case they didn't like it or it was too spicy. He does a really good job of concocting marinades for meats and vegetables. While he grilled the girls played around in the back yard and made sure Chance didn't touch any of their things. 
They even cleaned the living room and then straightened up the back yard because they still had pool things sitting out there. Once dinner was ready they were SO SO SO dirty. It was crazy to see how messy they can get out there. we all love eating outside so we are loving Turkey for their beautiful weather. But not loving Turkey for their allergens, more on that later.
After dinner we went for a walk. Life here is a lot slower than England. People here actually drive slow and keep an eye out for children playing outside. Because of this the girls have reluctantly gotten some more freedom. We have been letting them walk more on their own, whether we are out on a walk or we are trying to run errands on the other side of base. They have been looking at all the vegetation here and looking for animals. Lilly loves the animals and Sadie is loving all the beautiful flowers they have here. We happened to come across a big playground we hadn't known of before. Another great thing here is there are playgrounds everywhere and located all over the housing neighborhoods. All of them, including Steven, begged to go play and I had no problem with it.

We got to play on some swings and a merry go round. We all had a lot of fun, but next time we need to bring some bug spray. No one got bit but they were all over the place. We all had a lot of fun. Even Ruby got to go down a slide, with Momma of course. Sadie had no intentions of leaving, but it was getting late and we wanted to get home, shower, and have some dessert! But before we left I was able to get a picture with all the girls. They had a blast!

We hope you all enjoyed your day too :)

- Krissy

Captain Hook

Lilly Lou, where to start....let's start with her imagination. It has been off the charts lately. She can be so creative and funny that it is incredible just to sit and watch. Lately her favorite character to play is Captain Hook from Peter Pan. It all started with a stick she found in the backyard that we think our gardener left behind. She picked it up, waved it around a little, and then procalaimed in a deep male-like voice, "I am Captain Hook." Then she went to the swingset and started stearing her ship. That's what she is doing in theis picture. One day she was Batman and asked what Steven's name was. He said daddy so she kept asking what it was because she wasn't Lilly his daughter who must call him daddy(not Steven Yates which is her preferred method), but she was Batman and had no idea who he was. She is a little inpatient, but patiently waiting to visit Disney again. She loves to sing and dance and has told us she wants to be onstage and do a show. She doesn't like to miss anything! She has an incredible amount of energy lately that doesn't seem to be going any where.

She has been too outgoing lately but has been very friendly and I think she is craving the friends she left in England. She does talk about them still and some times plays with imaginary versions. She is getting bigger and bigger each and day. She thinks she should be an adult by now. She recent;y told be that when she gets big like me she is going to get her own house and it is going to be empty. Then she is going to get in her red car and go to a furniture store and get her own furniture, beds, and pack n play. She is 4 and already has her future planned out. She even says we are going to move to Hawaii next and then Japan. We'll see. She needs to just slow down already! She is crazy, but we love her.
-K

Sa-Mae

Sadie-Mae is the crazy girl ever. She is like an old lady trapped in a toddler's body, She folds her arms, tilts her head down, and looks up with her eyes, just like YiaYia, ha! She corrects people, mostly daddy, and is fiercely independent. She told Steven this morning at 5:30am, "Daddy your freaking dog is whining again. Your freaking dog is allllllllwaaaayss whining." Then she lays down to go back to sleep. Last night Steven was fixing something to get everyone ready for bed and he messed something up. He said "son of a nutcracker". Lilly's favorite Christmas movie is "Elf" and she can recite most lines from it already, but her favorite that she often uses is son of a nutcracker so we have adopted saying it. Sadie doesn't even look up and says, "No daddy, it's son of a b---h." we really have no idea where she picks these things up. But both older girls remember pretty much everything, it's ridiculous. 

She likes to think she is 3 going on 4 because Lilly reminded everyone for months that she was 3 going on 4. We have noticed that Sadie has been picking up a lot of Lilly's bad habits. When Sadie is by herself, or even just without Lilly, she is so sweet and well behaved. Same goes for Lilly. She recently got her first tricycle and scooter here at Incirlik. This is why she is wearing all the protective gear in the above picture. She truly doesn't want to get hurt. She often reminds other children to wear helmets because it all just freaks her out at the thought of getting hurt. She also loves to clean. She likes to ask for napkins during a meal because she is dirty but really wants to clean the table or her chair. Crazy girl. She is getting bigger and smarter every day and she is loving living here now. She is also super excited to go visit Memo, Papop,and Shelby, and YiaYia and Papou. She tells us everyday! Oh and one more thing, she calls herself Sa-Mae. If you call her crazy she says 'No I Sa-Mae." She's just too cute!

-Krissy

Ruby Lainey

Ruby is now almost 5 months old! She is a very happy baby despite all of her skin issues and ailments. She no longer has cradle cap, but now she has some eczema on her head. The poor thing has been scratching her head so much! We had the hardest time finding a little hat that would fit her head at the BX. All of the hats that they had were meant for newborns, and let's just face the fact that all the girls inherited Steven's huge head! I finally found one that came with a sleeper, onesie, bib, and blanket. Steven also made her wear mittens so that she could scratch any more. Ruby was actually scratching herself bloody. She was not to happy with daddy for those. She holds on to her blanky at night by putting her fingers through the holes. Once she was able to hold her blanky she happily went to sleep. She still has the rash on her arms and you can see what it looks like in the picture to the right. She doesn't scratch at it so I don't think it really bothers her way too much. She is a trooper though :) She talks up a storm and loves the attention. If you look at her and talk to her, she will just smile and smile. She is starting to move up in sizes; she is wearing size 2 diapers now and moving up to 3-6 month clothes. She is starting to use her legs more. She loves to kick and she'll stand when we hold her steady. We are all just so in love with her.
We were at the Turkish Bazaar on base last week, it's in a building like the BX but it has a habdful of Turkish vendors. Their products, so we've been told, are overpriced compared to the prices of base. We have bought a few things there, including the girls' floor pillows. They are all so nice in there and just gush over the girls. One of the girls gave Ruby an evil eye bracelet. The Turkish Evil Eye is meant to protect people and places from evil, like God is watching you and protecting you. She loves the bracelet (it's in the photo above). She'll put her hand up when she sees it. She just too cute!
I will write a post about each of the big girls too! So look out!
- Kristen

Living Room - for now.

View from the kitchen into the living room. And the blinds behind the rocker is another door to the patio with windows next to it.

Kiddos play area behind the couch.

 Reading area or baby rocking area or Steven's gaming chair! Some of my books, but we need a much bigger and prettier book shelf. And we want a different chair for over here, it;s just a matter of finding it, then we want to put the rocker in Ruby's room.

Entertainment center. We are going to put one of the bridges back up over the TV, Steven just needs the time to do it. The top bridge won't fit because of the light fixture on the wall. Oh and we need to find some place for Stevo's hats. They are just piled on top of one of the bridges, lovely huh?

We bought these floor pillows/cushions from some Turkish vendors on base. The girls are always complaining that the floor makes them cold, which it does, so Daddy came to the rescue with these. They love them and they seem really comfy. Sadie's is blue and Lilly's is the white one in the bottom right corner of the first photo.

This is the living room for now, we have a lot of ideas but can't do anything yet. They require large pieces that we need the car to transport home. My car is in country but they need the engine ID number for the paper work and they can't find it. YAY! Another problem! If they don't find it, they need to file paper work that will take up to 15 days to get back. Then we need license plates which can take 5-15 days to get. Hopefully I will have my car before our tour here is over!

I will try to post again tomorrow with updates on the girls and some photos of them!

Right now I am going to try and sleep, it's after midnight here!

Goodnight y'all!

-Krissy

Dining Room, Stairway, Girls' Bathroom - lots o' photos!

Our dining room. It's pretty much done, but I think we need to change the pictures frames. The colors just are doing it for me. They are so much darker than the furniture.

When Ruby isn't with us at the table(when she is sleeping), we move the high chair over to the corner.

This is what we did with the stairway. The girls have so many beautiful pieces of artwork and random photos that don't have frames, so we hung them up here on a clothes line. They love seeing their work and we love having them displayed for everyone to see. We are so proud of them.

 Here's a close up of some of the things hanging. Lilly's Busy Bees class photo is up there too! It is an awkward size so finding a frame hasn't been the easiest.

Sorry it's kinda blurry, but this is the girls' bathroom.

Another view. Yes those are Camp Rock and High School Musical towels in the background. Lilly is 4 going on 13. She is in love with Troy Bolton and the Jonas Brothers. Steven is thrilled. Not the sarcasm, ha!

I'll post the living room photos in a separate post. This one is photo heavy already. Our bedroom, the girls bedroom, and the kitchen photos are waiting on clean laundry and dishes! It's not that bad, but I'd rather not show you our dirty laundry and dishes. Ruby's room is almost done. We still need a few things for it. We will be done soon!

-Kristen