Happy Birthday Sweetheart!

I can't believe that "Daddy's Baby Girl" turned 5 years old today. She had a really big day. As soon as she woke up this morning she asked where her balloons and presents were! She got to open up one present before she went to school. She took snacks to school today for her birthday (Tinkerbell cookies). After school, Mommy picked her up and she went to Chuck E. Cheese with two of her friends for lunch. Then when Brandon got home from school (and Dad got off of work early) she got to open up all of her other presents. We went out to eat at Lone Star (one of her favorite places to eat) and then went and got the balloon she had been talking about all day. We then had to get ready to go to Brandon's last basketball game of the year and had a pizza party for the team afterwards. The whole team sang "Happy Birthday" to her. We finally got home and quickly got ready for bed after her marathon birthday. As she was going to sleep, she asked if tomorrow was her birthday too!

She also got a post on the Kreidler's Blog that you can see here. Some more pictures of her birthday adventures can also be seen here.

Brittany's Bouncing Birthday Party

Brittany had her birthday party on Sunday at Midstate Gymnastics Center. They have a large room that has a big Bounce House, a giant slide and a long obstical course. Then after a while in that room they move to the gymnastics area and get to jump into a large pit filled with foam blocks. At the end of the party, we all went back to the party room where the kids had cupcakes and juice and Brittany opened up all of the wonderful presents that her friends brought for her. Everyone had a lot of fun and I'm sure are sleeping well tonight. You can see some additional photos from the party here.

2008 Illini Spring Football Game

The Turner Tribe headed over to Champaign on Saturday to watch the Illini Spring Football Game. Although the weather was not great, it didn't rain a drop on us. It was great to see the football team again as I have been anticipating their return since the Rose Bowl. It would have been better if there weren't so many players missing from the Spring game. There was other things going on to appease the rest of the tribe: merchandise sale outside the stadium, band playing in the section next to us, the cheerleaders in our corner of the stadium, and they were working on the renovations on the west balconey during the game. After the game, we ate at Papa Del's Pizza before we headed back to Springfield. Overall, the stadium construction is coming along nicely and the offense performed better than they did leading up to the Spring game. Looking forward to next year! You can see more pictures from the Spring game here.

Neighborhood Scavenger Hunt

On Sunday morning, we had a scavenger hunt in our neighborhood. One of our neighbors organized it and it was based on clues planted in our neighborhood. There were about 30 kids that participated and were organized into 5 teams. Each team had to follow their clues to find their next hidden egg with another clue. Once all the clues were found they had to get back to the start and the kids got prizes. Brandon picked out a water gun and Brittany picked out bubble gum. Everyone had a great time. After the hunt was over, a lot of the kids were playing with their new water guns. As you can see in the picture below, Brandon was firing his gun at some attackers while Brittany was keeping an eye out protecting the flank.

Brittany and her Friend Lauren!

Brittany invited her friend from school, Lauren, over to her house after school today to play. They had a lot of fun together making a pizza together and playing together. Unfortunately it was raining throughout the day and all the activities had to be inside. Her and Lauren are good friends and I'm sure there will be many more play dates together!

Whole Lot of Shakin' Going On!

Well, we were woke up to a lot of shaking early this morning. After a couple of seconds to figure out what was going on, we experienced something very unusual this morning...........a 5.2 magnitude earthquake located 135 miles SE of Springfield, in Southeastern Illinois. After we went and grabbed the kids and brought them back to our bed, I turned on the radio to confirm that it was an earthquake and heard where the epicenter was located. Angie and I called our parents to make sure everyone was OK down there. I was up for almost an hour listening to the radio reports and trying to comprehend what to do if another one occurred. It's not like you think about earthquakes everyday here in the Midwest. Later in the morning there was an aftershock registering 4.6 magnitude. I felt it at work and Angie immediately called me when her desk in the basement started shaking. While I was talking to her, Paul in St. Louis sent me a message asking if I felt it too, as his office building was shaking pretty well. There is some really neat information that you can find on earthquakes. Here is a poster of this morning's earthquake. There are also the seismograph readings, shakemaps (I think I just like their name), and all the details on the first earthquake and the second big aftershock this morning.

Turner for Two!!!!!

Brittany joined in the fun on the new goal and made her first baskets ever!!!! She was really excited and wanted everyone (including the neighbors) to watch. As you can tell from the picture she has nice form on her shot. I asked her if she wanted to play basketball next year and she said she didn't. I think she will enjoy playing on the new goal this summer too.