New Christmas Song

I couldn't resist posting this. Have a Merry Christmas everyone!

Merry Christmas!

Jingle Bells No. 2 from Brian Turner on Vimeo.

Bulls vs. Jazz

October 17th - Trying to get caught up on some old items that I haven't had time to post. On Friday, October 17th I went over to Champaign and watched the Chicago Bulls vs. Utah Jazz Exhibition Game at the Assembly Hall. It was really great getting to see two NBA teams in action, even if it was only an exhibition game. The place was nearly packed since it was Illini Legend Deron Williams' return to Champaign playing for the Utah Jazz and their legendary coach and Southern Illinois product, Jerry Sloan. Deron had a good game on his return scoring 14 points, 9 assists, and no turnovers in his 25 minutes. Unfortunately on the very next night he hurt his ankle that slowed the start of his season. Deron went against Derrick Rose for the Bulls which was the Number 1 pick overall in last year's draft. Also playing for the Bulls for the exhibition game was former Illini Roger Powell, which was welcomed back just as much as Deron. After chants from the crowd for nearly half the game, Roger came in and played 7 minutes and scored 4 points. Unfortunately, Roger was released by the Bulls in their final cut before the regular season started.

Fall Fest Parties

October 17th - Brandon and Brittany had their Fall Fest parties on the same day. They overlapped just a little bit, but we were able to attend both of them. Angie and I started out at Brittany's party operating the Pumpkin Bean Bag Toss and the Bozo Game. Angie left early from hers to set up for Brandon's party while I stayed through Brittany's and packed up our stuff. After that, I went for the last half of Brandon's party and operated the bingo game. This was the first party that I got to attend of Brandon's. Last year, their parties were always on the same day and I would take Brittany home after her party since she only went for part of the day. Of course the Fall Fest party is the politically correct version of the Halloween party we used to enjoy as kids!

Congrats Illini!

Congratulations to the Illini on winning the South Padre Island Invitational Tournament and starting the year at 6-0. This team has played with a lot of heart and is beginning to erase some of the pain from last year. They have been in a lot of close games and have found a way to win. I'm not saying that they are a great team, but they are a team you can be proud to support. Go Illini!

Maisenbacher House

November 22nd - Excuse me, there is a house blocking the road! On Saturday after Brandon's basketball game, we drove downtown so I could show the kids the house in the middle of the road. They relocated this old house in order to save it from being demolished due to the Springfield Clinic expansion. It started off as an interesting story with the house being moved through town. Now the story has changed into a political hot potato. The city helped pay for part of the move, and the mayor was asking for more funds to complete the move to the new location. An old building was demolished to create the new home for it and there is not a foundation built yet for the house. It has to be off the wheels it is on now within 30 days, but now the funding for the foundation is in jeopardy. There have been many stories in the SJ-R on the house (October 7th, October 9th, November 11th, November 19th, November 21st, November 22nd). I've added two videos from the newspaper on the preparation of the move and the actual move below my pictures.

Video of the preparation of the move.

Video of the move to the new location.

Native American Day

Brittany had her Native American day at her school. Angie went to help out while they did lots of crafts and had a fun day at school. Since there hasn't been any bad repercussions from Brandon's Native American Day from last year (NCAA ban, protesters camping out, etc.), I let Brittany participate this year.

Brittany sporting a big smile for the camera.

Brittany making her traditional Indian pasta necklace. (I really learn a lot about Indians that I did not know!)

I didn't realize that Native Americans used to play bingo. I guess that is how they started getting into the casino industry.

Thanksgiving Play

November 25th - Brandon had his Thanksgiving Play at school today. He was Massasoit, Chief of the Wampanoag in the play of The First Thanksgiving. Everyone did a really good job in the play. I have the video of the play below divided into three clips. Happy Thanksgiving to Everyone!

Opening of Play

Thanksgiving Play - Clip 1 from Brian Turner on Vimeo.

Brandon's part and bulk of Play

Thanksgiving Play - Clip 2 from Brian Turner on Vimeo.

Final Credits of the Play

Thanksgiving Play - Clip 3 from Brian Turner on Vimeo.

Mr. Yellow Belt

November 19th - Brandon had testing this past week in his karate class and has now earned his yellow belt. He has practiced really hard. He was really excited that he got his belt and is looking forward to many more to come. Congratulations Brandon!

Circus Time

November 15th - While I was at the Illinois - OSU game and the Chief performance, Angie and the kids went to the circus with the McKeowns. Angie said that it was not as good as it had been from past years, but it was still a lot of fun for the kids. Brandon and Maddie rode ponies that you can see on Janet's blog, while Brittany and Melanie rode an elephant:

Waiting to climb on the elephant.

Here we go!

What's a circus without a bear riding a bicycle?!?!

As an added bonus, here are photos from the 2006 Shriners Circus:

Turner Halloween Party

October 25th - Since we were going to be out of town for Halloween and the kids were going to miss the traditional trick or treating in the neighborhood, Angie decided to have a Halloween party at the house for the kids and some of their friends. Originally we were going to have outside acitivites, but that weekend it turned really cold and we knew we needed to bring it indoors. Angie planned out various activity stations for the kids that they won prizes at each one. We had the infamous pumpkin bean bag toss game, along with the musical pumpkin, halloween bingo, craft table and many more. The kids had a lot of fun on the evening and really wore me out. I had to keep a close eye on the kid that dressed as a Cub player as I was concerned about him choking!!!!!!!

Cub Scout Firehouse Visit

October 25th - Brandon's cub scout troop visited the fire station and learned some tips about fire safety. The kids really enjoyed getting to see the firetrucks up close, seeing the firemen's gear, and where they spend their time at the fire house. As you can tell, they had a fun morning.

New Feature

I have made a Thanksgiving Resolution (should be as good as a New Year's Resolution) to try and keep my blog a little more updated. I am behind on posting and will try to catch up over the next few weeks. I just finished creating a couple of photo books on Snapfish and it got me to looking at some of our old pictures. I thought I would start posting a random picture each week (located to the right) as a way of sharing some of the older pictures with everyone. I am just randomly picking a folder and choosing a picture from it. As it changes each week, you can click the photo and see a photo album of all the previous weeks photos. Wish me luck on my Turkey Resolution!

Habitat Day, What Did You Say?

October 19th - Brandon had Habitat Day at school. When Grandma and Grandpa were up for the weekend, he wanted to take them to the habitat area next to his school to show them all the stuff he learned. He made up a motto for the day, "Habitat Day, What Did You Say?" It was a nice day and we had a good, long walk around the area. You can see some of the fun in the slideshow below:

Farmingdale Basketball

Brandon finished up his short basketball league this weekend. He has really improved since last year and enjoyed it a lot more. He was willing to take his shot if he got it, but he also always looked to pass the ball to someone else if they were more open. At his last game, I took a couple of short video clips of him in action.

Rebound and Put Back

Brandon Basketball 2008 - 1 from Brian Turner on Vimeo.

I'm Open / Followed By His Skip

Brandon Basketball 2008 - 2 from Brian Turner on Vimeo.

Brandon On The Break

Brandon Basketball 2008 - 3 from Brian Turner on Vimeo.

The Chief Returns!!!!!!

For the first time since February 2007, Chief Illiniwek made another appearance in Champaign. He even showed up in the horseshoe during halftime. During the band's traditional 3-in-1 performance, I heard cheering to my right and saw the Chief walking from one side to the other of the horseshoe stands. He stood at the other side with his arms raised until the end of would have been his normal performance and then disappeared back under the stands. After the football game on this very cold and windy Saturday, they had the Chief's "Next Dance" at the Assembly Hall. The student organization, Students for Chief Illiniwek, rented out the Assembly Hall and sold tickets to a tribute to the Chief. They had ten former Chiefs present, a video tribute of the Chief and its honored history, and a few people that spoke. After that, Chief Illiniwek performed his traditional dance while an alumni band played the 3-in-1. It was truly a great event. I videotaped the performance on my camera:

Chief Illiniwek's Next Dance from Brian Turner on Vimeo.

UPDATE: There is also a good version of the dance and video presentation on YouTube here.

Here's a panoramic picture that I took of Assembly Hall with everyone leaving after Chief's performance.

Happy Veterans Day!

Brittany and Brandon pose with his 2nd Place poster he did for veterans!

You've Been Booed!!!!

Hope everyone had a great Halloween!!!!!

Winner, Winner, Chicken Dinner

Although I have not been entering the contests like I used to, I happened to fill out one a while back that paid off. I was notified a couple of weeks ago of the win and received the prize within a week. I won a Logitech Squeezebox Boom from MP3Tunes.com. You hook it up to your home network and you can access music services and thousands of streaming internet radio stations. It works great. I got it a week or so ago and it is really cool. They announced me as a winner on their blog, and it is suppose to be on their website soon. I hadn't heard of one before I won it, so I included a demonstration video on it below.

Tee Ball 2008

The Mudcats finished up their season this week with three games to close out the year. We had a few rainouts throughout the season so we had to make them up at the end. The season was definately a challenge this year. In retrospect, we should have done the coach pitch this year, but Brandon still had fun playing on the same team as his friends Mason and Avery. Since I helped coach his team this year, the number of pictures taken at the games decreased dramatically! You can enjoy a few of the pictures from the season below.

Happy Birthday Paul!

You might not recognize the Birthday Boy above. He's transformed himself after escaping Illinois to St. Louis. In case you need help remembering the "Old Paul" that we all know and love, you can be reminded by scrolling over the picture above! Happy Birthday Paul......we miss you!

Cub Scout Outing

September 20th - Brandon had his first Cub Scout Outing at New Salem Park. He and his troop joined the other troops from Pleasant Plains at New Salem Park to tour the grounds and learn new things towards their Cub Scout badges. The event lasted all afternoon and into the night. Some of the Cub and Boy Scouts camped out, but we went home around 9:00 after the fire bowl and Brandon receiving his Bobcat badge and Ultimate belt loop. He's excited about earning a lot more badges and loops. The slideshow below shows pictures from the event.

Eye Exams!

September 13th - Brandon and Brittany went to get eye exams for school. Since it is a new law that requires the eye exams, the clinic had a special day on Saturday to handle all the young kids. They got their faces painted before the exam and Brittany took along the class teddy bear as it was her weekend to bring it home and write about what they did together. Everyone did "beary" well and passed with flying colors.

Fifth Yellow Stripe

September 3rd - Brandon earned his fifth yellow stripe. We knew he was getting close to it. He's excited about working on to get his yellow belt next! Hopefully his tee ball games won't interfere too much with his classes.

Another Tooth Out

August 27th - After Brandon's first tee ball game he was having his snack and his loose tooth became even more loose. It was sticking out forward and with a little tug from Dad, it came out! As far as Brandon knew the tooth and Dad's hand was red due to the Fruit Rollup that he was eating.

New Music Contest!

Thanks to the One2One Network again, we get to offer another music trivia contest for a great prize. This time we are offering a prize package of the new album, Devils & Angels, from the great band Melee and an Album Tote! In order to be entered into the contest, you must email me the answers to the following questions listed below:


* What is the song, Rhythm of Rain, written about?


* Where did the band originate?


* What was the name of their first album?


Please email me your answers to be entered in the contest.

Contest ends on October 15th, so don't delay. The winner will be randomly selected from all correct entries. There was a lot of interest in the Alanis Morissette contest and the Idina Menzel contest, and I am sure this one will generate a lot also.

Contest brought to you by: