February was full of love and Mardi Gras!

February is always full of love in the Turfitt house

because we celebrate Valentine's Day and

Mommy & Daddy's anniversary :)

And boy has that love grown with the addition of these two crazies.

Sometimes I can hardly believe that I've been charged with raising these boys.

Porter & Ty, you have truly taught me and your Dad so much already.

We love you more than we can explain.

And we know that you love each other.

You are truly so sweet to one another,

and for that we are so thankful.

February was also filled with soccer games,

where we cheered for our favorite cousin Daley.

Porter loves to go to the games...

mostly because he loves the tiger mascot.

We like to go to the park while Jazzy goes to piano and voice lessons.

One day someone brought their pet goat.

Both boys were pretty excited about that.

I dressed up like Effie Trinket from The Hunger Games

for mutual one night.

I'm currently serving as the Young Women's second counselor,

and it has definitely gotten me into some adventures.

The boys got matching Batman pajamas for Christmas from EE.

They love wearing them around the house together,

but it never fails every time we put Ty to bed in it he unzips it and takes it off.

It makes us laugh so much. He doesn't do this w/ any other pajamas.

We went to visit our friends the Hayes family one weekend

to see the big beautiful home they are building.

We got to enjoy a long ride on the four-wheeler amongst the cows.

Mardi Gras season was a lot of fun this year.

Aunt B.Z. & Zelleigh (Porter on right) Mardi Gras 2017

Amelia & Porter at HTCS parade Mardi Gras 2017

My work asked me to go to Mobile the week of Mardi Gras to work Navy Week.

We decided to take the whole family and it was great.

We've never done Mardi Gras in Mobile before so we didn't know what to expect,

but it was so much fun!

The parades are a lot shorter but the people were a lot nicer

and everything was clean and orderly and friendly.

We went to a lot of parades and did lots of other things too.

Porter learned to scream "throw me something!"

Ty learned how to cheer for beads.

And they both learned how to eat moon pies :)

We also toured USS Mitscher,

where Porter got to sit in the captain's chair.

We spent a full day at the science museum and still didn't see everything.

We played games with some Navy divers.

We listened and danced to the Navy band.

And to wrap up a great week,

Mommy wrecked a government vehicle.

Laissez les bon temps rouler!

Starting off the new year with a bang

New Year's Day fell on a Sunday this year.

And it also happened to be the first Sunday

when Porter became a Sunbeam and Ty went to nursery.

They were pretty excited about it!

And so were we :)

They both did great.

And we've only had some minor trepidation in the weeks following.

That week Baxter started feeling bad.

He thought it was just the usual sinus infection

and the doctor confirmed it.

But steroids didn't seem to make it better 

and by Thursday he had immense pain in his head.

So he went to the ER and they gave him pain meds and sent him home.

The pain meds didn't make it better and the pain got worse.

I took him back to the ER and they said it was a sinus infection 

and they couldn't do anything else for him 

but that he should see the ENT in the morning.

So we waited until our 10 a.m. appointment with Baxter in incredible pain.

By the time we got there he was writhing in tears and pounding his fists.

I felt so helpless.

The doc took one look at his CT scans and said he had an abscess on a sinus cavity.

And that he would need immediate surgery!

The doc explained he would try to go through the cavity with a tube to drain it,

but if he couldn't reach it he would have to drill a hole through his eye cavity.

It was very scary!

Baxter doesn't even like needles, much less emergency surgery.

I felt so bad for him but couldn't wait for him to feel relief.

The surgery went great and they didn't have to drill a hole.

The next few weeks looked a lot like this...

And this...

Thomas and Jazzy helped a lot while Baxter was recovering

and I was trying to play both roles and working full-time.

Like all things in life:

everything happens for a reason and

God is watching over all and helps you through it.

Baxter started his second semester back in school.

He's doing great making all As and not dare missing a class.

Before we know it he will be done with another degree.

And I can't wait!

We went to lot's of cousin birthday parties.

Zelleigh Bell turns 1!

Lolah Jean turns two!

 This little ham is really coming into his personality.

He is wild, busy, sweet as pie, demanding and cuddly.

He loves to cuddle! He doesn't sit still long but he loves snuggles.

He also loves his big brother.

Ty thinks Porter hung the moon!

He does everything Porter does...even if it's falling down.

He makes us laugh.

 But he also makes us want to pull our hair out sometimes.

He is attached to both of us. He needs to be on top of us all the time.

He literally pushes me away from the sink and the stove.

He screams the whole time we are trying to make dinner.

Sometimes I will take the kids on a long walk 

while Baxter makes dinner just so he can have some peace.

And he's not even content if we pick him up

because when we do he's screaming to get down.

This child is trying so hard to communicate.

I wish I could read his mind!

 Our house looks like this right now...

 We're still loving our "new house," as Porter likes to call it.

And making it more our own every day.

Life is good.

A New and Improved Christmas

Christmas was definitely different for the Turfitts this year.

We were surprised December 1st with a new baby girl and boy.

Well, not exactly "baby" but we did acquire two foster kids.

Thomas and Jazzy came to live with us temporarily 

while their mom and dad get back on their feet.

Thomas is 16 and Jazzy is 13 so we suddenly became parents to teens

and that has definitely thrown us through the loop.

And Porter and Ty suddenly became the little brothers.

Instead of toys and books and stuffed animals,

we had to ask Santa for cool clothes and makeup and technology.

I think come Christmas morning everyone was pretty darn pleased though.

I know I was very excited about my gift...

a new toilet for the master bath. 

I love it!

The boys each got a four-wheeler. And while they love them,

we have definitely had some accidents and I have had regrets.

We did the traditional rounds of spending Christmas Eve 

with Mommy's family and Christmas Day with Daddy's.
The day after Christmas we made a special trip to the zoo.
The weather this Christmas was pretty warm so we took advantage.

We celebrated New Years Eve at home w/ a few friends and fireworks.

I'm very glad that 2016 is in the history books 

and excited about what 2017 will bring.