Turner's 2nd Birthday!

Last Saturday, our precious Turner turned two! It's hard to believe she's only been in our lives two years, but boy what joy those two years have contained! First, let me start by saying that Turner is not perfect. (Ok...Mark thinks she is, but I try to remind him that in 10 more years he'll feel very differently!) But every single day of our lives, Mark and I look at each other in that "communicating through a look without need for words" kind of way, make eye contact, and I know we are both wondering how in the world we actually had a hand in creating her. She's sweet and kind, hilarious, extraordinarily verbal, inquisitive, compassionate, and for the most part shockingly obedient. She is a constant source of humility, knowing that God truly answered my EVERY prayer for her life while she was in the womb. We are so very blessed and I know I speak for both of us when I say we love her more than we knew we could. Happy Birthday sweet Turner!

Here are some of the 583 pictures from her Elmo birthday party last Saturday. Special thanks to my friend Greg Curry for taking my camera away from me as the party got rolling. He snapped SO many pictures of things I didn't even know happened and captured my sweet girl having a ball! Thank you Greg!!

Birthday celebration actually started Friday night when both sets of grandparents arrived. Turner got to open a few presents that evening before bed! Lately she's been obsessed with saying, "Mommy, I got a present for you!" which is usually a cup of water with a bath cloth draped over it or a piece of soap wrapped in a bath cloth. But, she's really into presents which made this birthday super fun! Christmas will be really exciting!

Turner checking out her new knitted sweater from Aunt Arlene! Check out those neat owls! On the way to Shakey's pizza for the party, we stopped the grandparents by Academy Sports to show them some of the playsets that Santa is looking at bringing Turner for Christmas! See if you think she'd enjoy one?

Then we arrived at Shakey's and got our first look at Turner's birthday cake, made by my friend Mandi Buckalew. She works at my school and does cakes as a small side business. The cake was SO cute and very yummy! I have her contact information if you are interested in her services!

Family shot as we cut the birthday cake

Once Turner had her fill of pizza and cake, she headed off to the game room! (Actually, she continuously jetted back and forth between the game room and the food...)

I just love this picture of Turner's daycare friends playing ski-ball. Look at those faces! Turner is so very blessed to have such wonderful children to be her company during the day at Mrs. Rhonda's house. They truly treat one another like family and her little face just lit up when they came in the door to her party! We are so blessed.
Couldn't quite get Turner or Kirkley to smile...but check out how much they've changed since Turner's party last year! :) This pic is from this year...
...this pic is from last year! WOW!
These are Turner's future bodyguards - the Rooker twins - and Turner had a blast playing Ski-ball with them!

That is, until one of them got the bright idea to get IN the ski ball machine...

....which Turner thought she should try immediately.
Now, it's important to note that until last Saturday, we had never put any money into the game machines at Shakey's That didn't seem to matter to Turner - she just liked the lights, etc. Well, let's just say that on Saturday with grandparents around, she walked up to Grandpa and said, "Grandpa I need some money." And he promptly handed her some. And then Turner learned that if you win you get TICKETS. Let me tell you how cool she thought that was!
Peeking through the holes in the chair, taking a break from present opening.

Riding on her new Tinkerbell 4-wheeler. Yes, she rode this all over Shakey's. Judging from the looks on the faces of the woman and girl in the background, I think we might have been "those people". You know, the ones who kind of take over the restaurant? I would turn around and hear her coming, but she's so short I couldn't see her behind the chairs and tables. I could only see her when she rounded the corner like this!

And I have to share this picture, because it is one of the truest pictures of who my mom is. Always laughing, never worrying about what anyone thinks of her, always willing to do whatever is necessary to make others happy (i.e. forgetting she has on an Elmo hat). I so wish I was more like her!!
We had a WONDERFUL time at Shakey's for Turner's 2nd birthday!