Whew!

Wow. The last three weeks have been a major blur...let me see if I can recap the highlights here.

After Turner's birthday weekend, we enjoyed time with Mark's family for a few days, then after they left for North Carolina my family arrived to spend Thanksgiving with us. Mark and I were so proud of our turkey baking efforts and it was fun to entertain in a little more special fashion than normal (i.e. not using paper plates like we do on ballgame weekends). Rebekah and Matt arrived on Thanksgiving day and stayed until Saturday (later than they planned due to the Iron Bowl) which was fun - Turner loves spending time with BB and Matt!

The table setting Thanksgiving day

Our turkey! We were so proud!

Mark's yummy apple cake in a skillet he found on Pioneer Woman's website!

Iron Bowl day was a total emotional roller coaster for me and Mark. First, the Iron Bowl...how much fun was that?! Seriously. The atmosphere in the stadium was awesome and the look on the faces of the Alabama fans when we went up 14-0 was truly hysterical. You have to love the fact that after the game (although we didn't come away with the victory) the majority of what I heard was "It's great...to be... an Auburn Tiger" and not any of those other profane cheers from Bama fans. Auburn people were proud of what happened that day and the Alabama fans were close to demoralized. Completely priceless. Saban can say what he wants about this not being a big game and acting like they weren't focused on winning...bull. You were scared Saban. You were scared. If you haven't seen this shirt as a reminder of exactly how classy Bama fans really are, check it out. I have thanked my parents profusely in the last couple of weeks for making sure I grew up an Auburn fan.

Speaking of class (or rather a lack thereof), that brings me to the other game Mark and I attended on Iron Bowl day which was the Auburn High School vs. Prattville game. Mark and I sprinted out of Jordan Hare and came home to change clothes and grab a quick bite of Thanksgiving leftovers before hurriedly making our way across town for another ballgame. Gates opened at 6pm and when we arrived at 6:45 there were no seats left...I think the final count had about 12,000 people at this state semi-final high school game. You think this town wasn't just a tad crazy with the 85,000 plus here for the Iron Bowl and 12,000 heading to the high school game? This game was personal (having taught many of the key players on our AHS team) - and when you are down by 4 with 1:20 left on the clock, have driven down the field to the 18 yard line, and your pass gets intercepted in the end zone...it pretty much just takes your breath away. It rocked our world for about 24 hours - every time we'd remember it. And back to the issue of class - in case you ever come in contact with Prattville High School, they don't have any. Ripping helmets off players and using said helmet to taunt fans (no penalty though refs were 10 feet away), sending players into the opposing teams huddle, and a band that played loudly through every offensive possession of the opposing team - I have NEVER witnessed such appalling behavior. Mark and I cheered loudly for the Hoover Bucs as they defeated Prattville this past Friday night for the 6A state championship! :)

After Thanksgiving and Iron Bowl day...the process of decorating for Christmas began. Having gotten married at Christmastime (and still being able to use decorations from our wedding), and having a natural love of Christmas decorations....this is a fun, but monumental task at our house. Hence the two piles of boxes below...

Oh how excited I get when they bring in my tree each year! This tree was handpicked by my daddy and delivered to me when they came for Thanksgiving. Yes, I am spoiled. It absolutely couldn't fit more perfectly into the space we have for it - we have 12 foot ceilings and it almost reaches the top! I will try to take a picture of it decorated and put on here later...

This year decorating was especially challenging since it's the first Christmas in our new house and the first time I have decorated in two years (since the Christmas Turner was born)! Figuring out where things needed to go, how electrical things were going to work, etc. literally took me a solid week working every night after school and all weekend last weekend - having to be completed by this past Monday due to the Camp War Eagle Christmas party at our house. I absolutely love the way it turned out and the party was a huge success!

Lots and lots of people

This is what happens when 70 college kids descend upon your house and hit the food table...

Please note that all of these platters and these two crock pots were full of food before the party started...Mark was lucky enough to pick this doll in the dirty santa game...it's taller than Turner! She has enjoyed playing with it!

Now, we did have a little drama during the party as Turner was jumping in our chair and accidentally hurt her arm...she pretty much couldn't pick it up without wincing in pain and anytime she moved it she just doubled over crying. Luckily we have a friend who is a nurse and he drove across town (realizing we had 70 people at our party) and helped diagnose the issue. He moved it all around and twisted and turned it (all the while she's crying in pain) and suddenly he felt it pop. Within 4 seconds she was better, and within a minute she was playing normally again. Nursemaid's elbow was the "diagnosis" for Turner...borderline panic was the diagnosis for Turner's mommy. No stress or anything...70 people at your house, needing my attention to help locate extra napkins, extra punch, etc. and I am in the back with my child who is crying uncontrollably in pain. Fun stuff.

In the midst of decorating last week, we also took Turner for her 2 year check up on Tuesday. So many funny things happened at this visit we have been dying to get it all on the blog! First, I had to get her down to her diaper for weighing, etc. Here's the conversation she had with the nurse:

Nurse: "Turner, we've got to get those clothes off so we can weigh you."
Turner: "NO, I'll be necked!"

We get back to the room and Turner begins to insist that she has to "go potty". By this time, Mark is there too, so we all three end up in the doc office bathroom. This is the conversation that followed:
Turner: "Ooooooh! That's COLD!" (as we sit her on the potty)
Me: "Yes, that is cold. Just go tee tee."
Turner: "I poopy! (looking down through her legs) "There it is - I see it!"
"Wooo, it's a big one! It go down the big hole!"

By this point, Mark and I are hysterical. We then go back to the room and Turner proceeds to put on a mini show for the doctor. She greeted the doctor with "Hey Dr. Anz" as she entered the room, then burst into a lovely rendition of the "itsy bitsy spider" complete with a bow at the end. She was a trooper getting three shots!

We left the doc office and headed to have our picture taken with Santa over on campus. This was a fundraiser for a fraternity on campus and would be Turner's first picture with Santa that she can remember (we are terrible parents and didn't take her last year). I was going to use this as an indicator for whether we should brave the long line at the mall....the answer to that is NO. She was ok as long as he was about 10 feet away...but when it came time to sit in his lap she wanted NO part of that. Needless to say, the pictures are pretty funny with Mark and me (yes, we had to get in the picture to make her stay anywhere near Santa) smiling and Turner looking pretty miserable. When we got home, Santa had given Turner a special elf named Gretchen and although we didn't know how she would respond, she really loves this fun new tradition. The next morning I heard her say as we walked out of her room, "Bye bye Gretchen. I love you."

Now a couple of "Turnerisms"...
Turner is in full swing with Christmas songs and I hope to get some on here soon...we are working on Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer but last night she got a little confused. She brought me her Clifford the Big Red Dog book, and asked me to read "Clifford the Red Nosed Reindeer" to her.

Granny and Grandpa gave Turner a cool computer for her birthday. It focuses primarily on letters, phonics, and numbers and Turner really enjoys playing with it. Last week, Mark heard her in the living room sitting in the chair by herself playing with the computer. Then he noticed her putting her face down on the computer screen. He watched for a few seconds and then it all made sense...the computer was saying "put your mouse on the game you want to play". Yep. She thought it said "put your mouth on the game you want to play". I mean, really, she just wanted to play the stinking game!!

And finally, some random pictures...

Last Thursday and Friday I was in Montgomery at a conference...so Mark took Turner to the Auburn Christmas parade on Thursday night without me. They had a wonderful time and when you ask Turner what Santa did she says, "threw me candy!" and when you ask her what Aubie did she says, "blew me big kisses!"

We attempted to go the Auburn basketball game last Friday night, but we got our times mixed up and were too early and didn't want to wait for the game to start. I did snap a pic of my future Auburn cheerleader in her best cheerleader picture pose. Her mouth is open because she's saying, "cheeseballs!" at the top her lungs. :)

As you can see, we've been BUSY!! Between planning birthday party, Thanksgiving, Iron Bowl, decorating, party, etc. I am not sure whether I am coming or going most days!! Thankfully things seem to be calming down a little and I am hoping to be able to slow down and enjoy the rest of one of my favorite months of the year!