Surviving through Friday....check.

Last week was one of those that baffles my mind as to how we made it all happen.  The mantra was "just get through Friday, just get through Friday". I had created a daily to-do list well in advance and each day's tasks kept growing and growing....thankfully by the end of the week my list looked like this....

Let me recap the highlights for you.  First, I worked the full week in preparation for a three day full-staff workshop at my school Wednesday-Friday.  Every night of the week was filled to the brim with Turner's dance class, meetings at church, Junior Miss board activities (another story for another post), regular church duties, Mark's CWE responsibilities (every day last week), the last CWE pep rally, swimming party with school buddies, and oh by the way....I turned another year older mid-week as well. :)

We knew this week was going to be especially crazy, because in the midst of all the above we were coordinating and preparing for our annual end of CWE party at our house on Friday night for Mark's staff.  It was especially challenging since I am not home all day to prepare like I have been in the past, and this year we deviated from the normal Mexican fiesta and took on a pasta bar Italian party for 17!  Wow...it was yummy and awesome, but at 6:35 (party set to start at 6:30 Friday night) I still wasn't sure we were going to pull it off!!

Let me share a few pictures with you from the week that may help tell the story.

One of Mark's head camp counselors contacted me a few weeks ago regarding a surprise gift they wanted to create for Mark, one that required my assistance.  They desired to give him a picture of the 6 of the HCC's, but with a special twist from the normal HCC picture. They wanted to includeTurner in the picture as well, and they wanted the setting to be an iconic Auburn location.  After much scheduling (trying to get me and Turner in the same place as 6 CWE staff people while CWE was going on - all without Mark knowing - was tough) we met at the stadium last Wednesday for a photo shoot.  I was the photographer and thankfully with the help of Smarties, Turner was quite obliged to pose for several shots!

In the locker room. (The picture we used.)

And one of the sweet HCC's asked me if I'd like a picture with her as well in the locker room.

After a busy day, it was a special treat to go to Provino's with Mark and Turner to celebrate my 32nd birthday.  I didn't expect gifts since my haircut/color with my favorite Eva Scrivo in New York last Christmas was my birthday present from Mark.  But he insisted that this awesome gift was from Turner.  Daddy definitely knows what Mommy likes.  :)


On Thursday we went to the last CWE pep rally of the year.  Thankfully the rain held off because I think my little girl might have just sat down and cried if they had to cancel another pep rally.  She enjoyed hearing "and they stay there" (All We Do Is Win) and showing off her moves...if you scroll fast through the next four pics I think you'll get the picture.

"And every time we step up in the building everybody hands go up....and they stay there, and they stay there"

"UP...

DOWN...

UP...

DOWN!"

I think this was shortly after she had informed Mark, "My Auburn cheerleader uniform is too small, they can see my belly!"

And in typical fashion, someone remembered to bring her beloved chocolate pie...she was definitely cheering with the fork in her hand.

A fun picture with Emilee Williams, Miss Auburn University 2011.  Turner didn't seem to enthused at first, then I leaned down and said, "Turner, she's like a beauty queen with a crown like Mommy has."  She hopped right up and turned on that smile.  :)

And then Friday arrived...Mark and I had prepared a traditional red sauce on Tuesday night.  On Thursday evening I made the basil pesto sauce, sundried tomato alfredo sauce, cooked the chocolate sheet cake, and cooked and peeled about 8lbs of shrimp.  I started peeling shrimp at midnight, and when Mark got home at 12:40 he helped...we stopped shortly after 1:00am and still weren't done. 

Friday afternoon after work I made the blueberry cobbler, we cooked sausage and chicken add ins, made salads, bread, and some sausage pepper poppers.  Thankfully we had someone else bringing the noodles or we wouldn't have pulled it off.  Basically it was a build your own pasta bowl buffet....that looked like this!

And at 1:46am (after dinner, post dinner, two pots of coffee, and a long CWE dinner for them and a nap for me) I tweeted this picture of my sweet hubby washing the last of the dishes. 

Saturday and Sunday brought some recuperation for me, and banquets and late nights for Mark. Check out this handsome Daddy in his seersucker!

Thankfully, I had yesterday and today off from work so we've spent some time resting, finishing up some craft projects around the house, reclaiming an empty ironing board, etc.  And today as my "last day of summer vacation" activity with Turner we went to our local water park for a morning of fun.  We hadn't been before and Turner absolutely had a ball!  She loved the lazy river, and the pools, but once she got brave enough to go down the kiddie slide I thought we were never going to leave!  She must have walked up those stairs 35 times to slide down...and she laughed and squealed like every time was the first time she had gone down!  It was the perfect way to spend my last day home with my sweet girl!