Can I get a Hooty Hoot?

On Wednesday Turner and I took a road trip to Birmingham to reunite with some of the girls I lived with in the Chi-O Mansion my junior and senior year at Auburn. It was the first time I had met any of their children in person (I keep up with them via blog) and the first time I had seen many of the girls in 8 years! I was refreshed at our ability to seemingly pick up where we left off and to feel so immediately comfortable with them after all these years. We had a wonderful visit, some delicious food (thank you Kelley for hosting us in your home), and even managed to get a picture of the 5 girls and 6 of our 7 children. What a fun reunion!

A happy day

Today has been a good day. Make that a great day. It's my 30th birthday. My sweet friend Norma treated Turner and me to a yummy lunch, and then she came over tonight to play with Turner while my sweet hubby took me to a nice birthday dinner. This afternoon while Turner napped I made a few hairbows and some new pants for Turner. All in all a lazy summer day filled with good food, great friends, and my precious family. A girl couldn't ask for more.

I have been asked whether I feel "old" - and the answer is a big NO. I honestly don't feel any different than I did yesterday. I didn't dread this birthday and it hasn't bothered me at all really. My Mom reminded me today that my Granny said that her 30's were the best years of her life - Mom also reminded me of the power in this statement since at age 28 my Granny lost her son and at age 32 lost her husband. Hard to imagine how those could be your "best" years! But I know how she thought, and there were so many blessings that outweighed the bad memories...and she chose moment by moment to LIVE her life well. That's why they were the "best" years. I so hope that I can be that same way. I really feel like each year of my life has gotten better and better -I don't want to go back to any past stage . I love my life NOW, and I think that's a blessing.

I want to give a shout out to two special people. First, my friend Brooke and I share the same birthday - Happy Birthday to you!! We miss you here in AU! Second, to my college buddy Elizabeth. Since I have known her (that would be freshman year at AU 1997) she has NEVER forgotten my birthday and has acknowledged it every year with a phone call or email. We may not have spoken for months at the time, but she always makes sure to let me know she's thinking of me on that day. That is so special to me.

Now, for a story that may not be as funny to my readers as it was to me and Mark...but we'll give it a shot. Tonight we ate at a local Italian restaurant in town called Provino's. By most standards it's a very nice restaurant, a dress a little nicer than usual and you feel like you are on a "real date" kind of place. We ordered two delicious pasta dishes and after the cook staff delivered them to the table and walked off Mark commented on whether he was supposed to have offered us fresh Parmesan and fresh cracked pepper as they had in the past. We decided that perhaps our waitress would do that, so next time she checked in on us we asked. This is what was delivered to our table.



Absolutely in unison Mark and I looked at each other and said, "Where are we, Pizza Hut??!" And then we completely cracked up. Mark noticed they were even bent on the stainless steel tops like they always were at Pizza Hut! I mean really, folks, what happened to the block of Parmesan being brought to the table and shaved off fresh onto your food? Or the pepper mill? Oh no! We got some Pizza Hut SHAKERS people! Hilarious.

Such a wonderful day today. Thank you Lord for 30 blessed years.

Small blessings

Yesterday, Turner and I drove to Lay Lake near Sylacauga to visit one of my dearest friends from college and his family. Jacob and I were in AU Singers together for three years, and I honestly thought I would marry him one day. (His mom also thought this...which proved to create a strong friendship between the two of us that still exists today.) Thankfully, God had much different and much more perfect plans for both of us! Although he lives much farther away than I'd like, and we don't see each other as often as we'd like, we do keep in touch and try to visit at least once a year in person if it's possible. As an added bonus, Susanna (Jacob's sister) and her husband Nolan were also at the lake, so it was quite the reunion! It was such a treat to see such special friends and watching Jacob's son, Joshua, and Turner play together just made me smile. Life is good.

Here's Turner with "Pops" - not to be confused with her own "Pop". But, she loves Joshua's "Pops" about as much as her own!

I love this sweet little foot playing in the puddles on the porch.

Swinging in the hammock with Tina, Joshua's older sister. Tina was amazing with Turner and kept her entertained for the better part of the day!

Turner's first experience with a slip and slide!

"Fwimming" in the pool!Turner enjoys playing with bubbles!
This is Joshua - isn't he handsome?

Joshua and Turner played so sweetly together yesterday - Jacob's mom commented to me about this and I glibly mentioned that perhaps they could get married since the other arranged marriage didn't work out! Funny thing is, Tina didn't hear that conversation and said to her mom later in the day, "Mom, I think Joshua and Turner could grow up and get married." Too funny!

We finished off our fun day with the final Camp War Eagle Pep Rally of the year. This was the reaction we got when Aubie came into view. (Pardon the grape she was trying to eat while shouting, "AAUUUBIE!")
But, as he came closer the clinging started again....so this is about as close to Aubie as we are going to get this year! This was only because Daddy put her there! Rest assured it didn't last long!
Turner was completely infatuated with the band, but mostly with the majorettes. Our friend Kimberly (Miss AU) offered to share her batons with Turner and she was completely enthralled with them! Bless her heart, the Stone legs aren't built to be majorettes....more like cross country runners or cheerleaders....but we'll certainly encourage her to do whatever she wants!


The annual end of the year CWE staff party is at our house tomorrow night and this will mark the first time we've officially entertained in the new house. I am excited about this and even as I worked today preparing food, things have been easier in the new kitchen! I am anxious to see how everything flows, and works with a different layout. This party marks an exciting event - another CWE summer completed successfully!

Think this little girl wants to be just like her Daddy?

Fun night at the arcade!

Tonight we had a wonderful time with the Muncie family at Shakey's pizza! We are so excited about the new little brother that our friend Kirkley will have come December and we can't wait to meet him! Turner really enjoyed playing in the Shakey's arcade (something she hadn't seen before) and one of her favorite stops were the race car games. She's a natural!

Intent on winning her race

Shifting gears - you know that's important!

Happy 4th of July!

Saturday night we decided to give the local fireworks show a try, even though we weren't sure how Turner would react to the loud noises. I had some gift cards to Bruster's which gave us the perfect excuse to stop by for ice cream on our way across town. This is not the first time Turner has had ice cream, however it was her first experience with a cone! We were thoroughly entertained, as were the other customers at Bruster's with her successful attempt at downing an entire kiddie cone! When we got back into the car Turner shouted, "Ice Cream! I LUB IT!" Mark and I just cracked up! :)



Then we drove toward the fireworks display and had NO idea how many people would be there. So we ended up about a 1/2 a mile away in the Kroger parking lot - which proved to be the precise spot we needed to be so that the noise wouldn't scare Turner. She loved the lights, but constantly asked if there was "funder" in the background. (She has become quite scared of thunder...so obviously this seemed to be the same thing!) All in all, we had a very fun evening and she slept like a charm after a fun late night outing!

I am so thankful for the many freedoms we enjoy in our great country, and for the sacrifices that have been made so that we may be free.

The power of "we" and a little family time

Mark and I have always said that there is no limit to what we can accomplish when we work at it TOGETHER. We are much more efficient as a unit than we are individually. This past Friday, Mark was off work for the holiday so we had him to ourselves for three full days before he had to go back to work! And BOY were we productive around our house! We joked that it felt like those three days lasted a few weeks and we laughed at how little "outside contact" we had with the real world. Here are a few highlights of our "break from reality"!

I have had these shirts for a while now and wanted to stamp paint them to match some shorts Turner had. The ladybug shirt turned out to be my favorite, and Tootsie gave Turner this hair bow a few months back - it's just perfect for this outfit! The second shirt I also loved and I made the hair bow to match! Mark enjoyed some quality playtime with Turner while I worked on this project!

While Turner napped on Friday Mark and I worked in the yard, planting lilies in two beds on either side of our driveway and pulling some weeds in the yard. This was when we started to acknowledge that we are much better together than as an individual unit - I mean, who wants to pull weeds alone??

We also FINALLY got our garage cleaned out from the move and actually parked Mark's car in his side for the first time since we moved here New Year's Eve!

In the midst of cleaning out the garage, we came across a box of old t-shirts from college and found my sorority jersey. Mark wanted to let Turner try it on for size, acknowledging that many blog readers would love this, and some would highly disapprove! Hooty Hoot! :)

The next project is one I have been working on for a while now. I bought some fabric on clearance and had a vision of using it in our breakfast area. I thought of what I wanted the holders to look like and shared my vision with a fellow teacher, who constructed some specially designed curtain holders for me out of scrap wood. I primed and painted them, then Mark graciously hung them for me. While he worked to get them just perfect, Turner got really excited about her "oli" (ravioli). I mean, really, it's into her hairline and eyebrows!

Then she really got excited when we pulled out the tape measure - she never gets tired of helping us measure! (Or just pulling it across the room and letting it go so it sucks back in really fast!)

Then she decided to take a fun break with Daddy...not sure what they are doing here but they were both laughing pretty hard and this wasn't the last time they did this during the weekend...

Finally, after much work, here's the final result of the curtains. I like them, but the fact of having something on a previously bare wall is still growing on me.

Finally, Mark bathed Turner Saturday night and brought her to me wrapped in this bunny towel. She was saying, "I wrap up!" which she loves to do in big towels after a bath. Yet, this towel is special. See the picture below that we took of her at approximately 1 month old - in the SAME bunny towel. It's really neat to see how much she's changed!

We had an absolutely WONDERFUL few days away from the cares of work! The end of CWE countdown is on - 6 more days and it's over for another year!