Summer Showoffs and Celebrations

Last week Turner participated in a show-choir camp called Summer Showoffs.  The days were long and tiring but she had a magnificent time!  There were four groups aging from Kindergarten through 12th grade, and each of the four groups memorized five songs with full choreography in four short days!  Every child has a solo, and many children had the opportunity to introduce songs.  The mission of the camp is to "build confidence and character" through music, and I can say that I honestly sat in awe at the confidence and talent that was fostered in children of all ages through this experience.

(I haven't mastered shooting in strange light without a flash, so some of these are blurrier than I'd like.)   

Song #1 - "There's No Business Like Show Business"

Song #2 - "I Want to Marry Daddy When I Grow Up"
Turner had an introduction to begin this song, which included the phrasing, "My prince charming is MY DADDY!"  Though the end of Camp War Eagle was in full swing, Mark got to come to one of the practices during the week and it just so happened that this was the song they performed.  He nearly melted in the floor!

Song #3 - "It's a Miracle"
This was the song in which Turner sang her solo.  She has so much confidence at the microphone, which just thrills me since I am quite nervous and shaky when singing alone.  I hope and pray she can maintain this confidence as she grows!

Song #4 - "Chattanooga Choo Choo"
It tickled me that they sang this song, since this was a standard classic that I think we performed for at least two seasons of shows when I was in AU Singers!

 This picture is very blurry, but I just love the open mouths of these little ones singing with such enthusiasm!

A good friend sitting in the bleachers behind us snapped this shot as she was enjoying watching Mark and "Aunt Sandy" watch Turner. Mark was in the middle of the last day of the last Camp session for the year, but fortunately was able to steal away for a few minutes and watch Turner perform.  Sandy is my principal, and has been one of my biggest supporters both professionally and personally since I interned with her way back in the Fall of 2001.  I had been balancing Turner's choir schedule with my work schedule all week and she knew that this was a big deal for Turner to perform on Friday.  Sandy showed up as a surprise for Turner and I love this picture of two of Turner's biggest fans!

At one point during the show I noticed that Turner wasn't sitting with her group anymore.  Thinking she had gone to the bathroom, I was quite surprised when she walked out on stage with my good friend Officer Horne.  Another group sang a sweet song honoring our public servants, called "A Few Good Men".  Officer Horne is our school resource officer and he keeps Turner entertained when she joins me for school dances and activities.  They are big buddies and of course this surprise just tickled me!

The last song was "We Go Together" from Grease, and Turner got to sit by her long time friend Mackenzie Rose who grew up in the same home daycare with Turner for 3 years. These two had a lot of fun re-connecting at choir camp!

Congratulations from Pop!

And if that wasn't enough fun for one day...it just so happened to be my birthday, and it just so happened to be the night we host all of Mark's staff at our house for an end of Camp War Eagle fiesta!  So, we left the show and came home to get busy with final party preparations!

We have a standard menu that we follow most years - chicken enchiladas, taco bar, fiesta pinwheel appetizers, homemade salsa, rice and beans.  This year, I was torn about what dessert to make so I made three....indecisiveness is a problem I tell you!  The apple and cream cheese enchiladas were the biggest hit of the night for sure, but the cupcakes and fruit salsa were also welcomed with happy glances. 

I love these cinnamon/sugar tortilla bowls which were delicious with ice-cream and fruit salsa.  I started making these bowls years ago by draping tortillas over balled up aluminum foil...last Christmas Mom gave me those cute little tortilla bowl shapers and they work like a charm!

I got brave and actually tried to make the "Campfire Cupcakes" I found on Pinterest, since the Camp War Emblem is a campfire.  They turned out super cute and weren't nearly as tough to make as I feared.  The fire is made from butterscotch and cinnamon candies melted and then cooled on a baking sheet.  Chocolate cupcakes with peanut butter frosting and a little decoration for fun - I was happy with how they turned out!

My sweet in-laws had these flowers delivered on party day which helped a busy day feel like a special day!  And of course I used them as table decor!

On Saturday, Rebekah and Matt drove down from Birmingham to visit and celebrate my birthday and my Dad's birthday which was earlier in the week.  They brought a strawberry cake from Edgar's Bakery...oh my it was delicious!

And we spent the day swimming and relaxing with family - a perfect way to celebrate if you ask me!  Turner decided to learn how to do a handstand in the pool and I learned quickly she is a persistent little thing!  She didn't want any help and would purposefully move away from us to go and try to work it out on her own, and no surprise she managed to master it pretty well by the day's end!

These pictures were taken a couple of weekends ago at a Camp War Eagle Family Day celebration.  Turner and Cooper are big buddies and they make me laugh playing at various CWE events. 

Gotta love orange and blue icing on Aubie cookies!

We are thankful for these wonderful, busy days and moments where we can celebrate the fun things in life!

Relaxing and Playing!

After we returned from Louisiana on Monday, I have been off the remainder of the week.  We've slept late, visited the pool often, and have left many things on my to-do list undone as we've tried to prioritize playing over working!   Next week will be a jolt back to reality with work, Turner attending show-choir camp, and the ending of another year of Camp War Eagle culminating with the end of the year party at my house next Friday night!

I looked back in my car yesterday and this little priss-pot was what I saw - those legs being crossed just tickled me!  She's enjoying her new booster seat!

And yesterday, after a trip to the library, we headed to the pool where Turner surprised me by picking up these diving rings off the bottom of the 3ft. end of the pool!  Her swimming has just soared this summer and I am certainly a proud mama!

Louisiana 2012 - Part 2

You can see who is leading the way here...with both Daddy and Grandpa ready to do most anything she suggests!

Check out these enormous sunflowers -  I am so jealous, especially since my sunflowers are just mainly planted to feed the local deer it seems!  (And no, I didn't tell her to pose like that.)

Turner loves getting into Grandpa's garden and this time she had her first experience shelling peas!

On Sunday, Turner really had a good fishing day and wanted to keep all of them in the live-well so she could show off her entire day's work.  I think she ended up catching 6 bream all on her own!

Beautiful sunsets...

We did get in more swimming and fishing before we left on Monday!  This picture cracks me up!!

After getting a pretty large splinter in her toe, Turner wasn't sure she wanted to go back out.  But, when we headed down to gather all our things she decided to give it another go.  She didn't even have on her bathing suit anymore, so we just went with the Hello Kitty underwear look!

 

Turner didn't really want to touch the fish with her hands, but loved kicking them back into the water!

The fish caught below was the last fish of our trip, but also the first one Turner fully caught and pulled in all by herself!  She was getting some good coaching from a pretty good fisherman!

She always feels the need to supervise whatever Grandpa is doing...

Granny and Grandpa we had a wonderful time on our visit!  Thank you Grandpa and Mark for baiting COUNTLESS hooks with crickets and worms while we were there!!  We'll be looking forward to heading back to the peacefulness of North Louisiana in November! 

Louisiana 2012 - Part 1

We left last Friday for our annual summer trip to see Granny and Grandpa in Louisiana.  Turner had been talking about catching fish for weeks and weeks, so she was ready to get after it early on Saturday morning!  She pretty much runs back and forth between me in the water and Mark on the pier fishing...for hours on end.  She just loves being there!

There are some sweet friends who live next door and they were kind enough to take us for a boat ride one afternoon.  Turner didn't want to go tubing after her experience getting tossed off last summer, but she was good for a boat ride!

Sweet neighbor Mac pushing Turner in the swing in the huge tree between the two yards.

Turner had been talking about how she wanted to catch a fish and eat it for dinner.  This is a lot of nasty work, but Grandpa and Daddy weren't going to let this opportunity pass if that's what Turner wanted!

Now...this is my child who gagged in the trash can when they made slime at school and refuses to touch the inside of a pumpkin (also produces gagging).  I wasn't sure how she would react to the cleaning and beheading of the fish.  She didn't even flinch!!  Seriously??

There were two fruit trees down the road that some neighbors had offered to allow us to pick, so one afternoon we headed over to get a few really fresh, organic apples. 

It was a special treat that Aunt Arlene (Mark's mom's sister from North Carolina) could be there to spend the weekend with us.  If you recall, she's the one who sent all the adorable knitted Barbie clothes to Turner at Christmas?  She has been hard at work preparing a selection of Barbie clothes to sell for a church fundraiser and she brought the for Turner to try them out!  The two piece outfit and the purples are all swimsuits (and one cover-up) that Aunt Arlene made for Turner to take home with her - is that not the most clever thing??

Turner loved playing with these new clothes and accessories and quite often we'd find her squatted in front of the table as you'll see below.  Barbie even made a visit to church with us on Sunday and below you'll see Turner getting her outfitted in her church dress!

And of course some family shots...which Mark and I jokingly call "the hottest pictures of the year".  (Louisiana actually was a little cooler than Alabama while we were there, but there's just something different about that Louisiana heat!)