dean is six

Little Dean is six years old now. Big kid. My parents drove 8 hours to see us this weekend. Much needed. My dad took him to the Monster Jam race/show truck thingy. It was Dean's "best day that ever has happened." Here's a review of all the celebrating...

Happy Birthday little Dean! You are truly a spectacular, remarkable person.

it's o.k. to blog about blogging

Hello! Yes, still alive. To all of my faithful blog readers (aka: mom, dad, sisters, carrie d.), sorry bout the infrequent blogs as of late. We're building a snow cone stand called the Snow Shack. It will be at the beach this summer. It has taken over our garage and our computers and our brains and our friends brains and our refrigerator and our bank account. It's gonna be awesome... and lime green. I will be blogging about it a lot. I'm actually considering changing this blog to the Snow Shack blog. Or maybe not. What do you think (mom, dad, sisters, carrie d.... anyone)? So anyway, I hereby do solemnly swear to keep you updated on the Snow Shack and on the random Turner happenings as often as they may occur... at least once a week. I'll try. I'll also try to get the fingernail polish remover out of my bathroom cabinet and take care of this little situation...

ps. Have I ever mentioned how much I adore my little family and our little life? Well, consider yourself told. I am in love with Charlie and our kids and the personality of our family. Every day is funnier and a little more coo coo crazy than the day before, but in an amazing kind of way. That's all.

student update

My students are cute. A couple of them have decided to take the GED test next month so they can (and I quote) "go ahead and start college." Can you believe that one year ago these girls wanted to drop out of high school... now they want to go ahead and start college. Amazing. Another one is starting online high school courses so she can get a "real" high school diploma. I am very impressed with them. Mission accomplished.

So we're not actually doing "school" anymore, but they still stop by my house at random moments throughout the week. I miss seeing them every day, but I cannot wait to see what they do with themselves. Go ahead on, girls!

club turner

Our Valentine's Day festivities dragged on from Friday until Tuesday. A few highlights were our heart waffles with whipped cream on top, a romantic dinner with Charlie and of course our Valentine's dance party. Loud and proud. The kiddies dress up in the "fanciest" clothes they could find (including tissue paper crowns). We played some loud dance music and they partied for about half an hour or so. It was the best way to start the day.

Hope your heart is happy this week!

sushi for lunch

Our children like sushi. We are so proud. We had a "business meeting" over sushi at Fancy Q's recently. LOTS of exciting things happening around here. LOTS! Also, my students (who still exist... even though they haven't been blogged about much lately) are impressing me every day with their determination and direction... more details later. For now enjoy this crappy iPhone documentation of our lunch.

Happy busy February!

i found a vintage shirt

I really REALLY like vintage clothing, and fabrics, and dishes, and calendars. I mostly buy vintage clothing for myself. I make a lot of things for the girls out of vintage fabrics. Charlie gets vintage ties and sport coats. Poor little Dean is a teeny bit neglected in the vintage department. But not today...

I found this sweatshirt in a big box at my parents' house during Christmas break. It was mine when I was six years old. My Aunt Bertha took me to Wal-Mart and told me to pick out anything I wanted... clearly, a bright orange Alf sweatshirt was only natural choice. True story.

I am so happy I found this treasure and got to share it with my favorite little boy person. Have a good Monday. Alf rocks!

please smile one time, ok girls?

Charlie had a meeting after church, so we played in his office for a little while...

Girls rule.

homemade blocks

We had a lot of scrap wood in our garage from recent home projects. Charlie piled it up to throw away, but the pile looked very beautiful to me... so we kept it. I decided to recycle the scraps into fun building blocks for the kids.

I sanded each block, painted each one, sanded again, then sprayed them to death with polyurethane. The result? A handsome stack of one-of-a-kind building blocks. Perfect for towers, roads, castles, etc. This project cost zero dollars. Boo-ya budget.

birthday for the little star

Baby Stella Belle is three years old. Here's a condensed version of her special day...

Pancakes for breakfast. Must wear crown for breakfast on your birthday.

Party at preschool with these homemade party hats (one of my favorite late night crafting creations).

And goody bags. Everyone got a silly straw, bubbles and star sunglasses... and chocolate cupcakes with homemade pink icing.

Another cupcake at home at 3:30pm (the exact time she was born).

Dinner party at Mullet Bay... so good.

Happy Birthday to our Beautiful Star! You are the brightest, the most wondrous and priceless little person. Thank you, God, for Stella Belle.