August Tifton Trip!

We had a great trip down to visit my grandparents (on my mom's side) this past weekend. It's always so good to see them, and we always have a great time. I had forgotten how HOT south Georgia is this time of year! (I now remember!) But it made for a really fun day at the new YMCA pool. There was a big slide that Jenna had an absolute BALL on, and Lexie had fun crawling around the baby area too! Jenna, Grandpa Bob, and I played a game of Croquet (it IS tradition) and we all went to a wonderful church service on Sunday. Oh, and of course, the food is always the yummiest at Grandma's! (As it should be...ha ha!) Here are just a few pics!

Jenna flying out the bottom of that big slide! :) It was 2 stories up- and she went down all by herself! (Mom and I went down too...we had a BLAST!)

Doesn't Lexie just look adorable with her ball cap and one little tooth ha ha! She LOVES hats, and this hat is her favorite "pool" hat. AND by the way, 3 more teeth have broken the skin, just not fully in yet-- yesirree, that little girl is now sporting 4 teeth instead of just 1! Ok, so did I mention how HOT it is in South Georgia? This is Grandma Neesie(my mom) and Jenna cooling off, hovering above the air conditioning vent...ha ha!Grandpa Bob, Grandma Arlene, and their great-grandchildren Lexie & Jenna --Love you More!This is one of my favorite pictures! Lexie spending time with her Great-Grandma Arlene! more pics at www.dropshots.com/pilkentonpearls

Girls just wanna have fun...

It doesn't matter if you're going on 9 months or going on 99 years...all girls are made with the same butterflies before a kiss, laughter that rumbles the room, and sugar sweeter than all the candies on earth... and all girls just wanna have fun! Here are a couple moments of my girls just being girls - simple, silly, and fun!

Jenna pretending to be a model...she went window shopping with Aunt Banana and myself...and of course she decided she needed to be part of the window display... ha ha!

Aunt Banana posing for a quick pic with our human manikin Jenna-ha ha!

Lexie climbed up the side of the bucket and started to fuss...so I helped her in, Grandma just carried her out to the laundry room, she was giggling and laughing the entire time!silly Lexie playing in the laundry! ha ha!

Our Little Fish

You may remember that Jenna was on a Guppy Swim Team this year. She does the back stroke the best- the other strokes she still just "doggy paddles", but that is a HUGE step. Jenna is able to swim pretty well for her age and we are very proud of her! She is now able to jump off of the diving board in the 12 foot deep end of the pool! I finally got a video of her doing it so you all can see. She jumps in all by herself, with nobody in the water to "catch" her...and she swims to the side all by herself. In the video, Daddy is there to pull her out, but she swims well enough to go to the ladder...she can actually do this 100% completely on her own! We are proud of you Jenna! You are a great swimmer!

Jenna has a family history of swimmers (My sister and I swam for high school and all growing up, My sister also swam for Clemson, and Eric's Pop/Jenna's Grandpop swam for the Citadel/Marines), so she gets it honestly! Even her 3K teacher, Mrs. Casey swam for Clemson, so she's surrounded by swimmers!

Fan Appreciation Day

After my birthday shopping trip to the Belks in Easley, we all buzzed over to Clemson for Fan Appreciation Day! The lines were entirely too long to wait in, so we walked around to simply "see" the players...ha ha. Then I went with the girls to take a pic of them with their Grandma and Grandpa rubbing the ROCK!

And we told Jenna the story about Clemson Coach Frank Howard saying "If you aren't going to give me 110%, keep your FILTHY hands OFF my rock!" We explained that when the players rub the rock, they are promising to play hard and play fair and give everything they have to play a good ballgame!

We really had a great time! GO TIGERS! My sister, Lisa and my mom, Denise, at the statue of the Tiger Cub. Not quite as hilarious as the pic of Mike with the cub though... see next picture!

Mike pretending to be the Tiger Cub statue. ha ha!

25th Birthday Surprise!

I had an awesome birthday! Friday, the day of my birthday, Eric brought lunch to my desk at work AND brought me yellow roses. Yellow is my favorite color and I love the smell of roses so he knew exactly the best kind to get. And that night, my parents took my family, my sister, and her fiance all out to one of my favorite restaurants, the Olive Garden. YUM!

AND they presented me with the most awesome gift! Well, techinically its a gift for both my husband and myself. They are sending us on an all expense paid trip to Disney World for a 2nd Honeymoon! We will be celebrating our 5th wedding anniversary in Disney! They first gave me my birthday card that had Mickey Mouse on it and inside were two pictures of them on their honeymoon, which was also in Disney World. Then they gave me a packet that had all the information- we're staying at the Polynesian Resort hotel and we can eat all the food we want with the travel credit card that comes with the package.

And just when I thought my birthday couldn't possibly get any more awesome, my sister and mom took me to Belks and bought me a whold new wardrobe so that I'll have some nice clothes for my trip!

I have enough outfits so that all this week, I will look as fabulous as I feel! This has truely been an awesome birthday and I love my family so much for taking such good care of me. They love me so much and I wish I could find the words to tell them how much I appreciate it.

Here is the pool at the Polynesian Resort Hotel in Disney World- the lazy river travels THROUGH the mountain and there is a slide. I can't wait to spend some time there!Here are some silly tiki's that are at the Polynesian Resort- for now only google images and the packet are giving me hints at what to expect - but I know there is so much more waiting for us! I can't wait!

Of course, I can't WAIT to get to hug this guy! I've already met him once, but it will be Eric's first! I can't wait to take a pic with Mickey! (I suddenly feel like I'm 8 years old again- maybe we'll have dinner with Cinderella while we're at it lol!)

Chuck E. Cheese Fun

Last year, at a birthday party, Jenna and I took a cute "sketch" photo at Chuck E. Cheese. This year, we were all at Chuck E. Cheese for a different child's party and we decided to try and get all 4 of us in the photo. ...Oh what an experience that was... see below. :)

This is the photo from last year, taken on 07/19/08

Attempt #1 - Lexie is looking down, Daddy is out of the picture...Attempt #2 - Lexie is smacking her sister in the head... however, Jenna's face is priceless!Attempt #3 - Finally everyone is in the pic (well, Lexie is kind of) and Eric's frustration is apparent in that grin... ha ha ha. :-) Attempt #4 - Jenna ran away, I chased after her...leaving only Daddy and Lexie when the flash went off. ha ha ha- but it was a cute pic of Lexie & Daddy!

My Vintage Baby

If someone believed in having "past lives", I would imagine they'd believe that Lexie Noelle lived during the 1950's in her past life. Teething has really been a rough experience for the poor girl, especially at bed time. And tonight was one of the nights where she was just squirming and fighting it, and I was just rocking her and hoping she'd settle down. While holding her, I began to channel surf on the television. One channel had an infomercial for a collection of CD's called "Oldies but Goodies" that featured mostly music from the 1950's, with some of the 1960's also included. Lexie immediately settled and rocked to the music. She absolutely loved it! And it soothed her right to sleep. My sweet little vintage baby that loves 1950's music is sleeping soundly in her crib - and now They worked like a charm! She gets it honestly though, her Nana, Grandma, Aunt, Sister, and Mommy are all huge "GREASE" fans!
I'm seriously considering ordering those CD's!
Not only would they soothe Lexie to sleep...but I would love to hear some of those hits again myself!
This is what the collection actually looks like (below)

Turtle Time

When we got home today, Jenna ran to her room and put on a green shirt, blue-green pants, and green crocks and started crawling around the house... I asked her what she was doing and she said "I'm pretending to be a turle Mommy!!" Then she proceeded to show me "how to be a turtle"... please see instructions below.

First: You must crawl on your belly like a turtle.Second: This is how you make the "turtle face".Third: This is how you do the "turtle in it's shell".Last: This is how you do the "Teenage Mutant Turtle Power" (ha ha ha)

50+ Cards for Mom = Mail Motherload

As mentioned in the previous blog- my Aunt Donna (my mother's sister) arranged for over 50 cards to be sent out from all over the United States. None of them were signed- and the postage stamps were from places mom couldn't find an explanation for. So every single day was a new adventure as mom made her trip to the mailbox to see where that day's cards would come from.

One of the days- my mom said "I hope I get one from Hawaii!"... and I happen to have a friend who is stationed IN Hawaii due to her husband's current military involvement. So, I called my Aunt Donna (by that time, rumors had spread and we thought it was her...turns out we were right ha ha!) and before I even asked about it she said "Oh I wish I had known someone in Hawaii, but she won't get one from there."... Though all the credit for the idea goes to my Aunt Donna... My friend Leza is the one who saved the day and made that wish for a card from Hawaii to come true. Not only that, but she hand-made a designer card and sent it all the way from Hawaii!!!!! THANK YOU LEZA!

And a big Thank You to my Aunt Donna whose idea really made my mom's birthday the best one ever. She cherishes every single card she received, which if you add the other cards that she got as well - she had a total of 57 cards!!!!! She even got one from Alaska! see pics below!

Here is a close up of the two cards that traveled the farthest! Wahiawa, Hawaii and Anchorage, Alaska!
Here is the full view of the beautiful hand-made card that my friend Leza in Hawaii sent. Thank you Leza, you are the best!

The Fabulous Fifty!

I started to put "The Big 5-0"...but that doesn't fit my parents at all, so I changed it to "The Beautiful 50" - well, that fits mom, but my dad would prefer more of the "Handsome 50" I suppose and so- the compromise- Fabulous! Both of my parents celebrated their 50th birthday's this year and what a year it has been! They both look wonderful and we all love them so much- they have helped Eric and I so much and are always so supportive. We love you guys and hope you are blessed with many many more birthdays! You are only as old as you feel! -And you look like you feel FABULOUS!- And my Aunt Donna did something SOOO cool for my mom's birthday. She had 50 cards from all over the U.S. that had no name signed on the inside...mailed to my mom. The cards were just flooding in! And my mom made the statement "oh, I hope one comes from Hawaii, that would be so cool!"...so when I found out Aunt Donna was the one behind all this, I called her and asked her if one was coming from Hawaii--- turned out she didn't, so I got in touch with my friend Leza whose stationed in Hawaii with her husband- and Leza hand made my mom a card and has mailed it FROM HAWAII!! Thank you Leza! Leza's card hasn't made it here yet, I can't wait to see my mother's face when she gets it. What a cool idea! When the card gets here- I'll put it with all the other cards and take a pic and post it in a new blog. So stay tuned!

I made this card for my mother (kind of got the idea when Leza mentioned she was making her card to send from Hawaii -but Leza's will probably look better than this one ha ha...because she actually gets paid for the creative dresses, bibs, and decorations she makes...but I tried my best and mom really liked it!)- the quote on the front is "The more you praise and celebrate your life, the more there is in life to celebrate."~ Oprah Winfrey;

This was the inside of the card, it reads "May your day be filled with laughter and merriment. Happy Birthday!!"And everyone that went on the white water trip signed it!My beautiful mom on her 50th birthday- this was at our dinner after getting off the river.My Dad on the happiest day of his life- that happened to be this year- when he got to see one of his children graduate from Clemson. Lisa has no idea just how much that meant to dad! Plus, this was the best pic I have of my father- I need to take a new pic of him that isn't dark or blurry! Dad celebrated his 50th Birthday in January.Eating chocolate cake when we got home on Mom's birthday--- they kept sneaking Jenna Jade bites to eat when I wasn't in the room... ha ha-I didn't mind though, everyone was really having a great time. I want Jenna to enjoy getting treats from grandparents...as her mother- its my job to sit in the other room and pretend I don't want her to... :-) It's just not as fun if mom lets you do it...its more fun to be "sneaky"! :-) more pics at www.dropshots.com/pilkentonpearls

White Water 2009

Every year, our family goes with the church youth group on a white water trip. We ALWAYS use Mr. Griffen's Appalachian Rivers Raft Company. He was one of my teacher's in High School and my parents (who organize the trip every year) always make sure that we use his company. And we always have so much fun! This year- my friend Tara Wavle came with us and we really had a blast. Enjoy the photos!

This is our boat! Our guide is Mr. Eric Pilkenton himself, then we had youth from the church Jake & Will Anderson and Keenan Hardison, and that's Tara and myself towards the front of the boat! :) **Our boat and my sister's boat kept tackling each other! so funny!)This is my mom and Dad's boat- My Dad was the guide, and My mom and her sister, My Aunt Donna are towards the front. And Tom Christian is right in front of my dad- he's a good friend of my dad's and also a member of our church. :) This is my sister Lisa's boat.... Clint is the guide (He's our youth leader), then there's Daniel (Lisa's friend from Clemson), and Keith (Lisa's fiance) is hiding behind Lisa *lol*, And the girl with the paddle in the air about to hit my sister in the face is Hannah (she didn't hit her though, just scared her LOL), and in the front is Lara (her dad is Tom in the pic above). Also in the picture is Tyler(another of Lisa's friends from Clemson)! He is hidden by Hannah's paddle...but he is there...Mr. Griffen, owner of App Rivers Raft Company...and ME! :) I love you Mr. Griffen! And I reccomend to EVERYONE App Riveres Raft Company!! :) I hate that this pic is so dark...but its the only one I have with Eric, my sis, Keith...and everybody that goes along with them LOL.... Tara, Lara, and I rode in the back of Clint's car on the way there and on the way home. :) Are we a beautiful bunch? Eric, of course, got to ride up front with Clint.Clint and me! more pics at www.dropshots.com/pilkentonpearls

Freaky Good Morning

Ok - so Jenna Jade came in the room early one morning last week (all I know is the sun hadn't come up and my alarm had NOT gone off ha ha)... and she says "Mommy, the baby is staring at me"....

I was too sleepy to think about it so I just got up and went about my morning, only extra early. Eric was sick so I just stayed up with the girls so not to bother him. Later in the week- I managed to get a few pictures of what Jenna saw at the foot of her bed in the middle of the night. A silly little baby who loves her big sister was simply staring at her from her crib.... And I have to admit, if I woke up and these big eyes were starting at me... I mean, all I'm saying is I don't blame Jenna for running to mom's room- can you blame her? HA HA HA>.. Lexie just giggled and grinned and thought it was funny. Silly baby pickin' on her big sister already!

By the way- you'll notice the last pic... yep, Lexie pulls up to standing in her crib all by herself.
It's only going to be half a blink of an eye and she'll be walking....Jenna graduates from High School in just a few moments and Lexie will be getting married in a matter of heartbeats. Time flies way too fast- so please remember to have way too much fun and take way too many pictures and (this next one is for my co-worker..) throw away uncomfortable panties because life is simply too short to waste a single second.

For My Dad, Perry

This is a picture taken in Fall of 1986 - of The Clemson Tiger, Me (age 2), and my Dad. To Dad, I'm always going to be "Fred". He started calling me Fred right around this age because we'd watch the Flintstones Cartoons together- He was Barney Rubble and of coures, I was Fred. :)

To Be Like You

by: Stephanie Pilkenton

When you would mow the grass

A little girl pushed her toy mower behind you

She had to do everything you did

She wanted to be just like you.

When you put on Clemson orange

And cheered at every game

That little girl tagged along, and became a Tiger fan,

To be like you, her team is the same.

When you coached her church basketball team

When you worked in the Pit Crew for her marching band

The little girl had the most supporting Daddy in the world

Even when Daddy gave away her hand.

Now this little girl is all grown up

With a family of her own

And you, her Daddy, is still there to help her

She still needs you, though she's grown.

She doesn't always remember to appreciate you like she should

And sometimes she forgets to say Thank you

But she wants you to know how much she loves you

And is forever grateful for all you do.

I'm the little girl, spoken of above
And this poem is for my Dad, Perry,
Who still reaches his hand out when I fall
And I, on his shoulders, he'll carry.

And even though we argue
And feelings get hurt sometimes, too.
I love you Dad, so very much
And all I ever want is to be more like you.

I really do want to thank you,
And show my appreciation,
For still loving me after all this time
And for the lifetime filled with your dedication.

I love you Dad, even though I don't always show it like I should. ~ Steph