Punkees and Prayers

We sat on the porch tonight with our little chicken counting stars and counting blessings.

We are thankful for Dum Dum lollies, for "punkees", for 27 pounds of feathers and fun, for our first home, for Mimi's and Nanas and Poppys and Grandadas, for incredible neighbors, for wagons, for HAIR (can I get a woot! woot!), and for showers of God's amazing grace that rain down on us over and over again each and every day.

I let go of something tonight. Amidst the ghosts, and Lady Gagas, and groovy girls, and zombies, and giant marshmallow men, I took my fear of the unknown and gave it right over back to God. I have been so worried about Chris relapsing. SO worried. So worried that we might never get to experience the joy of adding to our family again. SO worried. Right there under the moon and maple trees, I let it go.

I took a deep breath and realized that Chris is going to have times where he is wiped out and feels terrible. He might even have night sweats and circles under his eyes. It doesn't mean that we are going to be back at the Cancer Answer sweating bullets and dealing with the Red Devil.

I realized that I can crave Chicken Fries from BK without having to imagine it being a symptom of being preggo. (I'm so super serious it's not even funny. It's been my phantom symptom for the past 4 months. I won't lie. I have enjoyed the heck out of every sweet and sour slathered chicken fry.)

I prayed relentlessly sitting there on the porch with my heart overflowing with love and gratitude. I squeezed my babies tight at bedtime and then was reminded (thank you Pinterest, I kid you not):

That's Proverbs 31:25, in case you want to highlight in your Bible right alongside of me.

It is my [Halloween] prayer that we go after this daily, with reckless abandon. God is good. And so are Dum Dums and punkees.

Punkin Carving!

I woke up this morning covered in a rash.

I think I ate too many Fun Size Butterfingers. Really.

That reminds me. Did you see the post on Facebook where my sweet friend congratulated me on my baby bump? Only one problem. I don't have one. I mean technically it is a baby bump. Leftover baby bump from this love bug.

Worth the "congrats on #2" comments? I think so.

Speaking of #2s, our sweet friends the Rogers had their precious baby Girl on Thursday morning. Introducing the beautiful little Eleanor Ruth.

Isn't she absolutely gorgeous!?

Today was the perfect day. We went to church, out to lunch with some of our besties, the Becks, played in the leaves, went to the park (ping dada, ping!--> swing dada, swing!), and had our very first punkin carving shindig.

We took a lot of PERFECT family pictures.

Lots of them.

If you think that one was right on the money, check this one out.

Halloween is supposed to be scary, right??

Dada's Home! Dada's Home!

Shoo-wee! Hoop and holler! We made it!

Dada's H-O-M-E! Coop and I stayed up late watching "ant-ies" (airplanes) in the sky Wednesday night until we saw Dada drive up the street and back into our arms. We haven't stopped dancing yet! Seriously, Coop's got some new dance moves that will make you boogie down.

We've been busy having lots of fall fun this past week. We went to the "punki-patch" with Mimi and Poppy Tots...

Ran amongst the punkins, rode the giant slide (twice), went on the hay ride, and rode the cow train...

Ms. Lori hosted a Halloween Bash for all her itty bitties. Oh, it was so much fun! This is Aubrey, one of Coop's best baby buddies. Isn't she a DOLL!?

She was one fabulous flamingo! Look at all of those feathers! LOVE! This is Landree, Coop's girlfriend. She gives the best smoochies in all the world! She is just precious!!

And Brady Boo says "Moo!" Forever friends since they were lil' punkins.

Coop had a blast with all of his sweet friends. He ate cookies/chicken feed by the handful and had an absolute ball. We sure love Ms. Lori!

Happy Halloween Y'all!

Hair Blog and Drug Deals

I just spent 57 minutes stalking a hair blog. Yes, you read that right. A HAIR BLOG. Ok, so it's ridiculously silly but I mean, how great is this? Love her sense of style (all things ruffled and all things scarves) and she has some of the BEST YouTube hair videos. Yes. I watched the videos.

Chris is out of town. We have almost survived the month marathon trip of the century! Almost. I miss him like crazy. To top it off, he has been feeling less than stellar and that's got me wringing my hands and pacing the floor. Coop asked me yesterday to "tit down". Just as I start to go off into loony tunes land, I remember how big our God is and how he reigns over every little part of our lives. In an instant, His grace washes over me and just like that, I let go and eat some Mini Oreos and feel a million times better.

Coop is down at the farm for the night. Hi Mimi! Hi Poppy Tots! I was all walking in circles wondering what in the hee-haw I was going to do with myself until I found the hair blog. You see? It's all coming together now. I also swang (swung? swinged?) into Old Navy at the Mall of Georgia after work to scoop up some little people britches for Pistol Britches. So super fun. I love buying him layered tee's and little man jeans. I passed by the Great American Cookie Company (gasp) and snagged a Great Wrap on my way back to the car. It was in an effort to finish up my "GetMyBootyBackInShapeBeforeWeHaveAnotherPistolBritches" voyage I embarked upon this week. The health kick, not the lets have a baby kick. That's been going on for a while now. Turns out Great Wraps are not so goodness great for you. Sigh.

Back to my wrap. I got the Chicken Caesar one. The one with the croutons hidden inside the wrap. Ah. Heavenly. Just as you are muddling through grilled chicken and lettuce, you get ambushed by a tiny crunchy little crouton. Knowing that driving while dipping (I had to get a side of Feta dressing for my curly fries) is not super swell, I decided to have a 30 second car picnic. Just as I was biting into my first crouton 3 teenagers came walking up to the car parked in front of me. One of them went to the driver side and popped the hood. Just as I jingle jangled myself free of my seat belt (always buckle up while engaging in car picnics) to offer to help, I saw the other guy disassemble the battery cover under the hood.

Then. wait for it. wait for it. I WITNESSED A DRUG DEAL MID CROUTON BITE! No lie. I couldn't peel my eyes away from them even though I tee-teed in my pants thinking I was going to get shot for (thankyoumama) "being in the wrong place at the wrong time". AHHHHHH. In broad daylight. In suburbia. I squealed out on two wheels and ate my Caesar wrap flying down the road. Probably best to forgo the feta dip anyway.

Lolly in the Tub

It was a lolly in the bathtub kind of night. You'da have thought I'da hung the moon. 33 minutes of absolute bliss (oh, for Cooper too). He ate this sucker right down to the paper straw.

Mom, remember that time we went through the drive thru at the bank and you told me that I could hold my sucker, but that we would have to wait to eat it until we got home? You said "don't you take that wrapper off little miss". And so I didn't. I was quiet as a mouse, sitting in the back of the Putt-Putt on the way back home. Licked that lolly down to the stick with the wrapper still on. Was 12 before I learned that you didn't have to be sitting in the bathtub to eat a lollipop. Yep, this one's for you mom.

Manhattan Marathon Part II

After we left Time Square, we got stuck in a Polish Parade. There was a lot of techno music, beaded denim jackets, and braided pig tails. We sort of lost 2 hours to wandering aimlessly, trying to find a place to cross 5th avenue.

We made it out alive (barely) and found Rockefeller Center. Whoa. It's tall. Really, really, really tall.

We were all "let's skip all the way to the top of the Rock holding hands and singing Broadway tunes!" and then I started to feel like I might ralph just thinking about climbing my way up there with a hot dog on my stomach. So we went into the Lego store instead.

Then we found Grand Central Station! First thing on my agenda, Flash Mob!

See the foot propped behind me all innocent like? Looks like I was behaving, but I SO was not. Turns out, a Flash Mob, is not so much a Flash Mob when you are the only one breakin' it down. All that practicing for nothin'.

See that girl standing in line over my left shoulder? She's a run away. From Cali. She tried to pick pocket me but I used my nunchuck in self defense. She ran away fast. Might have been my brown walkin' shoes that did it. We'll never know.

We left Grand Central and found LaCoste, my big brother's favorite store. I wanted to buy him something but a) I spent all of our money on homeless street performers and b) he posted nasty comments about me on Facebook for going to NYC without him even though I asked him to call me and he never did. Hmrph. Anyway, I still love him bookoodles and always will. He doesn't say "I love you" back to me anymore, but I always want him to know that I love him anyway.

After LaCoste, we found Magnolia Bakery (yes, more cupcakes), NBC studios, Radio City Music Hall and my ABSOLUTE ALL TIME FAVORITE (minus the smell of horse poop and sound of granola hippies chanting "There's no excuse for animal abuse..."):

So dreamy. Such a fairy tale to walk hand-in-hand with my love down the little winding paths hidden amongst the trees in the midst of the crazy-busy city.

I'd say this trip has been darn near the best trip I've ever been on. NYC is fabulous. It really is. But what's even more fabulous is that I got brave. I put on my big girl panties and left the comfort of the four walls that surround me and keep me safe and happy every other day of the year. I hailed a taxi. I navigated the subway. I flew allbymyself.

Chris has traveled for the past 8 years. He was gone for 6 weeks right after we got married. He has been to NYC, Chicago, Europe, Cali, Vegas, Boston, DC...up and down and all around. This month has been the hardest one yet. He is so sad that he is away from Coop. He is working like crazy and so super maxed out. I am worried about him. He starts to look so worn down and wiped out and I remember that he just finished chemo a mere months ago. He is my hero, he is my love bug. and I adored every second of the few days I got to be with him in the Big Apple.

Home again, home again jiggity jig.  Target and Chick-fil-a are waitin' on this big city girl. I can see the glow of their neon lights from the big sky as I zoom home to my little love.

Manhattan Marathon

So I might have fallen in love all over again today. With cupcakes. Tiny, mini, itsy bitsy cupcakes. Baked by Melissa. I ate 4 for breakfast, 2 for a mid-morning snack, 3 for lunch, and 2 more after our marathon day in the City today.

I mean, look at them. They taste every bit as yummy as they look. They are totally worth every single guilty calorie. My fave? It's a toss up between the cookie dough one and the mint chocolate chip one. My go-to, the red velvet, was delish, absolutely no doubt, but not quite as impressive as the others. The s'mores one had me thinking campfires and coyotes before I even took a bite. I'm not even sure we ate a meal today, just cupcakes. No wait, we did have some hot dogs.

I love this man so very very much.

Hot dogs in Time Square are almost as good as Naked Dogs walkin' from the Varsity back home. Almost.

Time Square, oh Time Square! We stepped off the subway and the very first thing I saw was:

Suddenly I forgot I was wearing my un-Godly brown Clarks Privos walkin' shoes and started to see all things ruffled and sparkly. Then I saw the enormous sparkly BOA and remembered the dreaded "budget" word. Sigh.

Toys R Us is exempt from all things "budget" related, so in we went! Here's Dada looking out for Super Coop in the big city.

I have to be honest, I shrieked with glee when I spotted the ginormous ferris wheel in the lobby. If only Coop was along to ride in the Cozy Coupe.

When we came out of Toys R Us, I all but ran into this guy:

Isn't he so cute? Before Chris could stop me, I sprinted over and went in for a full frontal bear hug. Then I had to give him 5 dollars. Turns out hugs aren't so free.

Chris got 1/8 of the way through his lecture on city safety when I spotted...WOOODY!

5 more dollars. Turns out, I blew our NYC budget on homeless street performers. Can't take me anywhere :) But isn't Woody SO incredibly fun?

Next stop, Rockefeller, Central Park, Grand Central Station, and Time Warner. I [heart] NYC! (But I sure do miss Coopie Baby.)

Betsey Johnson Fun!

I made it safe and sound! I hugged Chris' neck a million times when I saw him. Then I made him take 42 pictures together and threatened to tap dance in the subway station. He sure misses me.

He picked me up from Laguardia in a humongo Ford F150. He's the only guy who would whip it into the NYC passenger pick up line Texas sized in a diesel truck. I kept looking for a Mini Cooper or a Fiat. Silly me.

My first NYC mission: accompany hubs to Betsey Johnson Breast Cancer Event at her Soho Boutique. Only problem was that hubs went early to set up, and I decided to take a big fat nap after all of my airport fun. This left me to 1) Hail a Cab and 2) Navigate the city ON MY OWN to 3) Arrive in one piece.

I slipped into my little black dress, shook my head at how NOT trendy and fabulaire it was compared to Betsey's little get ups, and almost had to pop and Ativan when I realized that the only purse I brought was my gold and BROWN Coach bag. Yep. I was going to be that girl. I considered sneaking some cash and my lip gloss into my bra but it instantly fell out and landed on the hotel floor, so I had to scratch that idea. I tried to Dolly Parton up my hair to make up for the brown handbag debacle, but ran out of bobby pins after the first 49.

Chris had reassured me that the Bellhop would hail the cab for me. I can do this. I can do this. (Why am I such a fraidy cat??) I scooted out the door of the hotel and promptly found the "cab line" which was (no lie) 26 people deep. I stood in the rain for 45 minutes waiting my turn and freezing my tushy off. I was feeling sassy and oh so independent...until...a fight broke out in the line. The NYPD paddy wagon showed up. The Bellhop (who tried to break up the fight) got escorted off the premises and I was left standing on the street corner ALONE, in the front of the line. I stood firm and fought every urge to sprint back to the hotel room, put on my favorite ruffle pj pants, and watch more episodes of the Kardishians. I hailed my own cab, thankyouverymuch, tipped him 150% because I was so scared he would drop me in an ally, and showed up at the most faboosh PINK party in all the world.

This is how Betsey pulled up:

She is one crazy lady.

I had a complete BALL looking through all of the wracks of super fun tulle dresses and 3 inch stilettos. I found a clutch that would have totally redeemed my brown Coach but couldn't decide between it or a black puff party dress so I left them both in the boutique and settled for a white "I LOVE NY" tee. Livin on the edge, y'all.

Leader and Yoplait did an incredible job. I've never had so much fun supporting a cause that is so near and dear to us, people watching, eating yogurt, and trying on party dresses. We just got back to the hotel and ordered a bacon cheeseburger. It's 1am. That's right. Jillian Michaels can whip me back into shape next week. Night y'all!