Be joyful always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus. 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18

Sunday, June 17, 2012

Start spreading the news...

Warning...this is a long post about me and my girlfriends and nothing about the kids. Sorry!
This past week, my two oldest friends, Kathryn and Sarah, took a trip sans kids or hubbies to NYC. Daddy Mike was gracious enough to let us crash his place, too. We're so thankful for that!!!
Our main reason for going was to see one of mine and Sarah's favorite movies on Broadway, Sister Act. We, of course, had to throw in a few other fun things while we were there, too.
 
Our first day walking around NYC near the Flat Iron Building


 Our 2nd day:
Drew was able to hook us up for tickets to see The View. We were definitely spoiled with these tickets and our seats! I was even chosen to introduce Maggie Gyllenhaal during the commercial break!


Can you believe how tiny Sherri Shepherd actually is? She was soo cute!
 
If we wanted to, I bet we could have spit on the stage. That's how close we were!
It was a Whoopi Goldberg-inspired kind of trip for us!
Since it was Flag Day, the Drill Team performed during the opening. Pretty cool!
Joy Behar got a bust ice sculpture made for Sherri Shepherd.
Awesome ABC experience!

After The View, we kept up with our celebrity status and found our way to FAO Schwarz to play on the Big piano.





We then took a stroll through Central Park.

Our long stroll lead us to Serendipity...only to find out that the wait was forever and a decade!



We at least got our pictures made inside of Serendipity before we realized that we couldn't split a dessert. :(

After our day of celebrity lifestyle, we got ready to go see our Broadway show.

We look like we're really missing the kids, don't we?

Although our seats were close to God's house, it was still worth the trip!

I love a Broadway flashing sign! Ravon Samone was fabulous, too, btw!
 Day 3: Sightseeing
We headed down toward Southstreet Seaport to do a little sightseeing and to hit up the 1/2 price Broadway tickets. 

This little hole-in-the-wall diner is just around the corner from Mike's apartment. If you're ever in the Meat Packing District, you should check this place out for breakfast. Luckily, we planned on doing a lot of walking this day to walk off our delicious pancakes!

We were sooo excited to be able to find a to go cup with ice! We had to show off our cups in front of the Brooklyn Bridge.

Since all three of us mommas were dancers growing up, we were all mesmerized by this random beautiful ballerina on the pier. We probably stared for about 10 minutes while she and her partner performed.

After Southstreet, we walked over toward Staten Island to see Lady Liberty from afar. Ha!

Do you know about everyone planking all around the country in their photos? Also, did you know that you can pick your friends, you can pick your nose, but you can't pick your friend's nose...except for me and Sarah? We thought that even at 32 and even in NYC, we could still carry on our photo tradition. How American right? :)

In Times Square after our show
After all of our walking LITERALLY all over the city, we purchased tickets to see Anything Goes. We all decided that this was our favorite part about the entire trip! It's a tap dance show, so we were in love with the show!

This pic is out of order, but how touristy do Kathryn and I look in Central Park with our maps? Ha! Thankfully, Sarah and Kathryn had their maps on their iPhones.

We decided to be groupies after the show and get autographs of the performers. So fun!




Part of our walking around the town from today was a detour to find this store that Sarah remembered seeing on the Food Network.

This pure deliciousness made the few extra steps worthwhile!!!!
 Day 4: Our last day. :(
Have you ever heard of the Highline Park? It's right down the street from Mike's apt. Drew and Mike both always talk about it when we go. It's an old railroad track that has been turned into a city park above the city. I'm so glad that Mike made us walk around it before we headed back to LR! It's a really neat concept, plus it wasn't too far from Tori Burch's store!

That's us on a bridge overlooking a NYC street.

I'm so thankful that I have had my same girlfriends pretty much my entire life. And I'm so glad that we were able to get away and spend time together!

Saturday, June 9, 2012

Stars and Stripes Celebration

VeVe and D-Dub took the kids to MacArthur Park for the Stars and Stripes Celebration. Who doesn't love patriotic music? It's perfect for all ages!
 






It's perfect for dancing crazy, too!





Mommy, wow! I'm a Big Boy now!

Guess who tee-tee'd (sp?) on the potty last night?!?! I think I was so excited that I scared him when I screamed to tell Drew...he said "Mommy, you too loud!"

LaLa brought Benjamin big boy underwear today. I'm hoping we're really on the right track for this! Any suggestions for potty training boys are certainly welcomed here!

Of course, ME got to enjoy some new panties as well. Who would've ever thought that this would be an exciting thing? :)

Tuesday, June 5, 2012

An anxious momma

I know that I'm way behind on my blog, but I want to post my feelings about this morning, and then I'll catch up on the rest later. We are checking Benjamin into AR Children's Hospital this morning at 8:45 for a procedure at 10:45. I feel so terrible that he couldn't have anything after midnight last night! I know that his throat must be dry and I'm going to have to give him a little white lie all morning about we don't have any breakfast or milk. He's as bad as I am about wanting breakfast first thing in the morning!

Ben Ben the Pooper Man! (aka Super Man)
Anyway, the procedure will hopefully fix Benjamin's swallowing issue. Ever since he was a baby, he has always choked on liquids (mainly thinner liquids). He's 2 1/2 now and still chokes if I don't add a thickening agent to his drink (think honey thick consistency!), so the ENT is going to scope him today to see the cause of Benjamin's choking. I know that God will be holding Benjamin's hand for me, as well as helping Dr. Richter during the process, but this is my baby boy! I'm so not liking the thought of Benjamin being put to sleep and them taking him away from me! He's such a momma's boy and has really been wanting me to hold him a lot lately...it's just tugging at my heart that I won't be able to hold him later today. I think this 30 minute procedure will be the longest 30 minutes of my life! So I have to keep reminding myself that this could be much worse and I have to thank God for the healthy boy that Benjamin is! I know that so many of his and ME's classmates have gone through much more intense procedures, even at way younger ages, but this is still so hard for your little ones to have to go through anything.

I'm just praying that God helps us find a quick, easy cure today!

Friday, June 1, 2012

A cool June morning

Well, yesterday was the kids last day of school so today was a work day for me. I was supposed to be excited about that right? However, I have strep once again! I think this is like my 100th time to have it since I've switched school 2 years ago. Luckily, Verna kept the kids for me so I could get some much needed sleep last night and be ready to pack up my classroom today. Did I mention that I'm packing up all of my third grade stuff to move down to Kindergarten?!?! I'm very excited about this change!
 
While I was busy packing up my room with the help of my mom (THANK YOU SOOOOO MUCH!), the kids got to watch D-Dub power wash VeVe's deck. It's the little things in life that keep kids entertained.
 

Does something look odd in these pics below? It's Summer in August and they're covered up in blankets! It was unusually cool this morning. But they sure do look content.