He's never bought me flowers...

 
Tomorrow is Valentine’s Day…the day that you show the people in your life just how much you love and care about them by buying them things….and it’s a day that more than likely, I will not receive a single present. I could be bitter about it….I could let it hurt my feelings…I could compare my relationship to others by the things they get tomorrow….but I’ve grown to realize that it’s not what Aaron does or doesn’t do on this day that proves to me that he loves me, it’s what he does consistently every single day. 

You see, every single morning when he’s gone off to work he sends me a text telling me how much he loves me and how he hopes my day goes well. Throughout my day he sends little reminders of how much I’m loved and thought of. As soon as he’s off work, he texts and calls throughout the evening, and there are nights when he drives all the way home just to spend a few hours with me before he has to sleep…and he never goes to bed without reminding me, once again, how much I mean to him.

This is a man that knows my primary love language is “acts of service”, so when he’s home, he 100% makes sure that my cup is full. He makes me coffee in the mornings, he does the laundry when I’m at school, he cooks dinner and has it ready when we get home. He helps with homework, runs bath water for babies, and takes them to and from basketball practice so that I can have a little time to rest and relax in a bubble bath with a glass of wine. All of these things he does consistently and without me having to ask.

This is a guy that knows my second love language is “physical touch”(I know that comes off as a shocker if you know me well because I despise being touched…but his touch is different). So to make sure I feel his love, he reaches over and holds my hand in the car. If we’re on the couch, he makes sure his arm is around me. If we’re at a table, he reaches over and rubs my leg. In bed every night, he wraps me up in his arms until I fall asleep….and every morning before school he kisses me goodbye. These are things that he initiates because he knows what I need to feel loved.

Aaron could buy me all the gifts in the world, but without the things above, it wouldn’t be enough. I’m beyond lucky to have found a man that shows me love in the ways I need it….and if I never get a single flower from him, his consistent love is enough.

Welcome to New York, welcome to New York.

…imagine in Taylor Swift’s voice…because I literally sang that over and over from the moment our plane landed until we left. I can only imagine that Aaron and the kids will scream “turn it off!!!” if they hear it on the radio from now until forever.

So, let’s recap and talk about our New York trip. First things first…it was absolutely as amazing as it seemed. It was actually even more unbelievable than I expected. Literally, the only negative thing I can think of is that it smelled terrible. Like really bad….but only in some places. Other than that, it was wonderful.

A little history on this trip…every single year we buy the kids way too many presents. We spend way too much money on things they literally do not even remember three months after Christmas. I end up boxing it all up and donating it the next October/November as to make room for the new things they will get for Christmas…and the process repeats. This year I started a little side business (LimeLight for those that don’t know) and it’s been a HUGE blessing. Because of this we didn’t want to waste our money on toys, but we wanted to give the kids something they would truly remember forever. So, we decided to take them on a trip. With much deliberation we decided on New York City! What better way to get into the Christmas spirit than with a trip to the city that does it the biggest. 

The way that Christmas fell this year, meant that we actually had school Monday and half a day Tuesday, so we planned to leave Tuesday night, stay in a hotel and fly out on Wednesday morning. Literally everything was taken care of…the only thing we had to do was stay well and healthy. Which we all did…until the Monday before the trip. Paislee started running a 101 fever…and we knew instantly it was the flu because basically EVERYONE in the school had it…and Paislee will catch anything someone throws at her.  She tested positive for the flu, which we expected, and we instantly started her on Tamiflu…goodbye $140…so glad we have insurance, right!?

However, we weren’t cancelling this trip…but anyone who really knows Paislee understands that she’s very, very difficult when she’s at 100%...so a sick Paislee means a very, very, very difficult Paislee….but we hoped for the best!

So on Tuesday afternoon, precisely 24 hours after testing positive for the flu, we headed to Houston. We stayed at the Marriot inside the airport because honestly I’m willing to spend a little extra money for convenience…and with an 8 year old and a sick 6 year old…convenience is nice. We knew we would be boarding the plane at 5:45 am and we didn’t want to have to wake up, get to our car, load it, drive to a parking lot for our car, unload our bags, load a shuttle van, and have them drive us to the airport. So, we stayed at the Marriot, woke up, walked downstairs, took the little trolley and bam, we were at our terminal. Money well spent.  Airport security was at an all time high, and with Kai and Paislee being first timers it was a new experience. However, we made it through in record timing. We flew Spirit, and honestly I was terrified because I’ve heard horror stories. However, the flight was great! The captain even let Kai and Paislee sit in his seat and check out all the buttons! The flight attendants were also awesome…cracking jokes on the intercom, and just all around happy. The flight back was even better. I have nothing but great things to say about Spirit and will definitely be flying with them again!

Now to the fun part….I’ll hit on what we did every day!

Wednesday: Arrived in New York around noon. Starving…and someone forgot to book a hotel transfer from Newark to our hotel in NYC. Luckily, there was a nice gentleman that saw us in despair and gave us a ride in his vehicle (it was a privately owned vehicle shuttle, so the price was a bit steeper, but hey, we were desperate).  When we arrived at The Roosevelt, which was absolutely beautiful and everything we hoped for, we unloaded our bags and set out to embark on the city. We walked to a restaurant called Naples 45 which had the best Margherita Piccante pizza that I’ve ever tasted. I could eat it every single day…and when we go back it will be a must have. After getting our bellies full we took out walking. We had no plan, no idea where to go or what to do and were quickly overwhelmed and exhausted.  First stop was the NYC Public Library…which was huge and everything I imagined. We walked to Time Square, it was packed and Paislee was on level 25 of 25 of whiney. However, we did see a pretty cool little show in the middle of the street which cheered her up for about 5 minutes. We went into the Hershey store…nothing really to see there…and the Lego Store (packed beyond belief)…and saw the tree at Rockefeller. You can see by the picture that Paislee was unimpressed. We knew at that point we should call it a day, and hope for a better tomorrow. So, back to the hotel we went for a cup of hot chocolate and sleep. We crashed at about 7:15 that night.

We totaled 5.7 miles of walking that day.

Thursday:  We slept until around 9! I told you we were exhausted. Aaron ran and grabbed us breakfast from a super special little place that we don’t have in Texas while we got ready. I’m just kidding btw. That’s what Aaron was supposed to do…instead he got Dunkin’ Donuts. Lord bless it. After our nutritious breakfast we took off for Central Park. We knew that we  would spend most of our day in the park, so we wore super warm clothes and comfy shoes! We knew it would be quite a walk from the park to our hotel, but we were rested and ready! At least we thought so….Paislee withered within two blocks of our hotel and Aaron ended up carrying her the rest of the way. Once we stepped into the park she was suddenly renewed and could manage running/climbing/ and doing all things that Kai did. Amazing how that works. Our first stop was the Balto statue! Then Alice and Wonderland! Then we made it to the Belvedere Castle where a wedding was taking place!  We stopped and got a hot dog and churros from a food truck, and kept walking! When we felt like we couldn’t go any further we mapped out our way to Shake Shack…and it was so worth the walk. The best milkshake that I’ve ever had was drank completely with no regrets. We decided it was time to visit the American Museum of Natural History because it was literally right across the street for the restraunt we were eating at...and it was insanely beautiful from the outside. We saw the Mummy exhibit, whcih all of us BUT Kai loved. He was a little freaked out. The dinosaur exhibit was a huge hit though! Afterwards, our plan was to take a taxi back to the hotel, but I think Aaron could tell I was super disappointed that we didn’t get to go to Strawberry Fields (a living memorial in Central Park to John Lennon) so he made it happen. God bless his soul, he’s a good man. After that it was getting dark, so we got to see Central Park at night, and I swear it’s even more magical. We walked back up 5^th Avenue on the way to the hotel and saw all of the window displays at night and stopped to see the tree at Rockefeller. Paislee was very impressed this go round. We stopped and went inside Trump Tower, which was insane! And we grabbed a treat from Magnolia Bakery. I haven’t stopped thinking about that Red Velvet Whoopie Cookie since I ingested it.  After taking in all the sights we went to a fun little place called Urbanspace for dinner. It’s a foodhall that has over 20 different unique eateries inside. We chose…wait for it…pizza. I mean can one eat enough pizza? I think not.  After we got our bellies full it was off to bed!

We totaled 9.9 miles of walking that day.

Friday: Sight seeing was on the list for the day! Aaron went out to get breakfast, and this time he went to Blake & Todd a little bakery on the corner of 45^th street. It was much, much better than the Dunkin Donuts from the day before. We set out with Lady Liberty, the 9/11 Memorial and Brooklyn Bridge on our minds. We decided we would take the subway because we needed to get to lower Manhattan and we figured the subway would be a fun experience! So, we went into Grand Central Station, which was breathtakingly beautiful and is probably my favorite thing in the city. When we finally realized how to get a metrocard (bottom floor, $2.25 a slide) we were set. We boarded Subway 4 and hit the road. Upon arriving at Bowling Green we exited the subway and began our walk to the ferry to see the lady in green. All in all it took about an hour and a half to get through security (be prepared to literally go through airport security measures every single place you go in NYC) and onto the ferry. We grabbed a couple of hot dogs and a pretzel and sailed on. I can honestly say I didn’t’ realize just how majestic The Statue of Liberty really was until I stepped off of that boat. She is huge and beautiful and a must see for anyone going to New York. I also didn’t realize you needed to purchase tickets in advance and online to be able to actually walk up onto her. To say that Paislee had a meltdown would be an understatement…she actually threatened to “stay wight hewe fowevew” until she could walk up those steps.  We convinced her to leave with us, and all was better when she actually got to walk into the Ellis Island Museum. If it had just been Aaron and I, I would have loved to explore the island more, but with the kiddos it was already getting late, and we didn’t want to exhaust them. We got back to Manhattan about 4:30 and still wanted to try out Max Brenner’s Chocolate Bar before it got too late, so we boarded the subway for it.

Max Brenner’s was worth every penny spent, and if you go to NYC and you don’t stop there to eat you are missing out on life.  Their milkshakes, hot chocolate, fondue, chocolate martinis, and mac and cheese are literally to die for.  When we left it was getting super late and we promised the kids we would ice skate still…Lord help our souls.

We knew we wanted to ice skate at Wollman Rink in Central Park, so we stopped by the hotel very quickly to just catch a quick breather and then headed out to walk to the park. I wasn’t super excited about ice skating because honestly I was exhausted, but I’m so very glad that we did. It is one of my favorite memories of the entire trip. The kids had so much fun, and we laughed until we hurt. However, suddenly after ice skating Paislee withered and Aaron ended up carrying her the entire way back to the hotel. Kai was a trooper the entire trip, he never complained. He was amazing.

The streets were beyond crowded and it seemed to take forever to get back to the hotel. We finally made it and while I got the kids ready for bed, Aaron went down the street and bought us some slices of pizza from a food vendor for dinner. We crashed shortly.

We totaled 8.4 miles of walking that day.

Saturday: Sadly on our last day in the city we woke up to rain. However, it worked out nicely because we wanted to see a Broadway and what better day to do that than on a rainy day! The kids chose Spongebob…yes with all the other options, SpongeBob it was. We ate a small little mom and pop diner while we waited for the Broadway to begin. It was surprisingly really great! But can anything on Broadway really be terrible? After the show we went to Ellen’s Stardust Diner at Times Square. It’s a 50’s themed diner with singing servers! Literally the entire time you’re eating they’re performing all sorts of songs for you! It was unbelievable and a must see for anyone in the area! Don’t be dismayed by the line, it stretched around the building, but only took about 30 minutes for us to get in! It started raining when we were leaving, so we took a taxi back to the hotel! Then it was time to pack and go to bed early!

We totaled 3.2 miles of walking that day. (It was rainy!)

Sunday: We left the hotel around 8:30 to make our flight back home! The driver to Newark was great, the plane ride with easy, and we landed in Houston around 3 o’clock on Christmas Eve. Trip complete and successful.

I literally can’t imagine a better time in NYC than what we had. I can’t wait to go back…maybe in the summer next time! I would say, if you have kids smaller than 6, I would wait. Kai is 8, and he did wonderful the entire trip. We totaled 27.2 miles during our four days there, so remember that when planning a NYC vacation. It’s was worth every step taken though.

Tale as old as time...

Beauty and The Beast…

Can I just say that I love Beauty and the Beast. Of all the Disney movies it is by far my favorite. I love the fact that Belle is an intellectual in a time that women were under strict social norms and had to comply with these norms unquestionably. She is uninfluenced by society, she thinks and acts for herself, even when it’s looked down on. She falls in love with someone based on what is on the inside, not what their appearance is on the outside.  She rescues the Beast, so to speak…in most Disney movies it is the man rescuing the woman.  So, when I found out they were bringing this movie back I could not wait to take my little girl to see it.

Until….

Insert suspenseful drumroll

...I reactivated my Facebook after a year. Unfortunately I did so on the week that everyone on the planet learned that Le Fou was going to be represented as an openly gay character. I’m not sure I’ve ever seen so many people say so many terrible things about a Disney movie. Are. You. Kidding. Me? Of all the positives that this movie brings….we’re going to boycott it because it has a gay character. I literally laughed a little, rolled my eyes, and said Aaron, you’re not going to believe this. Initially my thought was, am I the only person that while watching the cartoon as an adult didn’t kind of maybe, just a little, think that Le Fou was gay? He’s clearly all about Gaston….and yet no uproar.

I thought, surely it has to be more than just that for an entire movie theatre to boycott the movie? After reading a little more into people’s statuses, it seems the majority of people’s reasoning is this “We aren’t ready to have that conversation with our child yet.”  Ok, I get that…kind of. There are definitely certain topics that are not age appropriate for my children, and I try to shield them from the world as much as possible. However, there are things that are going to be a part of the world they live in and to me homosexuality is the least of my concern.  

I know, people are going to shake their head and say, “I know that homosexuality is a part of the world we live in, but that doesn’t mean that I have to introduce it to my child at such a young age” I get it, and I’m not the parent to your child, and you have the right to raise them in whichever manner you choose, isn’t that great! However, I do want you to know that your child probably already knows more than you think he/she knows. For example, the other day on the drive home, Paislee, five years old, enlightened me on the fact that she never wanted to get married because she wanted to keep her last name and she didn’t want anyone telling her what to do. I laughed and told her that if she never chooses to get married that it was just fine with me. Kai, seven, piped up and quickly exclaimed that “girls could marry girls and boy could marry boys”.  Very matter of fact. 

Here are three things that I did NOT do.…

1. *GASP* 
2.  Say, “where did you learn that?!”
3. Go into a long detailed explanation of what that means.  

I just simply said, yes you are correct, they sure can. That was the end of the conversation. Nothing more than a simple affirmation of yes that is true, and we moved on.

At 7 and 5 I believe that is as far in depth as I need to go.  What is the point of me mentioning this you might ask? What is the relevance in that story and Beauty and the Beast? My point is this, while you are avoiding this situation that is minutely in a Disney movie….your children are at school everyday and they are hearing these conversations. I know your argument will be, I can’t protect them all the time, but in situations I can control, I will. That’s great, and I agree, but what I’m saying to you is that if your child is in Kindergarten they probably already know that women can marry women and men can marry men. If the basis of your argument is that you’re not ready to have this conversation I just want to let you know that they’ve probably already heard this information and are processing it in their own way. The same way they process that men can marry women and women can marry men. 

In conclusion, the way I look at it (and I understand maybe in this area of the country I am in the minority) that if the only scene out of Beauty and the Beast my children remember, is the few seconds of Le Fou being openly gay, then I will use it as an opportunity to have an honest conversation about that scene. I’d much rather be the one that this topic is brought to with questions than another 7 year old at the cafeteria table. However, I feel like as adults we turn molehills into mountains and the chance of Kai or Paislee noticing Le Fou is gay is slim to none….so we will enjoy this Disney movie just as we’ve enjoyed so many others. 

I'll leave you with a few of my favorite Beauty and the Beast memes to lighten the mood...

Scars and the stories they bring...

"You can't die on me. I won't let you! I can't imagine a world without you in it!" Those are the words I screamed over and over again a year ago today. 

See, when your earliest memories have someone in them, it's hard to imagine a life without that person. Even if your daily life doesn't involve them. Even if you don't see them but every few months, they still have the ability to make such a large impact on you that the thought of never seeing them again is too much to comprehend. 

Before I really get started, let me take a quick break and take you back over 25 years ago....

From the earliest memories I have of my childhood school days I can remember Matt and I always being close. In kindergarten he insisted on having his mat right next to mine at nap time. This inevitably got me in trouble because he refused to nap and instead would tell jokes in a whisper voice. His favorite was singing Hankey Doodle and purposely messing up the words so I would laugh. Mrs. Delavon didn't find it as amusing as I did. 

Matt was the first boy to ever give me a balloon *insert girly "awwww" here*.. I'll never forget it...he marched right up with his rattail curl haircut and cowboy boots and handed me a Minnie and Mickey balloon. I probably said gross or something to the effect, but that's what's expected at 7, right? 

All through elementary, junior high, and high school Matt and I were close friends. 

In high school, our friendship changed when he decided it was his purpose in life to make mine miserable. He tormented me with all sorts of craziness...just for example... the thought of me having any sort of successful relationship was out of the question because he never ceased to stop badgering me and the guy. He even sat on my porch and waited for me to return from a date once. Just waited there on the porch swing. That date went great. I could literally go on and on with situations just like this....but no matter how much he dished out, it was only okay for him to do so...no one else was allowed to, or if they did, he always came to my rescue. I can't tell you the times that Matt has come to my rescue. In small things like carrying my ice bucket around along with his when we both injured our ankles in basketball, and in big things like being a shoulder I could cry on when we lost a great friend our senior year. Matt's just always been there. 

Fast forward to a year ago....when we decided to take a curve going a bit too fast on a fourwheeler. The last thing I vividly remember was flying over Matt's head. I'm not certain how long I laid on the road unconscious....but I know when I came to and turned around and saw Matt lying on his back with zero movement that life stopped.

This is when I ran yelling. This is the moment that I thought, this is it. I can't put into words the feelings that I had in that moment. I just knew I had to do something....and he still "humorously" thanks me for saving his life. See, anyone that has ever taken safety 101 class knows that you never, ever move a person that could have possible spinal chord damage.....so of course, I did what any logical person would do. I lifted him from the road, gently placed him back on the four-wheeler, and proceeded to drive a mile up the road to my front yard where I knew I would have cell service to call 911. Upon arriving in my yard, I ever so carefully placed him back on the ground...at least that's what I'd like him to believe...however, we both know that he actually fell off the four-wheeler and into the yard when the four-wheeler stopped. (If anyone is ever in need of a nurse to take care of you in a traumatic experience, I'm not the person to call). At this point I would like to say what I always do when Matt picks about this particular part of the night "but did you die?"...no, you're welcome. We can joke about this now, but only because miraculously we both managed to survive this night. I only had exterior wounds....Matt took the brunt of the wreck and was life flighted out that night with multiple internal injuries....including, but not not limited to a punctured lung....which he still places the blame on me for that😁. He spent over a month in the hospital, and still had months of rehab and recovery to go. However, a year later the scars are fading and you would never know either of us had ever been in such an accident. I can't imagine what life would have been like if Matt hadn't eventually walked away from that wreck. I'm just thankful everyday that he did. 

I read a quote once that said, "maybe life isn't about avoiding the bruises, maybe it's about collecting the scars to prove we showed up for it." 

Well, Matt, we can definitely say we showed up.

(The morning after the wreck)

(Two weeks after the wreck)

(Our most recent picture together-11 months after the wreck)