Party In A Box

Great ideas come to me while I'm driving and that's how the "Party In A Box" idea came to be for my friend Blair.

You see she's been working on acquiring her hours to be a counselor and tomorrow she will finally hit her coveted required number and will officially be a licensed counselor.  How many hours would you guess one has to log to earn this title?  500?  975?  1027.5?  2501?

Well you're all wrong!  It's 3 freaking thousand hours!  Let me repeat myself...three what the what thousand hours!  I don't even know how long it has taken her to complete this task, but alas tomorrow afternoon she will have her three thousandth hour and will log another hour never.ever.again.  Amen.

So of course my brain jumps to how she is going to celebrate so that this isn't one of those anti-climactic moments.  Enter "Party In A Box!"

The girls and I dropped it off tonight on her porch and being the lover of surprises I am we opted not to knock, but just leave the gift.  However, her pup decided to lose her mind and blew our cover only for us to be found out as we were backing out of the driveway.  All was well when hugs were given and Junie B. proudly showed off the picture she drew Miss Blair.

Want to know how you too can make your own Party In A Box?  Just follow these easy step by step instructions.

1.  Stay up late the night before googling "celebrate" songs and make a mixed tape cd consisting of such gems as "Walking on Sunshine," "Zippidy Doo Dah," "Taking Care of Business," and my all time favorite, "All I Do Is Win!"
2.  Text your friend's best friend's husband (did you get that?) to ask for his wife's number.  Once he responds, text your friend's best friend to find out her favorite snacks.
3.  Quickly run into your nearest grocery store to purchase said snacks.
4.  Run into Party City to find party supplies.  Purchase supplies then make a scene just before getting outside by reprimanding your foster daughter for attempting to thieve a Warhead from the store.
5.  Wrap old shoe box and fill with celebration goodies in between your play therapy appointments while also simultaneously ignoring a meltdown by Princess Whiny Pants because she can't sound out the word 'sit'.
6. Deliver to friend.  Surprising is optional.

There you go...Operation Party In A Box was successful!

Three

A few weeks ago we all celebrated my brother being clean and sober for THREE years!  There aren't enough words to explain just how proud of my big brother I really am.  I don't know if I would have had the courage and strength that he does to get him to THREE years! THREE years...that's amazing!


And then exactly THREE months from day I will receive the best birthday gift ever.  I told my brother for my 30th birthday that I wanted his gift to me to be that he would quit smoking.  So he's got THREE months left and then he will officially be the best gift giver ever...and a whole lot healthier!

Smile.

Yet again I came home to find something that makes me so incredibly happy...

Here are the 3 reasons I love this:
3.  It's a note from one of my most precious friends CP and her husband.
2.  It's one check closer to raising all my support for my Rwanda trip.
1.  It has the traced handprint of one of my fake nephews, Noah.  Love, love, love that little man!

Instant Pick Me Up

When you’re having a bad day that just makes you uber frustrated with life AND then you end up sitting in traffic in the city that you currently despise…well then you kinda feel like just yelling the F word. 

That is until you get this text message on the drive:

 And then you get home and find this in the mailbox:

Houston owes those two sweet boys big fat THANK YOUs because otherwise I would have come straight inside to the computer to look for jobs that got me the H out of this city.

Meet My Godson

This is a month overdue...actually it's almost 2 months overdue. But it's never too late to share about the little boy that made me a Godmommy for the first time.

Meet Joshua Mack Crawford...my sweet, sweet Godson...

One of the things I love most about this little Snugglebug is how much he looks like his mama. Cause you see his mama is my bestie and this world can never have too much of her.

She is lovely, crazy, inappropriate, comforting, funny, Jesus lovin, fashionable, and way too many other things.

I'm a lucky girl to have this girl as my bestie...

To have her first born as my Lovebug...

And to have her newest as my Godson and Snugglebug...

Meeting the Tickler

It’s no mystery that I love with a fierce love when it comes to my friend’s kids.  Currently that love is being divvyed out on a daily basis to 16 little loves.  With each one I silently wonder if I will still have love left for them…and yet there are still more to come in the coming years!

Well all those fears of running out of love were quickly put to rest when I landed in DC on Thursday night and was surprised to see Michelle and baby Kase walking up to meet me.  I ran and hugged her tightly and didn’t want to let go because I was honestly nervous to see him for the first time.  Would he like me?  Would I recognize him?  What if people saw me cry?  What if I'd built it up too much and he was just like any other baby?  Would I love him enough?

And then I saw him and as perfect as I thought he was in pictures, they did not do justice to looking at him in person.  It took everything in me to not frantically undo the car seat and scoop him up into my arms.  But just about a hour later he was placed in my arms for the first time and I just stared at his sleeping face and fell in love hard.

Oh it was a great weekend!  I had three full days with perfect weather, best friends, and the newest love of my life.  We dined on all the yummy meals delivered, slept when we could, laughed about how well we thought we knew each other, saw some DC sights for the first and last time, and all the while marveled at this new little boy and imagined what life was ever like before him.

I snuggled with Kase, helped bathe him, changed yucky diapers, mastered getting him in and out of the car, learned what makes an outfit worthy in Michelle's eyes, woke up for 2 am feedings, learned the art of swaddling, and perfected how to bounce him just right to help him fall asleep.  Oh yeah…and hung out with Michelle and Daniel part of the time too!

I had been counting down the days until this visit and all the anticipation did not disappoint.  Every time I’ve visited them in DC, I’ve left claiming it was the best trip yet and this time was no different.

However, this time I left with tears streaming down my face and trying not to focus on the fact that it will be at least six months before I hug my best friends again and hold that sweet little boy.  Even right now as I type high in the air the tears are flowing and the lady next to me keeps making sideways glances at me and I’m sure wondering what the H is wrong with me.

I realize I'm acting like a big 30 year old baby crying over saying good-bye to friends, but...hell I'm 30 and cry like a baby if I want to!

Thank goodness for Instagram and a fancy new camera these pictures do a much better job of telling what I did this Easter weekend...

Reasons I Love February

February usually isn’t a very monumental month in the years of my life…with the exception that it holds one of my most favorite holidays: Valentine’s Day!

However, this February its going to be spectacular for three very different reasons.

Reason #1:  Tomorrow is Valentine’s Day and I absolutely LOVE Love Day!!  I don’t even care that I’m single and will most likely spend this year’s Valentine’s Day baking and watching reruns of my favorite TV couple falling in love.  Shout out to Ben and Felicity!

I love having a day where I get to boldly proclaim how much I love people.  And I do love a lot of people!  On Saturday I mailed out over 20 Valentine’s Day cards to friends and family.  I’ll be making goodies for the teachers that I work with and there will be several phone calls, texts, and Facebook videos tomorrow to some of my most favorite people. 

This day just makes me so HAPPY!

Reason #2:  In about 4 days one of my newest fake nephews will be making his appearance on this earth.  Jodi is set to be induced Friday morning, unless Mack comes earlier, and then I’ll be getting to Dallas this weekend to lavish my new Snugglebug with all kinds of embarrassing love.  This one is even more special to me because I get to be Godmommy to this little guy…

Oh I can’t wait to meet him!  I wake up every morning wondering if this will be the day and lately when I’m running and really wanting to quit I start trying to imagine his sweet little face to keep me distracted long enough to finish whatever mile I’m on.

Reason #3:  On the 28^th of this month the Houston Rodeo will get kicked off.  This event every year is a bittersweet one for me.  The Houston Rodeo was one of my dad’s most favorite things.  Even now when I’m there it feels like home because of him.  Along with that, somehow several years ago he convinced my brother to start working it too.  So that means in just a few weeks there will be a whole lot of this…

And as if that wasn’t good enough…this wonderful invention will make me laugh and scream a bazillion times!!

I freaking LOVE the Zipper ride!  And now Bubba and I ride it once together at the Rodeo each year.

It’s gonna be a good month!