itp x3! eekk!

What a weekend!!!  We seem to just be getting busier and busier!!  But I truly do love it, and I wouldn't want it any other way.  I love spending time with my family, supporting my kiddos, and livin' the dream!  In fact, I love it so much that I drove into Atlanta three times this weekend.  That's saying something for this country girl :)

Ryan made the Creekland middle school academic bowl team this year!!  He was one of only three 4th graders to make the Macedonia team, and he played again in 5th grade.  We're super excited for him for this middle school team.  It's intense, but he's owning it and rocking it.  He wakes up on his own four days a week, and we drive him to school for 7am practices.  Yikes!  In fact, I had just told Coleson that I was loving the extra time with just Ryan in the morning - we walk the girls out to the bus at 7:03, but Ryan wasn't leaving until 7:50.  And literally the next day, Ryan finds out he made the team, and we find out the practices are mornings, hehe.  It's all worth it though.  There's nothing better then seeing your kids find their passions and thrive.  So he had his very first team tournament on Thursday night, locally - more of a Cherokee county scrimmage.  And then Saturday, they had a tournament itp ["inside the perimeter"].  Here's Ryan and three of his best buds ...

Jake, Matthew, Ryan, Spence

Saturday morning we woke up about 6:30 to leave at 7:20 for our drive down to Chamblee.  My friend, Amy, aka Jake's mom, rode along with me in my party van.  We took Ryan, Jake, Matthew, and Spence down to the tournament.  As 6th graders, we were told they wouldn't play in this tournament, but everyone was encouraged to attend and observe.  They'll play again in November - everyone will participate then as there will be "novice" [6th grade only] teams in that tournament.  Matthew actually did get to play the first half of one round.  Rumor was that Dr. Naz was upset with the vets' performance so he subbed in some 6th graders.  Matthew answered a few questions, and the 6th graders were actually leading the round when they were subbed back out, woohoo!  And there were worksheets that the entire team could collaborate on.  But since they weren't actually expected to participate, Dr. Naz was totally cool about not expecting the 6th graders to stay all day.  We left after round four and took the boys to lunch at Moe's - an unanimous pick, phew.  I think Amy and I did good - they all ate, and no one got sick off of the various combinations of drinks from the goofy freestyle machine or from the salsa shots that I know my son, at minimum, was taking ;)  We got them back to the safety of our Cherokee county bubble just in time for a flag football game.  Which they played awesomely.  Won by three touchdowns I believe.  And Ryan got an interception!!!  This is a really fun flag football team full of friends!  And while winning definitely isn't everything, it sure is more fun to watch a good, competitive game.   

So that was itp trip number one.  After the flag football game, we headed home to regroup and shower and about an hour later, we left again.  We took the girlies to the amazing Khodabakhshs' house for the evening, and then Coleson, Ryan, and I headed downtown.  Abby got her For King and Country concert a couple weeks ago, and Saturday night was all about Ryan :)  We ate dinner at the CNN Center.  We need to go back and do one of the tours!!  Our little smarty pants seemed to really enjoy it - he recognized the huge globe from his CCN10 episodes and had lots of questions about it all.  And dinner was yummy!  The guys shared wings and I had a fancy chicken sandwich complete with coleslaw, pickles, and some hot sauce from the wings.  And the highlight of the evening ... the Hawks home opener!!  Ryan and I initially had tickets to the Braves postseason game, but umm yeah, they lost before they got to our game.  Fortunately our tickets were refunded, and we made a Plan B :)  This was my first time to State Farm Arena, and I'm pretty sure my first ever Hawks game.  Coleson took Ryan and Abby and some friends there back in March.  Chloe and I watched from home - that was a great game that the Hawks won in overtime.  Here are a few of the March- game Hawks fans [they went as a group of ten] ...

Abs, Taylor, Ryan, Clark

This was a great game as well.  No overtime [which was fine with me!], but super close the whole game and the Hawks got the win!  It was a really fun atmosphere; I'd go again.  Our seats were in the upper level, but only eight or ten rows back and right at mid court, great view.  And our parking was great too - easy in and easy out, always a plus.  It was a long, long, long day, but wonderful!!!  In fact, I skipped church Sunday and laid in bed way too long :)  Here's some pictures from Saturday's fun!

Abby's soccer always adds a bit of excitement to life and our weekend plans, and this weekend was no exception.  She was supposed to play a Sunday game in Douglasville at 3pm.  I guess they got more rain then we did over Friday and Saturday [we ended up with barely any despite the crazy forecasts], so Sunday's game was cancelled even though there wasn't a cloud in the sky and it was in the high 60s.  Instead she played in a scrimmage at her home fields ... and then she and I went back itp.  She was invited by a teammate to try out for a Georgia Alliance elite team?!  Basically four leagues coming together to make an all-star team of sorts.  We still haven't decided if we'll sign on or not, but the practice went great!  Abby, of course, would play soccer all day every day.  It's hard to imagine we're even thinking about doing this, but boy oh boy, her face and giggles and smiles when we asked if she wanted to go down and at least check it out.  The coach seems really good, I thought the practice went really well.  I guess the proverbial ball is in our court now.  It sounds like the coach would like to take her, but it was left at we would talk about it and email him.  The team has actually already formed, we've missed two practices, but the coach is hoping for one or two more girls and apparently asked the current players to invite the best girl from their home club team.  While we were down there - all the way past Turner field - Ryan was having a blast hanging out with Jake and his family all afternoon.  Lunch at Cracker Barrel, lots of ping-pong and playing, cookies, It's the Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown.  Coleson and Chloe had fun running errands and cooking Chloe's dinner choice - ravioli [no sauce though!] and salad.      

Now to continue my Monday morning recovery!  Updating the budget, running lots of laundry, uploading pictures of weekend fun, that sort of stuff.  And then next up is prepping for the Halloween week ahead and volunteering in Chloe's class in a couple of hours.  As locash would say, "man, I love this life"  Or actually, a better one would be Dierks Bentley..  "And some days you're just alive, some days you're livin'"  That's more fitting - it's Abby's current favorite song.  Her favorites do change pretty much daily, but we listened to that one several times on the way home from our itp soccer journey last night :) 

For King and Country at the fabulous Fox!

Where to start?!?!  Last Thursday, Coleson and I took Abby to see For King and Country at the Fox Theater in downtown Atlanta.  Oh. my. goodness.  It was sooo much fun!!!!  We all LOVE For King and Country, but especially of course our music-loving Abs.  I really think seeing them live is one of the best things ever :)

I stumbled upon them three years ago now, in 2016.  They were playing at a huge church down in Woodstock.  I didn't even know who they were, but I remember finding a pretty good deal on tickets, and it seemed like a fun thing to do.  Abby and I went, along with a bunch of other ladies including Alyson, Tara, and Emily & some of her girls.  Lauren Daigle opened, how cool is that?!  But of course, three years ago, we didn't know to be impressed.  I loved her then, and I'd really love to see her again sometime.  We were hooked from that very first concert.

Abby and I took the whole family the next year to see them in Gwinnett at the Infinite Energy Center.  That was Ryan and Chloe's first concert!  Abby sang every word, and Chloe slept through most of it, hehe.  They played with Casting Crowns, and they sang a sneak peak of their brand-new song Joy - which of course would go on to be a huge hit and one of our favorite songs!

first concert for these two :)

loved watching Abby watch the concert! 

The next year, 2018, Coleson and I made a weekend of it and saw them at the Ryman in Nashville.  The more intimate setting [vs the arena in Gwinnett] was amazing!!!!  And while they had an opening act [really, really weird group], it was "their" concert, and they sang a ton of songs and it was just about perfect!  Side note - we didn't care for Nashville itself, but really enjoyed Franklin.

This year, For King and Country came to Atlanta again, this time at the Fabulous Fox.  As great as it was to make a date weekend out of the concert last year, I was excited to take Abby again this time.  I love watching her watch concerts.  She gets so into them!  I took her to Sam Hunt a couple of years ago, and that night also tops the list of best nights ever.  She knew every word and danced & sang along to all the songs and everyone around us loved her - I'm sure it helped a lot that she was maybe seven and cute as can be, hehe :)  So I bought three tickets way back in the spring, hoping it would work out, and fortunately the awesome Esterlings were able to watch Ryan and Chloe for us.  

Unfortunately Atlanta traffic is AWFUL, and it took us forever to get downtown on a Thursday night.  By the time we detoured around an accident on the connector, took an unwanted tour of Georgia Tech, and finally found the parking garage, we had a lot less time then we'd hoped for.  We ate dinner at Mary Mac's - southern, comfort food is how I was trying to explain it to Abby.  I loved that she tried everything!  She's a good one to take out to dinner.  I felt rushed, but otherwise it was an enjoyable experience.  I'd definitely keep it on the list, and I'd like to go again when we can linger longer and finish our food.  Although the portions are crazy huge, so even if we'd had all evening, I'm sure I couldn't have eaten it all anyways!

The concert itself was just about perfect.  The Fox is a great venue, and it was fun to see it through Abby's first time eyes.  Oh - hilarious - my country girl thought that everything downtown looked like "prison."  All the bars on windows and even gated & locked entryways to the apartments.  The cars were in "prison" too [parking garages].  And where was the grass to play in??  Why do people live here??  But, she loved every bit of the Fox, which is very dark and closed in :)  It was really great that the whole concert was For King and Country's.  No shared act or opening act or anything.  They played every song on the new album and lots of older favorites.  The first couple of concerts, I left wanting more.  And while I still hated for it to end, at least I felt like they played everything, and they played for almost two hours - you can't ask for much more then that!

I put a little thought into our seats since I figured Joel and Luke would come into the audience at least once.  And they did, but we missed Joel by two rows! We were in the balcony, pretty much straight on, five rows back, GREAT seats!!  And the cell phone lights were goose-bump worthy for sure.  And just watching Abby sing along at the top of her lungs.  confetti cannons!  And an encore!!  I really don't think it was planned or scripted.  They came back out and made genuine-sounding conversation for a few minutes before singing a pretty much a capella version of Hold On To Me.  That was cool!!!  Speaking of genuine, I think that's why I love them so much.  They're brothers and pretty much the whole family is involved in the 'business.'  And they are story-tellers.  I love when they talk in between songs and tell family stories and banter.  And they're performers too, running around crazy on that stage.  In fact at one point, Joel is standing on a piano with cymbals, and I remember telling Abby, he's gonna jump, and sure enough he LEAPT up and off that piano while crashing the cymbals.  And they're not afraid to tell you that the opening song was indeed a little off because Joel had initially forgotten to bring his microphone on stage and he sings first, and Luke didn't know Joel's verse!  And Joel stands on top of that stage at the highest point he can get, reciting scripture during Proof of Your Love. 

The next day was really kind of odd - I would start grinning like a fool remembering the fun we had had.  And then I'd be so crazy sad it was over!  I'm already excited for next year!! 😍🙂

joy.

The guy in the white jacket [our right of the cello] was in serious danger of stealing the show!!  He played EVERYthing.  My favorite of course was the trombone, but also all sorts of drums and every type of stringed instrument including cello.  you name it, he rocked out on it at some point during the evening.

I love this girl's joy and passion and enthusiasm for pretty much everything in life, but esp of course for her music and her soccer :)

CHOA cape day 2019

Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta Cape Day

“While some superheroes battle scary villains, at Children’s our superheroes fight something much scarier – illnesses and injuries that many of us could never imagine.  But when they wear a cape, nothing is impossible.  Please join us as we celebrate all of our superhero patients”

Abby has been wearing her cape annually since 2016, and this year Chloe joined in on the fun for the first time too!  The sisters have been having a great few weeks of getting along, and I was excited to see them excited about this :)  Plus, I'm sure it was great to have each other at school, since no one else ever wears one.  The old school nurse used to, but the new one doesn't.  And actually in four years of cape wearing, no teacher/ staff, not even the nurse, has ever acknowledged it or asked Abby about why she wears it.  Abby was lamenting that she's the only one that ever wears one - all the while, never saying she didn't want to, which I loved.  So it was super fun for them to wear them together.  They each have a printed sheet to take to school that highlights their story and the why behind why they wear them.  Awesome Mrs. Shakespeare, Chloe's teacher and a good family friend, read her story to her class!  

she's a superhero in my book for sure!

they were all about posing themselves which makes for a happy, picture-loving mommy :)

From Abby's print-out ::

Our Abby was born in April of 2010 with the diagnosis of a multi-cystic dysplastic kidney - basically she only has one kidney [just like her mommy!].  However, we quickly realized that her one functioning kidney wasn’t functioning like it was supposed to.  Abby was admitted to the Scottish Rite emergency room on April 28^th and spent the month of May in the hospital.  Lots of tests, scans, bloodwork [including an IV in her head and a picc line], a very scary UTI, two nights in the PICU, a nephrostomy bag, a failed stint, and three surgeries later, Abby is an incredibly healthy, athletic, joyful, fun-loving girl.  To meet her now, you would most likely never know or believe all she went through to get to this point.  From birth, she has shown amazing strength and spirit and resilience. 

Our family owes her life to CHOA.  The doctors, nurses, techs, and staff there are nothing short of amazing.  While I hope no one ever has to go through what Abby did, we are so thankful for this wonderful organization and all they did for our baby girl. 

Today, Abby is perfectly healthy and in no way limited or affected by having only one kidney.  We had follow-ups regularly throughout her early years, but she was released from her urologist’s care at five years old, and only sees her nephrologist once every two years for a routine ultrasound and checkup.  

From Chloe's ::

Chloe’s first experience with Children’s came at ten weeks old.  After several outpatient visits, she was admitted to Scottish Rite with RSV.  We spent three full days and two nights there. 

Chloe has also visited the Scottish Rite E.R. two different times for two different broken bones – both times she broke both bones on her left forearm requiring sedation to reset and cast them.  We’ve also had various outpatient visits, including pneumonia when she was six.

For more on our family’s appreciation of and gratitude to CHOA, see her sister Abby :)  Abby was admitted to Scottish Rite at 15 days old, and over the course of a month and numerous surgeries, CHOA saved her life.  We are forever thankful for this wonderful organization.  What a blessing CHOA has been to our family!