questions will become answers.

My hockey fandom is growing exponentially this fall.

Loving getting more games on TV.

Religiously following the Pens' online.

Nearing obsession. 

Beyond enjoyable.

The NHL came out with some super cool (well, if you're me) promotional commercials this year.

The best one (of course) starring my homeboy, Sid:

In honor of all things hockey, I thought I would use our fabulous weekend to answer a few questions of my own.

Question: Will I ever see Chris during daylight hours again?
Answer: Yes!

My fabulous husband has been working so hard and we have been missing him quite a bit. Thursday night after we put the Wild Thing down he said, "I think I might stay home all day tomorrow and give you the day off." I tried to remain impartial. I mean, if he needed to go to school, he needed to go to school. We talked it over and BAM!,  my man was staying home, making meals, and not allowing me to change a single diaper. And that's exactly what happened (though, technically I made my own sandwich at lunch because he doesn't touch avocado, and he got mad at me for that). It was a fun day. Carly was happy all day because daddy was home. Mommy was happy all day because daddy was home and because Carly was happy and because she got to go grocery shopping without Carly throwing eggs all over the store's floor. And I even painted my nails. What!? I know.

 {daddy feeding Carly lunch}

Question: What comes in boxes in the mail?

Answer: Prizes for Carly.

I am just about sure that when Carly watches me pull a box from the mailbox she knows exactly who that box is for. We go into the kitchen and I put the box on the floor and she bends over it, inspecting it and waiting for me to come cut it open. Then she expertly opens it up, pulls her prizes out and disperses them all over the kitchen. This was the scene on Saturday, when we received a surprise Fall package from my mom. Full of adorable warm clothes for Carly, Elmo plates (you know that was her favorite part), and Vitamin C and Zinc for mommy and daddy to avoid getting sick. We are blessed with two sets of generous parents. And we really love finding packages in the mailbox.

Question: Will I ever find a pair of decent winter shoes?

Answer: Ummmmm . . .

Technically, the answer is yes. A month ago my parents sent me birthday money, and I have been saving a bit of it to purchase a new pair of winter shoes. I've spent the last two winters in Tennessee, where you can get away with just about any type of shoe all year long. But here, I suspect I will need an upgrade. But unfortunately, we are all prisoned by trends, and the only shoe I could find in every store were knee-high boots. I will tell you, I do love a fabulous boot. But my budget and my "soccer-player calves" (as I kindly call them) just won't allow me to sport the look all that often. And as a girl who generally holds to a foot-uniform of tennis shoes, the knee-high boot just doesn't fit into my every day. So the quest was to find a solid, warm, quality, brown shoe that was not a boot. Ha! The shoe stores balked at my attempts. Remember when Doc Marten's were in style? Those were the days . . . Anyway, we finally made a road trip to the other side of town with a more diverse shopping selection. And I saw the most wonderful pair of riding boots that made my mouth salivate. Priced at a whopping $125 dollars (on sale), and having no chance of getting them to zip up around by calves, it was more proof of my dilemma, as if I needed it. As we moved on, however, I did find a pair of shoes. "Do these look like old lady shoes?" I asked Chris. He said no, though they were named the "Peggy". Oh, man. But with jeans they actually looked cute. In fact, they kind of looked like a boot without having to zip my calves into a tourniquet. So they came home with us. Me and the "Peggy's" will take on the Michigan winter together. But if I had skinny calves and hundreds of dollars to spare, you know I would be rocking these lovelies:

Question: Will Carly's hockey mullet go in big-girl pigtails? 

Answer: Why yes, yes it will.

Did you know that Carly has the most fabulous hockey mullet? A bit shorter and straight on top and in front, and long with beautiful curls in the back. If I had thought about it a bit earlier, I would have found her a tiny hockey jersey, given her a black eye with face paint, slicked her mullet straight back, and with her already missing teeth, she would have been a supreme hockey player for Halloween. I digress. But I was looking at her long curls last night and thought I wonder if her hair would go in pigtails? I mean real big girl pigtails, not baby top-of-the-head pigtails. This morning I sat her in front of my make-up bag and let her wreak havoc while I produced two of the cutest-in-history pigtails on her head. I refuse to cut her bangs, because I want all her hair to be the same length when she reaches real girl hair stage, so her front hair swept to the side and she looked totally insanely cute. And she looked about 5 years old. It was heartbreakingly adorable. They grow so fast.

{And, yes, she brings dishtowels to Church. There would be quite a bit of screaming if I tried to leave them behind.}

~

There we have it.

A weekend full of questions becoming answers.