Tiny Tales Thursday...

Radley was PUMPED that his "big Cousin Owen" was coming to town. And even more excited when he actually arrived! We were so proud of him all weekend because he was just so sweet to Owen. Not that he isn't usually a nice kid, but when you are around the same people (ie. Kayla and Caroline) all the time you are bit less inclined to share your toys.

Saturday night we were putting the boys to bed (Owen got to sleep on the trundle) and this conversation happened:

Ryan: Ok, boys let's read a book.

Radley: Here, Owen you can have my football (which is one of his special blankets that he doesn't often want to share).

Ryan: Blah blah blah (reading a book)

Radley: Wait, Daddy. Turn the book so Cousin Owen can see, too.

They must have been worn out because neither one of them moved until 9am the next morning. Finally Ryan went in Radley's room to check on them and Radley was just sitting up in his bed, wide awake.

Ryan: Hey, buddy. Whatcha doin?

Radley: SHHHH. Cousin Owen is sleeping. I wait for him to wake up.

There is no telling how long he was sitting there waiting for "cousin Owen."

***************************************************************

Radley had to stay home from school yesterday because he had a fever late Tuesday afternoon. When I picked him up from school I asked if he was okay. His response, "I okay, Mommy. I just have little bit of a cold."

When we got home on Tuesday night he immediately wanted to watch his go to "I'm sick" movie, Cars. We have seen this movie no less than 1000 times but it really never gets old. If you haven't seen it I suggest you watch it!

As he was watching Cars, he had to get out all 57 of his "Car" toys (thank you, GiGi) and scatter them about the family room. When it was time to go to bed we were trying to pick them all up and some had made their way under the couch. Radley was trying to reach them and I asked if he needed help. "No thanks, Mommy. I try get it with my footie."

When did his foot become a footie? :)

Emersyn's Baptism...

We have had an eventful past several days! Emersyn was baptized on Saturday and we had a ton of visitors to mark the special occasion! We were up so late on Friday night to get ready for everyone and it was completely worth it because the weekend was just AWESOME! :) Full recap post to come later (maybe Friday).

For now, I want to remember what a special day Emersyn had on her baptism.

We started the day with some very special guests arriving! The "California" Guercio's were here. Jody is Emmy's Godfather so he couldn't miss the big event and neither could Owen and Sonya! Radley was so excited to see "Big Cousin Owen".

We just took the morning slow and easy and had our usual meal when celebrating a big event in one of our lives.... spaghetti and gravy complete with Caesar salad, fresh bread, meatballs and boiled eggs (yes you read that correctly). DE-LISH! This is a time honored tradition in our family and is becoming one in our friends' lives as well. I can't tell you how good this meal is; you just have to taste and see!

Mom and MaMaw made a killer batch of gravy this time... it was so good in fact that I was a horrible blogger and didn't even take a picture! The table was just so cute, too... we had a picture of Emersyn at each space for our guests to remember the day by.

After lunch the big kids got to play for a while and we opened gifts for Emersyn. She is just a lucky little girl to have such loving friends and family in her life and they all made the day even more special.

We are just so in love with her and could not have been more excited to welcome her into our church and our faith life.

Some of the gifts were full of fun like the giant elephant "rocking horse" from GiGi and Pops (which I L-O-V-E)...

and some were full of sentiment like the special note from Jenni, her Godmother and my best-friend.

After gifts it was time for all of us to get dressed and head up to St. Thomas. Emersyn wore Jody's baptism gown since he is her Godfather. We (well, KK) added a special touch by sewing a piece of lace from my mom's wedding gown to the bottom. KK also made a rosette out of mom's dress fabric as well.

We selected Jody as her Godfather for special reasons. Jody is my oldest brother and has always looked out for me. At times, it was overbearing and fatherly when all I wanted was a brother, but I know that it was done from love and still is to this day. I know that he will cherish and honor the relationship he has with Emersyn because of it and she is very lucky to have him as her "Renee" (pronounced Ree - knee).

Ryan and I were in sort of a conundrum for selecting Godparents....we have no married relatives that are Catholic and although the GPs don't have to be married, it does make it easier for logistical reasons. ;)

However, when I asked Deacon Ted if the GPs had to be Catholic, he told me that only one did. I was so pumped and instantly thought of Jenni. Jenni is as close to a sister as I can get. We have been best-friends since the first grade. I am fully aware of what a blessing it is to have a friendship like ours and hope that she knows just what she means to me. We have seen and done it all and I love her to pieces!

Now, Jenni was raised the opposite of Catholic. She grew up in an Assembly of God church which I LOVE! Every bit of it... the clapping, the singing, the worship... and sometimes would love to clap in our church to get a reaction! :) Jenni knows the love of Jesus and walks with Him each day in her life. I can think of no better woman to serve as a Christian example for my daughter.

The baptismal ceremony was so special. Father Michael married Ryan and I and baptized Radley as well. He holds a special place in our family's life and I am glad that he could be there to baptize Emmy as well.

Jody and Jenni had a special role and will continue to as she grows in her faith.

Emersyn was so content that she fell asleep! This is her and Father after the ceremony. I was trying to hear what he was saying to her, but I'll just let that be a secret between the two of them.

Our family and friends made the day complete! We love you all so much!

And thank you, KK for taking pictures and being there to love and support our kids, too!

Five Generations of women...

And who doesn't want to end such a sweet day with a little bit of silly, too...

For all of you who have baptized yourself in Christ have clothed yourself in Him

Galatians 3:27

A chorus line...

Look out Broadway...

Tiny Tales Thursday...

Radley has decided he doesn't like certain foods. Not sure why or where he gets this from because between Ryan and me we eat pretty much anything. It's mainly food with "color" such as tomatoes, spinach, etc... and especially if its anything that he does like. For example, spanish rice.

Rad: Mom... there is red stuff in there.

Me: You like it, Radley.

Rad: Take it out please.

But the kid will eat ketchup and sour cream with a spoon. Weird.

So, we were eating dinner and I had put some guacamole on his plate (I always put everything on his plate so he gets used to the idea of seeing it). He didn't want to eat "the green stuff" so Uncle Pete demonstrated how good it was.

Pete: MMMMM.... I like this.

Radley looks at him with little interest.

Pete: (flexing his bicep) When you eat green stuff you get big muscles.

Rad: (again with no interest and as quickly as Jeremy said it) I don't want big muscles...

And continues with his chips and sour cream.

Guess he'd prefer a big belly!

Put a LOT of love in your heart...

I have a confession.

I was worried that I wasn't going to love Emersyn as much as I love Radley.

There. I said it.

But it's true. I looked at Radley and my heart filled with so much joy and love that I really thought it was impossible to love someone that much. I just didn't think my heart could take it.

I was scared. I was nervous. I was just unsure and not convinced that it was possible.

And then.... well, then she arrived.

And all of it changed.

In an instant my heart grew. I felt like the Grinch must have felt when he discovered the Christmas spirit. My heart literally grew to fill the love that I have for her.

She's only been here for 15 short weeks and already I can't imagine life without her. What did we do? How did we possibly fill our days with the void that was there without her?!?

It's crazy how much your heart can sustain. When Ryan and I were engaged I couldn't imagine loving him any more. And then we got married and he made my dreams come true.

And then I watched him become a Daddy. And my love grew more.

I pray that my heart is always this happy.

I pray that it can grow bigger and bigger to sustain each happy moment, each wonderful blessing that comes our way.

I hope that Radley and Emersyn know just how much they make our lives complete.

I hope they know that each day Ryan and I live for each day for them.

Always.

I'll tumble for you...

Ever since I was pregnant with Radley I have thought about all the fun activities he would get to do growing up. Would he play tee ball? Soccer? Pee Wee basketball? Gymnastics? or heaven forbid, all of the above?

Well, no sooner did I blink than the time arrived for us to sign him up! He was still one year too young for soccer (because we all know that his Daddy is going to make sure that he plays soccer!) but he was old enough for one of my favorite sports... GYMNASTICS!! :)

We signed him up, along with Kayla, for weekly gymnastics lessons with the caveat that we would take him out if he was too young to enjoy it. Well, let me just say that when Tuesday rolls around Radley KNOWS that he gets to go to "gym-ass-tics".

We pick him up from school and tell him to hurry so we can get to the gym. He and Kayla gather their belongings and rush to the car so we can get to Power Sports on time. Radley always makes sure that there is a spot next to him for Kayla and I just think it is so cute!

You think someone is used to getting his picture taken?

They have so much fun sitting in circle time and stretching. They sing songs, play games, act silly and just get to be a kid!

I am so jealous that I can't join in on the fun. I just know that SOMEWHERE inside of me that I am still able to do a back handspring! I love watching them because I can remember being 3 and 4 years old and taking cheerleading lessons from Suzy Sandhoff as well as at Angela's Dance. It was just so much fun laughing and giggling and getting nothing accomplished but having fun!

He does such a good job at trying everything and listening to what he is being told. I may have to ask these teachers what their tricks are! :) Every time we leave the gym I flash to the future and think about how fast it is all going by. When did he get this old? How can we already be involved in "after school activities"?

I get a glimpse of how good it is going to be in those moments and then I look in my rearview mirror and think about just how great it is right now.

What's all the Buzz about...

Remember this post? (scroll to the second tale)

Well Friday night I got a second chance! One of the great things about living in a college town (besides that the college is THE best university in Texas, Texas A&M... shout out to you Niki) is that there is always super fun things going on at a very cheap rate.

One of our student organizations brought Toy Story 3 to our campus theater! For $2/ticket we got to watch this sweet film (kids were free) and this made 2 Mommies, 1 GiGi and 2 toddlers very happy...

It was well worth the first catastrophic attempt of mine to watch this film. If you haven't seen it then you should! It is a great story about friendship, loyalty and letting those you love grow up and move on.

Radley and Caroline were pumped to watch it again (for the first 45 minutes at least but I wasn't leaving until I saw the ending).

They were clearly the two cutest audience members that night and almost made it on stage during the credits to dance in front of the crowd. We had a fun night and I was once again reminded what it is that really makes life so sweet.

Tiny Tales

So Radley is a boy. Clearly he has been a boy for 3 years but he does "boy things" and I love it.

A recent trip to the potty...
Rad: Turn on the fan, Mommy, it's going to be stinky.

A recent lesson from Mommy...
Mom: Rad, are you listening?
Rad: Yes.
Mom: I need you to put your listening ears on.
Rad: with sound effects places each hand next to ear as if "putting on ears" Ktch. Ktch.

A recent bath time with Emmy...
Mom: Rad you want you wash your hair first, or Emmy?
Rad: Emmy, Mommy. Because girls go first and boys go second.
(I LOVE that you can teach chivalry at a young age!!)

Have a happy Thursday!!

Halfway there...

We made it! It is the half point in the "30 day challenge" ! And I am extremely proud to say that we are on our way to S-U-C-C-E-S-S!! (we are the very best!.... Sorry I can't just spell that word, I have to say a cheer we did in the 7th grade every time I do. A tad annoying.)

Purchases so far:

• Ryan purchased some ice from a convenient store to refill his water jug for work (necessity)
• Radley and Kayla had a Chic Fil-A nuggets tray for their party
  
• Radley takes gymnastics every Tuesday which begins at 6:15 so it's pretty impossible to pick him up, take him home to eat and make it in time. We have purchased him Mickey D's Happy Meal for dinner. Total for the month: $8.00
• NOTHING ELSE!!

I can't believe how well we are doing! Dinner has been easy since we have our meals planned each week it's the snacking, lunch (because people at work always want to go eat), Sonic drinks and weekends. However, we have been disciplined and avoided the temptations of eating out!

We realized that we wanted to be able to track our success in "real time" so any time that we have TRULY wanted to eat out enough to make excuses or justifications for it we have immediately put money away into savings. When all is said and done we should still be able to put as much into savings this month as we did prior to Emmy's day care costs!! Whoop!

We have also discussed our plan of action for future months:

• Only ONE family meal out each month
• Cash allotment for lunch/snack expenses each week (not to exceed $10 each)
• Special occasions can be exceptions but not excuses
  
• Radley's gymnastics days we will get him dinner, but not ourselves

I must say that although I am extremely proud of us I am totally craving random things like pizza, french fries, Pei Wei and....


only 15 more days until "happy hour!"

Chugga Chugga... Poo Poo?

Great title for a post, eh?

Well, for those of you who don't like poop stories quit reading. (Actually, you probably don't even read my blog anymore because I seem to talk about poop A LOT! But, well, I have a 3 year old and a newborn...it's pretty much part of my daily routine.)

Back to poop.

Radley has gone crazy. And by crazy I mean he has decided that toilets aren't necessary. He had gone weeks without any kind of accident and then all of a sudden he just decided to poop in his pants. Any where.

At Josh and Cindy's.

Reading books.

Playing trains.

LAYING DOWN. (now that takes talent).

Finally we had enough and took away his train table. Now, this may seem harsh to some, but at this point I felt (Ryan, with the strength of harmony disagreed) that he was doing this on purpose.

He was not allowed to touch it unless he could be a big boy and poop in the potty.

Funny what a little motivation will do....

Let's hope that phase is out of his system once and for all and that he stays "on track"!

Quiet...

Tonight is one of the first Sunday nights in a while that I am honestly rested! We had a quiet weekend at home... just the 4 of us and it was fantastic! We ran errands, took naps, did laundry and even crafted a bit and it was glorious! Hope you all had a fun weekend, too!

And for those of you not on FB... here's a little preview of Radley's 3
year and Emmy's 3 month pictures...

More to come! Thanks, Sarah, for once again being awesome!

Tiny Tales Thursday

As you know, Radley turned 3! This excites him very much... mainly because he got a very fun "train table" from Mom and Dad (and Emmy).

About once a day (really all day) he asks if he can go play with this new table. It's like it doesn't really belong to him and he can't get over that he has one... in HIS own house. Goes something like this...

Rad: I go play with my train table, Mommy?
Me: Yes, buddy.
Rad: It's my table, Mommy?
Me: Yes, buddy.
Rad: I got it for my birthday? (in disbelief)
Me: Yes, buddy.
Rad: Five minutes? (he always wants to know how long he can do things)
Me: Buddy, you can play with it all day every day... its yours!
Rad (eyes very large from excitement): Yay!

This morning as we were all leaving the house Radley wanted to know what his after school snack would be.

Rad: You bring me cheese crackers today, Mommy?
Me: Sure, buddy.
Rad: Yay, I LOVE cheese crackers.

Walks a few steps, turns around and adds: Ummm, maybe you should bring me a bowl to eat them in. Thanks.

Where does he get this?!?!

Bless their heart...

While I was pregnant with Emersyn a lot of people were oh so kind enough to warn me about how terrible Radley would become. He was going to try to hurt her, throw major fits, act out, etc...

I of course reacted like every sweet southern woman should do and simply smiled and nodded all the while filling my heads with phrases that began with "bless their heart". Because like all southern women know, any phrase that begins with "bless their heart" is perfectly acceptable.

Something like...

bless their heart, they don't know any better...

bless their heart, their children aren't cute...

bless their heart, they don't know their a** from their elbow...

bless their heart...

Okay, you get the picture.

Back to how horrible my child was going to become.

Ryan and I were very intentional (shocker, I know) with preparing Radley for Emersyn. In our eyes, preparing him was the most important thing we could do. For almost 3 years he had been our baby (and always will be) but now he had to share that title. We read books, took him to see the ultrasound, hosted a brunch, etc...

It was extremely important to me (and still is) that he felt included and important, well, because he is!

Well, imagine the smile on my face when I had left Emmy and Radley alone in the room for about five minutes and returned to see this...

Radley had gotten off the couch to go lay by his sister. He was even holding her hand (but had let go by the time I grabbed the camera).

Seriously?!?! Could life get any better than this!?! I think not!!

Especially for those poor people that warned me about my demon child...

bless their heart...

Happy Monthday...

Happy Three Month Birthday, Emersyn!!

You just insist on getting older, so I guess we will have to let you! This month your personality really began to emerge which makes us happy since you have such an animated brother!

So... what have you been up to this month?

I think it's safe to say that we hit the jackpot with you! You sleep from around 9pm - 7am every day! A few times you've even slept a full 12 hours! Your daddy and I appreciate that very much! You take about 3-4 naps each day and those vary depending on what we are doing and where you are napping. Your favorite place to nap is in the swing in our room and I don't blame you...it looks super cozy!

Your "vocabulary" has really grown this month! ;) You like to "talk"most in the morning and always wake up with a smile. You regularly make "aaaa" and "oooo" sounds and is music to my heart. You are hardly every grumpy and really only "complain" when you are ready for a nap.

You still don't love "tummy time" but too bad because we don't want you to have a flat head! You love your bumbo and really act like you want to sit up which is funny! You are strong enough to go without support for your head when being carried and love to face out and watch everyone.

KK has officially taken over during the day and you love getting attention from her. Your brother can make you smile so easily and he loves to love on you! You look just like your daddy and have us all wrapped around that tiny finger!

Your favorite places to be are your changing table and bouncy chair. You just "march" with your feet and get so excited by your mobile and the sounds. We could leave you there all day and you would be happy (but of course we don't).

You laugh out loud when we tickle you and make funny noises and it is the sweetest sound! You also SNORE when you sleep and believe it or not, that's cute, too!

You really are such a sweet baby and we continue to be thankful for such a wonderful blessing! We love you!

Happy Birthday!!!

From the moment we met you....

To all the moments in between....

We have loved every tiny piece of you....

And always will!

Happy Birthday William Radley King!!!

ABC...Guess who is turning 3...

Radley and Kayla!

We celebrated their birthdays (Kayla was born on the 5th and Radley on the 6th) with another joint party! This year we hosted the event at the Children's Museum complete with an "alphabet theme" ABCs were everywhere!!

This was the PERFECT place for a kids party! Everything we needed was at the museum including balloons, table covers, toys, games and 2 staffers to help us with set up and clean up! The kids had a blast and we the adults were pretty entertained, too! We had the place all to ourselves which is the way to go in my book!

I can't believe these kiddos are THREE! It literally feels like yesterday that the Kings and the Baileys were neighbors in the hospital and now our kids are actual "kids" and sweet best-friends! They really do love each other and it's fun to watch them grow up.

Their little faces were just filled with joy when they saw their party decorations...

And the goodies that everyone got to take home...

Gigi was a MAJOR help yesterday and Emmy was dressed for the theme in her "letter" shirt!

Sweet Alex had so much fun playing in the "construction" room!

All the kids got to paint and take home their own "letter"...

Some one was all smiles...

And Kayla kept a steady watch on the "grocery store"...

It was so much fun that some of us even joined in...

Karli-bug was an excellent cashier!

After all that playing it was time to eat and blow out the candles on the cake!

An "R" for Radley...

And a "K" for Kayla...

Annaliese's favorite part was all that yummy icing...

Then it was time for presents! Kayla got lost in all that good stuff...

And Radley was so excited he wanted to take off his shirt! (HA!)

Caroline kept everything and everyone in line...

They had so much fun with all of their friends!!

Radley is so lucky to have such wonderful people help celebrate his milestones! Uncle Pete and NaNan (his Godparents)

GiGi and Pops...

And of course the King crew of 4!! (Please note that I have a mini me and so does Ryan!)

It was the perfect way to celebrate the wonderful silly little boy in our lives!!