Tiny Tales Thursday...

It was a proud moment in the King household last week. We drove up to campus to watch one of my former students perform. As we walked out of the Koldus parking garage Emmy saw the MSC and exclaimed...

"JOHNNY FOOTBALL, MOMMY!!!"

Oh yes. We start'em young in Aggieland.

Caught ya...

See this cute face?? Don't let it fool you - she has a hidden agenda.

Her plan? 

To remove every single cup from the sippy cup cabinet.

1380 times a day.

It may send Ryan over the edge.

It's just a good thing she's so kissably cute.

InstaKings...

This is a little late - but here is what we were up to last week!

Chubby cheeked, two teeth, crazy haired, brown-eyed beauty!

I was able to finish Landry's baby book (well at least get it up to date).

This is HUGE. 

(Thanks, sweet husband for distracting the kids).

This girl needs to quit growing. 

She eats like a champ and loves her sippy cups.

What happened to my baby???

Gigi made a stop in CS on her way to Baton Rouge and was helping the bigs with their homework. 

Radley has actual homework. Emmy just likes to be like Radley. 

There never was a more true statement for the week I had. Thank you, God, for amazing friends. 

Ryan and I had noticed that Emmy had problems articulating some of her words which makes it hard for her to communicate and for us to understand. Which then leads to everyone being frustrated. She also has the tendency to stutter when she's frustrated or early in the morning.

I called and set up a speech evaluation. 

Yeah - she passed. At the level of a 40 month old.

Way to go, Emmy! 

(but I'm still glad I called - and she actually LOVED it).

One of my favorite former students was in town to perform in our union for a coffee house. 

Check him out.

He's going to be huge one day. I just know it!

Sadly it won't be very long until they are running the halls of the MSC. 

(and note to self - if I ever need a break - just let them run up and down ramps).

All packed and ready for dotMom.

:)

We had a bittersweet goodbye on Friday morning. 

Miss Shanon got a wonderful opportunity to grow in her career but that means we won't see her nearly as often as we would like. So thankful for the people we have in our lives that love on our kids while we can't. 

And that's us in an instant!

dotMOM...

Ok - I am going to try to give my Friday/Saturday experience justice in this blog post. 

But let me warn you that it can't be done. 

Because y'all. 

IT WAS JUST SO AWESOME!

Friday morning I was giddy - like Christmas morning as a 4 year old, giddy.

I was packed and had on actual make up, hair spray, cute and trendy clothes, etc. Cindy and I were meeting at the kids' school and then we were going to head to Frisco for dotMom. 

We were "so cute" in fact that more than one teacher commented (with surprise in their voice) "Wow. Y'all look good. What's the occasion?" 

(I will try not to hold that against them when it's time for end of the year gifts.) 

We grabbed some Fuego and embarked on the 3 hour trek to Frisco where the conversation consisted of husbands, friends, college, God, kids, party planning, photo shoot planning, exercise, clothes, and all the things that you discuss with one of your besties. 

Those 3 hours alone would have been worth the trip.

But then we arrived.... 

Along with about 800 of our closest "mom friends".

800+ women being led in worship, all there because they want to better themselves as wives and mothers - such a powerful moment for me. I was inspired to go home and give more of myself and that was just after the first 30 minutes! 

Angie Smith, Vicki Courtney, John Croyle, and Priscilla Shrier were the keynote speakers throughout the weekend. Some mighty words to remember included:

How do I approximate the way God loves THEM through being the best Mom I can be?

Do I give my life to things of secondary importance?

Productivity is not a representation of a life well-lived.

(yeah, that one stung a little)

We get to be used by God to change kids' lives.

And the list goes on...

I'll be honest - I expected to be rejuvenated....but I didn't expect to be so moved and inspired. 

There was plenty of time for fun, too. A few women from Cindy's church also attended and it was so fun to meet and hang out with them.

(They even loved me despite being the "crazy Catholic")

(That's a total joke - I'm not crazy at all).

We shared stories and laughed like old friends and then headed back to the conference center for the last session of the day.

Friday night they hosted a little party for everyone to hang out and meet new people. Well, one of the people we got to meet was Kelly.

And if you read her blog you will love to know that she was just "chawed" by being the center of attention. She is just as sweet as you would imagine. 

She really does use her blog as her testimony and was just so gracious to sit and talk to everyone. Lauren, one of the girls in Cindy's Sunday school class, even moved Kelly to tears when she told her how much her honesty means to her. 

The blog world is just a fun group to be a part of. Whether it's 10000000s of readers or a little over 50 (yay me) we are a small community.

And then the night got better.

(if you can imagine)

We got to meet Melanie (aka Big Mama). 

If you don't read her blog then I don't know what you are doing. 

Actually stop reading this post and go click on the link on the right of this page. 

Melanie is an Aggie (whoop), a momma, a blogger and simply put - awesome. She just released her first book and had a signing at this event. Cindy and I have copies and maybe bought 2 more each (as gifts) so we had 6 copies total for her to sign.

Melanie's best friend, Gulley, was her college room mate and they live 1 mile a part from eachother. 

Long story short... they are us - 10 years earlier.

We obviously let them know that.

And...

They loved us.

Like ugly laugh loved us.

Like we are on speed dial for the next time they are in CS.

(which is a total lie - but wouldn't that be fun?!)

But we clearly made them laugh.

We all headed home and got some much deserved sleep and headed back up for more on Saturday where we shoved our minds and our hearts with even more good things than could possible exist.

These 36 hours were just wonderful.

Much needed.

Appreciated.

I left feeling energized and motivated. I was convicted and inspired. I was challenged to be great. 

And I was grateful to spend that time with a girl my college room mate once dated, fell in love with and married. A person that has become one of my greatest friends.

This is definitely going to be an annual event and I welcome and encourage all my mom friends to carve out time for it. 

I am so grateful for this gift of motherhood. 

And overwhelmed with thanks that I get to share in this club with so many of you.

Sunday Funday...

This weekend was perfect.

Like warm pancakes with butter perfect.

Vanilla icecream with chocolate syrup perfect.

First kiss perfect.

Just. Perfect.

Cindy and I got to attend the dotMOM Conference in Frisco and we had the best time. I will post about that tomorrow, but for now I will share the beautiful day I had with the people that gave me the gift of motherhood. 

We hung outside a lot and I have to admit it was Landry's first real time playing around in the dirt. 

(In our defense, she hit the "play stage" in the winter.)

(And by winter - I mean those 2 weeks in Texas when it's cold.)

These two are old pros of course.

Landry loved being outside with her bigs. She kept trying to follow them around. 

But she would get distracted by that cool little phenomenon known as dirt.

I love that my little girls aren't afraid to get their hands dirty.

 Landry was in heaven.

Well, until I wouldn't let her put all that dirt in her mouth.

She just couldn't understand.

And eventually...

curiosity won...

and somehow that smiled returned.

Yes. 

The day was perfect. Filled with smiles.

And cruising.

And bike lessons from Dad.

We even had a visit from Uncle Pete, went on a family bike ride so Radley could practice his skills, evening mass and a Sunday dinner prepared by Daddy.

Thank you, God, for all the abundant blessings in my life. 

Tiny Tales Thursday...

Texas weather is hit or miss. One minute cold the next minute hot. One morning warm over night it freezes. So the Kings believe in a layered approach to clothing kids. Radley doesn't love a long sleeved tee once he is indoors because the boy sweats.

As I was picking him up from school the teacher's asked me if he was "allowed" to take off his LS shirt (Which I thought was a weird question - I mean why wouldn't he be?) to which I replied yes.

Teacher: Oh - ok. The other teacher thought she heard your husband tell him he couldn't.
Me: No - it's fine. Why? Did he throw a fit about it?
Teacher: No - he just kept telling us "but Mommy said I could and Mommy is in charge of Daddy!"

Thank you for that affirmation, Radley.

Two wheels...

Look out world.... Mr. William Radley King has ventured into the world of two wheels!

Ryan took the kids to the park on Saturday morning so I could work on the baby book (yes, ladies everywhere are swooning) and apparently there was a 2-3 year old cruising around on two wheels. 

As soon as they got home, Radley requested that his training wheels be removed.

Nothing like a little peer pressure to get you motivated, right?

He did such a great job - he kept trying... 

and trying... 

And kept that smile on his face the entire time. 

Even when he fell off. 

And eventually - HE GOT IT!!!

And - the girls just sat in their little "pod" cheering him on!

:)

Happy Monthday...

 Lillian Landry King

you are

ELEVEN MONTHS OLD!!

What have you been up to lately?

Not much has changed on the food front. You still nurse/take bottles 4 times/day along with your 3 meals, and, you LOVE to eat. It's almost frightening. You are not very pleasant when we don't give you food fast enough. You become almost caveman like with your grunting and banging in demand for more food. (It's actually pretty adorable). You get a sippy cup throughout the day and you haven't fallen in  love with it yet, but you are getting better at using it. You really eat basically whatever we are eating and I am so happy for my third non-picky eater. We will begin transitioning you to whole milk in the next few weeks which means our nursing days are coming to an end. 

I'm glad you are eating so well because that stomach bug made you lose some weight so hopefully you are packing on the pounds again. You are still in size 3 diapers and mainly 6-12 month clothes. 

Naps are still a favorite past-time on the weekend and you enjoy your beauty sleep at night. We put you down around 8pm every night and you sleep as long as we let you. (Thank you)!

I think after 11 months of mentioning "angel baby" I can declare it to be true. You have proven to be the go-with-the-flow, sweet, loving child and we are so grateful. A smile is never far from your face and you light up the whole room with that toothy grin. 

You have started to do this hand flapping thing when you are really happy or you clinch your fists and shake with excitement. Clearly the most adorable thing ever. 

Your tears are usually caused by frustration of wanting something. You have found the cabinet doors that lead to the sippy cup supply and plant yourself there for playtime. If you can't get it open then you let us know you aren't happy. It's a different cry than when we aren't feeding you fast enough though. 

Emmy and Radley are quick to sooth you no matter what. 

Speaking of your siblings - 

Radley LOVEs taking care of you in the car. He gives us a little play by play and is so good about holding your socks and shoes that you will inevitably remove at any point en route to our destination that day.

And.

You and Emmy play so well together. And you really do play. You let her drag you around and engulf the entire house with your laughter. I LOVE it! She is never far from where you are and she is kind of digging her big sister role. 

You love the following:

Eating

Playing peek a boo (still)

Clapping

Talking

Pulling hair :/

Playing with toys you aren't supposed to have

Following your siblings around the house

Being cute

Rocking pony tails

Cups

Bowls

Spoons

And mommy cuddles

BIG NEWS THIS MONTH!!

You are finally consistently pulling up on things! 

And.

You also nod and/or shake your head in context.

Example, when we ask if you want more food. Instead of signing "more" you nod your head "yes!" Or if we ask if you are all done and you aren't you will shake your head "no!"

Again.

Baby genius.

We are officially in party planning mode!!

Love you like crazy Lovely Landry!!!!