InstaKings...

We got to hang out with one of the kids absolute FAVORITE people in the entire world on Sunday. (And mine, too!) KK, Ryan and Graham were in town for a wedding so we had them over for lunch. We got to hug their necks, catch up on life, fill our bellies and our hearts. Katelin lived with us when Emersyn was a baby and now she sits in her lap and reads. I don't know who is more teary-eyed over this... me or KK. 

And since my kids love and adore her so much, they clearly love and adore G-man. And who wouldn't - he is seriously so stinking adorable. I wanted her to leave him with us for the week. We need a little blonde haired, blue-eyed boy in this brown house. 

Sometimes you just need a Toy Story marathon for no reason at all. All 3 in one day. And the kleenex to approve it - y'all. TS 3 is the worst. I cry uncontrollably every single time.

Speaking of crying - MAKE IT STOP. AHHH.

Kindergarten. 

She sure is going to rock it!

The whole We5Kings clan hit the driving range. I am not too shy to admit that I was awesome. Like seriously so good. #notsurprised #mybackhurtthenextday

My new favorite hobby is finding workouts on instagram and trying them out. This one was awesome - I did it twice with a quick 10 minute run at the end.

I also did this one day and after the run did the circuit again backwards. 

Why? Because I'm hard core. And crazy.

And that's us in an instant!

Tiny Tales Thursday...

Landry loves Merv. Our cat.

Like adores him. Like lays on him adores him. They are pals.

Merv was kicked out of the house by his dad a few years ago for refusing to use the restroom correctly (He pooped directly outside the litter box every.single.time.) but he has adjusted well. We were leaving the house the other day and I hear Landry...

Oh, Muvh... hi. pets him
No, no - you bettah move. We not hit you with the cah. Just go lay down wight heea. pats the ground under the bushes
I wuv you, Muvh. See you later.

It's pretty stinking adorable and I need to remember it forever.

Sweet Baton Rouge...

The kids, Gigi and I spent a few days in Baton Rouge last week. We hadn't been in a while and we were missing MaMaw so we packed the car and headed out after their big Adventure in Neverland. We made it in time for dinner at the original Raising Cane's and all was right in the world 

We took the next morning a little slow and then made our way to one of the awesome parks in BR. The kids had fun splashing around and I finally gave in and joined them. I had no idea Gigi was snapping pics but I'm so glad she did. Moms aren't in the pictures very often. :)

We went shopping, ate some sushi, shared some noodles and swam in an "LSU pool" at Merritt's apartment. 

Although the highlight of their trip may have been this. The giant water leak that the City "discovered" - my mom has been calling about this for 10 years y'all. And finally someone came and did something about it. It was crazy! They pulled up MaMaw's driveway and the ground was hollow underneath because it had washed away - it's a miracle a car never cracked it. The workers were so much fun and talkative (my people) and had it all fixed up by the end of the day. 

We just enjoyed a few slow days of sleeping where we want, finding fun treasures (a note to Santa from my mom in 1960!!!), catching up with old friends, and of course eating the world's best food. Louisiana gets it done y'all. 

Then all too soon, we said "until next time". Love that my kids know her. Even the orny part of her. True story:

Emmy found all these old notes and MaMaw was getting a little, well annoyed. She got out of her chair and walked over to where Emmy was playing with them and tried to hide them from her in her pocket. I said, "Now, MaMawa, you can't take that away from that baby." And she said, "Well, she took it away from me, first." Like she knew exactly where Emmy had found it. Stuffed in a book, under a couch, covered in dust. 

HAHA!

Oh. We got MaMaw's first selfie, too!

Adventures in Neverland...

 **Disclaimer - I somehow managed to change my shooting mode to Raw. Y'all I don't even really know what that means - so I clearly can't take any responsibility for the quality of these pics. I really think I should just stick to my iPhone. Filters are my friend. Now for regularly scheduled blogging.**

Gigi and Pops once again gifted Emersyn a week of dance camp for her birthday. And at her request, Landry got to attend as well. They picked "Adventures in Neverland" and y'all - it may have been the cutest thing I have ever seen. It was a hip hop class and on the last day everyone got to dress like a character from Neverland. My girls clearly picked fairies - but they didn't want to wear their Tink dresses because that would mean they couldn't be in "dance clothes."

The struggle is real. 

The big kids got to lead us all in their verse from the week which was centered around

 Matthew 6:21...

For where your treasure is, there your heart will also be. 

Suzanne's is a great studio because among all the fun and frill of dance, they really do a fantastic job of teaching our kids to glorify Him in all that we do. Whether that's dressing up, dancing, or searching for gold - God should be the center of all our actions. 

The littles started us on our adventure through Neverland with a celebratory dance.

(And I need to add that we asked the girls if they wanted to be in the same class and they were super brave and decided they could be alone. Landry was like a dance all-star... hip hop may be her gift.)

And then the real adventure began... but first, pirate face.

ARGH!

They spotted land...

they walked the plank...

they scaled a mountain.... 

and crossed a bridge...

and finally got to dance around their treasure!

And then Emmy's class went on a surprisingly similar adventure... 

And I missed most of it because my camera kept saying it was full which is when I realized I was in the wrong shooting mode because, well... #momwithfancycamera

But I was able to make room for the two most adorable fairies in all of Neverland!

Hair to spare...

Emmy has been begging for a hair cut for ages. She had only had that one tiny trim last year for her birthday so it was clearly time. The only thing holding us up was me. I admit it - I was scared to death. I'm not sure of what, but I was. 

Well, I had mentioned that we could donate her hair several months ago and she latched on to that idea like white on rice. She just thought that it would be so awesome to cut her hair for someone else, specifically another child. (I think she knew the power this held in getting me over the hump of making an appointment.) So, I finally sent Karly a text and we were in the books... and I made an appointment for two. If my five-year-old can chop off her hair, so could I. I have done it before and I'm sure I will do it again, but I was still nervous. I have created some weird attachment to my locks, much more than I had anticipated which is kind of silly to admit. 

The night before I sent this text to my nearest and dearest to make sure I could go through with it. The minimum donation amount for two charities is 8 inches, I was good with going all the way up to 8.5 as illustrated by my handy-dandy piece of paper. I'm super scientific like that. 

Jenni responded like all besties should... with sarcasm and wit...

By the next day, we were both ready. 

(Photo cred to Rad)

Ryan wasn't helping with his response to that final picture... Ha!

I went first, so no pics of me... but after Karly made that first cut (that was 10.5 inches(!!!)) there was no turning back. Emmy's response was priceless...

Emmy: Mommy. 

Me: Yesss?

Emmy: She cut your hair, like, really short.

Me: I know! 

Emmy: Well, are you gonna be ok?

I assured her that I was... and for a minute she almost hesitated. She almost didn't want to go through with it. But she saw my courage, she saw my example, and she rallied. So many times we set that example and provide that courage as parents. And I think about how much that meant to her for something as insignificant as the length of her hair... what must it mean for things that really matter? 

I want her to know that beauty is about much more than outward adornment (1 Peter 3:3-4) and I if I'm honest, that's what was holding ME up. I loved my hair - I loved all the compliments I got. I loved that Ryan loved it. I loved that I could wear it down, pull it up, braid it... I loved it. And maybe, just maybe God was calling me to show her that I can still love myself without it. 

But she rallied - she was ready and she was pretty darn excited about the boy or girl that was going to get her hair, too. 

And then we did it - 9 inches gone!

She was so excited about getting the special stuff to make your hair dry faster - I think she felt so grown up and she WAS so grown up. The first thing she said when she saw the finished product:

Oh, Mommy! I love it! I bet that I can wear my hair down for school sometimes, now!

(We are big fans of the pony tail around here. And by we, I mean me, because hair in the face is not my favorite.)

I'm pretty sure it was around 20lbs of hair - it sure felt like it!

Rad snapped one last shot and we were on our way, everyone with celebratory suckers in hand. 

(Emmy's only disappointment came when she saw that I had three pony's and she only had two to give. But y'all, you can't even tell them apart. Our hair is almost the exact same color which kind of make me extra happy!)

So we got home and sent the pics out again to the nearest and dearest. Thumbs up all around... I may even get used to "short" hair.!

I'm definitely loving this sweet, sassy pony-tailed girl. 

I am so proud of her. 

She was so brave. She was so encouraging. She was so selfless. 

And that's what makes her beautiful to me. 

Hop on over to Holly's to see what everyone else is waiting on. Not sure they can beat Emmy's five year wait for that real hair cut!

Links and lists...

It's Monday. And I slept a lot this weekend which has made me strangely lazy and tired. I have about a million things on my current list: update family photo albums, print Landry's book, update our 50 states journal... those are a few of the undone things. I do have some things finished like mow the yard and work out. Super fun, I know. So, today I'm just sharing some links and lists with you.

One.

Have you been keeping up with Christmas in July from The Dish and Your Merry Mailbox? We are talking lists today and have an awesome giveaway from a local boutique AND a local spa. Head over there to enter!

Two.

I am chatting it up with my new friend, Elizabeth, over at More Than a Mom today about my DIY Valence project I did a couple of years ago. If you are looking for a quick, cheap and adorable way to dress up your windows, then check it out.

Three. 

I am always trying to change up my work outs. You know my love affair with my ShakeO and I've mentioned how much I love the 21 Day Fix, and both of those things are still true. BUT every once in a while, I need a shift. I pinned this over the weekend and I'm going to try out these work outs all week. We leave for Baton Rouge on Wednesday, so hopefully I can get a good, quick work out in while traveling. Today's was quick, challenging and had me drenched in sweat.

Four.

I love a good sneak peek, don't you? I feel like I get to be in on a fantastic secret. And since we are friends, and friends share secrets... I'm gonna share a little secret with you... 

More on this secret later. 

Five. 

I have still yet to make these popsicles. Don't they look divine? And these breakfast pops sound delicious and sound fun! We talked about these and a few more fun things over at the Dish for their #BCSSummerBucketList challenge!

Six.

Holly is at it again with her Summer of Service challenge. Last week was all about Random Acts of Kindness and this week she is working on gathering school supplies. I love this. I love her heart for serving others and I love that she gets her kids (mostly) excited about it, too. Make sure to bookmark this one because if you don't have time now then you can plan to make this part of your summer of fun in the future!

What's on your list? Love to hear!

InstaKings: Playing catch-up...

 It took me long enough to recap that trip to Breckenridge - sheesh. I act like I'm busy or something. So here's what we've been doing since. 

The Saturday after we got back, Gigi and Pops came in for the day. The girls requested to put on dresses and go get their nails painted. I mean, how do you say no to that? Especially when they also wanted pig tails.

#wellplayedtinytots

We then ventured to HobLob where the mirror section is always a big hit. Lord, help me.

And if vacation wasn't enough to put a smile on my face - our always-too-short-visit from Auntie Sooze sure does! You may remember my Queen Bees report on Sooze - I adore her and miss her so. I was so glad to meet Miss Mak and the kids were pretty excited, too! 

It's good to get back into a routine, and I always love the sweetness that Sunday brings - especially in the summer. 

I also love my Sunday's at 7 bible study group. I'm already looking up more studies for us to do together so our time doesn't come to an end. 

At bed time, we were specs. I'm pretty sure she would wear these all day long - a girl after my own heart. I love wearing glasses and she can rock them like no one else. 

Routine also means sweating it out. On this particular day I thought, "why not change it up?" "It will be fun!" Ha! Intervals with lunges was rough - but it hurt so good after!!