Besties for Life...

I'm one of those lucky peeps that have known and loved her best-friend for the majority of my life. My friendships run deep and mean the world to me... the ones I've had forever and the friends I've gained over the years each hold a special place in my heart. One of my biggest and most constant prayers is that my kiddos find and keep "their people" early... to help shape them and love them and challenge them and encourage them and laugh and cry and roll their eyes at all the inbetween. 

And when you raise babies with your besties, well, that prayer gets answered 10-fold...Landry was gifted her bestie the day she was born and this weekend we got to celebrate that precious 

Millicent Claire!

They had been counting down the minutes until Friday afternoon because Millie was riding home with us for a sleep-over... even their teacher was excited! 

They played dolls, took bubble baths and sadly had to settle on frozen pizza instead of chocolate chip pancakes because, well... #momfail. BUT, we more than made up for it with some chocolate cake. 

They measured, poured, cracked the eggs (and y'all...Landry's egg landed on the counter. She is definitely my daughter with the mess she makes in the kitchen), and mixed up that batter. 

They kept giggling because they said the mixer sounded like the bowl was tooting. 

:)

And then 45 minutes later got to enjoy the fruits of their labor. They opted for an icing free cake (Rad and Emmy opted for rediwhip on top). 

We finished the festivities with some board games, movie time and snuggles. Saturday morning still meant soccer so we headed to the fields bright and early and the littles wanted to try their hand at soccer mom/photographer. 

Wahoo... they got one of Radley!

How in the world is this girl FIVE YEARS OLD? I refuse to believe that our babies are growing up.

But they are...

After soccer, we ran home, got dressed and headed out for the main event of this celebration. The birthday girl got to pick her lunch location...was there even a choice? Clearly Chic-A-Lay... 

and then we drove to campus for Daniel Tiger & Friends!

Not gonna lie, they were the cutest two kiddos there and they have "gig'em" down. 

Me: Girls, smile!

Girls: ::big smiles::

Me: Ok, now give me a gig'em!

Girls: ::in unison:: 

It's like the bend and snap from Legally Blonde, except we should call it a "gig and smile". 

#totallytrademarkingthat

Cindy picked up these shirts for the girls a few weeks ago and this is the first time they've worn them together. And while "besties for the resties" is true as well... I love that this shirt says "besties for life"... because it's true. They've known each other since day one and more importantly, loved each other, too. They were talking in the car about how sad they are going to be next year because they will be at different schools. And I wanted to turn around and say, "WE WILL MAKE SURE Y'ALL STAY TOGETHER FOREVER!!" 

(But that's just the overreacter in me.)

The truth is that they will be separated lots in their growing up years. They'll make new friends and maybe even another "best" friend... but that's part of what being a friend is... welcoming in the new and making room in all the places of your life.

They were such big kids, wanting their own tickets, walking with each other instead of right next to me, finding their way... 

And settling in to their seats. They took turns sitting with each other or in my lap and laughed and danced and sang along to Daniel. I had the best time watching them... my favorite part for sure!

They left the theater hand in hand talking about their favorite parts...

Mills: When they danced and sang

Landry: When Daniel helped his baby sister

We ended the celebration with a classic cone from McDonalds - Millie's choice! (And I have to agree, there is just something about a vanilla cone from Mickey Ds).

We got to celebrate with the birthday girl on Sunday with the entire Munson clan... and when I snapped this pic, I thought...

How in the world did we go from this to that... 

Weren't we all just a bunch of kids becoming besties like YESTERDAY!?!? 20 years later, here we are... living a life I never could have imagined and thankful for the lifetime of best-friends the Kings have been given.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, MILLICENT CLAIRE!