7.31.2017

Zipping through summer...

Emersyn asked for and received a zipline from Santa Claus this year. The Munsons have a zipline and it's always a big hit so she wanted one for our house, too. 


Six months later it was FINALLY installed!


(In the defense of our installation guy... we had the toughest time figuring out a path and then we had to get new cables twice.)


If we surveyed the kids... 


I guarantee they would say... 


WORTH THE WAIT!


The girls have the mount down... one of them pulls down with all of their body weight while the other hops on.


Then they get in a little work out...


release...


and GO!



Radley just pulls it up to the treehouse and then proceeds to give me a heart attack...


by JUMPING and ZIPPING at the same time?!?! He's just like the Costa Ricans that lead people on the zip line tours except those people aren't my children so it's really cool when they do it. (Also they are like one mile up in the air and strapped to the zipline, but still....)




The next project may be removing this tree.... 


Thanks for the present, Santa Claus!

:)

7.30.2017

DJ Rad Continued...

I finally did what I should have done alllllll along.... I sent a text to one of my students and asked for help! Thanks, Manny!

Here's the debut of DJ Rad...





7.27.2017

DJ Rad...

We listen to the same radio station every single morning on the way to school - family friendly content, a fun "birthday bullseye" game and songs that don't make me have to explain anatomy before 8am. Winning all around. Every summer they host "Peace Pals" and have local kids as guest DJs once a week so I submitted Radley's name and told a little about him and he was selected!


We arrived at the station bright and early and we all decided that summer should last forever because rushing out of the house 10 minutes before we need to be somewhere is no fun!


As usual they all decided that the elevator was super cool and their favorite part. Why do we ever bring them places that cost money? 


This was the part that I told him to use his manners, take deep breaths and don't be nervous.

"Mom, I'm not nervous - it's fine!"


The girls were all star little sisters in the waiting area and were SOOOOOOOO stinking proud of their big brother. He did a FANTASTIC job and we were all smiling!


I got tons of text messages from family listening online, friends in town and of course Ryan cheering him on - sometimes technology is the coolest. Jody was even listening all the way out in California! Radley even got a caller off air wanting to hear more about his travels and to tell him that he was very well spoken and polite. 


We all got a kick out of meeting Brian and Cat in real life - the girls couldn't believe these are the people we hear on the radio and they both asked when they got a turn.


Maybe one of them will go on to be the next big voice in radio!


I have been trying for the last hour to upload the sound bites and seriously can't figure it out. I am the worst. Technology is the worst. Unless you are an uncle living in California listening to your nephew in CS... then it's pretty cool. 

Stay tuned... I'll keep trying!



7.21.2017

Friday Favorites: Time with Besties....

Summers were made to be simple. I feel like nowadays we have to force the simple - turn our head from all the distractions and focus on just being. As much fun as we have going to new places and seeing new things, my favorite times are the ones we spend at home. We've gotten lots of quality time with the besties the past couple of weeks and my kids have never been happier. 

Caro spent the night with us after Anna's birthday party and she just couldn't quit snuggling those kitties. "Zia, I think I get my love for cats from you."

Melt.My.Heart.




The following morning, Cindy and I headed to the lake for a birthday party and Ryan kept the bigs so they could finish Harry Potter and go swimming. Well, Texas had other plans and it rained which really just gave them an excuse to dance... 



And them an excuse to go to the movies, eat candy and drink soda. 

Is it just me or do they look seventeen?







The celebration continued at Spoons at our first attempt to get these girls some new holes in their ears. We still managed to get some froyo and Emmy gave Anna her custom gift with an invite to a "gal"lery day at our house. 



Monday brought us to the lake for Anna's actual birthday....


Tuesday brought Josh to jury duty which meant I got to hang with this crew + Rad while Caroline was at a friends (I know - they have OTHER friends). (Sometimes I feel like a FRIENDS episode when all 6 are sitting in Monica's apartment and someone knocks at the door and they're all "but we're all here... do you know other people?" That's us and the Munsons.) 



They made a killing at their lemonade/cookie/custom art stand and then moved the fun inside for some building... 


and napping. 
;)


We finally succeeded at getting their ears pierced...which concluded their WEEK LONG stint of seeing each other every single day. 


We didn't do anything major - just spent some simple days loving on our friends. But you know what? When they look back at the summers of their childhood, I hope they see long afternoons at the pool followed by short naps wrapped in towels. I hope they sing every word to their favorite song. I hope they smell sunscreen.





I hope the days spent from driving ALLLL the way to the north of town from the south to hang with besties, eating endless pb&js, watching late night movies followed by sugary cereal for breakfast bring smiles to their faces and remind them that sometimes, most times, the best things in life are the smallest.



Linking up  with AndreaErika, and Narci  today... 


7.20.2017

The piercing heard 'round the world...

We continued Emersyn's golden birthday celebration this week even though her birthday was more than a month ago. The only real thing that she asked for was to get her ears pierced. And as much as I wanted to say no, we didn't. (I mean, I don't even have my ears pierced.)

We talked lots and lots about responsibility before agreeing and at one point before her birthday we called the deal off because of some decisions she made. She did a lot of work to earn the privilege back and so we set off for the mall with Anna and Gigi to pierce those ears.

Except she decided she wanted to wait for Anna's birthday so they could do it together.

SCORE for a little more time for her to change her mind.

So, Anna's birthday got closer and closer and Emmy talked more and more about getting her ears pierced. At some point between June and July Cindy either read an article or if we're honest, listened to a podcast about the safety of getting ears pierced at the mall and the pros and cons of that versus a tattoo parlor.

Yes. A tattoo parlor.

(Note: Cindy is also just smart, so she may have thought this up on her own. I'm old and can't remember.)

Anywho.

We decided that we were going to take the girls to their very first tattoo parlor for their very first (and last) piercing.

So away we went dressed in our edgiest clothes to fit in.



Because nothing screams, "We TOTALLY belong at Big Daddy's Tattoo" like 4 parents and 2 9-year-olds, 1 8-year-old, 1 7-year-old and 2 5-year-olds. With mom cameras. (To be fair, there was another group with a 10-month-old, so...)

We signed all the forms, read all the words, paid all the money and waited.

Anna was up first. She went in with Cindy and Josh while the rest of us waited. Walked out with a smile and wished Emmy luck.

We walked in the room and TJ had Ryan sit in the chair to hold Emmy.


She was super duper nervous and I offered her one last out (y'all - I don't.have.my.ears.pierced.) (I mean, I did, but they got all weird and I quit wearing earrings 20 years ago.) (I am lazy and don't want one more thing).



BUT she was determined and kept saying "I'm brave" and "I want to be big!" so she was. And as soon as he pierced her first ear she was all, "That was it?!?" Because y'all - it was SOOOOOO much better than one of those piercing guns.


IF YOU NEVER DO ANYTHING I SAY (because why would you) TAKE YOUR KIDS TO A TATTOO PARLOR TO GET THEIR EARS PIERCED.

The whole gang came into the room so that TJ could give us the spiel on upkeep and cleaning. We were all standing there and I noticed that Emmy kind of started walking past me. And I thought, "What in the world is she doing??"

And then.

Y'all.

SHE FAINTED.

And I'm crying again just thinking about it.

I'm not going to lie - it was kind of awful. Because, I repeat.

MY SEVEN YEAR OLD FAINTED IN A TATTOO PARLOR!!!

Why yes I will take that MOM OF THE YEAR TROPHY NOW!

Ryan and TJ grabbed her - Cindy and Josh took ALL of the kids out of the room - I was all 'GET HER SOME WATER!!!!!" because I am so calm and collected.

TJ explained that this sometimes happens and not to be alarmed. Piercings cause a rush of endorphins and adrenaline and sometimes affects your blood sugar.

Yeah, sure TJ.

(In all fairness, TJ was awesome and helpful and so patient with all of us. 100% would visit him again!)

When she came to I did the only thing I could think of in my years of trauma training TV watching...

Me: Do you know your name?
Emmy: Ummmmm - EMERSYN are you crazy? What are you doing?

Yeah, she was fine.

Completely unaware what had happened. And as much as we can laugh now, this could have been much worse. She landed on a concrete ground face first and praise the Lord didn't hit her head or bust any teeth. She also missed a counter by mere inches.

Meanwhile, the spectacle in the waiting area was relieved to see all of us. Later Radley was giving me a reenactment of everyone and if they were emoji's, it sounded like this:



Poor Anna was holding on by a thin little thread of strength so we all called it a night and went home. Please note Emmy's "after" smile when all was said and done...this was about 10 minutes after "the incident".


All 3 Munsons insisted on sistering up in one bed for the night and so did Emmy and Landry. Poor L started crying again because she was so scared. She confessed every transgression she had ever committed against her sister in hopes that she would never suffer again. It was the sweetest sad thing I ever saw. Eventually they calmed down and Emmy gave us a real smile and was so excited that her ears were pierced.



Bright side - this may be ALL of their first and last visits to any tattoo parlor!


And, it really is way cleaner than going to the mall - PROMISE!

;)




7.19.2017

Royally Waiting...

Welcome back to Royally Waiting... the day of the week where Holly, Shelly and I share the "what's been happening" of our daily lives. Also known as you getting a glimpse of how boring I am. This week is short and sweet... summer has kept us busy doing all the things and I have forgotten to capture just about all of it. My children are currently staying up much to late (again) and my eyes are quickly closing so here we go... 

CELEBRATING

This amazing friend of mine celebrated a milestone birthday so we headed to the lake for some beers with the besties! I love our story of friendship, the daily crazy that we share and the next 40+ years of fun we will have!


The Munson celebration continued with Annaliese! She had a paint party with thirteen girls so I stayed to assist Cindy and Josh manage the crazy.


All of Rad's friends were out of town or busy with family so he got to tag along. HAHAHA - he was clearly welcomed to paint but 2 hours of uninterrupted time on his ipad won. 


We headed back to the lake for Anna's actual birthday and as sad as I get thinking about them growing up, I also did not have to get in the water unless I WANTED to so score one for old(er) kids!


Age order no longer = height order!

;)

LOSING

Emersyn FINALLY pulled that super loose top tooth. And looks like she aged 12 years. 


STUFFING

My face with left over carnitas migas. ALL the freaking yummy in the world ever. The end.



WAITING

To return to this little slice of heaven this weekend for a girls weekend at the lake! 


As always - would love you to link up and share what you're waiting on! 

Get Social with Holly!
    
Get Social with Katy!
    
Get Social with Shelly!