Traditions...

Ryan and I woke up bright and early, grabbed some donuts and kolaches and headed over to the HMMs to eat breakfast with the slumber party crew!

Then we headed to the Grand Station for our MLK Day Tradition of bowling!

I'm pretty sure this shot resulted in a spare for Miss Caroline!

Millie was big enough to give it a try!

Emmy all of a sudden seems so big to me in moments like this. Her hair seems to have grown a foot in the past 6 months. 

And Miss Priss insisted on rolling the ball like "Ladley". 

She did pretty well (with a little help from Mommy and Tia). 

You can rent the lanes by the hour, which is the perfect time for our group. Not everyone stays interested the entire time and they get distracted by the arcade that is connected to the bowling alley. 

And this one is slightly competitive. He "gets" the point of the game and it frustrates him if he doesn't get a strike or a spare. He does not get that from me. 

We made it through nine frames in the hour - Josh won. He DOES have a competitive streak. :)

And Landry was clearly not impressed with bowling. 

They were; however, impressed with the games. When did they get big enough for this?

Not possible!

This is the "dance party" version of DDR. 

HA!

They weren't so good at skeet ball... I ended up playing for all of them and the machines didn't even spit out tickets. Ummm. Why do you even pay to go to an arcade if it's not for the tickets!?!

That afternoon Ryan met us home for lunch and to play outside for a bit. 

Landry was banished to her playpen again because she wouldn't keep the acorns out of her mouth. 

What would you give for eyelashes like that?!?

We had a shoot out competition. I was able to knock down all of the wooden blocks with only 7 discs.

Ryan knocked down 2. 

Radley knocked down 1.

So I may not be able to bowl, but I'm handy with a firearm. 

:)

Resolutions...

One of our major resolutions this year is to spend more time with friends - specifically adult time. Now, Ryan and I will NEVER be the couple that gets sitters every weekend to go out alone. We value all the time that we get to spend with the kids, but sometimes it's nice to be able to eat a meal and only be responsible for feeding yourself. 

We prepped all day and were so excited about spending the evening at home with some of our favorite friends! AND... these kiddos got to have their first SLUMBER PARTY! We send them to hang out with Caro, Anna, and Millie under the care and supervision of Miss Shanon. They.were.pumped!

And so were we!

On the menu:

Caesar Salad

Homemade alfredo sauce and fresh bread

Homemade Lasagna

Eggplant Parmesan

Strawberry and Marscapone Trifle 

(blogger fail: no pics of the food. But it was yummy!)

I have to admit that I had to google "formal place setting" but didn't it turn out just lovely? 

We just had the best time, talking and laughing over quasi grown up conversation with moments over immature goodness spread about. 

We did allow one kid to be there, sweet seven week-old, Kyle. No one minded holding him at all. He also gave us a good excuse to separate the women from the men. 

Women talk: facials, nursing, kids, work stress, husband speak, recipes, "doing it all", the lists, etc. 

Men talk: youtube videos of the top 25 moments in WWF history.

And although we now drink as much water as we do wine, we needed this. Time to ourselves surrounded by our friends and working on us. Just a blessing to have friends to share life's big and small moments. 

Extra nice to have this guy to share it all with. I catch myself stealing glances at him. Cuter now than the day I met him. Each of those tiny wrinkles and all that gray hair that I have contributed to - not a better man in the world for me. 

We never paused long enough in the conversation to take a group picture - but we have committed to doing this every other month this year and alternating hosts. Finally - a resolution we can uphold!

:) 

Happy Monthday (again)...

Lillian Landry King

you are

TEN MONTHS OLD!!
What have you been up to lately?

Besides the past week of sickness, you have remained your pleasant, happy, angel baby self!

You still nurse/take bottles 4 times each day along with your breakfast/lunch/dinner and snacks. You are kind of obsessed with table food. Clearly our third child,  you have eaten beef stroganoff, lasagna, avacado, hamburgers, french fries, bananas, pears, peaches, grapes, mac and cheese and any bread that we can give you. You LOVE it. You have also mastered the art of the feeding yourself with the pouches of pureed food which comes in handy when Mommy is on dinner duty alone and I can't get to you fast enough for your liking. We have started giving you sippy cups at meal and snack time to get you used to having them and you seem to like them. 

You are in a size 3 diaper and are wearing mainly 9-12 month clothes. I stick you in the 6 month stuff and it isn't too tight to be uncomfortable but you are getting longer. At your sick appointment last week you weighed 18 pounds, but lost a few ounces due to the dirty diaper incident of 2013. 

Your hair is officially too long to just be "down". You are a pony tail girl and I LOVE it! You also wore your first pair of pig tails this month. Such a big kid!

You have the world's cutest feet. It's true. They are basically the same width as length at this point. You LOVE playing with your feet and "hiding the sock" is your favorite game. Meaning - we have lots and lots of lonely socks in our house. 

You have an endless supply of smiles and laughs. You LOVE to be tickled by Radley. You let Emmy play with you and kiss you until she is content or bored. You are happy to play alone but are quick to let us know when you need the attention that you more than deserve. 

You also adore your long weekend naps. We put you down around 11-12 and you will sleep for 3 hours. All I have to do is give you a pacifier and your taggie and you fall forward, instantly asleep. I should film it because it is delightfully adorable. 

You put EVERYTHING in your mouth. We joke that Lola is sending you places to pick up dust and dirt to remind us how important it is to have a clean house. But seriously, you are the first King baby that has had to play in the "playpen" for your own safety and our sanity. We have found paper, old food, carpet, yarn, plastic tags from shirts, cat food, and leaves in your mouth. I hate to think what you have swallowed, but you seem to be just fine so I'm not too worried. 

You will stand next to a table or chair for a small period of time but haven't quite pulled up on your own yet. I am in no rush for you to grow up so that is fine with me. You have figured out that it is much more fun to be held and carried anyway. 

Smart girl!

You love the following: 

Playing peek-a-boo 

(see picture below. Seriously, you LOVE it and will put anything in front of your face and "hide" while we say "Where's Landry?")

Your two bottom teeth

Eating big kid food

Sleeping

Your taggie

Musical toys

Going places that you aren't allowed

Your teachers

Morning cuddles with Mommy

BIG NEWS THIS MONTH:

You said "ma ma". Clear as day. I heard it twice. And so did Daddy!

You are definitely babbling and connecting sounds more and more. Your daddy and I are debating if you will have a small voice like Emmy or big like Radley.

(we both think Rad)

I can't believe you are two months away from being ONE!

The party planning has officially begun (obviously) and you are excited about it already!

You steal our heart more and more each day, Lovely Landry!!!

We LOVE YOU!