Tiny Tales Thursday...

Once upon a time there was a mom that "had it all together".

Or so people thought.

She had three darling, children that "always" smiled for pictures. A super hot husband that just gets cuter every single year. A house in a nice neighborhood. Doting parents. Amazing friends. And a cool job that kept her young.

Her children were polite and well behaved. Her house was always clean and organized. She worked full-time, volunteered at the kids' school and set aside devoted time to God. Oh, and her hair was basically perfect.

She was living a real life fairytale.

Except... not.

Y'all. Yesterday I realized that I was supposed to be a work retreat that I thought was scheduled for today (Thursday). I made this connection when I sat down at a staff meeting that I "popped" into while my kids were stationed in my office with the ever maternal, "do NOT make a noise or I will never feed you again" exit. I really only noticed my HUGE oversight when our Director wasn't at the staff meeting.

Me: Is Luke sick?
DL: No?
Me: Where is he?
DL: At the VP retreat.
Me: Is it two days?
DL: Nooooo sees fear in my eyes and talks fast Why? Areyousupposedtobethere?Areyoupresenting?SHouldyoubewearingsomethingelse?
Me: Panic. Fear. HOLY CRAPNESS spread across my face.

I exit the meeting, grab the kids with a, "y'all we have to go because I made a huge mistake and I'm supposed to be somewhere in one hour and have no idea what to do with you."

Call Ryan.
No Answer.
Call Ryan.
No Answer.
Call Ryan.
No Answer.
Call Ryan.
No Answer.

Text Ryan: THE RETREAT I THOUGHT WAS TOMORROW IS ACTUALLY TODAY!

And y'all... HE REPLIED.

"I'm training a driver but I'll get off the car and come get the kids. Don't worry."

So.

Moral of the story.

That girl that you think has it all together all the time? Doesn't.

She struggles. She worries. She yells. She doesn't wash her hair for days at time. She feeds her kids weird food. She cries. She stresses. She forgets things. She makes mistakes. She prays. She forgives. She yells some more. She eats weird food. She totally drinks too much coffee. She still hasn't washed her hair.

And sometimes, she just needs saving.

Don't forget that part.

We all need saving. And by the grace of God... we already are.

Tiny Tales Thursday...

I'm not sure I've talked to many moms lately that aren't playing The Greatest Showman soundtrack on repeat these days. We were slow to watch the movie but once we did we fell hard. While we were watching the first time I asked the girls if they recognized one of the characters... it took them a minute to register it and then...

Is THAT ... TROY BOLTON!?!?!?!?



Later that caused some terrible confusion and frustration for Emmy especially. He (Troy Bolton/Zac Efron/Phillip Carlyle) ... you guessed ... falls in love and they sing a song together...




During maybe our 10th time to watch the movie, Emersyn had finally had enough... "Troy Bolton is KILLING me!"

She's a loyal Gabriella Montez fan club member.

She managed to forgive him by the time he made his big entrance into the last song...

That Zac Efron makes my heart sing.





Me, too, Emersyn King... me too.

Tiny Tales Thursday...

Emmy is going to change the world. Her confidence is almost intimidating and honestly, can add a bit frustration to our days because there is literally nothing that she thinks she can't do... except maybe find socks that she's scattered throughout the house.

She was working on a reading comprehension lesson and had to answer the question, "Who else besides farmers provides food to people?" 

Me: Well, who catches fish?
Emmy: Fishers?
Me: Close... fishermen...
Emmy: pauses  ummm... why can't it be fisherWOMEN? Do these people not KNOW that girls can do ANYTHING? I mean, did we forget AGAIN that MARY said YES to having baby JESUS which means girls are AWESOME! And they just want to have fun. So, we can catch fish, too!

AM I RIGHT? complete with a hand flair/gesture thing

TIny Tales Thursday...

The girls and I were on the way to gymnastics when they started talking about their "whole" names. This lead them to wonder the "whole" name of lots of other people... MaMaw, Gigi, Daddy... and then Landry wanted to know one more...

Landry: Mommy... what's God's full name?
Me: God...
Landry: No... I think it's God Jesus King ... but not like us King...
Emmy: Yeah... just his name, King. Like HE IS A KING.


**************

We try to stick to a pretty solid routine at night because we all function better with sleep. Radley is starting to stay up later which both kills me to see him grow up and makes me so happy to have a late night buddy. He was trying to get a few more minutes reading and I told him he needed to turn the lights out.

Me: Go to bed, buddy...
Radley: But it's the BIBLE... are you saying there's no time for the WORD of GOD?


**********

The kids love to check the mail and sometimes I'm nice and let them because I also love to check the mail... even though most of it is just junk. Landry had the honors the other day and walked in to give me the mail. I went through it and handed her a stack to recycle which included a brochure from a church...

Landry: Mommy... you can't recycle THIS... it has JESUS on it...
Me: Jesus likes us to recycle
Landry: NOT THIS. I'll keep it in MY room.

Tiny Tales Thursday...

Mommy, why are their teeth SOOOOO white?
- Landry, while watching the Academy Awards


Mommy, why aren't more girls giving speeches?
- Emmy, while watching the Academy Awards

Mommy, is Dwayne Johnson going to win anything?
- Radley, while watching the Academy Awards



Pop culture is strong in these ones.

Tiny Tales Thursday...

Emersyn gently leaned over in church and whispered, "Mom... Jesus' name was King just like ours? Are we RELATED? Like for real?"


A whole new meaning to celebrity status.

Tiny Tales Thursday...

Our night routine has changed a little over the years but one thing that has been consistent is family prayer time followed by us each sharing something we are thankful for. Ryan started that tradition when Emmy was just a baby and every.single.night. I look forward to what we all contribute.

Sometimes it's serious, like Pops doing well after surgery. Sometimes it's silly like a visit to Nit Not after a lice breakout. Always it's very real things that we are grateful for in that moment. Last night as we were going around the circle, Emersyn piped up...

"I'm thankful for Mary for saying yes to God and having baby Jesus... and I'm thankful for Mommy saying yes to God and having us and being our Mommy."


And I'm thankful for you, too, Emersyn King.

Tiny Tales Thursday...

After a quick discussion about religion, the Pope and original sin on the way to soccer practice...

Emmy: Momma, can girls be the Pope?
Me: No, baby... only men.
Emmy: Well that’s dumb.
Me: well, that’s the rule.
Emmy: But Mary said yes and had our SAVIOR... isn’t that worth something?

Touché, Emmy. Touché.

Tiny Tales Thursday...

We went to a live nativity scene last weekend at a stop in Bethlehem as part of the Georgetown Christmas Stroll. Front row seats, awesome music, beautiful reminder of the reason for the season. It was almost just too good to be true.

And it would have been, had it not been for a kid that wanted nothing more than to pester the entire audience. He was calling to the animals, jumping up and down in the front, being loud, etc... and this wasn't a "little kid" this was a 10 or 11 year old.

Pops was not impressed. And neither was Radley. As soon as the show was over, he stood up, looked at us and said, "Where in the heck are that kid's parents??"

Tiny Tales Thursday...

Every year the kindergarten classes kids' school have "color weeks" for two weeks at the beginning of the year. The kids are encouraged to wear the color of the day and go through the rainbow. The big kids can also join in the fun and of course Emersyn INSISTED on "helping" her sister. Some colors were pretty easy to cover and others...notsomuch.

The last few days of week two include brown, black, white and pink. We have one leopard print dress that Landry wore for brown day but that was about it. I told Emmy that I was sorry that she didn't have a shirt to wear and she just looked at me and said, "that's okay Momma, my skin is already brown... I'll just wear that!"

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!

;)

Tiny Tales Thursday....

I promise that all of children are hysterical...it just seems that Emersyn has been extra witty lately.

So ever since my first successful, strict, didn't break any rules Whole30, the kids have noticed how and what I eat. They ask if things are "whole30" or "too sugary" or if what they've chosen is healthy. I'm actually surprised by how much they pay attention to their food because of my experience. I guess we really do lead by example.

We grabbed Subway last week and Emersyn noticed that I got a veggie sandwich with ALLLLLL the veggies. Basically a salad on toasted bread. The best. She equates veggies to "realllllly healthy" food.

Emmy: Momma....
Me: Yes....
Emmy: I think I'm going to do that Whole30.
Me: Really?
Emmy: Yes, except I think I'm just going to do like a Whole7... just a week.
Me: Ok... you should probably give me that coke then.
without missing a beat
Emmy:  Oh, I'll start next week then.

My little girl really is growing up.

HAHAHA!

Tiny Tales Thursday...

Fruit flies are out with a vengeance this year. We have been invaded three times already.

Ew.

One time they were here for week.

Double ew.

They invaded again this morning so I set up a little ACV trap on our way out of the door this morning. When we returned from school, we were pretty pumped to see we had caught lots in the trap but when I moved the jar, they managed to somehow fly away.

Upon realizing this Landry said what we were all thinking.... "Awwww, damn!"


Oops.

#couldhavebeenworse

Tiny Tales Thursday...

The summer countdown is on in our house - the kids have given up all care for homework, normal bedtimes and clothes that coordinate. They are ready for free time, late nights and a wardrobe that consists of bathing suits and sunscreen. As we were heading into school this morning, Emersyn gives me an exasperated sigh and proclaims... "Mom, I'm tired of getting dressed. I can't wait to sleep late, color, and just sleep late. Like at least until 7."

We are going to have to go over the benchmark for what sleeping late actually means.

Tiny Tales Thursday...

Y'all. I do a lot of things wrong when it comes to parenting.

We eat cereal for dinner more than I should admit.
We skip baths. Lots.
Sometimes I'm not sure if the kids are in the front yard or back yard.
You get the idea.

But. I am pretty sure I should get a trophy for teaching my kids about good music. We listen to everything.

The girls have been on an Adele kick with Landry's favorite being...




And she sounds just like her...

Landry: Momma?

Me: Yes...

Landry: I weally wuv this song.

Me: Me too

Landry: I wuv the la la las

Me: Me too

Landry: I also know what it's about

Me: You do?

Landry: Yes. She wuvs the boy and he used to wuv her and now he wuvs someone else. 

She clearly nailed it. 

Tiny Tales Thursday...

Emmy's class was talking about plants this week and she came home talking all about her newfound knowledge...

Emmy: Mom.
Me: Yes.
Emmy: Did you know that there are people that like killing bees and bugs AND cut down the trees that give us ..... ummm... something that starts with an "o"...
Me: Oxygen?
Emmy: YES! That. .... Did you know that?
Me: Yes, baby... I did...
Emmy: Well... I don't like them.


Me either.

#treehuggerforlife

Tiny Tales Thursday...

Five years ago I was the most pregnant I had ever been and y'all, it felt like Landry was never going to leave the womb.

Radley arrived 9 days early on September 6.
Emersyn arrived 10 days early on June 7.
Landry was supposed to arrive 8 days early on March 8.

6 - 7 - 8.

Perfect, right?

Dr. Dawson had even scheduled my induction on the 8th "just in case" but none of us thought I'd need it.

(See above for "perfect plan").

Well, March 8 was drawing nearer and she didn't arrive.

March 8 arrived and so did hand foot mouth disease.

That baby wasn't going anywhere if I could help it. Because ALL THE NOs for that mess.

I was devastated. (And maybe also over-reacting a bit in true Katy form).

I was sooooo prepared.
I was sooooo ready.
I was sooooo pregnant.

I even started maternity leave early because there was literally nothing else for me to do but wait. I was able to take 40 week pictures.

I was in unchartered territory.

Dr. Dawson went skiing, the kids started Spring Break, I was on the couch and Ryan was putting up with all of my crazy.

And then at 5:45am on March 16, she decided she was ready. By 9:45am she was here. On her own time as part of His perfect plan.

Why do we insist on big, giant gestures from Him? I know that His plan is divine, but I clearly need reminding and once again, He comes through in grand style. Her arrival made our family complete and He gets all the credit.

Radley and Emersyn are two of the greatest big siblings I know. Those girls push his buttons and as mad as he gets, he loves them so genuinely.

And Emersyn. I told her tonight as I was singing her to sleep that she was made to be Landry's big sister. Her reply, "I know, Mommy. She's my best-friend." 

2011 was a hard year. We lost Fely within 9 months of her diagnosis. Within 9 more months Landry had arrived.

His plan. His grace. His mercy.

Our blessing.

Happy birthday, Landry. One of my greatest gifts is the ability to be your mom.

I love you in the morning when the sky is blue.
I love you in the evening underneath the moon.
I love you each and every day, oh yes it's really true.
Lovely Landry, I love you.

Tiny Tales: Missing Persons Ad

We had a first at our house tonight.

A prized possession was lost. Or rather.... left behind.

The object in question was Emersyn's one and only, Blue Star.

As she informed me, Blue Star was the first Beanie Boo she ever got "in the whole world." She (or maybe he) was also wearing her favorite collar. A lime green glow bracelet. 

Blue Star accompanied us to Target. As usual I let both her and Landry know that I wasn't keeping up with anything that they choose to bring in the store. I also advised them both to leave their animals in the car. 

They didn't listen. Blue Star was lost.

LIFE IS OVER.

This may have been the most heartbreaking episode I've witnessed of Emmy's. You could tell she felt guilty. She was so upset that she cried herself to sleep. Pitiful.... so so pitiful. 

Holly being the amazing friend/neighbor she is drove over after the kids were asleep so I could go back up to Target and search. 

Nothing. 

Blue Star is on the run.... and I'm afraid we'll never catch her. Or is it him?

So - keep your eyes peeled and let me know if you see her (or him) roaming the streets. 

Tiny Tales Thursday...

My birthday is right around the corner and Emersyn wanted to make sure she had some things straight.

Emmy: Momma, when were you born?
Me: 1979
Emmy: And you're still ALIVE?!?!

I guess she wanted to make up for it later when I was putting her to bed...

Emmy: I love you so much, Momma.
Me: I love you so much, too, Emersyn.
Me: Do you know how much I love you?
Emmy: Yes
Me: Are you sure?
Emmy: Well, is it more than Landry?

That girl. Wouldn't trade her for a thing!

Tiny Tales Thursday...

We were getting ready to go to a friends house one night and I grabbed a bottle of wine. The kids didn't know where we were going because we had made plans about 4 minutes before.

Rad: I bet I know where we are going...
Me: You do?
Rad: Yes. The Prochazka's house.
Me: That's right - how'd you know?
Rad: Well, you always bring wine over there.

**************************

Radley typically has soccer practice on Mondays and Wednesdays but since they had a tournament this weekend, the coach gave them Monday off. I was letting him know practice was cancelled on the way to Spanish tutoring...

Me: Rad, no practice tonight...
Rad: Why?
Me: Well, coach thought y'all deserved a night off since you played so much this weekend.
Rad: Oh.
Me: Maybe Dad can take y'all to the park instead.
Rad: Ok!
Emmy: Wellllll... I think I'd rather just make pumpkin cookies.

Sounds good to me!