Three days...

GiGi and Pops graciously offered to watch Radley and Emmy for a few nights since we were no longer able to go to Sherman. We jumped at the chance thought long and hard about it and although we knew it would be hard to be without them for 3 nights, we recognized that my mom and dad raised Jody, Jeremy and me without killing us, so they would be fine with our kiddos, too!

Radley (and Emmy) could not have been more excited. 

As I was loading him in the car he said (and I quote), "It's ok, Momma, we'll be fine. See ya later!"

My ego and heart were a little broken that I didn't get even a tiny tear, but he did make me feel better when he leaned over to blow me a kiss. 

{I would like it noted that I dropped them off... with NO instructions. None. Everyone that knows me should be proud. I am trying to relinquish control.}

So what did we do for THREE whole days and nights?!?!

No one should be surprised that the first thing I did was clean the house. It was beautiful and stayed that way for THREE whole days and nights!! Ahhhhh... I also caught up on Emmy's baby book, some crafting projects and became acquainted with my new friend, Netflix. 

Wednesday night we spent with the HMMs (also sans kids) and our friend Angie. We just sat and talked for hours and had the best time. Ryan even made Cindy cry from laughing so hard. I love nights like those, no plans, no expectations just enjoying the company of friends. 

Ryan did have to work on Thursday and Friday, but that's ok because he got to come home to this...  

Seriously, best dish ever. 

And then Friday was our anniversary which we celebrated at our favorite place in town, Christopher's World Grille. We love to act like we are "regulars" and hope to one day have a booth named after us. It was one of those perfect evenings where the conversation never stops, the food is amazing, the drinks are perfectly prepared and the company isn't too bad to look at, either. 

I can't believe that it's been five years. Seems like just yesterday I was walking down that aisle to my happily ever after. And while every day isn't filled with perfection, our marriage couldn't be a bigger blessing to me. Thanks, Ryan, for all that you do to keep me and our children happy. 

We had a lovely 3 day mini staycation, but seriously missed our kiddos! Thank you so much, Mom and Dad, for being so wonderful. Radley and Emmy had so much fun and love you so very much!!

Want to do it again?

Playing catch up....

So I've been a little MIA. Sorry. As such, I will be playing a massive game of catch up via ridiculously long post. To keep my 70 readers happy, I may be nice and split it into two posts.

So what have the Kings been up to lately?

1. Fely is doing well with her Chemo treatments. After this round they will go and do more scans to see if the tumor has reacted at all. If it has decreased in size then they will continue treatments. If it has remained the same or gotten bigger, they will decide where to go from here.

We had planned on going to visit her this weekend, but since we all had the flu and Emmy was sick again, her oncologist told us to stay home. Fely's immune system is weak due to the chemo and we don't want to threaten her health any more. This was a tough blow to our plans and especially hard on Ryan since he hasn't seen her since January. I can only imagine how hard it is for him to be so far away from her during this.

Prayer requests: Fely - strength to continue to endure treatments; Troy-  health (he had a stroke 3 weeks ago); Ryan- courage and strength to continue to support his mom even far away.

2. Emmy quit nursing. Cold turkey. This momma was a basket case. To save my "students" and friends that are uninterested in nursing talk the details... I will simply say that at 3pm on Sunday everything was normal. At 7pm (yes, a mere 4 hours later)... I had somehow managed to turn into an acid, fire encapsulated, dragon demon that my daughter wanted nothing to do with. For a week we tried to overcome this "nursing strike" {thank you Google} to no avail.

I had no idea how hard this was going to be. For nine months I shed maybe one tear in that long line of tears with a newborn and in the last 7 days, I have more than made up for it. Thank you to Cindy, my momma, and Ryan for letting me cry. Uncontrollably. For "over reacting" and for just letting me get it out.

There are some upsides:

• No more hooter hiders
• Pumpy and I have become even closer
• And of course this....

Big brother gets to give Emmy her nightly bottles. He loves it, so it makes this momma happy, too.

3. Emmy moved up to the "big girl" bath and had a blast! (until I accidentally almost drowned her... it's hard rinsing off all that hair and trying to hold her up!) We may let her do this from time to time because the two of them had so much fun, but I do like the comfort of the bumbo! :)

4. This is our normal view of Emmy now...

She will crawl until Radley is in her site and then do this... (she is watching him take a bath)

5. Spring has SPRUNG! Now there is 103975397697967972496726 reasons to live in Texas (the first is obviously that we are the best state ever, but that's a different topic for a different day). One of those reasons is the weather that allows us all to be in shorts and flops on March 10. 

Radley loves to stop and pick "flowers" any chance he gets. I kept trying to get the camera to focus on the flower, but I'm just not that talented -- Sarah/Spencer, can you give me some pointers?

Emmy just likes to be outside in the wagon. Can you see those little curls trying to appear? I have no clue how this child has wavy hair, but the humidity brings it out. (I'm a little jealous)

"Radley's playground" is right around the corner from our house. It is the playground at the elementary school that is in our subdivision so it's open to the public. They have 4 separate play areas so even Emmy gets to join in the fun. She loved the swing!

And this big kid just loves to play! The slide, the swings, the rock walls, you name it and he is on it!

He wanted to go down backwards, but I wouldn't let him.

Okay, I think that's enough for one post. If you made it this far... congrats! More to come later...

Happy Anniversary...

My lover is mine, and I am his.

~ Song of Solomon 2:16