The Kings

Monday, August 5, 2013

Best buds

Got to share this fun pool and DQ day! Sylvie and Ollie, BFFs.

God Bless,
Katie

Meet Sylvie's newest cousin (she has 12!), Baylin! She is much bigger than this now, but this is when we met her for the first time while in Auburn waiting for Rosie to get better. We love getting to pass clothes down to her and Sylvie can't wait to babysit.

God Bless,
Katie

Nashville & the AGD

Parrish received his Fellowship in the Academy of General Dentistry in June (a dental distinction that he earned by getting tons of CE hours and passing an exam...next up, earning the Master distinction, yikes), which meant a fun trip to Nashville for the induction for us and Cousin Camp for the munchkin. I'm not sure who had more fun! The trip was really nice...great hotel, amazing food, good company and of course, pride for my super smart and dedicated spouse. Plus I really like Nashville...it's so clean and musical, two of my favorite things. I picked some great restaurants, got to see my friend Mer's new baby, Charlie, shopped a little, slept in a little, went to the Relache spa at Opryland (TOTALLY recommend this), made some new friends and got to spend some time with dental school friends in north Alabama.

I don't have any pictures from Cousin Camp, but my dad made us a really cute photo book to commemorate the first annual event. Sylvie, Bailey and Rosie attended this year, and hopefully Lucy can go next summer. They did crafts, ate a lot, played a lot, Sylvie got a wasp sting on her chest and succeeding in completely exhausting my parents. Sylvie had a ball and can't wait to do it again.

Getting his award from the Prez of the AGD.

What a dork.

Drs. King, Fontenot and Sarasola, FAGD.

Great view from the new Music City Center.

Dr. Bill joined us for the festivities.

New friends from Florida and Louisiana.

We enjoyed several date nights. This one at Virago, eating sushi outside overlooking downtown Nashville.

Poppy's twin but from 30 years ago. Cajuns are hilarious.

Dressed like twins, as usual!

Another date night at Silo, my favorite. Farm to table food and knowledgeable staff.

A bunch of smart dentists who know a lot of inside dental jokes.

After a yummy dinner at Suzy Wong's, we attended a concert at the Ryman, then headed to Lonnie's in Printer's Alley. The night was totally ruined by the underage girls getting WASTED with their moms. Losers.

I had a great time on this trip, but I was so ready to pick Sylvie up. I am so used to having her as my sidekick, I really didn't know what to do without her! She'd rather be at JJ & Ferg's than anywhere else, so she could've cared less to come home, but I was READY. Love that little twerp.

God Bless,
Katie

Sunday, August 4, 2013

NKOTB

This week started with swimming lessons and a tumbling camp for Sylvie at ADTC. She got over her weird fear of the pool with the help of Miss Allison and multiple other toddlers having the time of their life in the water.

What seemed like a normal week for us culminated in the most epic of epic events you can imagine...NKOTB. That's right, don't be jealous. My sister and I headed BY OURSELVES (one of the reasons it was epic) to Atlanta to enjoy a little man-candy in the form of Donnie, Danny, Jordan, Jonathan and, be still my 8-year-old heart, Joey. Y'all, it was awesome. They are TERRIBLE singers, but it was awesome. Their songs are ABYSMALLY written, but it was awesome. Highlights for me included watching my 35-year-old sister jam out and bite her bottom lip to "You've Got the Right Stuff (Baby)" and then watching Donnie get nailed in the face with a gigantic, flesh-colored, betcha-money-it-was-a-nursing-bra bra. For real, the audience was full of moms pretending to be teens, reliving their glory days when it was ok to wear buttons the size of your face depicting your fav New Kid.

Combine the show with a night in a hotel without kids and breakfast in bed? Hard to beat. But we will try, my friends, oh how we will try.

I have some thrilling video from the show, but I think I'll save that just for me, when I'm down, and need my sis to make life bright again. All I'll have to do is watch her watching her idols and all will be good again with the world. I will, though, give you this priceless tidbit for you to enjoy when you're feeling blue.

You're welcome.

The smallest in my button collection. You have to draw the line somewhere and I didn't want to snag my silk dress by wearing a platter emblazoned with Joe's face.

BFF 4 EVA

This week was topped off by my dad and Parrish winning their flight at our club's Member-Guest golf tournament. This was particularly annoying since Parrish probably hasn't even held a golf club in a year or so. Perfect Parrish strikes again.

God Bless,

Katie

Orange Beach (interrupted)

We headed to Orange Beach for Parrish's annual dental meeting the third week of June. Or I should say we were supposed to head that way. Our sweet Ro threw us a curve ball by getting inexplicably sick, making a weeklong stay at our local vet and then a trip to the AU vet school a necessity. Bless her heart but holy $2500, dog. I'm going to start a dog tab alongside the one Sylvie is running up when she doesn't eat the food I buy her. Luckily she was fine (no diagnosis) and we got to spend a couple of days at the lake with my folks whilst waiting for her to snap out of it. I did get to chat with a cute vet who's going into Army special forces after graduation, but other than that, the trip was super annoying to me, since we were supposed to have a whole week at the beach, cut short by a mutt. I shouldn't complain, since I BEGGED to get the mongrel in the first place.

Enough said on that subject. We did in fact head to the beach after we'd determined that Rosie was fine and was in the capable hands of our sweet neighbors. We had great weather and celebrated with parasailing (Sylvie and I watched Daddy from the safety of the boat...this happened a week before there was a horrific parasailing accident in PCB. Had we known about that, we'd have picked a less-terrifying activity, like putt-putt) and a Brad Paisley concert. I now love him with my whole heart because he stopped at Sylvie's seat and gave her his guitar pick. I swear if he'd wanted to take her I'd have given her over without hesitation. He is such a sweetheart! I know this is unreasonable but in the moment I really would have let him hold her!

This was also Father's Day weekend so that made it extra special. We also got a chance to spend some time with Parrish's assistant, Kim, who had to quit to move back to Dothan. We are sad about this...she was his first assistant out of school and made his job much easier, so we are both eager to get a new one trained!

I'm trying my best to remember everything that went on this week, but it's been almost two months since then. I do remember it being one of the worst couple of weeks I've ever had, but I honestly can't remember why it was so bad at the time. I guess that's a good thing! Time heals all, I guess. But at the time I think I was really whiny.

Photographer Sylvie.

Playing cute.

Playing cuter.

Gorgeous beach day.

Playing pouty.

Headphones for her first concert (and super cute top from Mimi).

Goofball.

Why is he wearing those...they are used to him being ridiculous, I'm sure.

Happy Father's Day to the best!

Girlies.

Best wishes to sweet Kim! Never to be replaced.

God Bless,

Katie

VBS 2013

Sylvie got to attend her first VBS the first week of June. Our church combines with the Epsicopal and Presbyterian churches to hold VBS...this year was FPC's turn to host. We had about 40 kids and it really was a fun week. I was sick with a raging case of bronchitis and decided after the first day to give my lungs a rest and let the other ladies lead instead of interfering! This is not my strong suit, so keeping quiet was quite the challenge for me. My part included getting guests to come in each day to spend some time with the kids, teaching them about different cultures (part of the theme was friends around the world or something...anybody else find Cokesbury curriculums to be very convoluted and complicated?). I think it went over well, save for the video about Japan that included references to beer, tee-teeing in a hole and suicide statistics. No, I'm not joking. I guess I should have reviewed that before showing it, huh. It's our church's turn next summer, so here's to a hectic year planning the best VBS EVER (insert evil laugh of a controlling children's director here).

Sylvie had a great time, being the youngest in attendance but fitting in perfectly. She especially liked song and dance time, imagine that.

Hopscotch during rec time.

Proud of that nametag.

Pretty girl.

Having a snack of orange and fortune cookies.

Charlie is the best "counselor" ever.

This week ended with a cleanout of the children's wing of our church. Are all churches like ours...junk everywhere because there were once women long forgotten who could be heard shouting through the linoleumed halls, "we might use that one day!" The trashcans got used like never before and my bronchitis flared with a vengeance, but by golly, it's cleaned out. Or it was for a minute until the next wave of kids and teachers came through and disturbed the serenity of my OCD. I have a feeling it's a never-ending project, my very least favorite kind.

Parrish also ended his high school soccer season on a high...the team won their area and since this was the first year the team had competed, it was a pretty big deal. So proud of him sharing his gifts and time with those kids. And for exciting a love a soccer in the munchkin! Pretty sure she'll get to play next fall with a rec team.

God Bless,

Katie

Jax Beach 2013

We got a trip in to see our fun cousins in Jax, FL. We trapped them all at a beach house so we could spend some quality time with them without the distractions of being at someone's home. I really miss these folks and wish we saw them more often. I just love the easiness of this family turned to friendship. I am so grateful Sylvie has so many cousins to grow up with and learn from. She truly had a ball and has not stopped talking about "the friends." If I hadn't had the beginnings of bronchitis it would've been the perfect trip. But even with that it was pretty darn close. We played on the beach, watched Jungle Book, hunted crabs, went out for some great Mexican food and talked, talked, talked. I got to live vicariously through Durell's natural, at-home birth story, one I surely won't replicate but admire A LOT. And we can't wait to visit Naked Acres once it's up and running (that's our vote for the name of the Busey's new farmland).

Here's looking forward to many more family vacations with this crew!

Sweet cousin Maylin, just a little younger than Sylvie and hilarious. She said her baby brother has a "peanuts." What I wouldn't give to preserve this sweet innocence forever.

In a beach cave.

Loving this East coast beach. Clean, private and BIG. The weather couldn't have been better...can't say the same for the rest of our abysmal, wet summer.

New parents Durell and Doug.

Baby Luke, two months old. I don't think I put him down the entire weekend, unless he had to eat. Which prompted Sylvie to "nurse" her babydoll this week...I caught her with her shirt up with Bitty "drinking milk from her tummy like Luke did." No time like the present to start learning the facts of life!