Friday Favorites: Beach Edition

Today, I'm linking up to talk about our favorite things to do at the beach! 

It seems more doable than recapping the entire week, and considering we've already been home for almost a week and I haven't recapped yet, I'm realizing it's now or never.

1. Wearing matching dresses, of course! What more perfect place to match than at the beach!

2. Going to Seaside. This was our third annual beach trip, and one of the main criteria is being close to this quaint beach town. It's impossible to be in a bad mood when you're there, and the snow cones are pretty good too!

3. Plenty of beach time, duh!

4. Donuts! This was our first year of this tradition, but considering Z ate all but one of those donut holes, then the both of them ran around the super fun splash pad, I know it's not our last trip to the Alys Beach Donut truck and splash pad!

5. Trip to Destin: Outlets, Fudpucker's, and the arcade. So, I think it's pretty obvious how the outlet tradition started, but Fudpucker's was a total fluke involving searching for a Target that carries Star Wars toys, not finding it, being starving, and ending up at Fudpucker's. Now, it's not a beach trip without a visit to the (delightfully tacky) restaurant, and the arcade is just icing on the cake!

6. Flying our frog kite! Nana got us the frog kite before our very first trip, and it's a hit every year! We love flying it!

7. Evening beach time! It's the best time to make a sand snowman and of course, take dressed up pictures. 

We look forward to beach week all year. We love the uninterrupted family time and treasure the memories year round and for years to come. We were all sad to leave the beach this year, and we're already contemplating our next trip. 

So long, beach, see ya next year!

Pre-K Graduation Day!

This morning Z officially graduated Pre-K. I could swear it was just yesterday that we toured this preschool and decided it was the one for us. Just yesterday that he would cry when we dropped him off, run and hug us when we picked him up (thankfully, he still does that). Now, he can read basic books, do simple math. He knows how to sit and listen to his teacher, line up, present to the class, play and work together with other kids. Thanks to his wonderful school, he's really ready for Kindergarten!

I may have gotten a little teary when they marched out to the "Graduation Song," but mostly I just feel really excited for him to start "big school" and everything that goes along with it.

The ceremony was very organized and so sweet. They did several songs, had a slideshow of pictures from throughout the year, then each had a "letter" with a phrase they stood up and recited. Z's was "W for the world of words we've barely dipped into." I would classify him as pretty shy, but he did really well, he held his letter up high and spoke loudly and clearly! We were so proud!

When they announced each of the children they said Future _____, and filled in their answer. Even though there were several Future Dentists in the group, he was "Future Ironman." That got a good laugh from the audience

When they marched out, a pop song was playing. Z had his hands in his pockets and was jamming as he walked. He looked so cool, and we've never been more proud, haha!

These two ladies have been the best and sweetest teachers! Miss Morgan (on the left) has the bubbliest and most fun personality, and Miss Stephanie (on the right) is so sweet and creative, she also happens to be the mom of Lu's school bestie. We've had an awesome year with these two!

So proud of our boy!

Little sis was a perfect audience member and supporter!

And she had to take the spotlight just for a bit.

We ran a couple of errands, then had celebratory lunch at McD's and Edgar's cookies for dessert. (I know, nothing says celebration like McD's, but what the boy wants the boy gets!)

It was such a perfect morning spent celebrating our sweet boy! Next stop, Kindergarten (after spending the summer at his current school)!

Lu’s Three!

Just like that my baby’s turned 3! We’ve been talking about May coming up and how she’s going to be a “big girl” in May. And here it is!

We left the beach on her actual birthday, so she got some new jewelry, a donut and her favorite food in the world, watermelon as her morning birthday treat, then we hit the road!

When we got home, we had a present from Aunt Talia and a card from Nana and Tata waiting for us. So, we celebrated properly. Then, after dinner, cupcakes!

Lu is equal parts spunky, girly, feisty, and lovable. She can be crying one minute then be laughing uncontrollably the next.

She loves ballet, princesses, and her brother. fiercely (even though they fight intensely, especially when they both want the same toy).

She is our joy! We are so thankful for her, spunkiness and all! Happy Third birthday, baby girl!

Weekend Wrap-Up

We had a super fun and busy weekend. Friday, we went to Target (again, because evidently I didn’t get enough the past weekend). We had to get stuff for the beach and some new potty accessories to encourage independence (particularly in the morning (for the love)).

We didn’t buy any toys this time, but we did get lots of pool stuff and somehow about 6 boxes of cereal. I guess that’s what happens when both children don’t fit in the cart. We also visited the bathroom twice on this trip and twice on last week’s trip, in fact at this particular moment we are waiting on Z to have his turn in the bathroom. Thrilling stuff, here, people.

In case you aren’t drawn in already, let’s talk about potty training. Lu has done pretty well with Number 1 lately, and she’s been waking up dry for weeks, so I bit the bullet and started putting her in undies (which she has thousands of). She was all on board for the undies, and to my surprise was having no accidents in them at school or at night! But she was convinced she wasn’t “bigger enough” to go number 2. For a few days I put her in a diaper just for number 2 (pleasant I know), but that wasn’t cutting it for her after a few days because she’s “not a baby anymore.” So, to sum up, not big enough to go in the potty but not a baby anymore to go in her diaper… That, my friends is the definition of a holding pattern.

As an aside, she has been telling us that she will be “bigger” in May, because that’s when her birthday is, and when we talk about going poopoo, she says “May hasn’t comed up, yet.” Well, fast forward to Friday, MAY FIRST and she GOES! We’d had a morning at Target, and I was at my wit’s end, when she declared she had to go, and went! I’d bought her a barbie a couple weeks ago and told her she could open it when she finally went, so she did, and we were all very excited to say the least. Z felt just as triumphant with this accomplishment, as he was her number one encourager and may or may not have tried to teach her how to go on several occasions.

Now, for all of you expectant parents out there, I’m going to let you in on a little secret (get a pen and paper). Okay, here goes: 90% of parenting is POOP. #truth.

 

Saturday we ran a bunch of errands, went to Adam’s baseball game, then met my sis and some friends for dinner.

After dinner, we had some celebratory frozen yogurt (you know, to celebrate aforementioned poop accomplishment Ha!).

Somebody was not into taking pictures.

Sunday Z had a make-up soccer game. It’s going to be his last game because there are three makeup games the week we are going to be out of town. I had my phone locked and loaded on video mode and hit record every time he touched the ball, and nothing. I was hot and fed up with the phone, dumped it in my purse, declared I was done, and then he proceeded to take the ball from the other team, and victoriously run  it all the way down the field and score a goal (slight exaggeration, but you get the idea, I missed the goal).

Nick and Z went to the gym on Saturday and discovered that the pool had opened. The Y near our new house has this super cool splash pad, which I think we’ll be seeing a lot of this summer!

We even went back on Sunday after soccer.

Sunday night we had a little rehearsal with Lu in her dance costume. Precious way to end the weekend!