Birthday at the Beach!

It’s positively awesome to be from the beach. There is no place I would rather be than in salt water so it’s doubly awesome to have a summer birthday. And be from the beach. Because guess where I get to celebrate!!

Friday night we got in late (pesky school aged children and their need to be educated on a Friday afternoon), but not too late for a little party. While we unpacked the car and got settled in, Mom and Avery cooked up some very spectacular birthday decorations!

Avery was so proud of her handiwork! I wish we had gotten a picture of the whipped cream smiley face she put on the strawberry pie!

Me and my babies!

Time to sing and blow out A LOT of candles! How did I ever get so old?!?!

Me and my little bro and my pretty SIL!

Saturday we spent the day at the beach…it was quite overcast and windy, making for choppy seas. I was exhausted when we got home just from the constant crash of waves. But we still had a great time.

Will and his duct taped together boogie board had a blast. He was hanging with the the big boys out there!

 

Lots of fun!

And of course ice cream for dessert that night! Who can guess where this is!

Before we left on Sunday, we spent the morning at Radio Island. Not a bit of current…floating on the rafts was perfect. It was sooo nice and peaceful. Until our loud crew showed up!!

And who should drive by but Uncle Matt, in his boat, and his dog, Bella. The kids had a blast jumping off the bow of the boat.

Bye Uncle Matt and Bella!

The busy weekend wore these 2 little road warriors out! Thank goodness for a few minutes of peaceful travel.

July Birthdays

July is full of fun birthdays for us….not only Uncle Gray and myself, but loads of other family and friends. It is quite the party month. And calorie ridden month, and of course I helped contribute to the problem with my goodies!

Uncle Gray, who also goes by Uncle Stinky and Big G, turned 40 this year and we stayed in town to help him celebrate. On the day before his birthday there was a big cookout.

There was tons of good food and fun had by all. The kids (big and little!!) had a blast playing corn hole and ladder golf in the front yard. Oh, and don’t forget the hula hoops!

Eventually Avery took a break from playing and just took it all in from the porch….

Avery and little g decorate the backyard with flags.

This might have been my favorite gift I saw of the night!

We left before the band, cake and fireworks because some small attendees were getting veerrrryyyy sleeeeppppyyyyy.

And I know I only have like 1 pic of Will, courtesy of his g-ma I might add. But he spent practically the whole night playing games on her phone. He’s like a mini-pre-teen already.

Aunt J also has the same birthday as Uncle Gray, but we celebrated with her the following weekend. Aunt J and Uncle K have a pond on their property so of course fishing had to happen!

Jessica looked out the window and said “oh, it looks like they went out on the boat.” That’s when we quickly realized the adults were still on shore and it was a kids only cruise. I may have aged like 10 years during this boat/fishing trip. Especially considering the kids kept standing up!!

Will got a little hot outside…

 

Me and my girl!

The kiddos had fun, despite the age ranges! Avery and Will had fun playing with Luke’s baby toys…for awhile. We figured they would grow tired of them after a bit!

Yay for July birthdays and family love!!

School Days

After a short break, the new school year is upon us!

Will, who is now a 2^nd grader, started on Monday with the rest of the 1^st-5^th graders. How handsome is he!!??

And very color coordinated!! He was very proud of his outfit.

We are definitely looking forward to this school year. I’ve heard great things about his teacher and one his best friends is in his class (and currently sits at his table but I’m curious as to how long that will last!!). All of his homework will be done on the computer so I think someone might be getting their own (old) laptop. I just can’t share!! I have too many Pinterest recipes to follow at dinner time each night!

He also got a new camouflage book bag and matching lunch box this year (I hope we can keep this one a few years). So far he enjoys playing jokes that center around his gear being camouflaged, i.e. “invisible”. Ha! Well, after 3 days it’s “Ha”. Check with me in a few weeks.

So far he’s had a great week. He’s been super happy in the afternoons, which is really important to me. He seems to really like his teacher too. Although he did mention last night that the new teacher isn’t as funny as his old one! Ha!

Kindergartners have a staggered entry system so Avery only goes one day this first week. It was actually kind of nice because on Will’s first day we could focus solely on him and on Avery’s, it was easier to just focus on her since Will already had a few days under his belt.

She was so excited last night that she couldn’t go to sleep, which resulted in a cranky and overly sensitive Avery this morning. But she rallied and came around and even did a little shoe tying session, ,which she HATES to do.

 

Hard to believe she is in school now!

Some pics outside before we left. I was starting to get worried that Sunshine was going to have to come with us to school!

Will took a turn behind the lens…

She was just a little bit excited.

Hanging out with Bubba before school….they were misbehaving!

I was absolutely devastated when Will announced he didn’t want to walk her to her classroom. Seriously, I almost cried. That was the only part of the morning that almost put me in tears!

And away she goes!

Settling into her classroom. She looks like such a big girl!

Matt snapped this one as we were leaving…..I still can’t believe she is in Kindergarten and she and Will are together again. Woo hoo for one stop in the afternoons!

She had a fun day and is ready to go back!!