School Birthday Snack 101

Let the Birthday Weekend Festivities begin...

Miles celebrated his birthday at preschool yesterday with his friends. It was so cute. He wore his golden birthday crown all day long. I caught a glimpse of him with it on in the hall and had my friend snap a quick picture. I think he is just the cutest kid with his big cheesy smile.

Being a preschool teacher and all, I feel like I have being a preschool PARENT down to a science now having sent three kids through EEP. When choosing a birthday snack (or any snack for that matter), there are a couple of things one should remember: pick snacks that your kid eats. Don't get me wrong, the brightly colored cupcakes are cute but rarely eaten and simply a MESS. If you must select cupcakes, go for the small ones that are easy to handle and don't have icing as tall as the ceiling. Also, if your child doesn't eat cake or cupcakes, let them pick out something they DO like such as cookies, brownies or donuts. Most likely, all the kids will also like those. I took Miles to Kroger to pick out his birthday snack. I even prompted him to select the mini cupcakes, chocolate donuts, a cookie cake...NOPE, he wanted bakery cookies.

Of course, I like to bring in two snacks for the kids to gobble down. Cheese crackers and chips of any sort usually go over well. SO, birthday celebration numero uno consisted of chocolate chip cookies and Cheese-Its. Is it the healthiest of snacks? Why NO. Does it get eaten? Yep. And, really, if I'm going to fork out money on a snack, it might as well be one the kids will eat and not throw away.

Here's my birthday boy with his teacher Ms. Windy. Ms. Windy was working on a Thanksgiving project yesterday with the kids. She asked each one of them what they are thankful for when they say their prayers at night? He looked at her and pointed to her and said, "I'm thankful for YOU." Such a smooth talker =). We're looking forward to celebrating his 4th this weekend with family and friends. YAY!!!

Just Another Week at the Beach

It's no secret that I LOVE the beach in the fall, and apparently, most people in Bowling Green feel the SAME way. In fact, I think we should petition to rename Destin, Florida, to Bowling Green SOUTH.

Destin was especially unique this year because so many of our friends vacationed there. We all stayed within walking distance of each other and were able to hang out on the beach everyday. WHAT FUN! I usually try to journal daily about our trip highlights:

Saturday~we left BG around 7 a.m. and arrived at the beach around 4 p.m. and us women headed to Walmart for our weekly groceries.

Sunday~hung out on the beach and at the pool ALL DAY and nightcapped at the Destin Commons.

Monday~a repeat of Sunday, add grilled hot dogs for lunch. Spent most of the day sunnin' it up.

~We headed to the Back Porch for dinner.~

~And then went to Baytown Wharf~

Me, Matt, Paul and Shannon went to a late movie and saw The Social Network.

Tuesday~us girlies went to the outlet mall that morning, the guys golfed that afternoon, hung at the beach and ate spaghetti, and played at an awesome church playground.

Wednesday~beached it up (great weather all week long)

~Took Karson to Build a Bear and Coldstone for some girl time and to celebrate her birthday (early), got completely LOST in the Life is Good store and scored lots of great teacher presents for Christmas.~

~family pic night~

~our glamorous gals~

The zoo crew!

Went to Pompano Joes for dinner...

with some of our besties! And finished out the day with a trip to The Track for some miniature golf.

Thursday~took the kids shopping at Destin Commons (we needed a beach break that morning)

~Guys went deep sea fishing~

~Went out with friends Louisianna Lagnappe and had some drunk lady take our picture. In fact, I believe this is the ONLY shot we got without a random guy sitting with us in a bright orange shirt.~

My stomach started cramping (too much seafood I guess) so I had to go back to the condo. However, I do believe I missed the most fun part of the evening with a trip to Hurricane Lanes and Krispy Kreme.

Friday~spent the day at the beach, caught up with a dear friend from the past Brian Caffey, did a little more outlet mall shopping, went to Outback for dinner and Coldstone for dessert for dinner.

Saturday-back to reality and life on the road. Karson wrote the sweetest little note in the condo guestbook. We love DESTIN and are looking forward to going back next fall!

#10 and a Weekend With Friends

FRIDAY

I mentioned in my last post that this one would be dedicated to my #10 fall favorite which was/is the Fall Festival at Plano. My kids managed to attend three different school festivals last year. I'm not sure how many we'll attend this year, but Plano's was LOADS of fun. You would think by now I would remember to bring loot bag because by end of the night, I am usually carrying an armful of goodies. Karson's friend Emma came with us. Her big sister had a volleyball game at South Warren the same time as the festival so we invited her to come along with us.

The fish pond, face paint, candy wheel, basketball toss, Hillbilly golf, the grand prize game, digging for pirate treasure, you name it, we did it.




The KIDS especially ENJOY getting their hair spray painted. My tub was a variety of shades that night.

SATURDAY

Anyone who has traveled on I-65 around the Cave City area knows all about the giant T-Rex that towers over that area of the interstate. My kids squeal with glee when they see it. Fortunately for us Warren Countians, Dinosaur World has $1 day weekends in September for us locals. Don't even be trying to sneak in because they CARD you.

Isaac has a kindergarten buddy named Tommy that he has grown quite fond of. We invited his family to come along with us on Saturday. His mom Shelly and I went to BGHS together. It was nice getting reacquainted with her.

Isaac and Tommy cheesing in the gift shop.

Tommy has an older sister named Jessica who is in 3rd grade. She and Karson hit it off pretty well and have had some math classes together (Karson is familiar with many of the 3rd graders being in a split class).

Aaawww, Miles and Karson were swallowed by a T-REX!



Digging for fossils is always one of the highlights of DinoWorld.

The playground and giant sandbox also DOES NOT disappoint. I think the kids spent more time here than in the actual park. Saturday was one of the loveliest days on the fall thus far. I'm looking forward to many more of these days (please fall, stick around for a bit).

After Dinosaur World, Matt and I hooked up with some couples that evening for a group date night at O'Charley's. It was a DINOmyte day all around!

SUNDAY

We spent today with Karson's oldest and dearest friend CHASE. He celebrated his 8th birthday. If my computer hadn't crashed on two different occasions, I could've posted some of the cutest baby pictures of these two. We're so thankful for the DeVries family!




Karson was outnumbered by the boys, but you certainly couldn't convince her of that. They played basketball, football, and built a tee pee. I didn't snag a picture of the tee pee but managed to get a couple of shots like the one below. Thankfully the DeVries have a big ol' backyard where all the hooligans can play and carry on.