{Oh Hey Friday // Flag Cake // Kindergarten}

Happy Friday! I mentioned in yesterday's post how crazy this week has been for us, so I won't go into all of that. I am happy that it's Friday and almost the weekend, though! Time for Oh Hey Friday!

{O N E} // Posts from this week...

Tuesday - Currently
Thursday - I confess

Lamesauce!

{T W O} // Mason and I started the Magic Treehouse Series this week and we are loving it! These are the first true chapter books we have read. I can tell we are going to go through them quick. We read the first book in two sessions and they were pretty short sessions.

{T H R E E} // I racked my brain trying to think of something to give Mason's teacher for her end of the year gift. I feel like we have exhausted all Pinterest options and gave her just about one of everything this year. I had to get my nails done yesterday and that's when I thought of giving her a gift card to the nail salon. I made a little note that said "MANI thanks for an awesome year" to go with the theme. And hopefully it was different than anything else she received!

{F O U R} // This past weekend we went on our annual Memorial Day camping trip to the Texas Hill Country. Every evening we do a "potluck" style supper and all campers come together to eat. It's one of my favorite parts about this trip. Every camper contributes sides and desserts and there is always enough yumminess to feed an Army. This time we had 12 campers in our group, so you can imagine. And we always call the police department to come out and eat with us. I think its so cool that they actually come. Well, one evening my Mother in Law brought the ingredients to make this flag cake. It was so easy and so delicious, so I thought I would share.

Ingredients:

Twinkies
Strawberry glaze
Whip Cream
Blueberries
Strawberries

Instructions:

Layer the pan with the twinkies, spread the strawberry glaze over them, top with a tub of cool whip, add the blueberries to upper left hand corner (for the stars), and then make rows using the strawberries.

That's it!

So cute, so festive and so yummy. And it's easy enough to make in a camper.

{F I V E} // It's hard to believe Mason is done with Kindergarten. I will have a full post on this soon, but I wanted to share the first day vs last day photos. It's amazing how much he has grown in so many ways this year.

That's all I've got for today! I hope you have an amazing weekend!!

{Oh Hey Friday // Kinder program // New hairs // Vacation}

Oh hey Friday, hey! I am so glad it's the weekend. It's been one long and tiring week. I can't seem to shake this darn virus. Just when I am feeling better and think I am on the mend, it comes back with a vengeance. It's been real fun. ugh. And now Nate is running fever and has a sore throat. Praying that it totally passes our little man! Anyhow, I am so glad it's the weekend.

Time for Oh Hey Friday! It's been a pretty uneventful week for us of just resting at home and trying to get better.

{O N E} // Posts from this week. Only two...womp, womp. #thanksagainvirus

Weekend Wrap-up // Spring Bucketlist Update

{T W O} // Mason had a little Kindergarten Music program before pick-up yesterday! It was so cute. And of course one of the songs made me cry...something about it's been a great year, but we're moving on. How are we 8.5 days away from being done with Kindergarten??? So dang bittersweet.


Kinder Music Program from Crystal Hall on Vimeo.
{T H R E E} // I finally got my mullet cut and highlighted. And I'm not lying when I said mullet. The back of my hair was growing faster than the sides and it looked awful. It's been needing done for a while, but if y'all remember my hair dresser is like 1 hour and 15 minutes away. Well, I have a cousin that has completed cosmetology school over 9 months ago and has been working at a high end salon in the metroplex for a while. She has done several family members hair and they have been ranting and raving over her. So I messaged her and asked if she would want to do my hair. She came to my house Wednesday evening!!! And she did amazing. She uses a really high end product that restores the oils that the bleach normally pulls out. My hair was left feeling so soft and in much better shape than before I highlighted it. And for the cut, we just evened everything out and cutoff the dead ends. I want nothing more than for my hair to be long again, but a cut was necessary.  Maybe my thyroid will get in check and my hair will actually grow. One can hope! Also, I am so embarrassed that I am showing a before picture. ha.

{F O U R} // I've been collecting books for Mason's Kindergarten graduation. They don't have a graduation per-say, but we will celebrate. On our last Scholastic book order form this book was suggested as a graduation book:

Oh my word! I haven't even made it through the whole book yet. It is so freakin' sweet and makes me so weepy! If you don't have this one, I recommend you getting it. Yes, even though I haven't finished it I am recommending it. I also got "Curious You, On Your Way" and "The Little Engine that Could" which both have good messages. Any others you recommend?

{F I V E} // We finally nailed down our vacation for this summer and we are so excited. We will be traveling for 10 whole days. We are starting off with a weekend in New Orleans and then driving to Panama City Beach for the rest of the time! We've never been to either place. So, if you have any tips or places we must go please share!!!

That's all I've got! Hope you have a wonderful weekend!!

{Oh Hey Friday // Gifted and Talented // Soccer}

Happy Friday!! This week was a weird one...the days were long, but the evenings flew by. Usually how it goes, though. We have another pretty busy weekend ahead of us; soccer game, birthday party, maybe meeting some church friends at a preserve, and then church on Sunday. I'm looking forward to it.

Time for Five on Friday...

{O N E} // Posts from this week

Weekending / Mason's Birthday Party

The Kids Behind the Blog / Picture Perfect Project

{T W O} // Mason's papa brought him home a pair of shoes this week. A friend at work had bought them for his child, but they didn't like them or wear them or whatever so he sent them to Mason. This is his first pair of high-tops {besides chucks} and he loves them! He's definitely a 'shoes' kid. Every time we go to Academy he begs for a new pair.

  

{T H R E E} // So, so proud of our sweet boy!!! Last week his sweet teacher emailed us to say she tested him last week and he's reading at a 14 level and performing as a 2nd grader in the month of October. When the kids leave Kindergarten they want them to be at a level 4 and he's at a 14! And then the next day we got a letter asking for our permission to test Mason for the gifted and talented program for his district. Not only is he excelling academically, he has a long streak of coming home on green {good behavior}. He is trying to finish out the school year on all greens and he's doing so great. I love to see him set and make goals.

{F O U R} // We had our last soccer practice of the season last night! So sad. I've really, really enjoyed watching Mason play soccer. It's fun and exciting! Being a soccer mom is so cliche, but it really is awesome {just need that mini-van! ha}. I hope that he wants to play another season. He's talking about karate, and while I will support him in anything he wants to try, I have to admit it sounds boring. But, I thought that about soccer, too. I am sure I will love it because I love him.

Anyhow, practice went great. Mason has really gotten into it lately. He's agressive and his footwork has come a long way. I enjoyed watching him last night. When he ran over for a water drink he said, "Did I do good mama?" I told him that he did great and asked him if he was sure he was only five because he was playing soccer like a ten year old. He smiled so big and then hustled back out to practice. LOVED it! I should have taken some video, but honestly I was probably sitting there with my jaw hung open because of how well he was doing.

    

{F I V E} // After practice we let Mason play on the playground for a bit. He has recently conquered the monkey bars and can't get enough of them. What is it about parenthood that makes you so proud over something as simple as monkey bars? :)

Happy weekend friends! Any plans?

{Kindergarten field trip to the Dallas Zoo}

Last Thursday I joined Mason’s class for a Kindergarten field trip to the Dallas Zoo. The weather was absolutely perfect and a good time was had by all. We got to the zoo around 9:00 am and got checked in. Then we didn't waste any time going straight to the giraffes. One of the teachers that partnered with Mason's teacher had an agenda! She wanted our group to be the first to the giraffes so that they wouldn't be full when our kids went to feed them. When we got there they were doing something to the giraffe area and we had to wait a bit. And naturally all the kids were bored staaaarving. Luckily I had some graham cookies for Mason to snack on! About 15 minutes later we finally got to feed the giraffes and the kids loved it! I took way too many pictures, but the giraffes are our favorite. 


            

After we fed the giraffes we took a potty break and then went to visit the elephants, warthogs and the lions. There actually weren't many elephants out this time, but their exhibit is always neat to see.
      

We went to the children's part of the zoo next and this is where we decided to split off from the group. It was around 11:30 at this point. There were just way too many kids and way too many parents and it was hard to see everything in such a large group. We split off with one of Mason's friends and his mom and grandma. We did pony rides and fed the birds next. These two things cost extra and we wouldn't have been able to do it had we stayed in the group. The boys loved it! I was a bit terrified in the bird exhibit, but I stuck it out for the sake of getting some pictures. I might have ducked and screamed a few times, though...

           After feeding the birds we went to see the monkeys and the koalas. The boys enjoyed some cotton candy during these exhibits. They also got to go on a dinosaur train ride. We attempted the reptile exhibit, but it was entirely too crowded and it was humid inside. I was okay with it being too crowded, though...too many snakes in one area! Eeek. We made a couple of swipes and then booked it out of there. We took the boys to the gift shop, got them some dip and dots ice cream and called it a day! 

    I loved that I was able to take Mason home with me rather than him riding the bus back to school. We made a quick run to Target to get a couple of spring crafts to do and then to Whataburger for a big fountain drink. We came back and had the most amazing time with just he and I. I loved having the one on one time with him and can't wait for summer so that we can have more of these kinds of days. I plan to fully blog about our time together...but did want to share a picture.

How precious is he? I've never been big on character shirts, shoes or accessories...but I don't mind when he wears superhero things. I actually really love it and think he looks adorable. We found this cute little Batman hat in the Target dollar spot when we were looking for Spring crafts.

So thankful I was able to take a day off work to join Mase at the zoo and so thankful for our time together.

Have you been to the zoo lately? What is your favorite zoo to visit? Ours is the Fort Worth Zoo.