{Five on Friday // Pond // The travelling bag // Flag Day}

Happy Friday friends!! I don't know about you, but I am ready to get another summer weekend underway. We have been having the best summer weekends and I can't get enough. But first...Friday {and another excuse for a photo dump!!}.

{O N E} // Posts from this week

Weekending // Loss, heartache and healing // Free Fonts for Summer // Sweet Summertime

{T W O} // While organizing my photos I realized that I never shared these sweet pictures. Mason had a turtle for a pet for about a week. He was a tiny little thing and Nathan found him crossing our street. As much as Mason loved him, we noticed he wasn't really thriving in the home we built for him. Nathan and I were afraid he was going to die. So we talked Mason into taking him to the pond to 'find his family'. So one evening we loaded up in the Trail-Wagon and went to take our turtle home. The light was glorious and I couldn't help but snap pictures. While at the pond Nathan taught Mason the art of skipping rocks. We really should spend more time at the pond.

My sweet #masonlane has the most tender heart and loves hard. We rescued a turtle a couple of weeks ago and set him up a little tank here at our house. We started noticing that he wasn't really thriving and asked Mase if we could take him down to the creek. With tear-filled eyes he agreed. So last night we hopped on the trail wagon and drove down to the creek. After Michaelangelo Cheese Pizza swam off Mason came over to me and says, "Mama, it's okay. I'm not sad. I just want him to be happy and to find his parents." Oh how I love him! We stayed for a bit after and these two skipped rocks. Love my little tribe.

A photo posted by >>> Crystal <<< (@hallaroundtexas) on May 10, 2016 at 4:46am PDT

      

{T H R E E} // I have a sweet story to share. My husband and his best friend have been exchanging the same gift bag for almost 30 years now. Whether they were giving a birthday gift or a graduation gift or even just a just because gift they would put it in this same gift bag each time and pass it back and forth. It's become a tradition that they have carried into their adult years and I just love it. Our best friends are in the Air Force and have been stationed in a different country for a year now. The wife {who is now one of my closest and best friends} messaged me to let me know they were sending us a box of 'local' things from where they are living. We got our package in the mail opened the box and found this...

The gift bag! We can now say that thing has traveled across the world. Goodness I love a good tradition and good friends even more.

{F O U R} // Tuesday was Flag Day! I love National holidays because for some reason Mason is more agreeable to letting me take pictures of him. Like on Flag Day! I said, "Mason today is flag day. I need to take some pictures of you with the flag!" And he agreed without any fuss! Umm, whaaaatt? I might just have to make up some holidays for the sake of getting photos.
    

{F I V E} // We went on some family bike rides this week!  It's kind of become our evening jam. We are loving being able to just go without having to stop every five minutes for Mason! When he had training wheels he would get high-centered on our uneven streets in our neighborhood. Now, he is a bike riding machine. We normally ride to Nate's parents house and back (which is exactly a mile), but one night we took the long way home. Mason is a little champ! This makes me even more excited to see him ride in the bike parade at 5th of July! If we aren't bike riding we at least try to get out and do some sort of outdoor activity each night! Summers are the best.

Any plans for the weekend? I doubt we do much tonight because Nate has to be at the church at 5:30 am to leave for a men's fishing trip! Mason and I will find something to do. Then Sunday is child dedication and Father's Day at church!!

Hope you have an amazing weekend!!

{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 // IG // Rednose}

Happy Friday!! I am off today {wahoo} for an extra long weekend. But, I have to start the day off with some dr appts. {yuck}! I am so looking forward to this long weekend. Joining in for Oh Hey Friday!

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

Weekend Wrap-up and birthday lunch // Summer and Vacation Bucketlists

Birthday letter to my six year old // Guys Behind the Blog

{T W O} // I've been working on my IG and trying to find my 'style' and to have a cohesive feed. I am loving how much turquoise and bright colors have been in our lifes lately! A sure sign that summer is on its way!! But, man...trying to have a cohesive feed is so freakin' hard. There are so many pictures that I want to post, but can't because they don't 'fit' my IG. #thestruggle

{T H R E E} // This little guy learned how to ride his bike with no training wheels within 10-15 minutes on Tuesday and by Friday he was riding a mile. {full post on this coming soon!} So proud of him!!

{F O U R} // Mason and I joined in for #rednose yesterday and had so much fun with it! I've loved scrolling the hashtag on IG

{F I V E} // I ran out of time and that's all I got! Hope you have a great Memorial Day 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!!