Five on Friday - Watermelon Dress, Books, Loose Tooth, & Coloring

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Hello, Friday!  We’ve had yet another busy week!  The kids have been going to Vacation Bible School every morning and swimming lessons every afternoon so we have been on the road nonstop.  I used each morning of VBS to go the gym (PRAISE!), run errands, get my oil changed, and get my allergy shot… AKA all of the boring stuff I didn’t want to have to drag the kids to.  I’m really looking forward to a lighter calendar next week.  Now for some favorites from this week…

O N E – Cutest Summer Dress

Nothing says summer like watermelons!  I was at Target the other day with the kids and there was no way I could pass up this cute little dress!  Watermelons and pompoms?  Well, I think that makes it quite possibly the cutest little girl summer dress ever!  I love that we can dress it up for church or down for every day wear.  And it’s only $14.99!

T W O – This Book

I am on a reading kick since it’s summer, and I was able to read an entire book and a half at the beach.  I loved one of them so much I wanted to share it with you in case you’re looking for some recommendations for the summer.  I have only read two books by Mary Kay Andrews, and I thought the first one (Save the Date) was pretty good, but this second one that I just read (Ladies Night) was GREAT!  I was so into this book and I found myself not wanting to put it down.  It definitely turned me into an official Mary Kay Andrews fan and I can’t wait to read more!  Grab this one if you’re looking for a fun summer read!  It takes place in a beach town, too, so that was quite appropriate for our beach trip.

The book I’m reading right now is Small Admissions by Amy Poeppel, and I’m just not loving it.  I’m almost finished with it, but I’ve really had to dig deep to get through these last few chapters.  To me, the character development is not up to par so in the beginning I found myself flipping back to the beginning numerous times to see who was who.  The writing is also kind of blah as well, and worst of all, there are a few little excerpts between chapters (typed in italic) and sometimes I can’t even tell who is telling the story at that point.  It’s confusing.  I don’t enjoy having to put that much effort into something that I’m supposed to be reading for lighthearted summer fun, so I wouldn’t recommend this book.  It has pretty good reviews on Amazon, so maybe it's just me?

T H R E E – Jacob’s Second Visit from the Tooth Fairy

Jacob lost his first tooth a couple of weeks ago, and we knew a second one would be right behind it.  Sure enough, all last week it was pretty wiggly so last Sunday evening I had my grandmother look at it because I do not pull teeth.  She said that it was definitely ready to come out but Jacob declined her offer to pull it.  I think he was a little scared.  Well, Tuesday morning I was cleaning up after breakfast when Jacob shouted, “MOMMY, I JUST PULLED MY TOOTH!”  I was shocked and so was he.  Haha.  I asked him what prompted him to pull it and he said that he could feel one of the roots so he just lightly pulled to see what would happen and it just came right out.  If he hadn’t done that, we probably would have had another one go missing.  The tooth fairy visited that evening and I’m sure she was really excited to see an actual tooth (since he lost his first one and had nothing to put under his pillow).

F O U R – Olivia’s Coloring Method

I have actually been meaning to mention this on the blog for months, but I somehow always manage to forget.  For the 6-8 months (maybe longer) Olivia has been coloring everything in rainbow stripes.  She invented this method herself and she colors almost everything this way.  This picture that she colored below was her kids menu at Carrabba’s a few weeks ago.  She only had access to blue, green, and orange crayons, but she made it work!  I just think it is so creative of her and I’ve never seen a four-year old color like this before!  I don’t know how long this will last, so I had to document it just in case.  :o)

F I V E – Birthday Present Shopping for Jacob

*This section of the post is sponsored by Wikibuy. 

Jacob’s birthday is right around the corner so it’s about that time to start shopping.  He already has a list of things that he wants, so I am about to start looking around to find the best prices.  Have y’all ever heard of Wikibuy?  I just discovered them recently and they are perfect to use for situations like these.  You can search for products right on their website and they find the best deals and coupons on the internet right there in one place for you.  Since we are now a one-income family we are always looking for ways to save money, and using Wikibuy is one more way that we can do that!

Happy weekend, y’all!

*Linking up with A Liz Adventures and Carolina Charm for Five on Friday, A Little Bit of Everything for Friday Favorites, Meet @ the Barre for Friday Favorites, and Cup of Tea for High Five for Friday.

Girl Chat - Favorite Hair Products

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Welcome to another edition of Girl Chat!  Today we’re discussing our favorite hair products and we hope you’ll join us!

As I’ve mentioned here on the blog before, beauty products are not something that I typically splurge on, so my list of hair products are pretty basic.

Shampoo

My hair is extremely fine, so I’m constantly looking for products to boost volume.  I stumbled upon this Loreal Shampoo a few years ago and I could not love it more!  It truly does make my hair feel thicker!

The older I get, the dryer my scalp has gotten, so I have also recently started using the Dove Dermacare line and I love it so much as well!

Hair Spray

Even though my hair is long, I do still use hair spray every day.  It gives my hair some extra texture and protects it from the horrible humidity that we have here in the south.  I have been using this Pantene volumizing hair spray for years and it’s my favorite!!  It holds well, but it doesn’t make my hair stiff, and it still allows my hair to move naturally.

Brush

Y’all, if you don’t have a Wet Brush, drop what you’re doing and buy one this instant!!  It is a complete game changer, and I will never ever use another brush again as long as this one is in existence.  It’s pretty much magical and it just glides right through my long hair no matter how tangled it is.  I love mine so much that I bought one for Olivia.  And I actually prefer the paddlebrush to the standard brush because it even feels better than the standard brush.

The cheapest I’ve ever found it is right on Amazon!  They come in lots of different colors and they even have mini Wet Brushes that you can take in your purse!  Love love love!

Curling Iron

My hair gets curled every single day.  I use a 1.5-2 inch barrel curling iron to do a few big fat curls in my hair every morning just to give my hair some extra body.  My hair doesn’t actually look curly when I’m done, but without the curling iron it looks flat and downright gross.  I only buy a curling iron once every few years, so I don’t really have a loyalty to any particular brand, but this one right here is the one I have my eye on the next time I need one.

Hair Dryer

Because my hair is so fine, it needs all the help it can get, so I also have to blow dry my hair every day.  Since I have to dry it every single day, I like a hair dryer that works quickly, so I’m a big fan of the quick-dry hair dryers like this one.

See?  I’m a no-frills kind of gal!  One of these days I’d like to try a good hair texturizer since my hair is so fine and doesn’t hold a style, so if anybody has any suggestions, send them my way!

What are your must-haves for hair care?

And fine haired girls, what are your favorite hair products to thicken and volumize?? 

*Linking up with Home of Malones for Thoughts for Thursday.

 

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30A Beach Trip 2018 - Day 1

Earlier this month we spent five glorious days at the beach and I think it may have been my favorite of our family beach trips ever!  We take a family beach trip every single summer and we’ve always stayed in Panama City Beach, FL.  Back when the kids were smaller, we always went in late April during the off-season and it was always so lovely, but now that they’re in school our days of going in the off-season are over. 

For the last two years since Jacob has been on a structured school schedule, we went to the beach in June right when school let out for the summer.  However, we found that it was super crowded in PCB which meant that the kids never had ample room to play on the beach since we were always packed in like sardines with hundreds of other people.  This year, we decided to try to avoid the crowded areas so we stayed on the outskirts of Panama City Beach in Carillon Beach just across the bridge from 30A.  It could not have been a more perfect decision.

Our trip started Wednesday, June 6.  B worked a half-day and came home at lunch.  We all scarfed down some sandwiches really quickly when he arrived and then we hit the road since I had already packed the car that morning. 

The drive was easy and we arrived that afternoon just around check-in time.  The condo that we rented was in the cutest little neighborhood with brightly painted pastel houses and people were riding bicycles everywhere.  It was a quintessential beach town!  Our condo was ready by the time we arrived, so B grabbed the keys from the office and we went straight to unload the car. 

We rented a one bedroom condo right on the beach and we brought the kids’ sleeping bags along like we did last year.  B and I slept in the bedroom and the kids slept in their sleeping bags on the living room floor.  There was a sleeper sofa, but our kids love any chance to sleep in their sleeping bags, so that was fine with me!

Once the car was unloaded we walked out to the beach just behind our condo because the kids were begging to put their toes in the water.  The water looked a little browner than its typical gorgeous emerald green so I was a little bit worried that it would be like that for the whole trip, but fortunately it was a one-time thing.  There’s a lake just down from our condo that feeds into the ocean and apparently sometimes the lake water drifts down-shore toward our condo.  Fortunately that was the only day we had to worry about it and it was gorgeous as always for the remainder of the trip!

After the kids got their little toesies wet and sandy we loaded up in the car again to head into Panama City to eat at our favorite – Pineapple Willy’s!  We have eaten there every single trip since Jacob was 10 months old, and it’s one of our favorite traditions. 

Pineapple Willy’s is HUGE, but even though it was only 5 PM there was already a 20 minute wait, so the kiddos relaxed on a bench for a bit and then we toured around their gift shop as well while we waited.  Our table became available quickly and we were seated on the pier… no other way to eat there!  It was a gorgeous day and there was a wonderful breeze coming in from the ocean, so it was dinner perfection as always.  I was sad to see that they had changed their menu because they had done away with one of my favorite specialty drinks that I get there.  Since they no longer offered those, I had a Hurricane instead and it was delicious!

After dinner we stepped off of the pier onto that sugary white sand yet again for a sunset beach stroll.  The kids were dying to put their feet in the ocean again, and we ended up staying down there for a good hour or so just enjoying the breeze and watching the sun start to set.  While we were down there we saw two guys on motorized parasails.  Normally when you go parasailing you’re pulled behind a boat, but these parasails had jetpacks.  It was so crazy and a little scary.  Haha.

The very first year that we went to the beach after Jacob was born, I snapped this picture of Brian and him at this very spot, and we could not get Jacob to smile for anything. 

Since he wouldn’t smile, B made a serious face for the camera, too, and that has always been one of our favorite pictures.  Every now and then when we’re in that same spot B and Jacob like to recreate the picture.  Lol.

By then the sun had dipped lower in the sky so we knew it was about time to get going because we still wanted to take the kids for ice cream and we also had to stop by Publix to load up on groceries for the condo.  We let the kids play for a little longer and then it was time to go.

We had warned the kids not to get too wet since they were in their clothes and we still had places to go, but one of the two kids never listens and instead just does what she wants… I won’t mention any names.  Haha.  But this was her face when we started walking back toward the car and she realized that her dress was soaked up to her chest.

Life is just so tough sometimes.  Lol.

The next stop was at Pink Pelican Ice Cream Bar for dessert.  They make all kinds of delicious gourmet flavors so it’s always hard to choose what to get when we go.  B and I ended up going for the Carrot Cake ice cream and the kids both had Cotton Candy.  The Carrot Cake was divine, but it kind of reminded me of fall and Christmas so that was a little weird since we were on a summer beach trip.  Haha.  I tasted the kids’ cotton candy as well and I surprisingly loved it, too!

At the ice cream shop we sat outside, and we were treated to the most beautiful sky as the sun finally set.  It was streaked with pinks and peaches and purples and it was just spectacular.  God sure is the ultimate artist.

After our ice cream stop, we swung by Publix and I ran in to buy some essentials for the condo, and then it was back to our room to get unpacked and hit the hay… we had a big day of beaching the next day!! 

Day 2 will be coming in a few days so stay tuned…

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*Linking up with The Pleated Poppy for What I What I Wore, Pumps & Push Ups for Oh, Hey Girl! Link-Up, The Mummy Chronicles, Tucker Up, Shopping My Closet for Style Me Wednesday, Classy Yet Trendy for Trendy Wednesday Link-Up, The Blended Blog and Jessi's Design and Going the Distance for What's Hap-"Pinning" Wednesday.

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