March iPhone Pictures

March was here before we knew it. Truthfully, we were all very happy to welcome March because (a) Eli was getting his cast off around the middle of March (b) March brought spring weather and it started to warm up (c) Spring Break (HALLELUJAH!!) and (d) baseball season was about to begin. Hooray for March! Here are some of the pictures I took with my phone during the month of March. 

Eli lost his 8th tooth in March. I can't believe how many teeth he's lost already! 

His looks have changed so much over the past year and it all has to do with his mouth :)

He looks so big now because of his big grown up teeth!

We were at Sonic when he lost it and I took some quick pictures of him with his tooth.

He couldn't wait to put it under his pillow that night for the Tooth Fairy.

Our school always plans their Field Day the day we get out for Spring Break. The kids have fun all morning playing games and then we dismiss at noon. It's a great way to welcome Spring Break. After a morning spent playing lots of fun games, Eli and I had lunch with the Atkins family at Johnny's Pizza and then headed home. We were happy to get our Spring Break started! Hooray for a week of NO SCHOOL!!

The celebration continued for me that night. Josh and I had to attend the annual Chamber of Commerce dinner. I love getting dressed up to go out with my guy. We took a couple of selfies with my phone and then got his mom to take some of us before we left. It's not often we have to get dressed up so when we do I always feel like we have to take a picture. I love this man so much! 

We normally go to the beach during the summer, but the original dates we picked this year didn't work out so we had to change them to coincide with our Spring Break. The new beach dates put us leaving Sunday and returning Friday. Even though we were leaving Easter Sunday we still had to dye Easter Eggs :) Eli and I also did the Resurrection Eggs together in the days leading up to Easter Sunday. I bought them from Lifeway years ago when they were 90% off!! (I still can't believe the amazing deal I got on them!) This year Eli chose to do Spiderman Easter eggs so that's what we did :) I felt crazy because I was trying to pack everything for the beach in the midst of egg dyeing but we still had fun. 

We finished the eggs and then it was time for Eli to go to bed. We were leaving for the beach the next day and couldn't wait! The next morning Eli woke up and found that the Easter Bunny had left Eli some Easter gifts that were going to be perfect for the beach. They were just what he needed! Now it was time to load up and make our way to the ocean for some fun in the sun! 

The First Week of School

The first day of school came faster than I could believe it. Our summer was wonderful and we were able to mark off most of the items we listed on our Summer Fun List. I just hated that it was over so soon. We spent the last week before school working in my classroom at school, buying uniforms and the last of the school supplies, and getting everything ready for Eli's first day. This night before school was especially memorable because Eli was going into the grade that I had taught for so many years. It was hard to believe that this sweet boy was going to bed and would wake up a first grader! We laid out his new school clothes, packed his backpack with gifts for his new teachers, and made his lunch for the next day. The last thing to do was read "The Night Before First Grade" and say bedtime prayers. 

The next morning we all woke up bright and early. Eli got dressed, ate a good breakfast, and then we took a couple of pictures before leaving for school. It was official...Eli was a first grader! He couldn't wait to see his friends, meet his new teachers, and see his new classroom.

We got to school early and Eli was the first kid to arrive in his classroom (that's what you get when your mom is a teacher). Eli took a picture with his first grade teacher, Mrs. Freeman, and her assistant, Mrs. Anderson, and then got settled in at his desk. 

Eli had an awesome first day and I did as well :) My new group of fourth graders are really sweet and I think it's going to be a great year! Our first two days at school were Thursday and Friday to help the kids get settled and back into the swing of things. On Monday, we started our normal routine which included homework this year! Eli completed his homework in no time at all. I was very proud of how hard he worked to complete it. 

Our new nighttime routine consisted of Eli reading his books for school to Josh and Josh reading Captain Underpants to him. Eli and Josh both love reading the Captain Underpants series. Potty humor is always a favorite with boys!

Our major excitement of the week was when Eli lost another tooth! Our little tooth fairy has been super busy. It's crazy to think that this was the seventh tooth that he'd lost! Eli was so happy to know that he was going to be the first one to get his name on the Tooth Poster at school. 

Our first week back at school also meant it was time for AWANA at church. Josh took a picture of the two of us before we left for our first night of Cubbies (me) and Sparks (Eli). It was a great first week of school and we are looking forward to a wonderful year!

Summer Fun-Beach Vacation Day 4

Wednesday morning Eli woke up bright and early to find that the Tooth Fairy had visited and left him some money and a new pair of goggles for the pool. He was super excited and we sent this picture out to all the grandparents just after he woke up. 

Josh wanted to do something different than just our regular beach routine so we looked at all the things to do in the Gulf Shores/Orange Beach area and we found a local water park called Waterville. We got dressed and went there that morning and had a blast! Eli was now tall enough to ride all of the rides-even the ones that made me really nervous-and he loved every single minute of it. He's going to be a little daredevil like his Daddy :) We did tons of slides, the wave pool, the kid splash area, the lazy river, and much more. Eli's favorite were the slides where we all got to go at the same time and race down the bottom. It was lots of fun! This is the only picture I took because I stored my phone in a locker while we were there. We had a blast!

Ready to conquer Waterville!

We stayed at Waterville until well after lunch time and by the time we left we were starving! We stopped at Rotolo's before going back to the condo. I took this picture of Eli because he was rocking some serious water park hair :)

Our friend (and Josh's old boss) from college just happened to be on her beach vacation at the same time as us, so Wednesday afternoon Lori drove over to our condo to spend some time with us. By that time the water had calmed down a lot and you could immediately tell just from the color of the water. It was BEAUTIFUL! I spent the entire afternoon while we were waiting on Lori on the balcony reading my book and looking out at the water. This beach bum couldn't wait to get down to the water!

We visited with Lori in the condo for about an hour and then we all put our suits on and headed down to the beach.

We took a long walk down the beach altogether and found lots of jellyfish and more starfish. Then we went back to the pool at the condo to relax some more. We sure do love this lady a lot! 

We made dinner reservations at a local place called Shipp's Harbour Grill and it was FABULOUS!! Oh my word, the food was SO GOOD! I definitely recommend eating there and the Wilson family will for sure go there again next year. Eli was so tired from our incredibly busy day that he actually fell asleep in the restaurant. I can count on one hand how many times that has ever happened in his life. Lori, Josh, and I stayed late at the restaurant enjoying our food and catching up and were some of the last customers to leave the restaurant that night. It had been a wonderful day! We said bye to Lori, carried our little sleepyhead to the car, and drove back to the condo. Tomorrow was our last full day on the beach and we wanted to make the most of it :)

Summer Fun-Beach Vacation Day 3

We woke up bright and early and did our usual routine-coffee on the balcony for me and Josh while we caught up on the morning news (well, news for him and blogs for me...haha) and Eli ate breakfast and watched cartoons. After our coffee and breakfast we got ready for the beach. On this day Josh wanted to stay in the condo for a few and read some of his book, so Eli and I headed down to the beach first. Eli gave the water a thumbs up :) It was going to be another great day!

The water was still very rough as you can probably tell from the pictures so I made Eli stay really close to the shore. He still had lots of fun splashing and jumping in the waves. 

Since it was just the two of us down at the beach Eli had to smile his way through an insufferable amount of pictures. Sorry, not sorry, I just can't help it :) I LOVE taking pictures and it makes me giddy when I get a really good one. 

While we waited on Josh, we decided to construct our annual sand castle. We decided building up was better this year that way the waves wouldn't knock it down as quickly (good decision on our part...our sand castle lasted until the very last day!). Josh came down just as we were finishing so I had him take a picture of us with our work. 

It's not perfect, but it's ours :)

Eli and Josh had some "Daddy/Son Time" and had lots of fun throwing a football into the waves as they were breaking and watching it roll back into shore. Eli loved this game and got really good at it too!

He came back to the beach chairs to rest and had me take a picture of him faking sleep. In all our years of going to the beach this kid has napped one time on the beach. He's not much for sleeping. 

Since Eli and I got an early start on our beach fun that morning, we decided to eat lunch at a restaurant in Gulf Shores and then go play some miniature golf the rest of the day. After lunch we stopped by an ice cream place that was close by and while Eli was eating his mint chocolate chip ice cream cone his loose tooth (they seem to all be loose these days!) just fell out on the floor. I couldn't believe it! Now the tooth fairy was going to have to make a trip to the beach :) Time for her to pack her bikini.

My sweet man at lunch :)

Eli wanted to go back to the pirate themed place so we did :) Golf was lots of fun...very hot, but fun!

Eli made a hole in one on #16. 

Since we were close to the outlet mall we went there after miniature golf to look around and shop a little. I found a couple of things at J.Crew and Loft and we found a lot for the boys at Under Armour. We earned a $20 gift card at Under Armour so after looking around some more, we went back there to spend it. I found Eli some slip on sandals and that kid was so excited. It was so sweet. He put the sandals on right away and wore them the rest of the night. We went back to the condo where Josh grilled some yummy tuna steaks for us. 

Funny story...while Josh was grilling on the balcony I was out there with him just watching people on the beach. I saw a man fishing and watched him hook something. I could tell from the way he reacted when it hooked that it was something big. I called Josh over and for the next twenty minutes we watched this guy struggle to bring this mystery fish into shore. We felt like we couldn't leave until we at least saw what it was. Finally, he reeled it in and it was a five foot long...

HAMMERHEAD SHARK! 

OH.MY.WORD. 

Lots of people gathered around him as he removed the hook and I saw several flashes going off-I guess it was "selfie with the shark" time. Then we watched as he put the shark back in the water. Ummm, thanks?? I asked Josh at the time just how far out this guy's cast must have been in the water to catch a shark and Josh responded with "Not as far as you'd think." 

GREAT. Thanks for making me feel all warm and fuzzy.

I mean, I know it's the ocean and that's where the sharks live, but it's nice to not actually see them when I'm at the ocean because then I can pretend they're not there. YIKES! No more pretending for this chick! I never really ventured out far in the water anyway, but this was definitely a good reason to not ever go beyond waist deep again. 

Eli was so exhausted after his busy day so after supper this was how I found him in the chair :) Sweet man wearing his new Batman shirt and his new shoes :) He couldn't wait to wake up in the morning to see what the tooth fairy brought him.