Quiz my 4 year oldl

What's your name?  Stella

How old are you?     four

When is your birthday?       June 8

How old is Daddy?   I don't remember. He's the biggest.     Birthday? January 1

What's Daddy's favorite thing to do?    eat chocolate with his girl

How old is Mommy?  I don't know         Birthday?   July

What's Mommy's favorite thing to do?   snuggle with her girl

Who is/are your best friend(s)?    Alice, Mila, Charlotte, Annika, Luke and Maggie

What do you like to do with them?  play, have fun, go to the beach with them

Favorite food?   pizza, hamburgers, salad

Least favorite food?   broccoli

Favorite thing(s) to do?   go rock climbing

Favorite movie?    Trolls

Favorite song?  let it go

Favorite place to be?  the beach

Favorite book?   itsy bitsy spider

Favorite toy?   my paw patrol toys

What are you scared of?    monsters, wolves, bears, foxes

What makes you happy?   drawing hearts, pictures of you and Daddy with me at the playground

What do you want to be when you grow up?  A veterinarian, a Mommy

Are you going to get married when you grow up?  Yes    To whom?  not sure

How many kids will you have?  1, 2 or 3     

What will their names be?   no favorite names

What do you love most about yourself?   my heart

ROAR! Stella Is 4! (The actual birthday)

Dear Stella,

Here are some things you might want to know about yourself at the ripe ole age of 4. Of course, all of this stuff happened leading up to you turning 4, but you get the idea.

• You draw, write or color every day. Every.single.day. If we are having company that day or weekend you will make them a picture as a gift. You make things for your friends at school or me and Daddy and are so proud of each and every one of your creations.
• If you can't think of anything else to say after calling my name and stalling on what you actually want or need to say, you look up at me, give me the biggest smile and say, 'I love you."
• You are so competitive. And still pretty hard headed. And I am neither of those things so parenting you is quite the difficult journey sometimes.
• You are recently become quite interested in knowing what time it is and told me you want a watch for your birthday so you can learn more. 
• You love to spell things. "How do you spell ____?" is something I get asked nearly every day. You can already spell your first and last name, Donald, Steph, Daddy, Mommy, Bandit, cousin Ivy's name, Lolli, Pop, Nini and a few friends from school: Annika, Mila and Andrew. Oh and 'Lizard". You wanted to bring your stuffed lizard to show and tell for the letter "Z" because it had a "z" in it so we taught you how to spell it and you learned very quickly. 
• Some of your favorite songs to sing along to are Fitz and the Tantrums "Handclap", Gavin Degraw's "She Sets the City on Fire", Luke Combs "Hurricane" and Julia Michael's "Issues". 
• You do NOT like to be called little. Or have anything you are wearing referred to as little. Lolli said "Oh, those are just the cutest little shoes ever!" Nina said, "Well aren't you just the smartest little thing." You nearly lost your mind and roared both times, "I AM NOT LITTLE!!"
• We have to tell you "Please don't argue with us anymore." I've decided you are going to be either a professional arguer AKA a lawyer or a professional athlete since you are so competitive. However, you'd be the athlete always getting kicked out of the game for arguing with the referee.  When I'm with you, I occasionally actually have to remind myself of something I read not too long ago-"You do not have to RSVP 'Yes' to every argument you are invited to." I do not need to have the final word on things and I do not always need to be right, but dang, it's exhausting because sometimes you need to apparently.
• You LOVE to clean all the things in your bathtub. You will sit in the tub for over 45 minutes scrubbing clean all of your dinosaurs or Paw Patrol pups. 
• You love to laugh and make others laugh. When Daddy gets home in the evenings you say "Tickle me, Daddy!" He can hardly get in the door good before you've asked him three or four times.
• You are one of the least picky eaters I've ever met and this makes me incredibly happy. Basically, as long as it isn't broccoli or have broccoli in it, you'll eat it. Love that about you so much!

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We listen to the radio or music on my phone all the time. When I heard the first verse of "Believer" by Imagine Dragons, I thought to myself, "Wow, that sounds like something Stella will repeat to someone when she gets older. Especially the second part." Here it is below.

"First things first
I'ma say all the words inside my head
I'm fired up and tired of the way that things have been, oh-ooh
The way that things have been, oh-ooh

Second thing second
Don't you tell me what you think that I can be
I'm the one at the sail, I'm the master of my sea, oh-ooh
The master of my sea, oh-ooh"

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While waiting on Daddy to get to the beach house from Atlanta to say goodnight to you, me and you had some silly last moments as a three year old.

Aunt Jaycie made you this Land Before Time banner for your birthday. 

Nini made blueberry muffins and we stuck a candle in them as a cake. 

This picture is of you after we did the first official "Happy birthday" song and after you opened gifts (see your watch?) because you wanted us to sing again after you opened your gifts. And that's when we got an actual lighted birthday candle picture.

So as I said up above, you really wanted a watch for your birthday. It's really the only thing you asked for. So I chose a few online and had you pick out your favorite one.

I also got you this cool glow-in-the-dark dinosaur puzzle. 

And these books are so perfect for you right now. Your love of drawing/coloring, dinosaurs and spelling and adventure are all represented here in these books.

You also got some Peppa panties and a dinosaur activity book.

Nini got you THE cutest Peppa Pig blanket (that I really want to steal for myself), a Lion Guard matching game.

Aunt Bonnie rented a house on the beach in Beacon Hill with Kelly, Alex, Joey, Anna and Ava and we got to spend the day with them (plus Monica and Becky) at Crooked Island.

Becky grilled hot dogs and the weather was really nice. Your attitude was a bit iffy at times, but for the most part it was a good day with you and family.

We found pink sand which you thought was cool. And you and Ava found tons of shells.

You spent most of the day in the water splashing and playing with Ava or Joey and even stole someone's seat out in the water.

My goodness it's so hard to believe you are FOUR already!!

We hopped back in the boat mid afternoon and rode around for a while hoping to find dolphins or a sea turtle but didn't spot anything. You got pretty sleepy on the way back but it was so rough you couldn't lay down comfortably. I tried to get you to sit with me and Daddy in the back of the boat but you pretty much ignored us all day and only wanted to be with Ava or Anna.  So you both crawled in Anna's lap and ended up having a giggling competition. You thought it was so hilarious that you two were getting bounced all over the place with the waves. 

I wanted a family picture from the day but you refused so Daddy took one with me.

We got back to shore and saw hundreds of fiddler crabs running around. 

Anna even caught some for you and you loved holding them.

Daddy had to leave that evening to go to Destin for a deep-sea fishing trip with the guys from his company but you got to spend almost 24 hours with him. And thankfully he was back two days later.

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The main thing you should know is we love you so, so much. I look at you and think you are THE smartest, most beautiful child there ever has been. Daddy and I just adore you and think you are so awesome. You make us so happy and proud to be your parents.

Love you with all of our being,

Mommy and Daddy

Memorial Weekend

We scooted (HA! I wish it was a scoot instead of a haul) down to MB for the holiday weekend on Thursday. We left around 10:30 I think. We took Bandit for a walk upon arrival and Stella immediately tried out her balance bike on the flat streets of Mexico Beach and did soooo much better in minutes than she had in a year on our street.  

Looks so inviting!

Ladybug girl is at the beach!

While out on the sand we saw this helicopter flying around. On the way back to the house, we passed where it had landed and attracted quite the crowd. Once other neighbors reported back that it wasn't an actual emergency and just then going over protocol and such, we got closer.

Friday the water was spectacular!

I actually got to read this whole book. Not in one day, mind you, but over the course of Thursday-Monday. I'd call that a success! Oh, and this was much funnier than Eat Pray Love.

Sandy, sleepy snuggles are the best! 

This girl loves baths at the beach in the big tub!

Saturday evening sunset 

That night, this happened. Can we say "wore out"?! She almost opted for no supper which was hint #3 she was exhausted. Number 1 was the beach meltdown, number 2 was me having to carry her a couple hundred yards after said meltdown. I literally spoon fed her in my lap while she laid her head on my chest. Then she got up, shut the door and we found her like this minutes later.

Sunday she actually posed for pictures with us. 

Stella squeezes!

Stella smooches!

wedding ring tan lines

Sunday invisible sunset

Monday-Memorial Day. Donald wanted to take her out on the boat for a little bit so we put in up at Overstreet in the intracoastal.

She sat either up at the head of boat or with me in my lap for the first part of the boat ride.

But then I think she got sleepy and decided to stretch out.

I'd made this birthday countdown for her a few weeks before and Monday was the day we started it. This was my first time making it so some of the numbers ended up being upside down, but it still works all the same.

We left MB and drove to Sylvester to visit Mimma and Papa's. Stella loves exploring in their yard (and I love the photo-ops) so I let Donald sit down and visit with them while I took her outside.

She ended up doing some pretty cute and unexpected poses for me.

We decided to walk down the lane.....

...and Stella spotted wild blackberries growing between the lane and the fields. So we started picking and kept picking until we had this amount. 

This was a wonderful experience to share with Stella because for me, whenever I see blackberries I think of my childhood summers spent at my Grandparent's house in the country. And here we are, just a few miles from my grandparent's house at Donald's grandparent's house picking blackberries with their great grandchild.

I remember Grandpa giving me a bucket and telling me to fill it up so he could make a blackberry cobbler. Sometimes I'd come back with a full bucket and I'd help him make my all time favorite dessert, other times I'd walk up and shrug my shoulders, throw my hands up and say, "There weren't any, Grandpa!" Meanwhile my fingers, cheeks, lips and tongue would all be stained purple from the berries.