Father's Day Weekend

Stella and I left for the beach the Thursday before Father's Day weekend. We drove straight down and this was my second attempt at doing this alone. I grabbed the metal TV tray to fit in your car seat so she could color/draw easier.

I made this cute little snack pack from an egg carton (hello, pinterest!)  I thought this was going to be the biggest hit ever. I mean, who wouldn't want to gobble all of these goodies up?  Stella normally eat all of this-cashews, goldfish, cookies, cereal, raisins and blueberries. But her? She only ate the blueberries. Yeah, never doing that again.

We got down to the beach and headed straight for Killer Seafood. We got to dine outside thanks to their new outdoor picnic tables and lighting. This was our view.

After dinner we walked down to the beach while the sunlight faded away.

I don't mind dishes when I have a bright, sunny spot to do it in.

I was so proud of myself when we headed down to the beach Friday. I remembered everything we needed. Except for that tiny little part about putting sunscreen on my child. I did remember I'd forgotten about an hour or so in and quickly coated her in it, but I was too late. Yeah,  she got pretty pink. But look at those tan lines. And that booty! She was sleepy, sleepy.

Stella took an epic nap. I got to enjoy some downtime on my booty to eat watermelon and write your thank you cards. I think I even watched some Netflix. 

Oh goodness she Stella slept so long. Daddy had a rough day trying to get to us. Delayed and re-routed flights due to storms in Atlanta prevented him getting to us mid afternoon like originally planned. Instead, he arrived around 11:30 pm. And Stella was awake since she'd had a really long nap. It was after 1:00 am before she went to sleep. In fact, Daddy fell asleep and was snoring before she was.  I actually had to tell her "Do you hear that? It's Daddy snoring. He's asleep. It's time for you to go to sleep now." And it worked. Yay. I was tired too!

The next morning we all went for a walk. Stella wanted to take Daddy to the new playground since he hadn't seen it yet.

She showed Daddy how she could climb up this. 

Daddy: "Are you sure you can climb all the way up?"
Stella: "Of course, I have feet!"

We made a short trip down to the beach and then came back, showered off and headed over to P.C. to bring Stella to her first movie at the theater-Finding Dory.  She did really great and we all loved the movie. Then we visited Aunt Jaycie at Boondocks and had a late lunch/early dinner.  Stella fell asleep about 10-15 minutes before we got home. I know she was tired from being up so late the night before.  I'm glad she was sleeping, but it was so perfect out that evening and I really wished she had been awake. I took Bandit for a nice, 30 minute walk. We walked along 98 down to Shoobies Ice Cream truck to see if they were open. 

And when I returned I went back down to the beach to watch the sunset. It was so nice to have an hour or so just to myself. The moon was coming out as I was walking down on the sand.

We spent Sunday down at the beach. That evening we took B for a walk and then we had to go down to the beach to pick up out stuff we'd left out from the day. It was so bright out from a full (or near full) moon that we didn't need flashlights. In fact, we had really hard shadows out there. I'd snuck B down on the sand and Stella was so kind as to dump handfuls of it on him. Yayyyy. 

Daddy's Father's Day card. I found an Endless Summer paddleboard set to play on the beach and Stella picked out Oreo's for him.

Monday after we walked B, we needed to leave the house for a while so Daddy could do a conference call. Me, Stella and B rode around on the golf cart just looking around. We came across the most fitting planter for the beach. I totally want one!

When Daddy was done, we packed a picnic lunch and our things and headed out in the boat for the day.

On the way out to the point at Cape San Blas, we saw a huge sea turtle.  Stella could have easily laid across his back and still had room on it I'm sure. As you can see, the water was perfectly crystal clear. We first went to the west side of the point. 

We gave Stella a fishing pole for her birthday. She mentioned something about one a few weeks prior so we ordered her one so her and Daddy could practice together.

I combed the beach and discovered a cemetery of starfish. I guess there had been a high tide here with a tide pool and hundreds of them took shelter here. But then it went out and they were stranded. Most blended in really well to the sand but when I noticed one, I looked up and saw another, then another, then ended up walking around looking at hundreds of them. They were dried and somewhat bleached from the sun. Stella loved picking them up and moving them somewhere she could "tuck them in for a nice little nap." She'd hide them under a piece of driftwood, or put five or so together so they'd be happy and not lonely. We'd brought stuff for a picnic lunch and I had to walk down after 20+ minutes of her sitting on the beach alone playing with them just to get her back down to eat. I believe we could have left her there for hours and she would have been content.

Our finds on the west side of the Cape.

We hopped back on the boat and went to the east side of the point. 

Here we found tons of sand dollars, sea urchins (we even handled an alive one), sea snails, and got nibbled on by tiny fish.  We collected some driftwood, shells, horseshoe crab & regular crab shells to decorate the beach house with.  It was great to just float around in the gorgeous, cool water and play and make wonderful memories.

Total finds from our beach trip!

Stella fell asleep on my chest on the ride in which was a great way to end a perfect day out on the beautiful water.

We went to Dockside at the PSJ Marina for supper. We walked along the docks looking at boats while waiting on a table to become available.

The house here in the foreground is a house Donald's great grandfather owned back in the 40's.  The second level wasn't added until some years later.  I love that we are raising our daughter here part time in a place that Donald's family has been coming for generations.

Donald left Tuesday to go back to Atlanta.  So Stella and I ventured over to PSJ to their waterfront park. They have a really cool pirate ship playground which Stella loved.

And then our favorite time of day......sunset. 

This was our first trip this year as just a family of 3-no other guests present and it was such a lovely, special weekend. 

Dear Stella...you are now three.

Sandy beach snuggles on your last day as my two  year old.

Your last picture as a two year old. You passed out hard between the beach and The Shell Shack at 7:30. You were covered in sand and desperately in need of a hosing off. Instead, you got a bath the next morning. After you slept for 12+ hours. 

You have 8 freckles. I love finding new ones on you. (I'm editing this part a month after your birthday & I'm pretty sure 2-3 are new.) You have one beauty mark by your mouth, two on your on your left shoulder/upper arm, one above your left boobie, one under your left armpit, one on the left side of your mid back, one on your right hip and one of your right knee. 

You love to walk Bandit in the backyard. You can put his collar and leash on all by yourself. Then you walk/run him around the yard. This is also one of your favorite things to do at the beach. 

You love to watch TV. Some of your favorites are Super Wings, Paw Patrol, The Lion Guard and Tinkerbell movies. 

You love to go out to eat at restaurants. 

You love to sing along to parts of Elle King's America's Sweetheart, XAmbassadors Unsteady and Adele's Hello.

You still love going on nature walks and collecting things like leaves, flowers and especially rocks.  

You stay dry most nights and occasionally wake us to take you potty.  In fact, I got rid of all of your diapers and ordered you Pull-Ups just before you turned three. 

You can reach most light switches and lift yourself onto the potty without a stool or using the potty seat. 

Starting around Thanksgiving or Christmas you began saying you were going to Disney World when you turn three or for your birthday. We have no idea where this came from but you said it a lot in the beginning. Mostly when watching the beginning of a Disney movie and you saw the castle. 

You have no fear of waves and the ocean and love to swim. Really anything having to do with water outside. It's not that you mind a bath but it still doesn't happen that often. 

You've become a bit picky when it comes to food. You don't eat many veggies anymore. No longer will you munch on broccoli, Brussels sprouts, cauliflower, mushrooms. You are coming back around to green beans and other beans. 

But you will devour huge bowls of salad with shaved carrots, artichokes, goat cheese and tomatoes with dressing. 

You've become quite the fan of cereal and toast. 

You are also becoming quite the Daddy's girl. Whenever you get upset you cry for him. You get sad a lot and want to FaceTime with him or just talk to him. You say, "I wish Daddy could stay at home all day like you do" or "I miss Daddy."

You've started inserting yourself into everyone's conversation regardless if we mention you or are talking with you. You find words and then try to associate them with you. I call it your Google word search option.  Example: If we mention the word "Silver" you automatically interrupt to say, "Yeah, like my friend Silver." 
Or on Father's Day, the three of us were sitting around the dining room table at the beach. I say to Daddy who was watching coverage of the latest golf tournament: "Dustin Johnson-he just doesn't sound like a golfer. Sounds like he should be a NASCAR driver." 
Daddy: "He's engaged to Paulina Gretzky." 
Me: "Who's---"
You: "Yeah, we saw two jet ski's, Daddy."  
Yes, we had seen two jet ski's earlier while walking Bandit, but we said "Gretzky." Now Wayne Gretzky will forever be Wayne Jet Ski thanks to you.

For your birthday you picked out the rainbow fish dress and we walked to the doughnut store. Before the door closed behind me you had pointed at the pink icing and chocolate shaving covered one.

You then wanted your picture taken at the big chair across the street.

We left the beach early afternoon and drove to Nene and Grandaddy's for a little family birthday party. Uncle Paul and Ivy were there along with Mema and Papa and LollyPop. Kristi and Silver joined us too. Aunt Ginger, Emily and Asher came over after VBS. We had BBQ sandwiches and Nene made you your favorite-chocolate cake.

Ivy blew out your candles the first go around. We re-lit them and you blew them out. Surprisingly, there weren't any tears from either of you.

Then Nene gave you both gifts-matching Elsa nightgowns.  Then you got two Elsa dolls-one from Nene and the Frozen Fever Elsa from Aunt Ginger along with a few t-shirts.

We had your Pixie and Pirate party on Sunday, June 12th. 

It started at 4:00 pm. At 3:45, Daddy came to me and told me it was about to storm. We had to pull the tables in on the porch away from the screen and pull stuff in from outside. at 4:00, five cars pulled up. Within half an hour we had 20-something people standing in our house. Then more showed up. It was madness. At the most we had 30-something people. Finally, about an hour later, the rain stopped and mostly everyone headed outdoors. It turned out to be a beautiful afternoon/evening. Thankfully I got some pictures before the madness. 

For the kids table I put the party favors, themed books and a few accessories to add to anyone's costume. The hook, eye patches, swords, bandannas and compasses came from Hobby Lobby. The mustaches were leftover from Justin and JP"s wedding. The fairy wings came from The Dollar Tree. I made pixie and pirate themed goodie bags. The pixie bags were stamped with a wand and filled with a Disney Fairies themed coloring sheet (printed from Pinterest), fairy tattoos and stickers and a pixie stick with a foil star glued to it. The pirate themed bag was stamped with a compass and filled with a pirate map coloring sheet (pinterest), pirate tattoos and stickers, plus a gold and silver chocolate coin. We also made homemade peppermint scented play-dough a few weeks prior as a take home. You liked kneading the colors into the dough. The party favor aspect was really fun for me to do and you enjoyed helping me fill the bags. 

Lolly found this plate for you last year I believe. I'm so happy we could use it this year for your cake. It's perfect for you.

 So you were supposed to be Tinkerbell. You fell in love with her the past Christmas when Wilma gave you a Tinkerbell doll for Christmas. You've seen all the movies and we know most of the Pixie Hollow fairies names. But on your birthday on the way to Nene's you told me "I don't want to be Tinkerbell. I never wanted to be Tinkerbell. I want to be Fawn." You'd worn Alice's Fawn dress at her birthday party and we'd borrowed Sophie's Tinkerbell dress. Luckily they were both 4T and each one of you were so sweet and willing to swap and share each other's costumes. In fact, Alice and you both were so, so excited to dress up as the other.

When asked what you wanted to eat at your party you requested sandwiches and pink lemonade cupcakes. So you had that, plus Pirates Booty & Goldfish to go with the pirate theme. I set out bowls of pastel M&M's (Easter clearance) since they matched the pixie theme. I wanted to have fairy fruit wands, but it didn't happen. Instead the grapes got set outside in a bowl and devoured, so clearly no one cared. The watermelon never even got cracked open. 

Aunt Jessica did my hair and eye makeup and then she fixed your hair to look like Fawn's!

Lolly was so excited to find this dress for your party. She really enjoyed finding all of the accessories and dressing up for you. Pop enjoyed wearing his typical "ratty" clothes, I'm sure.

You got pretty overwhelmed with everyone in your house for over an hour. Once the rain let up everyone headed outdoors to play. But you hung back, ate your sandwich and Pirates Booty on the cooler and just observed. Once you had a full belly and were a bit more comfortable with people, we sung Happy Birthday. You still aren't sure about all of the attention being on you like that. But once that was over you played on the Slip 'n' Slide and had a blast.

You specifically asked for your own cake so I made you your own. You took one bite. ONE. Then said, "I'm all full, Mama." Here you are pointing to that one bite and telling me how full you are.

You really wanted everyone to paint at your party. You asked me that week if you could do this. I was happy to set this up and had the paint, brushes and paper ready for this to happen but the rain messed everything up. I didn't think you'd remember but you did. You asked later on why no one painted. I hated we couldn't do this for you.

Everyone enjoyed the Slip 'n' Slide, the playhouse and your 360 degree swing. The day turned out to be a very pretty evening once the rain stopped. The rain was not my first choice for an outdoor party, obviously, but it was significantly cooler outside than it would have been had it not rained. 

Your friends Sophie, Lily, Landon, Huddy, Izzy, Ethan and Harper all came to celebrate. Your neighbors Alana & Eric, Cameron, Cadence & Calvin and Alice all came to wish you a happy birthday. Rayna, James, Gabriel, Bella from your PMO class were able to make it, too. And Reagan and Hatton's mom, Mrs. Lauren stopped by with your gift since the girls were still napping. Uncle Mikey, Aunt Jessica, Lolly & Pop, cousin Mary and cousins Grant, Bella and Brontz were there too.

That evening after mostly everyone left I got a text from Crissy. It read: Overheard during Harper's prayers-"Thankful for Pop, for Stella and her cupcakes."  Melted my heart.

We ended up with sand, grass clippings, pixie dust and squished goldfish everywhere. Glitter is still all over the back porch (1+ month later). Kids decided to spread and smear sand we'd used to fill the dangerous holes in the backyard all over and inside your playhouse. It was quite a chore to get that clean. 

 

A few days later, I talked you into returning some gifts to Wal-Mart. They were duplicate things-tea set, Play-Doh, etc. In exchange you got a balance bike and helmet. You aren't so sure about it yet. You want to like it. However, you get very disappointed if you fail at something the first time and aren't always so willing to try again. Plus, the mosquitoes like to follow you and bug you so that's irritating. I'm sure this Fall you'll figure it out. 

At your 3 year well check you weighed 33 lb 8 oz (75%) and were 37" (47%) tall.  You've definitely plateaued in both height and weight. You have not grown very much at all lately. I'm pretty sure this is the first time your weight percentage was bigger than your height percentage. I'm also thinking this may be the first time your height percentage fell below 50%.  You can still fit into some 2T clothes and can wear most stuff from last year. We are sitting, waiting and wishing on a BIG growth spurt.  
You did really good at your appointment. You did your first eye test with the nurse. She had you stand in the hallway on a piece of tape and name shapes and  objects as the nurse pointed to it. The first shape was a circle. You got that one. The next thing was a hand. You said glove. The nurse said hand and you corrected her. "No, that's a glove." It was a black hand-shaped thing. I don't remember what the next object/shape was but you told her it was a semicircle. It was not, but all of the nurses were impressed by your knowledge of a semicircle.  Later on, the nurse commented on your dress. I've been trying to explain that we can return the compliment or at the very least say "thank you" to someone who complements us. You aren't convinced. I told you to say thank you to her and you replied, "But I don't know her." 


You asked me to take a picture of you in your gown (your first time) and send it to Daddy because you looked like a kangaroo. 

You are so smart. You continue to blow us away with your incredible speech, knowledge and memory. We are so proud of you. The "Threenager" days are definitely upon us. You have quite the attitude but you know what you want and we hope it will serve you well as you age. We love you baby girl.
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Your birthday gifts:

Mommy & Daddy-fishing pole, magnetic fairies, books, fairy M&D water paint book, 

The Houstons-Tinkerbell/Pirate Fairy DVD & 3 bitty books

Nene-Elsa dress & doll 

Aunt Ginger-Elsa Frozen fever doll & shirts

Mema & Papa-money

Lolly & Pop-turtle necklace; coffee tin flowers

The Bratchers-dog carrier, butterfly water bottle & cupcake bubbles

Uncle Mikey & Aunt Jessica-baby Tink, Tink swimsuit, Ariel mug

Sophie & Lily-money

Rayna-swirl & scoop ice cream play-doh set

Alice-Crazy sand & glow stick 

Grant & Bella-tank top & shorts outfit & jewelry

Bella-homemade card, bracelets & lip gloss rings

Mary-Periwinkle doll

Reagan & Hatton-Finding Dory activity pad, FD magna doodle & book, Princess storybooks

Gabriel-magnetic wooden blocks

Alana-paint your own birdhouse, tub crayons, finger paints & stamps, alphabet drawing pad

James-stuffed duck, M&D wooden zoo animals

Brontz-Ladybug girl visits the farm & star projector

Cameron, Cadence & Calvin-clay

Wilma & Pauline-tea party & table setting, Zootopia coloring/sticker book

Nina-card with Princess badge, money

The Green's-blue & green Puma's

Justin & JP-spiral sprinkler