The Journey of Parenthood…

Family Fun: April 2018

Everything our family was up to in April:

Has your local Toys-R-Us closed yet? I’m shocked to see SO many that are still open! Ours closed up QUICK and were extremely picked over super fast too. I didn’t care about buying stuff, I just wanted to take the kids for one last visit. 

I totally got all sappy about the store closing. I WAS a Toys-R-Us kid and it makes me sad that my kids won’t be. To be honest though, we’re totally part of the problem. My kids memories at Toys-R-Us are walking the aisles scanning things onto their wishlists. Which I would then take and find cheaper elsewhere. Toys R Us couldn’t keep up with competitive pricing and therefore I can’t even remember the last time I actually bought anything from them!

So sad to see it go and we enjoyed our last visit

I pretty much just got a bunch of wrapping paper 😉

No we won’t 🙁

Britt did get a stuffed snake which we decided to name TRU in honor of Toys R Us 😉 

The end of an era. 😢

Like so many others among my generation I have such happy memories at the place where a kid can be a kid. 
The epic Barbie aisle with pink everywhere in sight, the big toy catalog at Christmas time, the magic and joy a toy store can bring to a child.
It breaks a little piece of my heart to know that my kids will never get to be Toys R Us kids. 💔
Thank you for the memories Toys R Us 💗

Every year I like to take the kids to a strawberry patch to pick strawberries. It’s a tad tricky with a new baby as most of the good places to pick are a bit of a drive. I lucked out when Britt’s class went on a friend trip to a strawberry farm! Whoop whoop! Tess was allowed to come with us so it really worked out perfectly. I hated the boys didn’t get the experience this year, but at least the girls did and it’s something we can make more of a priority next year when Spear is older!

Baby pigs (piglets right?) SO CUTE

Tess likes to fit right in with Britt’s classmates

Pickin’ Time! The girls did GREAT and we had our best berries EVER!

Britt’s BFF 🙂

Sweet Brady her church buddy!

We even got strawberry lemonade that was super tasty!

The best part of the day? The tractor ride! We got to go all over their farm and see TONS of animals! It was awesome and made the whole trip worthwhile!

A wild alligator. I mean how cool is that?!?!

Love learning that mules have a sign of the cross on their backs! 

A baby calf only 1 day old!

We also got to see our first pig races haha

(video 1, video 2, video 3)

How adorable is this playground? They took an old tractor and converted it into a play place for the kids!

Learning about bees and seeing a beehive up close

It was SUCH a fun morning! Tess did great hanging with the big kids! It was funny because when I took Kye on his field trip he was all about me but Britt? She was all about her friends. It’s something that’s good for me to be aware of as I’m sure that’ll only become more important to her as she enters her teens! 

We had a church event this month where we ate at church for lunch and these two CHOWED DOWN on fried chicken!

This kid fussed all through services then proceeded to fall asleep in my arms during the lunch!

I was hardcore PMSing. Off topic but has anyone else noticed that their cycles have gotten more hormonally intense as they have aged? I want to kill someone the day before I start. Like it’s BAD. I have a wise husband who brought me home a TON of cookies haha!

Some girlfriends and I went to see A Quiet Place and I LOVED IT. Like loved, loved, loved. Super different and unique and just awesome!

I loved it SO MUCH that I got Zach to go see it too! And he loved it! It’s a total MUST SEE and I would not be shocked if it ends up getting an Oscar Nomination!

I’m so thankful for my marriage. I know a lot of my blog focuses on our family as a whole and not as much just on Zach and mine relationship but it’s been SO GREAT lately and we’re on a path I want to continue on together. We have been through so much these last couple of years. Zach’s health stuff, adoption, and even personal stuff I’ve never shared here. All those struggles and obstacles only continue to bring us closer and I’m SO THANKFUL FOR US! 

Zach and Matt went to the FSU Spring Game this month and it was the perfect opportunity to have a girl’s night! I haven’t hosted anything since Spear was born and we decided to do a Favorite Things get together. 

The way it worked was each of us brought 5 of our favorite things (priced $5 or less!) and then explained our favorite thing and handed them out to everyone. If we’d had more people show up we would have made it into a game but since there were 5 of us we each got one of each others things and got to keep one of our own!

Sometimes nights just go SO PERFECTLY. And this was one of those times. It was the most perfect group of ladies there that night and we all just blended and meshed super well and laughed SO HARD. I can’t remember laughing that much! It was seriously such a fun night and I’m dying for another night with these girls ssoooooon!

The Favorite Things (such an awesome haul!):

Joy brought Esse Nail Polish

Katie brought Seche Vite Top Coat 

I brought unicorn makeup bags (and they are lined yall!)

Robyn brought 7th heaven cucumber peel-off masks

Tiffany brought a wet brush (if you have daughters this is a MUST OWN)

I’ve been so thankful to get to know Tiffany. We met through football and our friendship has only continued to grow. It’s been SO AWESOME to have BOYS around for Kye to hang out with! Her boys are 10 and 8 which is so perfect since Kye is 9 and they all get along great! I’m pumped for lots of fun times to come together 🙂 

I also offered to host Book Club at my house this month. I love hosting events and when I have a new baby I just physically can’t handle it so now that Spear is sleeping solid I can start planning fun things again! Whoop whoop!

I wanted to use the strawberries we picked for some treats and wanted to make a strawberry trifle. Yall I never knew you could buy a box of angel food cake and make it at home haha I’ve only ever seen it pre-made!

Book Club! We read The Last Mrs Parrish and I highly recommend it! Perfect by the pool read for this summer!!! Another super fun night with so much laughter 🙂 

For Easter the Easter Bunny brought Star Wars PJS for our crew and I LOVE THEM!

Fierce 

The. Best.

Had to get some pics of us all in them for May the 4th!

Gymnastics isn’t cheap and Zach really feels strongly that we should take some time off since it is so expensive. However, Britt LOVES it. Like it’s her PASSION and it’s a sport that time off will slow down her skill set. She only goes once a week and she truly, truly loves it so I don’t want her to have to stop doing something she loves so much (and yall know I’m not some big sports mom haha but if my kids LOVE something I think they should pursue it!).

We compromised on it and Britt will continue gymnastics and Tess quit haha. We started Tess with it because she showed some interest but she was MUCH younger than we’ve EVER put a kid into any sport and it just isn’t worth the cost. If/when she comes to us on her own and expresses interest (like Britt did with gymnastics when she started) then she can surely start back up!

For now though she enjoys Kye time while Britt is at hers!

Christmas movies in April: it works!

Game night! Matching is a family favorite! 

Winner

I didn’t win but I beat Zach and that’s all that really matters in my world haha

I had NINE matches and he had 7. #boom

We also love Headbandz!

Britt always wins!

The school did a purple day in honor of military families!

The girls love when Daddy dresses them haah

Pretty weather = eating outside!

We made homemade strawberry ice cream with some of our picked berries!

Daddy visited the big two at school for lunch and they made an old school paper football 🙂 

One of my goals for 2018 is to get caught up on having blog books printed.

All of 2014 is DONE and hello Tess to finally being added to our collection haha!

Now that we are DONE with babies I am excited to get more photos up on the walls. I’ve wanted to do this for a long time but needed my 4th baby to put up 🙂 

Love our storage ottoman from Target!

Can you tell who is who?

We ordered a new coffee and end table and omg the amount of styrofoam!!! 

We got the set from Wayfair (link to coffee table, link to end table)

The coffee table arrived damaged and they were AWESOME with customer support in getting us a new piece! AND they gave us a 10% refund plus a coupon code for 10% off a future purchase. SUPER impressed!

Didn’t even buy them together but the coffee table flows SO WELL with the entertainment center!

The Disney Rental house has a den area that would be perfect for extra sleeping via a pull out couch. We talked about it and decided to make the move and go ahead and get us a new couch for our house and then take our pull out sectional down there! 

I’m like THE most indecisive person on the PLANET and am so proud of myself for not even hesitating on this couch. I LOVE IT. 

I posted on Instagram and asked for a go-to Starbucks drink and I think I found a favorite:

But when you can get TWO iced coffees for $1.49 at MCD?!? I mean I will always choose cheap over fancy haha

I hit up Target with some friends and they told me I had to try the Dove dry shampoo. SO awesome yall!

I also bought these from Ali Express for under $2 each. How adorable are they?!?!

I admit it: I’m cheap. I hate wasting anything. That includes bronzer that I’ve had for like 4 years and that has been broken up for 3 of them haha. It pays to post these kinds of posts because I had a friend reach out and tell me an AWESOME tip!

I crushed it down to a powder then added a little rubbing alcohol and pressed it with a spoon and ended up having a nicely pressed bronzer again!

My curling wand bit the dust this month and I decided to make a move and invest in a  GOOD wand. One that will last since I’ve finally mastered actually curling my hair! Ha! I went with L’ange and got the 25 ml with the cool touch tip. This is a direct link to the one I bought…but if you shop and use the code BABYWISE at checkout you get 50% off! (this will be an affiliate for my friend Chronicles of a Babywise Mom!)

Do you ever have something randomly disappear? It happened to me with TWO THINGS this month. My ring that Zach got me for my push present with Britt was born (SO UPSET. I legit think it got stolen when so many tech people were in and out of our house fixing our internet issues) and my iPod. So random because it’s always plugged in my car! 

I haven’t replaced the ring (yet!) but I did get a super cheap mp3 player from walmart that works just fine for what I need!

A local Winn Dixie is going out of business and my MIL hooked us UP with medicine haha!

Is anyone else completely obsessed with Halo Top? I love it! I’ve always been a huge ice cream fan, like I used to eat a bowl every single night. So when I get those cravings Halo Top is a not-as-bad-for-me option. 

I did have the first ever flavor that I did NOT like: Pancakes and Waffles. ICK. The kids loved it though and thought I was the coolest mom ever for giving them a treat haha!

My FAV flavor:

Randomly one day I overheard the kids singing a song I recognized from my teenager years. I went in and asked them to sing it for me. Yall I about DIED. Zach and I have talked about it and agree that it’s awesome that they have “Daddy songs” and jams they love of his but that censoring those options a bit more may be wise. It’s okay to laugh at the video, I did too haha!

Outfits from the Month:

Shirt: Old Navy

Jeans: Old Navy

Shoes: Old Navy (similar here)

Jacket: Amazon

Shirt: Old Navy (MY FAVS!)

Jeans: Old Navy 

Shoes: Hawaii, similar from Amazon here

Jacket: Gap last year

Shirt: Old Navy

Jeans: Wit and Wisdom

Shoes: Old Navy (these are similar)

Shirt: Amazon

Pants: Amazon

Shoes: Crocs Sexi Flips

Similar dress, different pattern. Mine is also from Old Navy!

Obsessed with this sweater: Amazon

Shirt: Old Navy

Jeans: Wit and Wisdom

Shoes: Toms

Dress: I got this for literally $3 from Amazon! I hate the link is no longer available!!!

Cardigan: Amazon

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Emily Parker
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