Friday Favorites #17

Phew, what a week! We wrapped up our last full week of school and it was BUSY! Two dentist appointments, a hair appointment, soccer twice, school ‘Writing Celebration’, doctor appointment (Drew has a little virus), vet for Nala, eye appointment for me, field day…it’s been quite the week! Andrew’s last day is actually today, and Owen and Lucas are done early next week. It’s hard to believe Andrew will be a fourth grader next year.

After school today, Lucas’s wonderful teacher is throwing a party for the first-grade class from 4-8pm. She asked if I could help out, so I’ll be there too! We’re playing games, eating pizza, doing a scavenger hunt, watching a movie and more. I am sure it will be a great time! Lucas’s teacher is actually retiring this year, so I am a bit bummed Owen won’t have her. I am working with some of the other parents on a special gift for her.

Tomorrow morning, we have a soccer game and Sunday we are going to our first Traverse City Pit Spitters game! We loved going to Mud Hens games in Toledo so happy we have a similar option up this way. It is actually a school event, so we’ll be attending with our friends. It should be a lot of fun! I’ll try to report back next week all about it.

Keep scrolling for this week’s roundup of favorite things that brought me some joy. Have a fabulous weekend!

Lucas’s Writing Celebration

On Wednesday morning, Lucas’s teacher invited first grade families to a celebration of their hard work in writing and art this year. Lucas had the opportunity to share all of his writing from the year and his projects from art class. I could tell he was so proud of the progress he’s made, and I was too! Lucas couldn’t even write a sentence at the beginning of the year and now he can write a whole paragraph! First grade is such an amazing year of growth and it’s extra special when you experience it with your own kid. While I do miss teaching at times, I am thankful to have the flexibility to attend special events like this.

New Kayaks

Ryan and I have been discussing forever that we need kayaks at the lake. We borrowed our neighbor’s a lot so decided it was time to get a few of our own. I am so glad we did because kayaks are such an easy way to get out on the water! They also give us the opportunity to get on other lakes in the area as they are easy to transport. You can float in peace or get some exercise with a more rigorous paddle. The boys love them, too!

Field Day

I relived my childhood this week volunteering for field day! I vividly remember field days at my elementary school. We were assigned a shirt color, teams, presented with ribbons–it was quite the production. I never had a knack for sports or competition in general, but field day was always a good time and such a core grade school memory. It also meant summer was so close!

Unfortunately, I missed Drew’s time slot since I had appointments in the morning. However, I did get to experience Field Day with Lucas and Owen. Of course, Lucas was all about it giving his full effort at each station. Owen, not surprisingly, was a little more reserved and but he participated in most of the games (if bugs weren’t grabbing his attention instead ha-ha).

Dragon Masters by Tracey West

It still astonishes me the progress Lucas has made with his reading this year. He could barely sound out the word “cat” last August and is now reading full sentences fluently. We’re not quite ready for full on chapter books, but he’s been begging me to read one. I googled “beginner chapter books for first grader” and came across this series. We started with book one, Rise of the Earth Dragon. It has illustrations on each page and the chapters are not too long so we can read one a night. Lucas looks forward to it at bedtime (me too!) and it excites me that he’s getting into reading. As you know, it’s one of my favorite hobbies! He can’t read this one on his own yet, but I think as we get further into the series, he most definitely will.

Amazon Tote Bag

This was another luluprime_ deal that I scored for $10! I have a large sized beach tote that I love but have been looking for a smaller one to hold my personal belongings. This one is perfect! It seems to be high quality waterproof material and has lots of pockets and zippers. I know I will use this bag all summer long, not just for the beach–library visits, farmer’s market, park outings…The pattern is super cute too! There are many to choose from. I almost went with this one. I love the versatility of this bag and actually wish I would have bought a few to gift the boys’ teachers!