{Tacklebox of Snacks // Fishing with Kids}

Hall Around Texas - Tacklebox of Snacks

In my Tips for Fishing with Kids post I mentioned to go prepared with snacks and drinks. It's inevitable that a child will get hungry and thirsty after working so hard to catch fish!! I wanted to share my favorite way to bring snacks for a fishing trip with kids.

{Weekend Wrap-up // Fishing, Friends and Ozzy's}

Because I can't get my stuff together for a weekend wrap-up on Monday, you get one today. There are just not enough hours on Sunday to sit down at my computer. And Lord knows I am not waking up early on a Monday to type up a post! ha. Just being honest. Anyhow, we had another great weekend and I was sad to see it go.

Friday night we went to a Back to School Bash at Mason's dojo and then had dinner with our new friends that own our favorite snowcone shop, Ozzy's! Mason wasn't really feeling the party so we left 45 minutes early. He was so exhausted from the first week of school and he also had some allergies that made him sneeze like crazy. Donny and Amber close the snowcone stand at 8 pm so we had a little time to kill before meeting them for dinner. And of course we filled that time with a trip to Academy for fishing stuff! Of course! Then we all had dinner at a Mexican food place in town! It was such a nice evening and the company was amazing. We are feeling so thankful for these new friendships! I feel like we could have sat there and talked forever, but the mosquitoes were coming out in full force and Mason was getting sleepy! The only pictures I got that evening were of the sunset!


{Tips for fishing with kids}

Hall Around Texas - Tips for fishing with kids

We introduced Mason to fishing earlier this year and have been having such a blast with it. Now that we have several months of it under our belts I thought I would share some tried and true tips for fishing with kids.

{10 sweet years of marriage!!}

Today my sweet man and I celebrate 10 years of marriage! TEN! I know that is a huge milestone, but what blows my mind is that in November we will be celebrating twenty whole years together!! TWENTY!!! I have been loving this man for more than half of my life and what a blessing that has been. He truly is my best friend, my soulmate and more often than not - my better half! I couldn't imagine doing life with anyone else. He's my favorite person {besides Mason, of course} in the history of ever! And he loves me so well.

{The First Day of First Grade}


Despite our best efforts to freeze time and make summer last forever, we couldn't make it happen. Mason went back to school on Monday and begun his First Grade year! I know I said this with Kindergarten, but First Grade just seems so BIG to me. I think it is because he is at a different school this year. A bigger school. His new school houses first through third grade and is enormous.

The night before I let him pick out which color uniform he wanted to wear, which pair of new shoes, made his teacher's gift, made his first grade chalkboard, packed his lunch, and before bed we read several books about first grade.

{Karate Kid}


I know I've posted about Karate here and there, but haven't officially posted about it. And because this is our family scrapbook... Mason started Karate on Wednesday, July 27th after years of begging us to do so. He now has 9 classes under his belt and knows numerous kicks and punches. He also knows his first Kata (Ki Cho) which means Foundation. He has done so well and puts so much effort into each class. Nathan and I have enjoyed watching him.

{Lunchbox notes for boys}

It's Monday...which means that it is Mason's first day of First Grade. Which means I am probably sitting in the parking lot of his school crying my eyes out! ha. But, since school is back in session I thought I'd share one of my favorite things to do throughout the school year. I absolutely love to put little lunchbox notes in Mason's school lunch. Mason loves them just as much, if not more than I do. And if I miss a day he is sure to remember. I used to hand-write a note every day, but then I started searching on Pinterest and found some adorable printable ones. I rounded up a few of my favorites here.


{Meet the Teacher // Off to First Grade}

This past Tuesday was meet the teacher night for Mason's school. I don't know if I have mentioned on here yet, but Mason will go to a different school this year. The town he goes to has 5 different schools before they graduate. His last school was Pre-K and Kindergarten only so he's at a bright and shiny new school. This particular school houses first grade through third grade and it's pretty big {and super nice}! Mason will go to school about 15 minutes longer each day this year, but he will get out over a week earlier than last year. I can't tell you how happy that makes me.
Well, if I am being 100% honest I have been worried about this school. We've heard that it's the worst one in the town and that there is a constant turnover in staff. Anytime we would ask someone for a teacher recommendation the answer was always, "Oh wow, I don't even know who is there anymore. They change so much!" Definitely not something a mama wants to hear! I've been trying to keep an open mind so that I can form my own opinion about it. And I have been praying like crazy.

We didn't even put in a teacher recommendation because we simply had no clue. I think our prayers might have been heard and answered because Mason's new teacher seems like a true gem! She called us the night before meet the teacher and I instantly got a good vibe from her. She was as sweet as could be. It made me a little more excited for meet the teacher night...ya know, since I have been in denial this whole time.

Just like last year, Mason had an entourage for meet the teacher! He had mom & dad, Nana & Papa and his Uncle with him. Nana told his new teacher that Mason was their only grand-baby and that they do everything with him, She said she absolutely loved that and that she was a grandma too and totally got it.

When we got to her class she told Mason to pick out any seat that he wanted and to sign his name on the sticky note. He thought it was so cool to be able to pick out his own desk. I'm sure she will re-arrange them at some point, but I know this will make Mason feel so much more comfortable on that first day. Mason's best friend is also in the class and that makes me so happy for them! Mrs. Morgan's class is Dr Seuss themed and is completely adorable.

Just from the 20 or 30 minutes we spent with Mrs. Morgan we all adored her, We are so happy to have been placed in her class and look forward to an amazing year. Once we got to the car I was reading her letter introducing herself and I was in tears. This part just got to me...

I feel that all children are different and require specific attention and affection for them to flourish. I will strive to be that for each of my students; an educator who loves each child that walks in her door and gives each of them not only an education, but a passion to learn.
That puts my mama heart at so much ease. To have a teacher that recognizes that each child is different is a true blessing! So many schools these days want to confirm the kids into little robots. And the fact that she knows kids need affection...oh man! Yes. All the praise hands. Especially my boy. I know that I must kiss him 9437 times a day and tell him that I love him 22019 times a day. And he's the same way. He does the same to me. Now, I know that she's not going to be kissing him or telling him that she loves him, but I know that she will be loving towards him. She's a Grandmother and you can tell how much she loves kids. Such a blessing.

And while we were eating supper we got a text message from Mrs. Morgan saying how happy she was to have met us and that she's excited to have Mason in her class. I just have such a good feeling about this year. I hope my intuition is right.

I asked Mason his thoughts about meet the teacher night:

What did you think about your new teacher? Very great. She's so sweet.
What did you think about your new classroom? Good. It's big. Actually it's little.
Are you happy that your best friend is in the class? Yes ma'am. Very happy.
What about the school? It's big. I'm afraid I will get lost.

I didn't take my big camera to meet the teacher because it was rainy and nasty and because schools usually have the worst lighting. Well, this school just so happens to have bright white lighting, Ugh! So disappointed I only had my point and shoot now.

I can't believe this is our last weekend before school starts! #holdme

{FREE Back to School Fonts}

Hall Around Texas - Free Back to School Fonts


Free fonts are my jam! I love finding {and sharing} new fonts! The links above will take you directly to the free downloads. Enjoy!

{Summer Vacation // Panama Day 4}

On Day 4 in Panama Nathan and his dad woke up super early for a deep sea fishing trip. The rest of us slept in for a bit and then headed back over to Santa Rosa Beach again. We wanted to show Nana the area and eat at the Hub. We got there only to find out that most of the things there didn't open until 4pm. womp.womp. We did find a little place to eat and visited a few shops.





Then we headed back to the rv resort to meet up with the boys for some beaching at St Andrews State Park. We loved the area from visiting the day before. I didn't take many pictures at all on this day. We spent the majority of it in the water. We beached for several hours and then went back to clean-up for dinner. I don't even remember the name of the place we ate at because it wasn't that great. We waited over an hour for our food and people that came in after us got their food before us.  And then the food was nothing spectacular. But the views? Those were amazing!






And that's a wrap on our 2016 summer vacation. If you missed any of the posts I've added links below for each.



Did you vacation this summer? Where did you go?

{Fun in the Sun Photo Challenge}

My sweet friends Amy and Jess are hosting a Fun in the Sun Photo Challenge for the month of August. In between all of our travels this summer I lost track of posting these on Instagram. So many places we ventured too had zero cell signal. Anyhow, still wanted to participate by posting them to the blog.
1 // Sunshine


2 // Ice Cream


3 // Flip Flops


4 // Vacation


5 // Swing


6 // Favorite


7 // Sidewalk Chalk


8 // Game

You can hardly see it, but this is the ring game, You try to swing the ring into the hook on the wall. So much fun!

9 // Sunglasses


10 // Currently


11 // Bonfire


12 // Water


13 // S'mores


14 // Bathing Suit


15 // Outdoors


Did you participate in this challenge?

{Hooked // Summer Bucketlist Update}

We included "Fishing" on our 2016 Summer Bucketlist and boy have we done just that! We have spent so many summer evenings down at the pond fishing. I'd say we're hooked. ;) Nate more so than us, but we go every few times. We don't want Mason to get burned out and Nate could fish everyday. It's also been some of my favorite times to take photos. Disclaimer - this will be a heavy picture post.

























And the look when you get your line stuck in a tree...


Have you taken your little(s) fishing?