The Beach Boys Concert + John Stamos In San Antonio, Texas

Ah, The Beach Boys. I grew up listening to their music. My parents usually had their music on, or Queen, or The Beatles, or The Rolling Stones. Basically, I was raised on the classics, and I did the same for my kids.

My Mom asked if we wanted to go to The Beach Boys concert when they came to San Antonio and of course we said yes. My kids do know who they are. I like to play good music for them because heaven forbid they think Cardi B is it.

Even better? The concert was on my daughter's birthday and it was held in the gorgeous Majestic Theater.

No, my daughter wasn't the youngest person there. Someone brought their child under 5.

Another fabulous surprise was that John Stamos would be performing with The Beach Boys. I've been a fan of John since his Full House days and I think another reason why I love The Beach Boys is that they appeared on Full House multiple times.

The Beach Boys played most of their hits, plus there was new music mixed in. I was also impressed that John played the guitar, drums, and bongos. I knew he was talented, but not like that.

One of my favorite moments was when they sang Surfer Girl and asked everyone to turn on the flashlight of their phones.

There were many times where we were asked to get on our feet and sing along.

Did my kids enjoy it? Yup!

The Beach Boys are on tour right now, with John Stamos appearing on select dates. Check here to see if they are coming to your area!

Also, check John's Instagram post to see if he'll be appearing on those dates.

I hope to be able to see The Beach Boys again in concert. I absolutely had an amazing time, and now I can't get Kokomo out of my head.

What is your favorite Beach Boys song? 

How I Get My Kids To Smile In Photos

People ask me how I get my kids to smile in photos.

"They always seem happy!" I'm told and I answer, "Oh, that's because I gave them $5 to smile."

I'm kidding.

If I did that, I'd be broke. I take a ton of photos.

When my kids were small, I could make farting noises, and that would do it.

Or I'd run into the side of the house, which hurt, but apparently my pain made them giggle.

But as they got older, it became tricky. Suddenly the fart noises were "lame" and when I ran into the house I was asked if I needed medication.

So what do I do now?

Well, I try to think back to a meme that made them giggle. Or a video. Or a TV show. For example, my son loves The Office, so I made a bunch of "that's what she said" jokes.

My daughter can be trickier. Her birthday is this week, and I wanted to get some photos as I did with my son.

She went, "Maybe I just won't open my eyes," and I answered, "Fine," and clicked away.

You can't give up easily with tweens and teens. You just can't. You have to go with it. Block off at least a half hour.

To get her to laugh, I was speaking to the neighbor's dog, who was barking on the other side of the fence.

"No Fluffy, you can't be in the photos," I said, and Natalie found this hilarious.

"I don't think his name is Fluffy!" she giggled.

Yes, she still stubbornly had her eyes shut, but you know, the photo invokes her joy.

You never know what will make tweens laugh.

"I'm still keeping my eyes shut," she told me.

"Amazing, my eyes are shut too," and then she opened HERS to check.

Surprise!


Then she went, "I'm going to be silly," and I said I'd still take her photo.

I let her get the silliness out of her system, because eventually she will take photos for me because she knows I won't give up. I've had a camera in her face since I pushed her out of me.

She might have thought my face WAS a camera for the first half of her life.

And when they begin to cooperate, they might go back to being a goofball, but those photos are memories too. So take them.

I find the less berating I do, the more willing they are to go back to regular photos.

Look, there's a reason why she's wearing a sweatshirt that says Sassy Since Birth. (It's from Forever 21 if you have a sassy girl too.)

So just a reminder: when photographing older kids, have patience. Be silly. Let them be silly.

And you will get some good shots.

Tween Girl Birthday Gift Ideas

There are some affiliate links in this post. If you make a purchase with the link, I'll receive a small commission. 

My daughter's birthday is this week. She's a tween, so she can be difficult to shop for. She's slowly moving away from toys--she's selective about which ones she'll play with. She's also at the age where she thinks a lot of things are lame, so that can be tricky. But I think I found some gifts that she'll actually like.

Vans! My daughter has been talking about wanting a pair so I found her these at Kohl's. Hopefully she likes the style. She can be super picky about that.

Natalie has a Fujifilm Instax Mini 9 camera, and she never knows where to put all the pictures she takes with it. So I got her this album from Amazon. Plus more film for her camera.

Natalie loves to draw, and she's older so I know she won't take these and draw all over the walls, so I picked her up these Sharpie's.

Natalie has always liked Pusheen, so I found her this jacket from Think Geek.

We LOVE Rose Gold, so I picked up this fanny pack from Shop Disney.

Natalie is big on horror films, so I got her this shirt at Hot Topic. Yes, she's seen both versions of It. I covered my eyes. She didn't.

You guys know how much Natalie loves Freddie Mercury! I found the shirt on Amazon, but it's not available anymore. I got the Funko Pop figure from Amazon as well. The quote is from the Etsy shop duckandshop.


I also got her a keyboard, but it hasn't been put together yet.


Will she like these? I hope so!