Dress For the Day: Red Cords & a Scarf

So y'all know I'm a big believer in getting dressed every day.

I like putting on real pants and cute shoes. It just makes me feel good, productive and sometimes a little sassy.

Even if I'm going to spend the day on the floor with Andrew and twelve superheros I'd like to look put together doing it.

This does not mean I'm wearing heels and dress pants every day. Quite the contrary. I ditched my daily heels for flats after Andrew was born, and I haven't looked back. But rockin' my comfy clothes doesn't mean I can't look stylish.



Clothes can totally set the tone for your day and to that end, I'm joining in with Abby and her series dress for the day you want, not the one that's trying to have you.

I'm certainly not a fashion blogger, but I can share a few of my favorite outfits with y'all and hopefully encourage you to add just a touch of fun to the same ol' same ol'.

Both kids go to school on Tuesdays so I have to get them packed and out the door in the morning.

Most school days I get ready in the morning before I drop them off. Then I'm free to spend my one kid-free morning getting stuff done and not worrying about showering and getting dressed. 

I was in a big hurry, but I still thought about what I wanted to wear for the day. I was going to run errands, work from home, play with the kids outside.



These red cords are really comfortable, but way more snazzy than jeans. The white shirt is a favorite this season - I have it in three colors.



And the animal print scarf pulled it all together with my favorite brown flats.



That's it. No fuss, but still fun and put together. You don't have to be frumpy to be comfy!



What kind of day are you dressing for?

#dressfortheday

// Red Cords // White Shirt // Animal Print Scarf // Flats //

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Eight Years

Eight years ago today we were married, surrounded by our friends and family and all their love. I couldn't have asked for a better wedding day.

We were just kids really - 24 years young.

See?

But I know we thought we were grown.

Our photographer hadn't switched to digital in 2004 so our wedding album is full of 5x7s and 8x10s and looks like a traditional photo album. I've had to scan in our wedding photos to have them to share.

Dark ages indeed!

We had a six month engagement leading to our beautiful church ceremony and a fabulously fun Country Club reception.

I didn't have tons of extra time to look at every single detail with such a short engagement, so decisions on flowers and favors and the band were made quickly.

But I remember our cake and wine tasting. That was fun!

I had forgotten how pretty it all was until I flipped through these photos last week.

We danced, and we danced. We saw people we hadn't seen in years. We laughed and kissed a lot. It was just a dreamy, wonderful day.

Eight years and two kids later, and it's still in the top three of my favorite days ever.

Brian and I are so blessed to have great families full of wonderful examples of marriage. Having our parents' support that day and through the years has meant the world to us.

I'm so very happy to have Brian by my side on this great adventure.

Love you babe!

Preschool Lunch Bentos - Weeks 5, 6 & 7

So I'm a little behind on posting our lunches, but here they are! Our last few weeks of preschool lunches have been a mash-up of fall, pumpkins, frogs and other fun stuff.

Tuesday, October 9:


Caroline had turkey, blueberries, cheese, raisins and pirates booty in a LunchBots Duo lunchbox.



Andrew had yummy turkey sandwiches made with transportation cutters that I can't find online anymore, pop chips, cheese, blueberries with a little dino pick, carrots and yogurt. He LOVED this lunch.

Thursday, October 11:


Andrew had peanut butter & jelly puzzle sandwiches, pita chips, cheese and raspberries. Hello little elephant and monkey. He picked out his animals. :)

Tuesday, October 16:


I'm loving my little pumpkin toothpicks! I found these puffy stickers at Michael's and I hot glued them to toothpicks. Super easy! I'm on the lookout for more puffy stickers. Andrew had turkey with mustard for dipping, grapes, pumpkin shaped cheese and a few peanut butter crackers.

Caroline didn't go to school this day because she was cutting THREE giant molars and was a sad, sad baby.

Thursday, October 18:


Andrew had a little cat faced PB&J with grapes and pita chips. I used these tiny cutters to make the face shape and they were a little hard to use with the cheese. I think next time I'll try it with fruit strips.



It was packed in my new frog box, and it's Andrew's new favorite. The frog face goes in the freezer so it keeps the food nice and chilly and fresh. Adorable!

Tuesday, October 23:


Say hello to Captain America. You'll be seeing a lot of him. I ordered this set of Marvel comic cookie stamps from William-Sonoma and Andrew thinks they're the coolest things he's ever seen. It's amazing how many little sandwiches he'll eat! The only problem? They use a TON of bread.

He had three(!) peanut butter & jelly sandwiches, pita chips, cheese cubes and grapes.



Caroline had a cute lunch: turkey on more of my DIY pumpkin toothpicks, leaf shaped bread (left over from Andrew's sandwiches) cheese stick bites, yogurt covered raisins, yogurt melts and these veggie chewy things. I thought she liked them, but they all came home with her, so.

Both these lunches were packed in boxes from All Things For Sale.

Thursday, October 25:


Andrew had more super heroes! He specifically requested everything in his lunch Thursday. The Iron Man and Spider Man PB&Js, pita chips, ham and mustard, strawberries and bunny snacks. He ate everything but the bunny snacks which he had when he got home.

So I realized I've been making these fun lunches for seven weeks now. They've gone by fast! A few observations:

If you want to see all our Preschool Bentos this year you can see my Flickr set here. They're fun to look at all together!

Also, if you like our lunches please feel free to Pin them and share them! :)

Y'all have a great weekend!

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In the Backyard

Some days it's 87 degrees in October, and it's perfectly acceptable to eat a popsicle while sitting on a hay bale.



Dallas seems to have forgotten that's it's close to November.



But that's okay. Our winters rock.



Also? Caroline has curly-ish hair.



I can't tell you how happy this makes me.



And don't worry. I realize she clearly has her first giant head bruise.

Poor baby fell off a chair, forehead first. It's a rite of passage though, and it'll be gone before I know it. I'm so glad I had my wild, climbing falling boy first. He prepared me for this. I barely even batted an eye at her big goose egg.



The kids had pictures at school today and the photo people are kind enough to photograph siblings together. Do you think there's any way they got one any cuter than this? :)

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In Time

My little nephew Reid turns two this week. Two!

Last year on his birthday poor Caroline had a really bad UTI and was sick, sick, sick. I remember wearing her in the Moby pretty much through Reid's entire birthday party.

I think maybe my mom held her for a bit, but she felt so bad she just wanted to snuggle up and sleep.



And I thought Andrew seemed so big that day. He was older than most of the other kids at the party because it was a party for one year olds. He sat at the table and finished a whole cupcake. He tried so hard not to run off with Reid's brand new birthday toys, although I think the Thomas the Train ride-on toy was too much temptation for him. He stayed up super late watching the Rangers with the adults and didn't get fussy.



And that was a whole year ago!

Time.

It's a funny thing, especially for moms.

We see them every day. We think we know them. Their daily routines and what they want for breakfast.

But if we didn't see them every day, what would we notice in just a week?



Their hair may be a little longer. They may want a banana instead of grapes. Maybe she wants to sit in your lap while you read rather than run off and look for something new.

And what does time do to us?

Maybe our laugh lines are a little deeper, our hips a little wider.

But we live and we laugh and we're wiser because of all that time.

I know so often I want to slow time down with these little ones. Sometimes I can't bear the thought of them getting too big to sit in my lap or ride in the front of the grocery cart.

But then I think...he'll be ready to ride a bike soon. And before I know it he'll be reading the book to me instead of the other way around.



And that's just crazy to me! I'll know them a little bit better this time next year (when Reid turns three!) than I do now, and they'll know me a little better too.

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These photos are from exactly one month ago, and I swear they look different already!

A Lesson Learned

Caroline and I cruised into the checkout at Kroger. She was so smiley and friendly with everyone. I was feeling pretty proud of my cute baby.

Sweet Myrtle started grabbing groceries out of our cart to check us out. I reached into my purse to find my wallet with my Plus card and my Visa, but there was no bright pink wallet to be found.

I pushed aside a sippy cup and crackers and my phone and a pair of socks.

But no wallet.

I remembered immediately - we had been to Target before we stopped at the grocery store and Caroline had squealed for my wallet when I was checking out there. She likes to chew on the little leather zipper fob so I handed it over.

And I knew immediately that I'd left it in the basket in the parking lot at Target.

Panic!!

My cash! My credit cards! My drivers license! My ATM card!

Sweet Myrtle said she'd pray for me, and I grabbed Caroline and we ran out of there like crazy people leaving all my groceries behind.

I called Brian on our way back to Target. He was so comforting, said we all make mistakes, but he wasn't too hopeful that I'd find it.

Also, I don't have nerves of steal. I was sweating like crazy.

I pulled up next to where I'd left my basket, but of course it wasn't there.

I grabbed Caroline and raced inside to the customer service desk. They knew exactly what I was after.

They could see the panic (and probably the sweat) on my face.

Thank you sweet Jesus, they had it!

Oh my, I almost cried with relief. One of the cart guys had found it and taken it to customer service.

Lesson learned: never give your baby your wallet. Never ever, never ever, even if you're sure you'll remember to get it before you load up the car.

Now, please pass the wine.

I need to work on those nerves of steal.

Scrapbook Paper Pumpkin Banner

I had a hard time deciding what to do with my mantle this fall. I wanted something pretty that would last through Thanksgiving, but I hadn't found just the right thing until I stumbled upon this tutorial on Pinterest from Rebecca at Simple as That.

Source: sheknows.ca via Meagan on Pinterest

It was perfect!

I gathered all my supplies Saturday and got to it that night after the kids were in bed. (My Saturday nights are swinging!)

I used a cookie cutter to trace out the shape of the pumpkin on my scrapbook paper.



My shape had a stem so I cut out little coordinating leaves for the top. I attached everything with sticky glue dots. I love those things.

Then I folded and glued the book pages down over my twine and hung it up. It's so cute!



And I love that you can do so many things with this style. You could do snowmen with a mini jingle bell for Christmas, hearts in February and Easter bunnies in the spring.



And I have great plans to use it outside in a photo shoot with the kids. How cute will it be as a backdrop for a fall shoot with pumpkins and a hay bale?

I just love paper crafts and this one was easy enough for even me to do in an evening. It's my favorite kind of project!

Pumpkin Picking

Oh October.

You make me so happy with your pumpkins and your hay bales and your cool weather and crispy leaves.

Okay, maybe no cool weather here in Texas. But we have pumpkins.

And my little family was all together this weekend, and my heart was full.



We went to our favorite pumpkin patch, Owens Spring Creek Farm, on Saturday.





There were horses! and pigs! and a hay ride!









Caroline and Andrew were the cutest kids ever. They wanted to see it all, and Andrew ran, full speed, through the rows before he picked his favorite little pumpkin to take home.





It was one of those days you don't forget. I feel so blessed!

{We went to the same pumpkin patch last year when Caroline was brand new and snuggled in the Moby wrap the whole time. What a difference a year makes!}

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