Happy Monday, friends!!  Another weekend in the books, hope it was a great one for you!  We stayed busy with a few fall activities, once again the weather was beautiful & we loved every minute.  Now that it’s finally feeling like fall, my mind is racing with family picture ideas, fall fashions, & of course, Waverly Maye’s halloween costume.  I think we came up with the perfect idea that couldn’t fit her personality better, can’t wait to share it soon! 🙂

We also started dressing the house for the season, it’s been way too long since the last holiday & we were totally due for some festiveness for our decor.  I ordered this garland a few weeks back, I have decided that I have a garland obsession & I am not sure if it is healthy. 😉  Really, nothing puts me in the holiday spirit more than bright colored tassels hanging from our mantel.  I am in love with the colors in this one & how great it matches with our gold pumpkin trio!

This fall marks the first time in years that my entire family has been in the same city during the school year.  Like since I graduated high school & left for college thirteen years ago.  A couple years after I left, my brother did, then a few years after he left, my sister left for the same reason.  Now finally, all of us have graduated, moved back home, & all six members of my family are in VB.
Still, life is busy, so a couple weeks ago we started Sunday dinners at my house.  It’s the best thing ever, I’m so glad we can do this again!  The only person who is happier than me about it is Waverly, she waits for them all day Sunday while repeating every single person’s name.  It’s the sweetest, I love that she has them to grow up with!
 

Best wishes for a fantastic week ahead!

Happy Thursday, everyone!!  We have had the best week so far, Waverly has been in such a great mood, showing off few to no tantrums & her sweet, hilarious side that we love so much.  We had the most adorable tea party last night (Waverly’s idea), she gave my husband & I each a treat cup that she pretended to pour tea in before pouring herself one.  We all “drank” from our treat cups for a while before bedtime.  Her imagination & creativity right now is my absolute favorite, I wish as we all got older that we never lost that!

And the weather.  Perfection.  In the 70s & chilly enough at night for jeans & a light jacket.  I have decided that I am all for this kind of weather year-round, I would never, ever get sick of it.  It makes for some amazing afternoons, we have been on lots of walks, bike rides, & to the park more times than I can count.

 This kind of weather screams cardigans for me, I was so excited to pull out Waverly’s from last year (we bought them big & just keep rolling them up, I’m thinking they will last at least a few more seasons!).  I am also once again obsessed with this dark yellow, the perfect color for fall!  Melissa from The Prettiest Bow sent Waverly some bows for the new season, & I could not get this one on her fast enough!!  It is so beautiful in person, high quality, & the perfect shade. 🙂

To celebrate the new season, I have teamed up with some amazing ladies to offer one lucky reader a $120.00 gift card to Anthropologie!!  I can’t think of a more perfect place to stock up on some fall goodness, for both yourself & your home!   You can use the Rafflecopter below to enter. The giveaway will run from 12:00 am EST on September 18th until 11:59 pm EST on September 25th. All entries will be verified. Good luck & happy weekend!

Giveaway brought to you by:
He & I | Caravan Sonnet | The Little Things Blog | The Little Diary
Mr. and Mrs. Powell | S&T Time | Jacob’s Scarves | xo, Mila
Sierra’s View | Words About Waverly

a Rafflecopter giveaway

First, in fashion news, we pulled out Waverly Maye’s cat ears over the weekend & I am in love!!  We had a couple last year but recently added this set from Target, the fact that they are leopard makes them that much cuter.  Another reason to love fall fashion, especially for little ones since they obviously look so much better in this stuff than any of us ever would. 😉

And onto my little thing of the week!!  This one goes down in the books as one of my favorites ever, I’ll be laughing about it for a long time.  Waverly & I had a rare mall date a couple days ago, I say rare because most of my shopping is now done online since stores (especially ones with hangers & clothes to pull down) aren’t always the easiest.  I decided to give it a try, we got some lunch plus walked around for a bit, Waverly was actually being a rock star & we were having way too much fun.  Our car was parked outside of Forever 21 & as we were walking out to leave, Waverly grabs on to one particular shirt that she immediately fell in love with (not her size, not even close, our Forever doesn’t sell kids clothes.)  For whatever reason, she would not stop saying how “cute!” it was, so I let her go try it on because yes, I’m that mom who got way too excited about my daughter’s love of fashion.  At age two.  

In the fitting room, she threw it right on & pranced out of the room wearing her shirt (turned maxi dress), showing everyone who would look.  It was the cutest thing, until she realized that she didn’t get to wear it out of the store (don’t we wish that was how it worked!).  It was a mini-tantrum turned into one of those teachable mom moments where I had to explain to her how shopping works.  Melt my heart.

Fast forward to later that afternoon, when Waverly insisted on wearing her new shirt (turned maxi dress) down the street to walk her babies.  Because yes, I am also that mom who bought it for her because she loved it that much.  She held it in her lap the entire drive home & wore it all night, I’m thinking it will really fit her in approximately 15 years.

 

First, thank you for your sweet & encouraging comments on our transition back to the new school year.  As a teacher, I feel I get the unique perspective of being both a SAHM & working one.  At the end of the day, they both have their challenges & rewards, we are all moms who are doing the best we can for our little ones.  I hate when I hear people debate the issue & LOVE that in this community, we all support each other in whatever situation we are in. 🙂

And HAPPY halfway through September!  We spent lots of our weekend working on projects around the house, the next few weeks are jam-packed & as usual, our house to-do list is full.  Over the summer I started a “cleaning” schedule that I loved, doing one task a day, Monday-Thursday, knocking it all out before the weekend started.  That obviously doesn’t fly now, the last two weeks I have spent my Friday night on my hands & knees cleaning after Waverly went to bed.  I hate the idea of spending our Saturdays or Sundays doing it, so to me, that’s the better option.  For what it’s worth, to make it exciting, I popped a bottle of wine & drank a glass (or two) while I did it to celebrate the end of the work week.  It was actually exciting.  I’m telling ya, we get wild.
Any working mamas found a magical way to fit in cleaning?!

My husband has been busy getting our backyard live-able again, making some progress in Waverly’s room, & refinishing a passed-down table for our family room.  He also recently did this makeover on a second high chair for Waverly, my mother-in-law got it unfinished for Waverly’s second birthday so we could DIY it & make it our own.  I love how it turned out (such an easy update!), the original high chair can be found here.

The other high chair we have is the Boon, which we absolutely adore & have been using since Waverly was six months.  We still use it & plan to, but lately Waverly has been taking two bites of her meal before asking to get up because she is “all done!”.  She would rather run circles around the house while eating or attempting to sit on top of the table while grabbing food from our plates.  Our pediatrician confirmed what we already knew, that we were instilling really bad habits.  So we decided to give her a new, (hopefully) exciting alternative with this chair, which still keeps her in a seat but without a buckle.  So far she really likes it, we typically pull it up to our table for meals or she just sits in it for snacks.  I’ll let you know what our third bright idea will be in a few weeks when this one gets old, too. 😉

Other weekend news, we spent our Gap cash, I got this buffalo plaid shirt which is so perfect for fall & the holiday season which will be here before we know it! 🙂  I ordered Waverly a festive Halloween headband & am seriously dreaming of pumpkin patch visits in a short couple of weeks.  We also pulled out Waverly’s first boots for the season & have started eating our snacks (plus drinking our coffee!) from these floral coffee cups I  recently found at TJMaxx.
Because every one needs a pretty, disposable coffee cup.  Obviously. 

Hope you all had a great weekend!
XO

Happiest Friday, friends!  Another school week in the books & I can’t wait for a couple of days to do nothing but be with my two favorites. 🙂  Now that we have the official start to this year behind us, I thought I would document how the transition back to reality is going so far.  I had been pretty nervous about how well Waverly (& I) would react to me being back at school for a while now.  Now that she is a little older, plus way more aware, I had been hoping for the best, but preparing myself for the worst.

 The first week back was pretty rough for all of us.  I was sad when on day one Waverly was still sleeping when I left, until I realized a couple days later that it was probably easier than the rest of the week when she held my legs & cried while I walked out the door.  It’s almost like we are at a weird age with this sort of thing, she is now old enough to understand that I leave, but not yet able to really understand why I do.  As for me, it’s definitely taking time to get used to the incredible amount of packing & preparing that’s required for this whole thing.  So far I have left my lunch at home, wallet in the diaper bag (at home), forgot to charge my phone on several occasions, & then the kicker, left the lights on in my car one morning so I came out (so excited to drive to reunite with Waverly), to a dead battery.  Oh, & then there was that time last week I somehow forgot to lay out Waverly’s clothes the night before, (I have NEVER done that), so I got three missed calls from my husband with a text “I’m supposed to freestyle this one?”.  He obviously knew the importance of that task & how nervous I would be about it.

 On the plus side, the days have only gotten easier.  We are settling into our new routine, we have a new tradition of Waverly & Joe sitting on the front porch waving “bye” to me each morning that totally beats the days I had to drive away with her in tears.  Waverly has adjusted to being back with the babysitter with no issues at all, she really loves her & so do we, which makes it so much easier on everyone.  I look forward everyday to reuniting with her, hearing all about her day, & seeing what she learned while I was gone.  We are also loving being back in her kids gym class, we go to a class on Tuesdays that starts 25 minutes after my work day is done.  It’s a total rush to get there, but so far we have made it.  It’s so crazy to be on my computer putting grades in one minute, & then on my knees doing the hokey-pokey, feeding goldfish to my little lady the next.  It’s at those moments that I know I’m doing right thing, that I can do it, & we will make it through!  It’s never going to be easy leaving her, but ultimately it’s the best thing for our family right now & one day, I know Waverly will really understand why I had to leave her again after each summer.

AND because no post is complete without my girl, we are busy getting ready for fall fashions our way, yet currently, it’s hot as ever.  A few more days seeing her with those little shorts & belly out is never a bad thing. 🙂

I am so thankful for all of your support of this blog, your positive comments & ability to relate really have made me a better mom!  I wish you the happiest weekend!!
XOXO