Did you know.....

...that I have my own personal stylist? You thought they were only for movie stars? Oh, no my friend. Not when you have talented nieces like mine!

This is Liz. She is my personal stylist. Not kidding...she has spent some quality time in my closet putting together countless outfits for me. I have started to photograph them and will eventually put them in a binder so there is no more, "What the heck am I going to wear today" business going on.

Here's just one example of an outfit she put together for me.

This is Liz with her sisters Tiffany (Tee) and Natalie (Nat). These 3 cuties have started a fun style blog, styled by 3 (you can find it HERE or on my side bar) all about clothes, accessories, shoes, thrifting, online shopping...you name it, they've got it. I love their blog! It gives me such fun ideas.

Right now they are having a shoe giveaway, so head on over and show my cute nieces some love. You might just get a free pair of shoes out of it!

What Have You Been Up To Lately?

I've been doing a lot of this lately.

Visions of Christmas Cards...

....dancing in my head.

It's that time again folks...time to pick out your Christmas cards. Since I'm not very creative I like someone else to do the work and I just slap a picture on it. Well, we're all in luck this year. Shutterfly is giving away 50 free Christmas cards to bloggers just by simply blogging about it!

I love fun Christmas cards and ones with a personalized picture are even better. Shutterfly has so many different fun cards to choose from!

I love the 5 x 7 Joy and Magic card.

Don't you love how many pictures you can use on one card?? That makes things so much easier when you can't decide on just ONE picture!

What about this folded Holly Frame card?

Inside you can put another pic with a personalized message!

And if you get really ambitious before the big day, you can create a personalized family calendar! It would be great for the people in your life that have everything.

Or, there's always the personalized mug. A darling gift from your kids to parents and grandparents!

The hardest part of all is trying to decide which card to use! There are so many to choose from. So.....go take a look at all the fun options at Shutterfly! With only a little over a month until the big day, I have to get crackin' and pick one!

*Disclosure: Shutterfly is providing me with 50 free photo cards for writing this post. All opinions are my own.

**Attention BLOGGERS: You can get 50 free cards from Shutterfly too! Any size blog can participate, so don't miss out. Click here to apply!

School Days (Part 2)

This is Sophie. We call her our little nugget. Why? No idea.



She started big girl preschool yesterday (sniff) and boy was she ever excited! I had her enrolled at a local elementary school, but when we went to visit and meet the teachers on Tuesday, I had the strong feeling that school wasn't for us. Wednesday I visited a little private preschool which usually has a long waiting list, but I thought I would give it a try to get her in. To my surprise they had an opening on the day and time that I wanted! It was meant to be. It's about the cutest school ever with darling teachers. So, eventhough it was hard to see her go yesterday I knew she was in great hands and as expected she had a wonderful time. She even learned her first number...1.

She's brilliant.



She wanted her ponytail showing in the pics, hence the profile shots.

I also realized when I posted all of the first days of school pictures for Jake and Abby I didn't post any preschool shots...so here are their first and second years of preschool.







Ah, good times. It's a good thing that it's just the kids and not me who are growing older.

Ode to Summer

Dear Summer,

Oh how we've loved

your sunshine,

cool breezes,

late nights,

lazy days by the pool,

barbeques,

baseball games,

trips to the beach,

and

time with family.

We pause for a moment
on this Labor Day,
to mourn your passing...

...and promise to think of you fondly...

...on those gray winter days that last so long.

School Days

Could it really be that time of year again?? This summer has absolutely flown by and I am wishing I had more time together with my kids! We've had so much fun! So yes, they went back to school on Monday starting the 5th grade! What?!? How can they be starting 5th grade? To prove they are really that old I've posted pics of all of their first days of school. I can't believe how much they've grown!



First day of 5th grade




First day of 4th grade




First day of 3rd grade




First day of 2nd grade

First day of 1st grade

First day of Kindergarten (sniff)

Oh, how I miss them! Time seems to be going by in a flash so I'm trying to enjoy every minute. Sophie starts preschool in a couple of weeks and I'll have more pics then. (sniff again!)

40 Is The New 20......

....OK, so maybe it's the new 29! Yep that's right folks, I just turned 40. I've talked about it all year and now it's official. How come I still feel like I'm 25? I look in the mirror and still think I even look like I'm 25, but then I look at these pics and realize I'm starting to look older. Hmmmm, do you hear shrieking? Oh wait, that's just me realizing I even LOOK like I'm 40.....

We first celebrated in California (more pics to come on that) with my sister and brother-in-law. That trip was full of fun, eating, shopping, and the beach!

Yummy dinner and cupcakes courtesy of my sister.

Then on the actual big day, my mom made a feast for me at her house...we were so tired of eating out in Cali that this was such a treat!

This was the sweetest birthday kiss EVER!

Celebrating with these crazies is ALWAYS fun! So, cheers to turning 40!