the last of summer.....

We decided to make the most of the end of summer this weekend and head to the beach one last time! We spent the day at Wrightsville and enjoyed gorgeous weather. Cameron has decided he would like to be surfer/marine biologist, Noah decided that sand in his bottle really does not taste good, and Bryson decided that he really can jump over the waves before they touch his toes and he can do it a million times!

Enjoy!

friday favorite!

Another fab find for a Friday! Say that fast 3 times!!!

I am really loving this line from Etsy. Pipertate offers "pure skincare for the modern family." The owners behind Pipertate (also found at Pipertate.com) are a husband and wife team. One used to be a chef and one a costume designer. Together they have created this skincare line using local and organic ingredients from their area (they live in California) whenever possible. I must confess that the very first thing that drew me to their products was the packaging! Beautiful! Clean and modern and luxurious!! However, after ordering my first items, I was then hooked on the packaging AND the products. They blend luxurious with clean and fresh! Enjoy!

TGIF!

off to preschool and 4th grade!

Back to school! Yesterday was the first day of a new daycare class/teacher for Noah and a new preschool class/teacher (and new building!) for Bryson. And today was the first day of 4th grade for Cameron! Where has the time gone?????!!!! I feel like if things don't slow down I will be sending them off to college before I know it!

All the boys had GREAT first days! We are looking forward to a great school year with many good memories!

another great giveaway...

Giveaway time again! Perideau Designs is doing a "birthday" giveaway. Perideau Designs has a great selection of personalized items for parties, inivtes and gifts. My personal "fave" is still the personalized muslin bags for party favors! Go here and you can read about entering for your chance to win one of these treats!

just the girls again!

Over the weekend, I headed down to Wrightsville Beach for one last summer girls weekend beach fling! What a great way to end summer with good food (actually GREAT food) and good friends... ok, actually GREAT friends too! And the sun, sand and sea! The weather was just perfect. Traveler's tip again... if you are traveling to the Wrightsville Beach area, please try the Causeway Cafe for great cinnamon raisin french toast for breakfast and South Beach Grill for dinner! I would strongly recommend the "South Beach Sampler" for dinner! The perfect beach meal!

I am very thankful to have two great girlfriends to share a beach weekend with! Thanks Carolyn and Shelby! Looking forward to one more late late summer beach weekend..... and then New York in the spring!!!!

it's almost here...

So, school starts for my little guys this week! Cameron going to fourth grade, Bryson to his last year at preschool, and little Noah going to a new daycare! So, for all of the moms out there anticipating a new school year, I have to share this site and link to some very cute free printables! Check out How Does She for not only fantastically creative ideas (like in this photo!), but also a link to register for email updates to free printables!

clinton member/guest

This past weekend Doug and I were fortunate enough to spend the weekend with one of his college buddies at their Member/Guest Golf Tournament. John has been friends with Doug since their college days at Western Carolina... and fraternity days there! Go KA! He and his wife, Lori, have been nice enough to invite us to their home, now three years in a row, so the boys can have a golf weekend and the girls (and sometimes children!!) can enjoy pool days and a cocktail dinner! Although the golf was a bit "rough" for the boys this year... we still enjoyed a great weekend with good friends!

Thank you John and Lori..... we are already looking forward to next year!

giveaway

Many of you might already be familiar with Lisa Leonard jewelry and Designs. If you are not, you should definitely check out her site and blog. If you are, then you should check this out.... she is doing a birthday giveaway to celebrate her birthday and offering a $100 Target gift card AND a $100 gift card to her site! Very cool! Go here for all the details! Good luck!!!

school supplies

If you are a teacher you might be especially interested in this offer! Tom Kat Studio is offering a "back to school" printable DIY kit that is too cute for a "back to school" party, or for teachers to use throughout the school year, or a variety of other projects that may come up through the year... think cute little cards to send your child's teacher! The kits are 50% off for three days only. You can check out her blog post here for info to order.

alphabet letters

Still in the back-to-school spirit! Love this idea too.... make crayon molds using these silicone trays of the alphabet! Could use them in a treat bag for a birthday party, or a back-to-school party, or to have as a treat at the breakfast table for a new kindergartner's first day of school!!!!!

*photos courtesy of One Charming Party*

love these ideas!

It's here... back-to-school time! The first day of school is only two weeks from today!

I just love these ideas courtesy of the Givers Log and One Charming Party. These cute little erasers are simply store bought erasers wrapped in decorative paper! What a charming addition to a "first-day-of-school lunch box" as a treat for someone special! And, One Charming Party suggested doing a Pencil Exchange at a Back-to-School party! I LOVE this idea!!! Gather preschool or neighborhood friends together and have everyone bring a pack of pencils to exchange for the start of the new school year. The summer before Cameron started kindergarten we had some preschool friends over for an "on our way to kindergarten" party! It turned out so cute. I am thinking now I will have to do the same next summer before Bryson starts school and include this pencil exchange idea!!!

another idea to share....

I got so busy Friday that I forgot to post this Fab Find Friday item..... so here goes..... a bit late! I love this idea!!!! Bath and Body Works has these little apple soap and hand sanitizers on sale right now (I got mine three for $15, but online they are $6/each). Since back-to-school is right around the corner, I thought this would be the perfect little gift to take to a teacher on the first day to say "hello!" I bought the sanitizer ones because I thought they would look so perfect on any teachers desk AND be so useful with all those classroom germs floating around!! If you are interested in these, I would not wait too long. My local Bath and Body was getting a bit low last week.

And, PS.... I took ribbon some ribbon I had with the alphabet printed on it to add a little "educational touch" to it! Thought it was the perfect addition!

Enjoy!

oh... the bags arrived today!

You might remember that I posted last week for Fab Find Friday about Perideau Designs. I just loved her little muslin bags that you could personalize for that extra little "touch." As I mentioned, I thought these bags would be the cutest things for the boys to carry "trinkets and treasures" in on the airplane ride to Disney next month. Well, I order two for each child and they arrived!!!!! And... I LOVE them! They are just as cute as the web photo (which does not always happen you know). I think the boys have already planned what they will be carrying in their little bags in their backpacks!

While ordering from Perideau Designs, I also decided to finish a little "project" in Cameron's room. It seems there is always a project around this house!! Above Cameron's dresser we have hung about 42 things and none of them really worked. Do you know what I mean.... they just didn't finish it off right! So, I took a Pottery barn oversize gallery frame out of the attic, ordered a custom name print from Perideau, and, voila! Done! I love the way it turned out!!!!!!

fireflies and s'mores

Saturday night was our first ever "fireflies and s'mores" party! The vision was all the kids would be playing in the backyard in the tent, doing s'mores, catching lightning bugs... while the grown-ups enjoyed "beverages" and adult time on the lawn! Well , mother nature had another plan in mind because it rained..... all day! So, we had to "adapt" our plan slightly. We opted for indoor s'mores with an indoor s'mores maker, the tent set up on our screened in porch and the adults gathered on dining room chairs, as opposed to lawn chairs! But, the drizzly rain held off for about an hour, just long enough for the little ones to run around in wet grass and at least search for the lightning bugs! We managed to catch TWO! Better than none! However, I think the glow sticks and sparklers were a much bigger excitement than the bugs anyway!

I have to say a big thank you to Dani, from Daninotes who creatively designed this custom invite for me, which I LOVED! And, these cute little stickers that I used on the kids' goody bags were from Bugabooannouncements via Etsy.com..

And, just to share... those funny looking "lollipops" sticking up out of the treat box in the photo are s'mores lollipops and they are so cute, so easy and soooo good! Simply take a lollipop stick, put two marshamallows on the top, dip in melted chocolate (I used almond bark), and then roll in graham cracker crumbs! It's that easy! It's like s'mores on a stick! Great for little kids!!!!