Inspiration- Easter Basket Goodies

Easter is finally on the horizon!  Bunnies, dyeing eggs, egg hunts, church, and lunch with family all make it a special holiday for us.  Do you celebrate the holiday and if so, what are your traditions?  Of course the meaning of the holiday is the most important reason for it being special to us but the other things mentioned also make special memories.

I've been slowly grabbing some things for the kids Easter baskets when I see them.  So far I've gotten them each a garden tool set, a flower pot painting set, and each flower seeds to plant... all from the Target dollar spot!  I didn't intend to have a "gardening" theme but it seems to be going that direction.   A few other things I plan to add are a chocolate bunny and maybe a couple of the things from the idea board below.   I have the nestler eggs shown below that I gave to Benton last year with little treats inside.  I plan to reuse them again this year.  I love putting together gift baskets so getting the kids Easter baskets together is right up my alley.  Below, I've put together some gift ideas that would make fun additions to an Easter basket for your little bunnies!

Chocolate Bunny: here | Runaway Bunny Book: here | Bunny Ears: Bunny Ears | Plate, Bowl, Cup Set: here | Bonnet: here | Bucket Hat: here | Stuffed Bunny: here | Nestler Eggs: here | Chalk Eggs: here | Sandals: here | Bow: here | Bunny slippers: here

Benton's 2nd Birthday

Benton turned two back on February 28th and we celebrated with a party the following Saturday.  I seriously cannot believe he is now 2 years old!  I know every mom says they can't believe how fast time is flying by and they can't believe their child is another year older, but it is so true.  I really love this age.  His little personality is shining through every day and he is a joy to be around.  

I went round and round deciding which theme to have for his party.  He's not talking much so he couldn't tell me what he wanted, so I based it off of things he likes.  I decided on a beach themed party because he loves the beach (and so do we!) and I thought it would be easy to put together.

It was very special to be able to celebrate another of Benton's birthdays with our family and close friends.  I think he had a great time and hopefully everyone else did as well!  The weather turned out to be beautiful the day of the party so we blew up the kids bounce house and set it up out back.  After the kids got tired of bouncing, they came inside and played in our "play room" which is really just a corner of our basement.  The party was set for 3pm, which is right after Benton usually wakes up from his nap.  We decided on snack foods we thought everyone would like such as Chick-Fil-A nuggets, fruit, veggies with ranch dip,  cookies, goldfish,  mash ups for the kids, Pirate Booty, and of course no birthday party is complete without cake and/or cupcakes.  We tried to tie in some of the snack foods with the theme of the party such as the goldfish and Pirate Booty.  I found the most adorable paper boat cake topper from Easy and ordered the cake and cupcakes from Walmart.  We had most of the "decor" and serving dishes/bowls/etc already.  I did get the basket that's holding the Pirate Booty from Home Goods for $7 and I know I'll use it for something else.  I also got him the Beaufort Bonnet Company beach towel and stuffed seagull for Benton as a birthday gift that also made cute decor. 

Below, I've listed where everything was purchased from.  For party favors, we gave out sand pails filled with Swedish Fish, bubbles, Go Fish cards, and water guns.  

Boat cake topper: SEToppers

Happy Birthday banner: Peachy Paper Crafts

Invitations and gift tags: Paper and Play Design

Sand pails: Dollar Tree

Beach towel and seagull: The Beaufort Bonnet Company

White Bowls and Cake Stand: Home Goods
Balloons: Party City

Recipe- Pimento Cheese

If you follow me on Instagram, then you know it's no secret that I love pimento cheese.  It's a southern staple food.  I like it on loaf bread, biscuits, hot dogs, crackers and with veggies to dip.  My grandmother use to give it to me as a child on just plain ole white bread.  If I see pimento cheese on the menu of a restaurant, it's almost a sure thing that I'll try it.  Side note: the best I’ve ever had at a restaurant so far was at Husk in Charleston.

I've tried a few different recipes for it that have all been good but not great.  I recently came upon a new recipe that I thought I'd give a shot and let me tell you, it's great.  I followed the recipe exactly as is except I left out the bourbon.  Yes, this recipe called for bourbon!  I'm sure it would have been a great addition but I didn't want to include it this time.  I'll link the recipe below if you're interested in trying it.  I have to say though that it makes A LOT.  So if you're just making it for yourself or yourself and one other person then I would cut it in half.  Below are my pictures I snapped of how mine looked.  This time we put it on biscuits with bacon and tomatoes.  

Recipe found Here

Monday Must-Haves- Sweater

I can't believe that October is almost over.  It's been the fastest month this year, in my opinion.   We're all geared up for Halloween at our house.  Mary-Grace is very excited.  She will be Elsa from Frozen and Benton will be Spider-Man.  I've bought some cute little things for Halloween day: paper plates, napkins, cupcake toppers (we plan to make cupcakes) and I have a Halloween banner from last year.  We plan to take the kids trick-or-treating in our neighborhood after dinner.  We went in our neighborhood last year and it was a lot fun.  Some of the neighbors really go all out with decorations and candy, and there were a ton of kids dressed up.  What are your plans?  

The weather finally turned cool here a week or so ago.  I've pulled out my sweaters, leggings, jeans, tights for Mary-Grace, and so on.  I have my eye on a few more sweaters (shown below).  I think they all would look great with jeans, dress slacks, or a cute wool skirt.

Navy: here | Cream Cableknit: here | Gray: here | Light teal: here | Light Pink: here | Cream Ribbed: here

Life Update- Starting School and Hurricane Florence

I thought for today I'd share a life update and what we've been up to!  Mary-Grace started preschool last week and is loving it!  She goes half days on MWF with Friday being a little bit longer since the school has a lunch buddy program and she will stay there for lunch.  Her teacher is the sweetest and her classroom is so cute.  She carries her little book bag into school with her and it makes me smile but also breaks my heart a little.  I realize that she is growing up so fast and will shortly be starting regular school and I hear that's when time really starts to fly.  I'm thankful that she loves learning and meeting new friends.  It makes it easier for me to drop her off.  Her starting school has changed up our morning routine but it's for the best.  We're all up early and ready to go!  It's also good for me that she is going to school a few mornings.  I still have Benton with me but it's so much easier taking care of errands and things at home with one child, especially since he is a fairly easy child to entertain and is laid back for the most part.  I've shared some pictures below of her first day at school.  I already had the chalkboard that I bought during my pregnancy with her and found the cute apple banner at the dollar section in Target!  Her ABC dress is from Beaufort Bonnet that I bought last winter to save for when she started school.

We've also been to the pool a few times.  Both of the kids love the water which makes going to the pool a fun activity for everyone.  We've also been to the science museum downtown, shopping a few different days, Mary-Grace and I had a mommy and me date for cupcakes, playing with friends, and soaking up these last couple of weeks before the weather turns cooler.  We'll hopefully still spend a good bit of time outside, just not swimming of course.

I'm sure you've all heard about Hurricane Florence.  We live in Raleigh and will somehow be affected by the storm but not as much as the coast since we're about 100 miles inland.  It's been crazy around here the past few days.  People have been stocking up on water since last week!  I bought a few extra non-perishable items, an extra power pack for the phones and iPad, drinks, water, and filled up my car with gas.  I had to go to a few different places yesterday to find gas then after that I heard about the app Gas Buddy that tells you which stations aren't out. They were forecasting for the eye of the storm to come near Raleigh but as of this morning it has changed and looks like it will head to South Carolina so we will see what happens.  My thoughts and prayers are with everyone, especially those living in flood prone areas who have had their homes flooded during Matthew and Floyd, and those with special needs.  That would add so much more stress.  I lived in NC during Fran back in the 90's and we lost power for about a week and several roads flooded but fortunately our house was spared.  I'm sure wherever this storm hits the impacts will not be good.  Please try to stay safe everyone! I'm praying hard for the Carolinas!

Outfit- Fall Transition

The temps here in NC are still hot as heck so it's hard not to dream about fall and cooler weather.  I've said this a few other times here on the blog but fall is my favorite season for a few reasons.  I'm really hoping for some cooler temps in the next few weeks... at least maybe cool enough to wear a sweater or light jacket in the mornings and at night.  I've been eyeing all of the fall collections that have been slowly taking over Instagram and my email since July.  The jacket I have shown below is perfect for those cool mornings I was describing and would also be great to take to a football game if in your teams color (which the red happens to be ours)!  Also, I got these Paige denim jeans last fall and love them.  They're have the perfect amount of stretch and length.

Jacket: here | Top: here | Jeans: here | Ballet Shoes: here | 

Home Inspiration- Gallery Walls

We have a gallery wall of pictures on one of the walls in our living room.  Since we've recently repainted the walls, I thought it'd be a good time to update the photos and frames.  I have ordered a few framed prints from Framebridge that was my birthday present and they turned out so good.  I was hoping they would look good with two wooden frames I already have, but I really don't like them together so I think I'll just get two additional frames.  I'll share before and after pictures in a post once I get them hung.  We also have a gallery wall of frames going up the stairwell to our bedrooms.  I'd love to add another antique frame or two like some of the ones shown below.

All photos via Pinterest