Friday Favorites {Happy Birthday, Breckin!}

Happy Friday! This has been a great week. I feel like it's gone by fast because we've been so busy, but busy is good {for the most part}. Here are my Five Favorites for Friday:

{one}

Breckin had Vacation Bible School every day this week from 9am-11am {except today} at our church. It was just for 4-5 year olds {I got him in even though he was technically still 3}, so Tanner, Farrah and I were able to hang out for a couple of hours. I felt it was good for Tanner and I to have some one-on-one time {even though of course Farrah was there, but you know what I mean}; it's hard to come by these days. I also really enjoyed Breckin telling me what he learned about God each day.

{two}

On the first day of VBS, we went over to Ross at the shopping center next to our church while we waited for Breckin to be done. I found SO many great clothes {of course for so cheap!} They had a lot of Aztec prints and Boho chic-type items, which I love. And the next day, out of curiosity, I put on one of the new tops and also shimmied into a pair of pre-prego jeans! One of my more forgiving pairs, but hey, progress is progress! I couldn't even get them more than halfway up my thighs right after I had Farrah in May. I know the weight will start shedding a lot faster once Tanner is back in school and I'm able to be on a regular gym schedule {one more week!}

{three}

I picked up this book at our church bookstore on one of the days we were waiting for Breckin. So far it's really great. I recommend it to all y'all that have boys! I love the picture on the front because my boys are always playing super heroes and wearing their capes.

{four}

And not to brag, I got to enjoy some poolside reading with that book, even though I had all three kids with me on my own. Am I a pro? Maybe. Nah, seriously, sometimes my kids' large age difference works out to my benefit. Both Tanner and Breckin can be in the pool without me; and I had perfectly timed it with Farrah's nap. She was laying peacefully in her stroller {with a fan of course} and I was able to relax {for once!}

That's Tanner right in front of me.

{five}

And last, but certainly not least, the most important of all my five things actually...

It's Breckin's 4th birthday today! I cannot believe how fast the years have flown by. He is seriously the most wonderful 4-year old boy on the planet {I know I'm biased, but seriously, every daycare/childcare, even the ladies at VBS this week, just go out of their way to rave about him to me and how they think he is just the funniest, sweetest, smartest little guy for his age.} I am so lucky to be his mom...I know he is going to make a wonderful adult someday that people just love being around. He's that type of guy. We are celebrating with family and friends next weekend, but will do our family party and presents for him tonight. Tomorrow I'm taking the kids to Daniel Island for the Homegrown Family Day {Darius Rucker of Hootie and the Blowish puts it on every year}. It's perfect for his birthday weekend because there will be jump houses and all sorts of fun activities. If you're in Charleston, take the kids!

And to end this post, I of course have to do a montage of pictures of Breckin from the last 4 years...I'll try to be brief - haha.

 

Linking up with:

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White Blazer

An item I'm loving lately is a white blazer. I'm still on the hunt for the perfect one. These outfits are very inspiring...and a white blazer can surely be worn in the spring and summer with shorts and a tee...and then transition to fall and winter {yes, past Labor Day!} so easily with skinnies and heels or boots.

{via}

Can Alessandra do wrong? I don't think so.

{via}

{via}

See some white blazers I am loving here and here,

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You Remember That One Aztec Sweater Cardigan?

You know, the one many of y'all {as well as myself} drooled over when I saw it on Emily Maynard and posted about it here?

And I spent months and months searching for it, only to find it six months later and brag post about it here?

Well, my lovelies, I have good news. I recently happened upon it once again...because I know many of you went to the site I got mine from after my post and it was sold out.

Rockin' it while preggers

Rockin' it while preggers...with the Minnetonka Moccassin Boots

I have to say, I LOVE this cardigan and it was worth the long, hard search. I've taken the long, hard search away from you because you can get it right here. For $52.00. WHAAAAT?!

OK...now go get it. This is the last time I'm going to help you with this. Probably.

UPDATE: Also just found one here {size L} for $49.00!

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Monday Musings

I cannot believe school is back in session in just two weeks. TWO WEEKS. Don't get me wrong, I'm excited because this summer I've been very hard-pressed to find a lot of activities to keep my oldest occupied with, considering I had a baby in May. A lot of this summer has been spent adjusting to a new routine and a new person in our family...and we really did not get to the beach and pool as often as we normally do...since it's not good to have an infant out in the heat too long...and just watching all three by myself in public is quite a task. I did it quite a few times, but it wasn't easy. That being said, I've got a little bit of cabin fever and I think both Tanner and I are ready for him to go back to school to have things to do and be with friends. Breckin will still be home with me, but Farrah's schedule is a bit more predictable now, so I'll be able to plan activities for him, as well as do some Pre-K lessons with him each day.

Speaking of schedules, once school is back in, I have to be up around 5am each day to get the baby fed and ready, as well as the boys and then I have to drive Tanner to school. I know earlier this summer I was up at 5am a lot after Farrah would eat her early morning bottle, but the last couple of weeks, she's been sleeping from 10pm to 7:30am most nights {not that I'm complaining!}, so I've been sleeping in. I am going to give my body a couple of weeks to get used to it, so that means I woke up at 5am today, people...but it's pretty nice...once I get over the tired fog and actually get up, I am able to shower and get myself ready uninterrupted as well as get ahead on some of the household chores while everyone is still asleep. I can also fit in a quick workout, whether it's an Insanity DVD or a run in the neighborhood. It really makes my whole day go a lot more smoothly...so I don't mind the early rise too much.

Also, now that Farrah is 12 weeks, she is able to go to the gym daycare. Once Tanner goes back to school, I will be able to go every morning after I drop him off, since Breckin and Farrah can go in the childcare while I get a workout in. The gym is right across the street from his school, so it's perfect and leaves me virtually no excuse to miss it. Now I can finally get to serious work on losing the last of this baby weight because I am OVER it. I've been working hard this summer, but something about having a regular gym schedule and my planned workout routine just helps me see a lot more progress.

I'm ahead of the game this year - I've already got all of Tanner's school supplies and uniform clothes and his backpack came in from Lands End last week.

They were having a good sale, so I went ahead and ordered the medium size one for Breckin since he will be going to Kindergarten next year. One less thing I'll have to buy when the time comes. They both liked this pattern. 

Jake and I managed to get out on Friday night for a date night. His parents had bought us Outback Steakhouse gift certificates when we had Farrah, so his mom offered to come over and watch the kids so we could use them. Jake of course got a steak, and I tried to keep it {mostly} healthy and got a the Wood-Grilled California Chicken Sandwich. Instead of the fries, I opted for the steamed veggies. Jake did too.

Speaking of veggies, I am still doing well with having most of our meals prepped. I got another round of chicken, sweet potatoes and veggies cooked and divided up this weekend to last us the next few days. I've definitely been continuing to see the scale move in the downward direction.

That brings me to my next topic...Jake has been spending many hours working on our custom closet ever since the shelving holding mine {original to the house} buckled under the pressure and hit the floor. {And I can't wait to show you it because he went above and beyond and it's going to look awesome...but it's just taking a little longer than I hoped!} So our clothes, shoes and what-have-you that we store in our closet are all over our room and Farrah's room. I think the only reason it hasn't bothered me so bad is that I really haven't been wearing a lot of my pre-baby stuff, mostly just the more flowy and forgiving things...so I guess if my closet was going to bite the dust, this was the best time for it to do so. I am starting to go through things to give to Goodwill {might as well do it before putting everything back in} and of course I'm also finding some things I bought while I was pregnant, or just after I had Farrah, that I had been hoping to post on this blog soon. I definitely have wanted to do more outfit posts, and the pregnancy sort of got in the way of that {I know many cute/tiny bloggers do pregnancy outfit posts throughout their pregnancies, but I am just not a "skinny" pregnant person, regardless of my pre-baby fitness level, so I did the best I could}. I wanted to let y'all know I do plan to do more outfit posts...because I feel that is the direction I want this blog to go...while it is about life's tidbits, it was also started to share my love of fashion and style...and I don't feel I've done as much of the latter as I'd like. But of course, I feel sort of stuck because I'm still carrying baby weight and feel too chunky to be "modeling" so to speak, or things just don't fit quite right or are flattering yet. {Especially with all these adorable and tiny fashion bloggers in the blogosphere!} Maybe it's in my head, but I guess I'm just being honest when I say I'm not all that confident with my body yet and it's definitely "in process". I am hoping to have more outfit posts in the coming months...as I begin to regain my former size and continually work to improve thereafter. So thank you for bearing with me during this phase of my life and hopefully you'll still find the content that is here to be interesting enough to keep on reading. 

Oh, and in spirit of my husband doing a major redo of our closet, and the many other projects he has taken on for me in recent years, I made up this little saying...thought it was cute, and oh so true. Pin it if you agree! xo

Have a great week!

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