Gift Guide for Ages 8-14

This guide is for the pre-teen and early teen years! AKA my nieces!

1. This is the cutest ice cream truck when you see it in person! 

2. This bow and arrow set is a huge hit!

3. My niece asked for this last year because she was very into crafting!



4. Legos are soooo good for their brains. This horseback riding center is adorable.



5. Girls that age love making friendship bracelets! Do you remember doing that when you were that age? I do. 

6. The starlight projector is such a great gift! Molly Anne loves hers!

7. Okay getting to the little bit older crowd. This lulu case would be great for a teen who is able to go shopping with her friends or out and about for a little bit.



8. And they all want a hydroflask!


9. Get a teen a shirt with their favorite sport at the college they root for! 

10. Can’t go wrong with this shirt. Evidently it’s what all of the middle/high schoolers wear to school. 



And when in doubt, get them a Starbucks or Target gift card! :)

Five on Friday

It's Friday and we've had lots of gift guides this week. Here is a normal post ha...

It was the kind of week where Kevin made dinner every night and did laundry every day. Winning at the mom game every day...not! Oh well...next week is a new week.

Take your daughter to your office day…aka teacher work day was on Monday! We went to the mall at lunch and had chick fil a and a trip to the American Girl store of course!

Silly hat and crazy sock day at school on Wednesday!



When I tell Mills to watch Grady while I run upstairs to change clothes in the morning…and he goes over and lays right next to him! The love is fierce y’all!

Anyone else see this floating around Instagram?! True, right? Life is busy. Social media has made it that way. 

Gift Guide for the Hostess

1. A simple Christmas tree is always a good, easy gift for a hostess or a friend!

2. Mulling spices and cocktail napkins!

3. My favorite holiday candle

4. A cute bottle opener paired with a cocktail mix and if you're local in Charlotte, get your cocktail mix from @drinkmoorecocktails !! Or these can be separate gifts too!

Gift Guide for Kids Ages 3-7

A lot of these are interchangeable for boy and girl so I just decided to put all twelve ideas in one big blog post. 

1. Molly Anne has this same sleeping bag and loves it and it's been on my list to get Grady for a couple of years. I finally ordered it this past week. I can already see them having a sleepover like the brother sister in the below picture!!

2. Grady saw this kinetic sand sandisfactory set on a commercial and Grady was like ohhh Molly Anne would like that. He's so right. You can cut through it and make rainbows and all sorts of cool things. They both love kinetic sand.

3.Molly Anne will think this Barbie is extra cool. 

4. Take apart construction equipment, good for those fine motor skills. 

5. Grady told me he wants to play tennis so here we go! There's a chart on the website that tells you what size to buy for your child.

6. Cash register - get them learning it early! Molly Anne will love this now, Grady will play with it later.

7. Kiwi Crates. Always wanted to get these for my little science lover but they have a variety of options if your child isn't into the science.

8. This is a jumbo floor puzzle and Grady will have fun with the fish.

9. Monster Jam wash - he saw this on a commercial too and was like whatttt! He loves a car wash.

10. Polly Pocket Spin 'N Surprise. I recently got this for Molly Anne to give a friend at a birthday party and she saw it and was like that's going on my Christmas list. Little did she know, I had already gotten it for her!

11. Oh yes, oh yes. The Ultimate Garage for Grady although Molly Anne will definitely play with this with him.

12. These beach surfer dudes are super cool if you haven't seen them. You throw them into the waves at the beach and they surf back to you every time.

I will also likely get them each a LEGO set because I think those are sooo good for their little minds. MA is a lego pro. Grady is starting to get into them.

Gift Guide for Ladies

Here are some favorite gifts to give your Mom, Mother in Law, sister, sister in law, friend or yourself!

1. Necklace from Kristen Fast Limited. I love her jewelry. 

2. A classic magnolia wreath that you can use indoor and outdoor!

3. Everyone needs one of these amazing blankets this time of year! Lots of colors to choose from.

4. These and the nordstrom pajamas are the best pajamas on earth. So soft and comfortable. Treat yourself!

5. I love these glass hurricanes. They come in two sizes and can be used to decorate anywhere in a home. I've had mine for years and enjoy putting something festive for whatever holiday in the bottom below the candle, or you can leave them empty and simple.

6. Two different sizes of this olive topiary. 18" and 28". Love it.

Gift Guide For Men

I always find men the hardest to shop for. Whether that be my dad, father in law, brother, brother in law or even Kevin!

Here are some ideas that may help ring a bell for a gift for you to give. 

1. Kevin sent these fish glasses to me last week. Aren’t they cool? You can mix and match whatever fish you like. Get one or four!

2. A perfect gift for anyone - a handmade American flag. I got my father in law this last year and he really enjoyed receiving it. If it shows sold out, I had good luck contacting the owner of the company and he let me know next time they restocked!

3. Always need a good paring knife to cut the limes for cocktails! This one is a bestseller. 


4. Kevin has had this toiletry kit for years and it’s held up so well. Still looks brand new. 


5. You can never go wrong with any size yeti and slip a target or amazon gift card in it if you need to give a little more. This one is an always hard to find but it’s on the website now!

6. Kevin’s favorite cologne. Buy this for your husband and not your dad ha!

Happy shopping! Tomorrow I’ll be back with another few things for someone else important in your life!

Weekending

We were back and forth what we were going to do this weekend, whether we were going to the beach or staying home. Ultimately we decided we should stay home and chill. 

Friday night we went to Improper Pig for dinner with some friends. It was a gorgeous night to sit on the patio and let the kids run wild! Rea Farms does a movie night some Friday nights so they got to watch part of Addams Family too!

Saturday morning we participated in the neighborhood yard sale. We made about $200 and most importantly cleaned out our playroom and third floor! I caught this moment of these two playing and chatting. They come up with cute games to play to entertain themselves. 


Look at all of the cars. It’s a wild event!


Boys dig. 


Molly Anne got to attend Sadie’s birthday party at Hunter Farm! She had a blast is what she told me when she got in the car! I ran to goodwill to donate what was leftover from the yard sale while she was there. 


A surprise Halloween box from Aunt Emily, Uncle Clay and their girls!


We fed the kids early, did s’mores and ordered door dash Mexican for us! 

I ran down to a friends house to hang for about a half hour then came home and hit the bed early. Good to get a decent night of sleep! 

Sunday I played tennis at a clinic midday. Kevin took care of the kiddos. That was big treat to do that on the weekend. I never do stuff like that on a Saturday or Sunday!

We ended the weekend with a fire then grilling out at our neighbors. Easy and fun. No school tomorrow for Molly Anne so it was exciting to get to stay up a little later than normal!