Category: Kid Faves

All the Best for Baby in the Nordstrom Anniversary Sale

Annie here…Baby + Anniversary Sale is a dangerous time for me. Especially this year with all kinds of darling fall clothes and accessories for Margot! Lucky for us, there are some great deals and steals!

There’s nothing I love more than outfit sets for Margot and there are some very hip sets for end of summer and fall. Some of my faves are the Nike Slub Jersey Tunic and Leggings Set and the Tucker + Tate Pretty Plaid Dress Set. The Nordstrom Baby Organic Cotten Hooded Sweater and Oso North Face Hoodie will be fall staples. Is there anything cuter than Moto Leggings and Headband Bows on a one year old!?

Boy stuff is making me hope for a little boy one day…for now our favorite little men – Teddy, Patrick, and William are going to rock some of these looks. Again with the sets – makes for easy and adorable outfits. I’m especially loving the Hooded Chambray Jacket and Corduroy Pants Set and Nike Colorblock Track Suit. Every little boy needs this Quilted Patagonia Jacket and this Varsity Hooded Cardigan for football games in the fall!

The North Face ALWAYS comes through for the Nordstrom Anniversary sale! Nicole & Emily stock up for the big kids’ winter coats every year and they always have great new color combos in time for the sale. This coat would be so cute for Margot to match the big kids and I love that they’re all reversible!

The final must haves for baby are the Noodle & Boo Nursery Essentials. Smells SO GOOD. And if you’re looking for a stroller the Nuna 2019 MIXX is a steal during this sale.

Remember early access for Nordstrom cardholders starts tomorrow – 7/12! Run don’t walk to stock up on baby gear!! Happy Shopping!

We’ll have more shopping guides back here soon & don’t forget to check out our earlier posts covering the #NSale here:

Nordstrom Anniversary Sale Picks from our Readers!
All the Tory Burch in the Nordstrom Anniversary Sale
Things I’m Loving This Week

Margot Maeve Turns ONE!

By: Annie Wagner

We had a busy weekend in Ann Arbor celebrating our youngest sister cousin’s first birthday! My parents came to town from Southern California for the weekend and we started the celebrations on Thursday night at the Ann Arbor Summer Festival. Nothing like a barefoot baby dancing around a beer garden to kick of her birthday weekend!

  • Blue jean baby

We got home Thursday night to a broken air conditioner and then spent the day Friday in our sauna of a house doing all the party food prep (going into heat stroke to make your daughter’s first birthday special – priceless). We made pulled pork sliders in the crockpot and served them with a fruit salad, arugula salad, and our family’s famous potato salad (recipes below). 

Saturday afternoon was party time. The ac was fixed just in time for 25 people to be in the house. We had all of Margot’s little friends over and they played games and celebrated all afternoon. Margot went to town on her Lemon Raspberry Cake – we had to pry it away from her and distract her with all of her new birthday presents! We felt so grateful for all of the people who spoiled our little girl on her big day. There’s nothing like seeing how much your loved ones love your baby :).

  • Brian’s shirt and shorts linked here and here
  • My go-to maxi dress linked
    here and here
  • Gal pals in their
    party dresses.

On Sunday we went to a birthday brunch at our new favorite spot in town – Anna’s House. The birthday girl took a long nap that afternoon while we packed up for our trip to Clear Lake for the week! Monday morning we got on the road bright and early to head to the CLC motherland! We got to stop in Brooklyn to see family and two statues that were put up to honor Mollie <3.

Wishing you all a safe and happy 4th! Stay tuned for updates from Clear Lake!

Xo, Annie

Recipes

Homemade Potato Salad:

5 pounds potatoes

8 – 10 hard boiled eggs

3 cups mayonaise

1 1/2 cups mustard

1/2 cup pickle juice

1/2 cup diced dill pickles

1/2 cup diced green onions

Salt and Pepper to taste

Paprika for garnish

Instructions: Boil and peel eggs. Peel and boil potatoes until easily pierced through with a fork (15-20 minutes). Chop eggs and potatoes and place in a large bowl. Add pickles and onions. In a small bowl mix together mayo, mustard, pickle juice, salt and pepper. Add the mayo mixture to the large bowl and stir everything together. Garnish with paprika and store in the fridge.

Arugula Salad:

1 bag baby arugula

Zest of one lemon

Juice of one lemon

1/2 cup toasted almonds

1 pint blueberries

1/2 cup shaved parmesan

2 Tbsp E.V.O.O.

Instructions: Combine ingredients and serve!

Fruit Salad:

1 cup diced pears

1 cup diced nectarines

1 pint raspberries

1 cup diced kiwi

Instructions: Combine ingredients and serve!

Omaha Weekend Fun!

When you have little kids, your weekends revolve around them and their activities. But I wouldn’t trade this busy stage of life for anything!

Friday night pool time with Turban Tina

Maeve’s suit is last year’s Hanna Andersson but I am linking something similar!

We had so much fun watching Lily play softball on Saturday morning. She had three big hits and is really enjoying her first year on the field!

Saturday was my day to work the snack shack. My little helper (who also happens to be a junk food fanatic) thought this was the BEST job ever. She even earned some tips!

We had friends over Saturday evening after games! We grilled and made ice cream sundaes! It was a perfect summer evening! Find Lily’s striped dress on our shop page. There are three great color options!

Grill Masters
When in doubt, SUNDAE bar!

This poppy colored ruffled tank is perfect for humid Midwest evenings. I love these Gap sandals – so comfy, and they come in four colors. Linking the denim shorts and jewelry to our Shop page as well.

Find this look on our Shop page!

The temperature dropped 30 degrees on Sunday so our options were limited! I had been hearing great things about the Children’s Museum in Lincoln, so we headed about 50 miles west to check it out! It was a great time and a perfect indoor activity for the day.

The Lincoln Children’s Museum was so much fun!
The Ninja course was a favorite!

My girls are thrilled to start Vacation Bible School this week! Signing off after another great Summer weekend!

Cheers!

Nicole

Garmin Vívofit Jr.

By: Nicole Mikluscak

Today I’m reviewing a kids’ product that we have really enjoyed using in our family. My daughter Lily was given a Garmin Vívofit Jr. for her 7th birthday this year. I had only recently heard about how popular the device was becoming among the kids her age at school!

This activity tracker is designed to be kid-friendly; comfortable and water resistant. Lily even wears hers when swimming!There are band choices for boys and girls. It tracks steps, sleeping patterns, and gives recommendations for 60 minutes of activity a day. Lily loves the alarm feature and prefers the sound to her regular alarm clock.

The compatible app home page. Incredibly user friendly! You can also add multiple children to the app.

One of my favorite features is the chore tracker. Your child can earn coins to redeem for agreed upon rewards managed by mom or dad on the free compatible app. You choose the chores or behavior, and send the coins right from your phone when accomplished. The app also includes mobile educational adventures that Lily loves to play. In addition, the program unlocks different trails as fitness goals are met. I love to watch her excitement when her tracker beeps because she has met a step goal!

Lily’s current adventure trail full of games etc. based on her level of activity.

Another attribute to mention – The user replaceable battery will keep kicking for up to a year, so there is no need to recharge!! Lastly, the Vivofit Jr. fits bands for the Vivofit 3. As they get older it will not look childish with a replacement band.

This is a fantastic product with useful, practical functions. Summer is a great time to give the Vívofit Jr. a try! Add summer reading and studying to your child’s list of chores and let them choose a reward for earning their coins. It’s all about BALANCE, and I love that you can alter this fitness tracker to meet your needs in all aspects of your child’s life. Let us know what you think!!

Amazon:

Flower  —  https://amzn.to/2WfNySU
Minnie Mouse — https://amzn.to/2ELVnoq

Weekend Recap from Ann Arbor

By: Annie Wagner

It’s beginning to look a lot like summer…

We started off our weekend on Friday afternoon when Brian came home early from work to enjoy the perfect summer weather with us. We had a pool party playdate followed by a BBQ with friends! I linked our Ingenuity SmartClean Trio Elite 3-in-1 High Chair – we use this all day everyday and LOVE how easy it is to use and clean. Also linked our Charbroil Gas Grill – where most of our meals come from all summer long, and the Intex Kiddie Pool – Margot’s home for the next few months 😉

A big storm came through Saturday morning so we decided to stay in and bake. First we made pancakes for breakfast and Margot was in heaven…she downed six pancakes and wanted more #ParentingGoals. Then I was inspired by our favorite show – The Great British Baking Show – to make a Victoria Sponge Cake (recipe below). I had all the ingredients in my pantry and it was much easier than I anticipated. Not to toot my own horn, but it was DELICIOUS (toot toot).

  • Find someone who looks at you the way Margot looks at pancakes

Saturday afternoon we went over to a friends house to watch the Champions League soccer game and enjoy homemade paella. Two teams from England were playing (Liverpool vs. Tottenham) which is what inspired our British themed day. #LongLiveTheQueen

  • The Paella Master and his Protégé
  • Go Sports!
  • Paella Heaven

While we were there, the other kids were napping and Margot decided to take advantage of six adults watching her and show off her walking skills for the first time…such a ham! This Vtech Baby Walker is awesome. It has different speed settings so she can slowly control her steps while she learns to balance.

After two days of partying and eating, we enjoyed a low-key Sunday at home. After updating our front porch and herb pots, we took a long walk through County Farm Park with our City Select Baby Jogger Stroller. We LOVE this stroller and it has a second seat kit for future kids (or to use with friends), and there are tons of accessories and attachments to add as your little ones grow! We had pesto chicken pasta for dinner using the pre-marinated Pesto Genovese Chicken Breasts from Trader Joes with our favorite simple pasta recipe: olive oil, garlic, chopped tomatoes, salt & pepper and a splash (or a cup) of white wine sautéed together and served over your favorite kind of pasta. We ended the weekend binge watching VEEP – highly recommend if you have not yet seen it!

Happy June!

Recipe: Victoria Sponge Cake

INGREDIENTS:

Cake

  • 1 cup butter, softened
  • 1 cup sugar
  • 4 eggs
  • 1 2/3 cups flour
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 4 tsp baking powder
  • 1 tsp vanilla
  • 2 tsp whole milk

Filling

  • 1 1/2 cup lightly sweetened whipped cream
  • 1/2 cup strawberry jam
  • 1 cup sliced strawberries (optional)
  • Powdered sugar

INSTRUCTIONS:

  1. Preheat your oven to 350F and prepare two 9 inch pans.
  2. Cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy..
  3. Beat in the eggs, one at a time until completely combined.  Be sure to scrape down the sides of the bowl as you go.
  4. In a small bowl, mix together the flour, salt and baking powder.  Stir flour mixture into butter mixture.
  5. Add the milk and vanilla and mix until completely combined.
  6. Spread in your prepared pans and bake for 12-15 minutes or until they test done.
  7. Cool for 10 minutes in the pans and then turn out onto wire racks to cool completely.
  8. To serve, spread jam over bottom layer of cake.  Top with strawberry slices if using, the spread with fresh whipped cream.  Top with remaining cake layer and dust with powdered sugar.

Hanna Andersson Swim Sale

By: Emily Heaston
  • Clare, Cate & Teddy last year in their Hanna Andersson swimwear
    I love being able to mix and match Hanna swimwear for both boys’ and girls’ styles AND across toddler and big kid sizes, so my kids looked cute and coordinated!

I hadn’t planned on posting anything today, but when I saw that my favorite kids’ swimwear is on sale I had to share! The exact swimsuits I bought for my kids’ Easter baskets is crazy affordable today and priced even better than the sale prices I paid last month!

  • Looks like the Easter Bunny liked pink and yellow this year! 😉

I really love the sun protection built into these swimsuits, and I’m lucky that Teddy insists on wearing rash guards, so he is still protected from the sun if we need to reapply sunscreen. For the girls, I find that it’s so much handier buying two-piece swim suits when they need to use the restroom, and they love the idea that they’re wearing “bikinis.” There are so many cute options for swim tops and bottoms for girls. Now that Clare and Cate are getting a little older, they like having outfits that coordinate, but don’t match exactly, so these options are great for letting them pick what they like and what fits them best!