J Crew

Wild in WDM!

By: Emily Heaston

I got a head start on the weekend by kicking things off Wednesday with a pool day with my girlfriends & our little buddies! When I got home, the cutest early birthday surprise arrived in the mail from Nicole!

That night, I met my girls for dinner at Lucca & drinks at The Republic–a good excuse to wear a cute new dress & earrings!

Thursday, Clare got to have her girlfriend over for a playdate! Kids begged to go to Backyard Adventures & Rita’s!

After Tim got done with work, we took the kids to the ITAgroup Summer Celebration–the kids had a ball with inflatables, face painting, carnival games, pizza & popsicles! The big kids had fun too!!!

On Friday, Nicole, Lily & Maeve came from Omaha! We hit the pool for lunch & swimming, then had to take all 5 kids to HyVee. I think we’re both still recovering from all the kids wanting to push the little green grocery carts! HyVee, I’m begging you to make those disappear!

On Friday night, Clarebear had her dance team tryout! These cuties have been working hard and are so excited for the upcoming year of competition dance!

Friday night was also Tim’s favorite night of the year–when 80-35 kicks off in downtown Des Moines! This music festival is his first baby. He was on the board of directors for years and years as they founded the festival and we’ve had so much fun the past 12 years working on set-up, hospitality, tear-down, fundraising, and meeting incredible artists! We have so much hometown pride for this event which is hosted every summer by the Des Moines Music Coalition + over 500 community volunteers! Tim had a blast this year and took some highlight pictures from Friday night.

Saturday, Nicole and I were up bright and early to hit Yoga + Gallery Talk at the Des Moines Art Center with Good Vibes instructor Ben Spellman!

After yoga, it was time to load up the kids for swimming lessons and afterward we hit up LifeTime Poolapalooza for a little bit! Kids loved seeing the mermaids, playing with friends, and Clare even won a hula hoop contest!

After the pool, we all got cleaned up for a night out! I was getting dressed when the mailman came, and the kids ran up to me with a new outfit so I had to change!

Kids had big plans with Grandma and Grandpa while Tim and I attended a shower for our friends Nick & Amber! Their shower had the cutest golf theme and we got to catch up with so many dear friends!

Teddy snuck off at Grandma & Grandpa’s and ate all the granola bars!

After the shower, we met up with friends at the Iowa State Fairgrounds for the Iowa State Fair Blue Ribbon Foundation Corndog Kickoff! This was our first time at this event which features live entertainment, silent & live auction items, all your favorite Iowa State Fair foods & drinks, rides on the SkyGlider & fireworks! Tim & I couldn’t believe we’d been missing out on all this fun!

On Sunday, we got to sleep in a little until Teddy’s tball game! He is loving every second of it and its the cutest thing! This is his very first team and its so perfect that they’re the Giants–I had to get a picture of Teddy in Mollie’s favorite jersey.

After the game, we were all ready for some air conditioning and downtime! We watched some movies, played some Barbies & called it a wrap on a fun & busy summer weekend!

See you back here soon! xoxo, Emily

P.S. Just ordered this hairdryer for Prime Day! Only $39.28 at checkout and highly recommended by one of my favorite blogs, Somewhere Lately!

Margot Maeve Turns ONE!

By: Annie Wagner

Carter’s Rompers are the best summer outfits

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.

Backseat buddies. Love our Evenflo Convertible Car Seat — especially for road trips!

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!

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!

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.

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!

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

Cheers!

Nicole

Father’s Day Gift Guide

Happy Father’s Day to all the dads in our lives! We’ve compiled our favorite gift ideas for dads, grandads, husbands or anyone who has been a father figure to you. Brian, Ryan, Tim, Skip and Uncle Butter – I know you guys hang out on our blog all day long but you’re going to have to wait until June 16th to come back to this post 😉

Nicole’s Picks

Pace Breaker Short 9″
Apple AirPods
Topo Designs Travel Bag
All Birds – comfortable and made from high quality, natural materials
Mizzen + Main Dress Shirt

Emily’s Picks

Tim’s oldest brother also got him this Air Fryer for Christmas and we both love it!
Guilty pleasure–these babies

Annie’s Picks

Emma’s Picks

Happy Father’s Day!!

J. Crew Sale!

By: Nicole Mikluscak

J. Crew is running a 40% off sale through tomorrow at midnight (May 23)! It is valid on select full priced and sale items marked with the code SHOP40. We’ve compiled some of our favorites and must-haves!

TEES and TOPS – It’s time to clean out the closet and add some new spring tops to the mix. We are loving the multi-color slim perfect T-shirt, and the “Girls just wanna have sun” edition!

How cute would this be with yellow shorts!?

SWIMWEAR – J. Crew is smashing the swimwear game this summer. This post is heavy on the summer essential because we love so many of them! And for 40% off, you should get a couple!

Perfect and practical long sleeve rash guard for boating!

JUMPSUITS AND DRESSES – We are loving these pieces for summer weddings and parties! Give us all the gingham!

Linen, flattering waist-tie cotton jumpsuit, lightweight and perfect for warmer weather!

SHOES!! Because you can never have enough!

These darling pool slides also come in tortoise.

Cora slide sandals in rainbow check – dress this checked finish up or down!

Birkenstock® Arizona EVA sandals – posting these again! Summer staple that comes in so many colors!! These are NOT part of the 40% off sale, but are super affordable at $39.95. Size down one size. They run big.