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!

Emily’s Weekend Recap from WDM!

By: Emily Heaston

June is zipping by so quickly with the kids’ summer programs and lots of trips to the pool!

This week, my girlfriends and I celebrated our beautiful friend Michelle’s birthday with dinner and dessert at one of our favorite locally owned restaurants, Table 128, and another local fave, Trostel’s Dish, for a nightcap. Love these girls!

The next day, the girls and I got a good workout in at Lifetime, then had a pool date all day with allllllllll the kiddos! It was my favorite day of this summer so far! The kids all kept each other so busy and we enjoyed the beautiful weather with mimosas and plenty of good poolside snacks! I think we all felt like we were on vacation-mode for the day!

The kids and I have been spending a lot of time in the sun, so I restocked my favorite sunscreen for our beach bag. I keep Sun Bum shampoo and conditioner in our kids’ bathroom and in our beach bag and try to get them to rinse the chlorine off their hair shortly after swimming. Pro tip: apply conditioner to kids’ hair before playing in the pool, so their hair absorbs the conditioner and NOT the pool chemicals that end up making their silky hair turn crunchy or green. Sun Bum just smells like summer! I also added the Sun Bum Sunscreen Coconut Lip Balm to my Target store pick-up order this week and can’t wait to try it!

After a busy week of swimming and activities, we had a few cloudy hours and decided to make a little pillow and blanket fort for some downtime with movies and popcorn! We also put new batteries in our old friends, Violet and Scout, that the kids have had since they were babies. Teddy and Cate have been taking them everywhere again now–so cute!

On Saturday night, Tim and I had a surprise birthday party for his friend (and boss) Brent! My mom offered to have Clare, Cate and Teddy over for a slumber party at her house. She always makes even the smallest get together feel special and the kids were so excited. Mom always makes every detail so pretty.

After dropping the kids off, Tim and I headed over to the party and we had a blast! Brent was completely surprised and Esther had tons of delicious food and desserts for the celebration! I didn’t get a picture with the birthday boy, but lucky for Tim, I did have him take a picture of what I wore. Our husbands are all really enjoying their new jobs as photographers so we can share our outfits with you guys!

On Sunday, Tim and I enjoyed a relaxing Father’s Day morning by sleeping in and drinking our coffee before it got cold! Then we went to pick up the kiddos from Nanny’s house. They had made Daddy lots of homemade cards and wrapped his presents themselves!

We also discovered a little family of cardinals living in our playset!

…and we got in a couple of hours at the pool!

That evening, we went over to Grandma and Grandpa’s to celebrate all of the great Heaston dads. My mother-in-law and niece had baked lots of homemade desserts and we brought over one of Tim’s favorites, a key lime pie! My mother-in-law, Ramona, is from Puerto Rico and she had made coquito using a recipe from one of her favorite cookbooks!

I’m thankful for a happy and sunny summer weekend with special girlfriends, healthy family, and a day dedicated to the best husband and daddy I know!

Thank you so much for joining us here on ClearLakeCousins.com. We are having so much fun doing this together and we’re learning so much along the way. Make sure to check out our new Shop page–we’ll be updating it as we find cute new items for ourselves and our kids. As Annie said, “I always feel like I need to save my cute outfits and this is giving me permission to wear my cute stuff on normal days!” We all agreed! So thanks for giving us an excuse to get a little more fancied up than usual!

Stay tuned for more fun to come! Xoxo, Emily

May Goals

By: Emily Heaston

Close those rings, drink that H2O & get in lots of #milesformollie 💗 We’re trying to stay on track with 💦 so we ordered these gallon bottles that my girlfriend @brookemickelson recommended! There are tons of cute colors too!🙌🏻

Join us this month! Let us know if you’re closing all your rings and getting your water in!! Buy the big gallon with us here!