Five on Friday!

 Oh, hello!

one. It's been a whirlwind of a week over here. We flew home from Florida on Monday and upon landing headed straight to the doctor (per usual) to confirm our google diagnosis that Caroline had a terrible (first) case of croup. And because she's an overachiever she also got diagnosed with stridor, which almost took us to the ER the evening before but instead Matt slept zero hours while he watched her like a hawk. Anyway, the severity of her condition qualified us for an extra strong steroid shot to the leg and thankfully she slept like a baby that night with minimal seal bark coughs. By the next morning her 103 temperature had finally gone away and she was feeling 99% better, but Matt decided to keep her home for a movie marathon day while I traveled the entire week between Raleigh and Wilmington. Sooo, shout out to the most amazing husband and daddy who was already a week behind in work but took a sick day to be with Caroline and handled ALL the duties while I was away.

two. I forgot to pause my HelloFresh box this week since I knew I was going to be out of town every night, so you can imagine my surprise when Wednesday night Matt sent me the following photos while I was at a work dinner...

 Pronto Pasta Amatriciana!

If my husband can do it, yours can too. Also, I should mention that HelloFresh would be a great Christmas gift for the person that loves to cook! And if that person is your husband it's a double gift win! Use promo code MG8GKD at checkout for $40 off your first box! That means you can try out HelloFresh for $29 and then cancel after your box arrives or keep on going.

three. While downloading all of my iPhone photos I realized I forgot to blog about Mel's Supper Club! Just before Thanksgiving Mel hosted the ladies for a night of make your own pizzas!

 

four. I have two amazing Old Navy finds for you! First up, a dress that I love so much that I purchased it in 3 colors! There are 8 colors to pick from and the dress also comes in a textured version and in plus size too! I love how flattering and versatile this dress is. I style mine for work, date night and even our Christmas cards! It's SO loose and flowy which I appreciate too.

Next up, these adorable and comfortable pointy ballet flats! I purchased mine for $10!!! Oh, and these also come in 8 colors.

Wearing them here...

I always get a lot of questions about this cowlneck sweater. I own it in 3 colors. It's from Gap. It's from last year and no longer sold, but there is the shaker stich version!

five. McKinsey's annual gift exchange is quickly approaching and I need a good $35 gift for girls to bring fight over!  Below is a list of the big hits from last year. Now the hunt is on for what to bring this year...

Gift Cards: Target, Starbucks, Nail Salon, etc. Some girls bring a $35 gift card while others include a $5 gift card with a gift -- both are always big hits!

Stemless Wine Glasses: Shatterproof // Cooling Set // Rubber Sleeved Set (my favorite!!).

S'well Insulated Water Bottle: 9 oz // 17 oz
Insulated Totes: Casserole Carrier // Cooler Bag
Fun Jewelry: Bracelet ideas: 1 / 2 / 3 | Necklace ideas: 1 / 2 / 3
Cosmetics: Ideas: Lip Scrub // Eye Palette // Smashbox Eye Palette // MAC Eye Palette // Urban Decay Eye Palette // NARS Blush + Bronzer Duo // Lip Scrub
Coffee Mugs & Tumblers: Ideas 1 /  2 
Scarves: Ideas 1 / 2 / 3 / 4
Candles: Rewined // Aquiesse // Volcano // Nest

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I accidentally volunteered to host a dinner party this weekend for 35+ people so I better go pick out a Christmas tree, decorate my house for Christmas, figure out what to cook, buy some booze, vacuum and hide all my clutter under beds and in closets. Oh, and maybe track down some folding chairs, ya know, because we still don't have any chairs for our dining room...

THANKFUL + SURPRISED

I've never been more thankful at Thanksgiving than this year. We spent another 5 days down in Florida and crammed so much into the trip...

First festive things first -- Thanksgiving! We flew home bright and early on Thanksgiving morning in our best athleisure and ready to party. Per usual, mom whipped up the most amazing Thanksgiving dinner feast for about 125 people (even though we only invited 17 people). Also noteworthy, this year Matt was delegated the most important task -- carving the turkey. Thomas supervised, only threatening to sacrifice a few fingers along the way.

Thanks to my friends at Fruit Bouquets we had one heck of a centerpiece too -- an adorable and festive fresh fruit bouquet. And there was only a brief argument over who got to eat the chocolate turkey head apple.

Friday morning we went on a family adventure to Santa's Tree Farm. Yes, even my sunshine state offers a cut your own Christmas tree experience. The kids had the very best time chasing goats, petting horses, wandering the jolly acres forest of trees and more. Caroline said her favorite part of the trip was the bag of kettle corn and Thomas said his least favorite part of the trip was definitely Santa.

 

 

Lucky for us, we got to knock out our 2017 Santa visit while we were there.

Caroline was a little bashful this year, but not enough to prevent her from asking for the Doc McStuffins Hospital Cart she's been obsessing over. I love Christmas. Every time she gets into trouble she'll give the most sincere apology and then ask us if we think Santa will still bring her cart. Maybe, Caroline. Or maybe you've walked past that cart 15 times in the garage already and still haven't noticed it.

Thomas was just...nope.

There were no amount of candy canes that would keep Thomas on Santa's lap for even a second.

Later that afternoon we decorated gingerbread houses which was fun for about 3 minutes before Thomas realized we wouldn't be eating the candy, but instead decorating with it. The temptation was too strong and he ended up eating it by the handful while Caroline screamed and bawled over him eating all of her house decorations.

Once the kiddos were sound asleep, Matt and I snuck out of the house for a drink at M Bar before meeting two of my girlfriends and their husbands for drinks at M Lounge. It was a super fun night.

Saturday morning mom and I "went Christmas shopping," aka we ran a bunch of errands (filled balloons, picked up cake, etc.) and then went to Uncle Nick's house to set up a surprise birthday party for dad! How freaking crazy that we got to celebrate dad's 60th birthday (technically 11/30, but still)?!?! All of us were just SO thankful and happy to celebrate him and he never saw it coming. He thought we were all headed to Uncle Nick's house for a BBQ...

SURPRISE!!!! Also, ALL THE PRAISE HANDS that dad was able to get out of his wheelchair and WALK into his surprise party? Blessings. Blessings. Blessings. There were 25+ party goers cheering loudly for him when he walked in.

Uncle Nick!!

My best friend since elementary school, Ashley, and my bestie since high school, Shannon, also came to the party to celebrate dad. Both of them have known and loved my dad for a very, very, very long time and he was SO happy to see them there.

Sunday morning we went to church where Thomas spilled communion juice all over himself (and me) and started screaming and crying for "juice" during the silent prayer. It was awesome and not embarrassing at all as I was frantically trying to remove him from the service as fast as possible. Afterwards we all went to lunch and then lounged around the rest of the day eating lots of leftover birthday cake.

On Monday we flew back home!

Ultimate Toddler Gift Guide

TA-DA! Toddler gift guide...just in time for Black Friday & Cyber Monday!

Favorite Toddler Toys (ages 2+)

A list of my kids' tried and true favorite (and most played with) toys! At first I was going to sort the list by girl and boy toys but both of my kids love both boy and girl toys so really any of these would work for any 2+ toddler!

$15 & Under

Baby Doll // Tool Set // VTech Laptop // Stroller // Doctor Kit

$25 & Under   

Toy Food // Cash Register //  Remote Control Car //  Dump Truck // Vacuum

Over $25

Magna-Tiles // Lincoln Logs 

Outdoor Toys

My favorite toys for the kids are the ones that I'm not going to trip over 30 times a day in the family room. If they can be played with outside it's a double win in my opinion -- keeps them out of my way and gets the kids outside! Here are some of our most favorite outdoor gifts that our kids looooooove to play with.  

$20 & Under

Bunch-o-Balloons // Scooteroo Bike // Donut Sidewalk Chalk Set // Bubble Machine // Bubble Mower // Tee Ball Set // Soccer Ball

$35 & Under

Water Table // Pop-Up TeePee Tunnel Set //  Slide // Basketball Set // Scooter

 Big Gifts

Playhouse // Bounce House // Balance Bike // Radio Flyer Wagon // Push Car // Ride-On Truck

Boooooooks!

My kids loooooooove books and even though we have piles and piles of them I am always looking for more! We own some of these books or check them out often from the library, and Santa is also bringing a few too.

Duncan the Story Dragon // Pete the Cat Books (any of them!) // Secret Pizza Party // Dragons Love Tacos // Lady Pancake & Sir French Toast // Princesses Wear Pants // Good Night Stories for Rebel Girls // Goodnight Goodnight Construction Site  // Frances the Badger (any of them!) // Have You Filled a Bucket Today? // The Day the Crayons Quit // Berenstain Bear Books (any of them!) // Where is My Truck? // Trashy Town // Spoon // I'm Dirty!

Looking for more meaningful gifts? Check out this post!

***And PLEASE do not forget to use ebates for all your online shopping this year!!! It's FREE cash back just for doing your shopping online! Sign up here if you need a referral.***