Little looks: pool side

Posted on May 22, 2017 by tomorrowstodos

As far as I’m concerned, there is nothing cuter than kid swimsuits. Seriously. I can barely stand it.

It is warming up around here and I’m (not so patiently) waiting to take a family trip to a splash pad or the local pool. Lake house season officially opens this weekend too!

The boys will be decked out – complete with their first matching swim trunks. #swoon I’ve talked about my love for this mint cactus pair before and I can’t wait to see my little chunky thighed babe in them!

Just in case you were in need of some new swim gear for your kiddos, I thought I would round up a few of my faves for you to check out. Plus, I’ve added in a few fun pool bag must haves as well!

LittleLooks_PoolSide2017one // two // three // four
five // six // seven // eight
nine // ten // eleven

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Friday faves

Posted on May 19, 2017 by tomorrowstodos

FunBooks[new goodies from Hachette Books: mom & me, hand lettering, stickers]

I had been debating on whether or not to take a trip back to my pre-teen years and snag a pair of Birkenstock sandals while they are still hot. My eyes were peeled, hoping to snag a deal on this classic rose gold pair. Then on a recent trip to Target (of course) I came across this budget-friendly version and knew they had to be mine. After one wear, I now never want to take them off.

You know what happens next Monday right? The Bachelorette starts and the trainwreck of dudes that will follow. It’s one of my guilty pleasures, but only because I love reading recaps from Lincee over at I Hate Green Beans and Ashley of Oh Jones… so much.

Since moving out to Adel over two years ago, we’ve just only started to branch out into our new community. With the boys not being school age yet, it’s kind of hard to get involved/meet new families, but we love to frequent the local establishments that make up our small town. I’ve told you about family-owned Harvey’s Greenhouse before, and I’m sure I have shared a photo or two on Instagram of a Fiesta margarita the size of my head. Here is another local joint that is doing everything right! #thinkadel

I’m a huge Yankees fan and truth be told, Derek Jeter was my first crush in grade school. So I pretty much bawled my eyes out while watching this amazing spot from Budweiser commemorating the retirement of his number (and my favorite number) 2.

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Interview with Ev // Spring 2017

Posted on May 17, 2017 by tomorrowstodos

Since this blog serves as a little time capsule for our family, I thought it would be fun to start an interview series with the boys. Well, mainly Everett just for now. All Fitz wants to say for the time being is dada [eye roll emoji alert].

Everett will be three and a half in June and this age is both trying and rewarding. We are definitely experiencing the full spectrum of toddler-hood in all its glory right now.

Interview_Everett3

What is your name? Everett Branstad

How old are you? Freeee (three)

When is your birthday? Four

How old is mommy? Five

What is your favorite color? Pink

What is your favorite food? Cheeseburger

Who is your best friend? (points at Fitz)

What is your favorite movie? Polar Express

What is your favorite song? Pete the Cat songs

What is your favorite animal? Dinosaurs

What are you scared of? The front door

What makes you happy? (points at Fitz again)

Where is your favorite place to go? To see garbage trucks

What do you want to be when you grow up? A garbage man

What is mommy’s favorite thing to do? Draw hearts (on the sidewalk)

What does love mean? I love my brother

 

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Download: Mother’s Day weekend 2017

Posted on May 15, 2017 by tomorrowstodos

My third Mother’s Day weekend (since formally joining the club) has commenced and with it came lots of memories…and photos.

We kicked off the weekend with dinner at my parents’ house on Friday where we celebrated both my mom and my dad, who celebrated his birthday last week. We enjoyed food from our favorite local Italian joint, Marino’s, and managed to save room for ice cream after. I guess the food + chaos must’ve been too much because I didn’t manage to capture any of it on film!

On Saturday morning, I got dressed up to attend what will be the last tea at Terrace Hill for my mother-in-law and our family. It is one of my favorite events every year, and while open to the public, attending in the future just won’t be the same.

I made sure to document as much of it as possible. MothersDay16MothersDay15MothersDay14MothersDay13MothersDay12MothersDay11MothersDay10MothersDay9
[quick break from the fun to feed this nugget #wristrolls]MothersDay8

After the tea was over, we stuck around and Everett and his cousins decided to help out the gardening team by watering the flowers. Well, that quickly evolved into a dip in the fountain out behind the house. MothersDay7
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Saturday afternoon, in between tea and Mass, I had a little downtime so I put on my favorite Dwell + Slumber gown and sipped a root beer while looking at a Pottery Barn catalog (who am I?!).MothersDay5
Mother’s Day morning started with a 5 a.m. wake up call thanks to Fitzie. He must not have gotten the memo. Everett followed around 7 a.m. while daddy whipped up a delicious breakfast, complete with a mimosa.MothersDay4MothersDay3

That morning, we spent time outside planting two new peony plants (my favorite!) and playing with the boys. MothersDay2MothersDay1My Mother’s Day concluded with a solo trip to Target, laying out poolside with my sister and a dinner with Marcus’ family.

I’m so incredibly blessed to be mom to my two boys and I can’t wait to celebrate that fact all over again next year. Until then, I’ll just be livin’ that mom life – wiping snot and using the phrase “please use nice touches”!

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Happy Mother’s Day

Posted on May 14, 2017 by tomorrowstodos

To all the moms out there, I salute you!

To the sweet babies pictured below,
thank you for giving me the greatest gift – being your mommy!

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Friday faves

Posted on May 12, 2017 by tomorrowstodos

Heirlooms[so I got a little overexcited with my label maker…]

I’m a sucker for a tumbler – just take a look in my cupboards. Eek! It’s as if Starbucks just knows my weakness and has decided to create a summer-ready collab with Ban.do that I’m going to have to avoid like the plague. Um, yes, I’ll have an iced latte and every drink receptacle in eye sight. K, thanks.

This is super nerdy, but I love paper. The texture, the weight, the smell – yep, all of it. So when I saw this video on Facebook this week, I just had to re-share it. It is insanely mesmerizing.

You know summer is right around the corner when you see all the bloggers start to post images with pool floats – particularly this swan. But you know me, I don’t want to follow suit too closely, so you can be sure that this floral Lilly Pulitzer-esqe version is on my list!

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Radio silence

Posted on May 11, 2017 by tomorrowstodos

When one of your kids get sick everything kind of gets off balance, right? I’m hopefully not the only one.

After an amazing weekend of spending the bulk of our time outdoors, I got a call from Everett’s teacher on Monday that he wasn’t feeling well. Fast forward to today, he is on the mend and hopefully will be back to school in the A.M. Marcus left for work travel this morning and I’m thinking to myself, “is it Friday yet?!”

So, since I’ve been running around with my head cut off this week, trying to focus on a sick kiddo and a busy week in the office, I’ve yet to share these darling photos with you. I couldn’t just let them sit on my phone any longer.

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[ride or die cousins]IMG_5988
[snack buddies]IMG_5989
[because mom’s need creative outlets too]IMG_5990
[obsessed with my custom cupcake toppers for my sister’s surprise party]IMG_5998
[I get emotional every time Ev brings this out to play because my grandpa made it]IMG_6005
[homeboy loves to be outside]IMG_6009
[up to no good]IMG_6018
[it’s peony season folks – my favorite time of year]IMG_6026[all smiles because the sickness is (hopefully) gone]

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Friday faves

Posted on May 5, 2017 by tomorrowstodos

IMG_5977
[oh you know, just live-streaming my father-in-laws confirmation hearing]

Brace yourselves boy moms. You might want to save reading this one until you are alone. I laughed, got misty, and, well, generally just nodded in agreeance.  Being a boy mom has brought me much more joy than I’d ever known possible.

My dad came out this week and helped plant our garden. This year we will be harvesting all sorts of veggies, including heirloom pumpkins! I stumbled upon this darling Pizza Grow Kit and think it would make the perfect spring hostess gift. Oh, and they also have a cocktail and salsa version!

If you are local to Des Moines and have children, you may have already checked out The Heritage Carousel in Union Park. If not, don’t worry. It’ll open back up for the season on May 20. As a bonus, you can enter your child/ren into the content to be one of the first riders this year. Crossing my fingers that Everett gets picked!

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Gift guide: Mother’s Day 2017

Posted on May 3, 2017 by tomorrowstodos

This will be my fourth official Mother’s Day and if there is one thing I know, it’s that sometimes you need to be up front with your significant other on what exactly it is that you want.

So in order to help each of you out, I’ve pulled together a pretty amazing list of mom-approved items that you can just forward on! I even own a few of these myself 🙂

GiftGuide_MothersDay2017
one // two // three // four
five // six // seven

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Fitz // nine months

Posted on May 2, 2017 by tomorrowstodos

Fitz_9months

Fitz’s faves:

chats and laughs with his brother in the backseat of the car
trying so very hard to crawl, but mostly rolling where he needs to go
squirming
saying dada (insert eye roll emoji here)

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