I forgot about you: Hello Terrible Twos...

How could I have forgotten about the oh-so-wonderful time in a child's life appropriately called the "Terrible Twos".  Not too unexpectedly, my 20-month-old has decided that he is ready for this stage of life, much to mommy's dismay.  I forgot how exhausting this stage is...

Here is how we spent today...

Karson decided he needed a little sugar...on the end table???  Quite proud of himself, isn't he...

Then we decided we needed a bit more sugar and helped ourselves to Big Sissy's HOT PINK Birthday cake.  I think he knew he was in trouble at this point. 

But it's kind of hard to stay mad when he gives me these smiles. 

Holiday Tea Yumminess!

I love having a warm cup of tea in the afternoon or before I go to bed and I am always looking for a new delicious tea.  A couple of weeks ago I had a craving for pumpkin tea but I couldn't find it in any of my local stores, though I know it exists.  Yesterday, I was doing my grocery shopping for Gracie's Birthday Party and I happened across these delicious looking flavors:

They also had a place on the shelf for these flavors, but either they were out of stock of hadn't arrived yet.  I am anxious to try them as well!!

Do you have a favorite winter tea?  

Happy Halloween

Darling Husband and I look forward to Halloween all year because we get to eat all the candy that our littles forget about by November 2nd!

Here are my spooky creatures at their school Halloween Party, which was a very important day in my "Mommy Book"...I actually got to attend and help with their parties this year!!

We have a Candy Corn Fairy on the left and Harry Potter on the right.  

Karson is in the middle keeping everything under control :)

I hope everyone has a happy (and safe) day!  

How the times have changed...

Call me old-fashioned, but I still appreciate the days of books where you actually had to turn the pages. 

But who needs those, when we can read books on daddy's iPhone?  

It's the little things...

that make life such a blessing.  My little princess (aka: my Gracie Belle) turns 6 years old today!  To celebrate her birthday and my mom's October birthday earlier in the month, we had a girl's day out and went for pedicures.  Gracie loved every second of our Girl's Day.   And of course, being the birthday girl, got a mani and a pedi :)

Happy Birthday Gracie!  Thank you for blessing our lives for the past 6 years. 

Quality not Quantity

So I have come to the time in my life where less is more.  I am a stay-at-home mom, so I no longer need an extensive wardrobe of dress pants and cardigans, yet I still like to look nice.  After cleaning out Darling Husband and I's closet this summer and then beginning the daunting task of selling the kids' outgrown clothes on ebay..I came to the realization that we have too. much. crap. 

With that, I decided that I will begin buying a few classic pieces each season, knowing that may cost more, but will also hold up much better for longer.  I am really going to try to stop buying too much at places like Forever 21 as they don't seem to last much longer than a season in most cases.  Not only will I wear my clothes more often because I will have less, but I won't have to return nearly as much.  Those of you that know me know how I love to shop online but end up returning half of what I buy due to it fitting wrong or looking different, blah, blah, blah...  Well, I am happy to let you know that those times are no more.  I will still continue to browse online (duh!), but will actually wait until I can try on and purchase items in-store. 

Without further ado, these are the few pieces that I hope to add to my wardrobe this fall/winter:

Burberry Wallet

Frye Paige black riding boots

BB Dakota "Janika" Faux fur Vest from Revolve

A few cozy sweaters in fall colors:

J. Crew

Ann Taylor Loft

Ann Taylor Loft

Express Camel Tiered Wool Coat

So, what is on your fall wishlist?

Weekly Product Review: Sonia Kashuk Blending Sponge

I know I just did another Sonia Kashuk review last week, but I can't not tell you guys about this cool little sponge thingy.  It is called the blending sponge and is made by Sonia Kashuk, which to my knowledge can only be purchased at Target.  Let me just tell you that you. need. this!

It is a knockoff of a more expensive sponge called the Beauty Blender.  I have not tried the actual Beauty Blender but I see no need to as this works perfectly for me. 

Now many of you are probably asking, 'What is wrong with using my finger or my makeup sponge that comes in a pack of 8 for like $1'?  Well, nothing is wrong with that as that is what I have done as well.  I have 2-3 foundation brushes that I bought because of the hype and yeah, they are fine, but I always just go back to using my fingers to apply foundation.  Well, friends, I think that time of my life is done.  This magnificent little beauty tool is my new best friend. 

So, this is what you do: You put the little "thingy" under running water and then squeeze it out a bit so it is damp.  Then you put a pump of foundation (I use NARS Sheer Glow) on your sponge and dab it around your face.  There is no rubbing, no tugging, no fierce blending that makes your face look like you just spent hours on the beach.  You just lightly dab around your face and this beautiful little tool does the blending work for you.  You are left with a soft, natural look instead of a caked on "my face doesn't match my neck" look.   You may be wondering, like I was, why it has such an odd shape.  Well, let me just tell you...the small end is for concealer!  I LOVE a 2-in-1 beauty tool!  So once your foundation is on and perfect, you turn it around and repeat the steps to put your concealer on.  And again, you are left with a soft natural finish!

This is one of my favorite new things in my makeup regime and I am sad to admit that I have looked at this thing at least a hundred times at Target and passed right on by thinking to myself "I feel sorry for the sucker that spends $10 on a sponge thingy when they can go two aisles down and buy a pack of 8 for $1".  Don't I feel like a fool.  So anyway, I have eaten my words and I am loving this!