*affiliate links used

*picture taken by El :)

My baby boy turned 10 Monday!  So we threw a huge party for him!  The invite list was crazy!  So many people we couldn’t fit them all in the house.  So we sent them all home and decided to just invite his mom and dad and sisters.  And Peaches.  Our pet lizard.  Because who needs party guests when you can invite a lizard? ;)

I heard from so many of you after sharing Kole’s birthday on IG that you remember when he was born!  Some of you have been with me for the long haul and have been reading for years.  10 years for some of you and you remember pics like this one.

And this one.

And a personal favorite.  This one. :)  This is what happens when you are raised by 3 girls!

It honestly means the world to me that many of you have been with me so long.  Once you’ve been reading for over a year consider yourself family.  I’ll invite you all to Kole’s next birthday party!

Unless we’re all still quarantined.

Which is why his guest of honor this year was Addison’s lizard.  Ha. ;)

I snapped this with my phone the morning of his birthday right after his 4th grade class sang happy birthday to him on zoom.  So sweet of them!  He is living his best life going to school every day in his beloved robe.  He begged me to not make him shower and do his hair the morning of his birthday and I thought.. why not?  Live it up buddy!  We threw on a hat and his first day of being a 10 year old was off to a great start.  :)

{distressed Arabesque wool rug}

Of course after that I had to get a little creative since we couldn’t throw a fun party with friends for him like we did last year.  We got to work decorating our table and Kenny made a cake.

Ad wrote the sweetest poster – 10 things she loves about Kole.  Number 4, 5 and 9 are my personal favorites. “You are one of the best dancers I know – moves like Jagger!” (Kole’s favorite song).  “You have style!  I love your blue hair and robe!”  (ha!)  and “You are the best godfather to Peaches.”

Then I scoured Pinterest to find a fun gift for him.  He is at that age that is a little tricky.  Growing out of toys but not really into teen things yet.  He loves food so I had considered getting several gift cards to food places and then I found this darling gift idea and they have the printable and everything!  (Thanks girls!)  I bought gift cards to all of his favorite places and just attached them with colorful clothespins I had at the house.  Such a simple and fun idea and Kole loved it!

Then we played a fun game.  I wanted to share it here because my kids had so much fun playing this.  It would be fun for a Friday night family tradition during this quarantine when we are all home together so much more.  You buy a lot of candy (like I said.. kids love this) and every item is different.  This is what I bought because this is the stuff my kids love.  There was a Recess too but that was eaten before I could take this pic. ;) Then you need 2 dice.

You all sit in a circle with the candy in the middle and set a timer for 5 minutes (we used my phone).  The first person rolls the dice and if you get doubles OR your two dice add up to 7 (so a 5 and a 2 or a 3 and a 4, etc.) you get to take one of the treats.  If you don’t get doubles or 7 total you just pass the dice to the next person.

Now.. the fun part!  You can choose an item from the middle of the pile OR you can steal something from someone else!  That’s what makes the game so fun.  You are moving fast (only 5 minutes to get as much candy as you can) and everyone is stealing candy from each other.  Kole and Ellie kept taking the Recess from each other.  Ad and I were fighting over the gummy bears.  Kenny was loving it because nobody wanted the candy he kept choosing.  We all got laughing so hard.  When the timer goes off you get to keep whatever you have!  We ended up putting all the candy back in the middle and playing it a few times just because it was so fun.  If you try playing it with your family let me know!  Also feel free to share any other fun game suggestions in the comments.  I know we can all use ideas like this right now with kids home!

After our game we ate dinner (Kole’s favorite) and then sat down on the couch for Ellie’s gift.  She spent the last two weeks working on a slideshow with pictures and videos of Kole growing up.  We played it on our big TV and by the end of it I was in tears and we were all laughing (lots of it was clips of him dancing.. he is always cracking us up with his dance moves!).  Seriously the sweetest gift ever.  I’ve watched it over 10 times!  My kids are so funny.  They always judge their gifts by “if we can make mom cry.”  Apparently it doesn’t take much so if I don’t cry, their gift is a bust.  Ha.  You could say that Ellie knocked this one out of the park. :)

We had the best night celebrating our sweet 10 year old boy and while I know it was hard for him not having a traditional party with all of his friends, he was such a good sport and told me later that he loved his birthday party and could I please put his gift cards somewhere safe so that the sisters don’t get them.  I always have to suppress a laugh when he refers to them as “the sisters.”

Love that boy of mine. :)

{bathroom rugs}

Ok.. TOTALLY switching gears.  Because why not?  We are living in a time where clearly anything goes so I’m rolling with it. ;)  I’ve been organizing up a storm (as you all know) and am finally ready to share my bathroom drawers with you all.. but first!  A quick clean out of under my bathroom sink.  I tackled this space early this year and shared it on IG stories but never got around to posting it here.  Things were such a hot mess in this cupboard.

{details on all of my bathroom rugs and lots of fun options in this post}

I pulled everything out on my large rug and made three piles – KEEP, TRASH, GIVE TO MY GIRLS.

Before long I was making major progress.

Then much quicker than I thought I was done!  This was all trash to recycle!  Products that were gone or packaging I just hadn’t tossed.

And the AFTER!  SO much better right!?  I gave my girls some products I knew I’d never use (they love trying new things) and then after scrubbing out my cupboard I put back all of my tried and true go-to’s.  This honestly only took 20 minutes and I couldn’t believe I had put it off for so long!  Just getting started is always the hardest part isn’t it?

This Divided Lazy Susan has been a game changer in this cupboard!  It holds products I use often but can’t fit in my drawer where I keep most of my every day stuff.  I love how easy it is to turn and easily grab what I need!  *A few favorites – Cetaphil lotion, Enjoy hair straightener (LONG time favorite), My Amazing Blow Dry Secret dry shampoo, Lavende foaming bubble bath – sometimes essential oil smells are too much for me but this one I like.  Really relaxing and I love the bubbles!  I also love Amazing Grace bubble bath/shower gel – it was in my shower when I took this pic!  Tula Cleanser (also if you don’t have their brightening eye balm..ah!  You have to try it!  LOVE it.)

Of course I also love all things MOROCCANOIL (especially their Hydrating shampoo and conditioner and their main oil to smooth out my hair after it’s done!)  This set is a great deal right now if you want to try out the hydrating shampoo/conditioner and it comes with a travel size oil.

While everyone else is stocking up on toilet paper I’m stocking up on my MOROCCANOIL hair products!  Ha.  #truestory

Feels so good to have that messy cupboard nice and clean!  I know I’ll keep it that way now.  Once I’ve really organized something I work hard to put things back where they go.  When I have no system set up all bets are off and things get messy quickly.  Anyone else like that?  I’ll be back soon to share the rest of these drawers!

Take care everyone.  Stay healthy and safe!  I’m heading out on our evening family walk.  Something I look forward to every day.

:)

{POST SOURCES}