Seven Questions

This may sound cheesy but it's after-dinner walks.  Right now it's SO HOT and, honestly, it never really cools off.  My favorite Fall tradition is finishing up dinner, putting on a sweatshirt and walking around the neighborhood as a family.  I love the laundry smell in the air (you know what I mean, right?), walking with a fresh cup of tea, the boys tossing a football back and forth, all of it.  The SECOND it cools off we'll be out there!

My biggest suggestion would be giving them opportunities to be independent and (this is a hard one, moms!) letting them fail.  I know we all want to rush in and rescue them when they forget the spelling packet or don't want to study for the math test BUT letting them take ownership of things AND face the natural consequence when they mess up (because we know they will) is how/when they learn.  This is how they learn to balance their impulsiveness with forethought and will serve them well in middle school and beyond. 

I love Kari Kampakis SO MUCH and she is so full of wisdom in regard to raising kids - if you have a middle schooler or are about to have a middle schooler this article is a must read.

My biggest suggestion is to invest in a great denim jacket you love (this one is my favorite) and then all your favorite summer dresses can carry you through to Fall.  This is a great time to pick up summer Free People on sale and layer them up and you're good to go!  I'm also a big fan of Pink Chicken and while their dresses can be pricey you can catch them on sale as well.  The indira dress is my go-to-style.  

I'll link a BUNCH of my faves below...

THIS IS A GOOD ONE!!!  When my kids were younger I would teach all day, have to pack up my stuff and rush to the sitter and, honestly, I would drive around with a movie on and just breathe. hahaha. Sometimes I would even go as far as to swing through the country club and get a fountain diet coke and housemade potato chips.  When Dave worked in food service it was A LOT because he often worked dinner service and I was solo from 3:45 kid pickup until well after everyone went to bed (God bless my parents who helped often).  

Now, my kids are all older and A LOT less "needy" when we get home.  Honestly, they're pretty wiped out too so I'll often let them have some screen time after lunchboxes are unloaded, the dogs are washed,  clothes are put in the washer, etc.  While they play xbox or watch a show I'll read, sit and scroll my phone, just SIT, walk on the treadmill, etc.  Thirty minutes and we're all better humans and ready to interact and I have my patience back ;) 

I think just giving myself permission to know that I wasn't a bad mom for letting them watch a movie or play on an ipad or for needing a few minutes of quiet was the biggest thing I did.

You can kind of see it in the photo below but it's a Molly Hatch trinket dish from Anthropologie forever ago.

I feel like this is a loaded question considering that Dave and I started dating when I was 15 and he was 16 - hahaha. Can I say, "do as I say and not as I do"??? :) 

Our advice to Luke has always been and will continue to be to pursue friendships.  There are so many perks to being at a small school but I do think that one of the downsides is the fallout from a relationship breakup... not to say that can't happen in bigger schools but when your entire high school is under 250 people there can be a lot of drama and not a lot of places to get away from it, you know? 

Y'all know I've had to eat my words SEVERAL times on here (no mini van, no third baby, no dogs, to name a few) so I may be back here in a couple of years absolutely rolling my eyes at myself BUT I still think that even if that's the case we'd still be encouraging our kids to focus on friendships (and lots of them).

I kind of feel like this is when non-teacher-influencers share their "teacher outfits" considering I didn't buy Griffin a single piece of clothing for "back to school" since her uniform from last year still fit, but I absolutely love shopping for girls clothes and can share some of my Fall faves and y'all can take it from there. 

HAPPY Thursday, friends!!!