Happy Birthday Indeed!

Is anyone else dying over this Temperley London dress the Duchess of Cambridge wore last night?

It is absolutely stunning and I am quite jealous that she gets to wear it.

What a fabulous way to ring in the BIG 3-0! 

Hands Off

I must warn you.  This may be somewhat of an inappropriate post, but it must be stated so that other moms of boys do not feel alone.  There, I have given my disclaimer.

My Middle Man has now entered the "if I do not keep my hands on IT, it will fall off" stage.  I think we all know what "IT" is.  I cannot express into words how much I dislike watching my 4 year old walk around EVERYWHERE with his hands in his pants.  School, grocery store, park, home.  It doesn't matter.  If he is awake, there is a pretty good chance his hands are in his pants.  Yes, I tell him that he needs to take his hands out of his pants in public but it is apparently something he cannot control because within a few minutes he is grabbing for "IT" again.  I remember going through this with my Oldest and it seems that no matter who you are, if you have boys, it is inevitable that you will one day find your son infatuated with himself.  And if your son has not entered this stage yet, don't worry, he will.  I feel that it is perhaps like a perverse security blanket to them, providing safety and comfort in this unknown 4 year old world.  That, or they are just fascinated by this body part sticking out of them.  Who knows really what it is.  To all you psychologists out there, do not worry, I am following "the rules" and not telling him this is bad, but simply telling him that if he wants to continue to touch himself, he needs to go to his room.  But O.M.G!  It is just so incredibly awkward that I cross my fingers this phase ends soon as we can return to the "I am certain that IT is NOT going to fall off and therefore can keep my hands OUT" stage.  It cannot come fast enough.  

I know this is only the beginning of "boy issues" and I am not EVEN going to get started with having a teenager.  That is 100% my hubby's responsibility.

Pushing the Envelope

The clutch.  Such a standard "must have" in a closet isn't it?  I mean, who wants to carry their diaper bag large tote to a nice dinner or cocktail party?  I would actually love to use a simple clutch as an everyday purse but unfortunately my Costco wipes do not usually fit. 

There are so many styles of clutches but I have recently become obsessed with the envelope clutch.  I love the simple design and feel that it can so easily move from day (someday...) to night.  Here are some fabulous, not so typical, envelope clutches that have been catching my eye.  Obviously, I have a tendency towards sparkles, bright colors and tangerine (color of the 2012)!

Anya Hindmarch Valorie Glitter Clutch

Chloe Color-block leather envelope clutch

Givenchy Antigona Envelope Clutch

Marc by Marc Jacobs Zig Zag Long Clutch

JJ Winters Leather Croco Envelope Clutch

Cork

I have never once called myself a "crafty" person.  In fact, I am the person that pays someone else too much money to create something for me that I could probably very easily (and cheaply) do myself.  It has just never been in my nature.  What I do know how to do well is drink wine.  And that is what brought me to here.

We have SO many corks sitting around our house that it was beginning to get embarrassing.  We have filled HUGE vases and they were beginning to overflow.  I did not want to throw them out (that took a lot of drinking to get that many!) but needed to do something with them.  That is when I turned to Pinterest and came across this wine cork board.  It did not look too hard so I thought I would give it a try.  The results?  A perfect cork board to sit on my desk and hold business cards, notes or reminders.  I think it is pretty fabulous if I do say so myself.

Now don't get your hopes up.  There is a good chance you will not see anything crafty from me for a while.  At least not until our corks are overflowing again.

Up on a Roof Top

The Rose Parade is pretty fantastic.  It is even more fantastic when you have amazing friends who's father owns a building right on the parade route and you can sit on the roof and watch the floats go by without any crowds or camping out at 4am.  This was our second year of going and it was just as much fun as last year.  All three kids were fascinated by the different floats and you could not beat the 85 degree weather.  Gotta love California in January!

Can you guess where my husband and I went to college?  SLO Town.

Favorite of the boys?  The Power Rangers

My dear friend S, in the split second we had before returning to ensuring our children did not fall off the roof

You have to support the PAC 12

Anyone else dying over the HGTV 2012 Dream Home?

Here is the only family shot we got.  I would have preferred one on the roof like last year but you take what you get when you are dealing with three kids.  And no, that was not our tent in the background.  Thank gawd we did not have to sleep outside for our amazing spot!

Thank you Smalls for the invite!  Looking forward to it again next year!

(See how I have invited myself publicly and now they are obligated to extend the invitation as to avoid looking like terrible people?)

Issa's Kate

This Issa London Kate Silk Jersey Dress just screams "You should purchase me! I am beautiful!"  

Yes, Issa.  I absolutely agree with you.  

Can you convince my hubby?

Product Review: Hot Tot Hair Products

When I was asked by Hot Tot, the company behind a line of all natural, organic hair products for babies and children,  to do a product review, I quickly accepted.  Mostly because my oldest has the THICKEST, CURLIEST hair ever.  If it gets too long, just think Kramer.  It is incredibly hard to style and keep in place.  REALLY HARD.  Hot Tot told me they think they had just the products to help and sent me a few others to try out as well.  

Hot Tot Styling Gel

This was the product I was the most interested in trying.  I have used it on both my Oldest and Middle Man and tested how much it would take to get my Oldest's hair to listen.  Even though it is a medium hold gel, I thought it did a great job of holding their hair in place all day and did not look like I piled their hair with products.  I have also used this on Baby Girl to help her somewhat existent ponytails.  She has so many baby hairs that simply fly out as soon as I pull it back and this gel did a great job of keeping everything in place.

Hot Tot Structure Whip

This product is more creamy and thicker than the gel.  It was a bit too much for my Middle Man, who's hair is pretty thin, but it worked great on my Oldest.  With how much hair he has, it was extremely easy to work through and style without making it greasy or flat.  It held his hair in place all day, just like the gel.  For thick hair, this is the ideal product to go with but it does work best when hair is wet so I would stick with the gel for dry hair. 

Hot Tot Conditioning Detangler

Since none of my children have long hair yet, I decided to try this product out on myself.  I have used it for a number of days now and I have loved the results.  It sprays on easily, does a great job of detangling and leaves my hair extremely soft once it is dry.  If this product has the ability to make my adult hair feel great, I can only imagine how well it works on hair that has not been colored every 8 weeks for the past 10 years.

Overall, I really liked each product that I used.  The smell was that great baby scent and they each seemed to work really well on my children's hair.  The company prides themselves on using only extremely safe products so that your child can look great without harsh chemicals.  A win-win right?  I will definitely continue using these products on my children (oh yes, and myself).

To order Hot Tot products, visit their website here or find a local retailer near you here.

Disclaimer: I did receive products from Hot Tot for review purposes but all opinions stated are 100% my own.  No compensation was delivered for this review.