back to school eve + kindergarten

Back to school eve is one of my favorite traditions. I love letting my girlies pick a special dinner (whatever they want!) and have a night devoted to them, to talk about the upcoming school year - what they're excited for, what they might be nervous about, etc. It's just a really wonderful family time.  This year Leila's request was breakfast for dinner, more specifically waffles with sprinkles and chocolate milk in a fancy glass.

She put on a fancy dress, wore her crown made by Erin and we had our special dinner.

We talked about things to remember everyday:

And Leila told us what she was most excited for this upcoming school year - walking to school everyday, and art!

The next morning came way too quickly. She'd already had her outfit laid out, and was awake (and excited!) before her alarm even went off.  I had to snap some obligatory first day of school pics, in front of the fence:

Coco insisted on matching her sister, and wearing her backpack too.

 In front of her classroom.

Showing off her (backwards) lunchbox.

And lining up to go to class.

Leila absolutely adores kindergarten! I can't believe we'll be having another back to school eve dinner for Coco in just a few weeks!

Back to School Ice Cream Social + a giveaway!

On Tuesday we had a sweet and simple back to school ice cream social for Leila and a couple of her best friends. I bought tons of cute things to decorate with, and "pinned" lots of ideas, but with all that's been going on there was just no way I could pull a party together, so a few days before we decided to move it to a local ice cream parlor.

I'm so glad we did. Look at all the options the girls had to choose from!

The insanely talented Heather of River and Bridge custom-designed the perfect invitation for the event:

Crazy adorable, right?? Heather does beautiful work (I'm obsessed with her macaron notecards, which I've mentioned before, but seriously - they're amazing.)  Anyways, the above invitations fit the ice cream parlor we were at just perfectly - the pink stripes, and the chairs were almost identical!

The three girls were so excited to be reunited one last time before school started, and gave me their best supermodel faces:

.....before digging into their sundaes!  I ordered them kid-sized sundaes, but Tony switched the order to full-sized sundaes, which got him lots of cheers from the girls. The guys always get to be the fun ones!

Of course Coco had to get in on the yumminess!

I put together a super simple favor for each girl - ice cream-scented (and shaped) bubbles from Target and mint chip flavored ice cream. Heather from River and Bridge designed a little gift tag to perfectly coordinate:

We had so much fun, and loved watching the girls chit chat about five-year-old things! I can't believe they'll all be in kindergarten!!

Now, onto a fun giveaway!! Heather Myers is offering one lucky winner $25 to River and Bridge to use on any of her beautiful creations!! Plus she is generously offering everyone 20% off their entire purchase with code GLITTER (enter at checkout)  To enter, just use the rafflecopter below: a Rafflecopter giveaway

School Nook: Inspired by Cost Plus's Kingdom Animalia Collection

You guys - my baby big girl starts KINDERGARTEN in less than three weeks and I am so sad about it!! She is my sidekick and I'm going to miss that girl to pieces. Fortunately her school is right across the street, so I'm going to have to figure out when the kindergarten recess is, and happen to be taking the dogs for a walk everyday at that exact time.

Even though I'm sad, Leila is stoked. She can't contain her excitement, and has been talking about a new backpack all. summer. long. We finally got her amazing, glittery backpack but then Leila had a new concern - where are we going to put it when she's home from school?!?!? Um - I don't know, in your room? Was my response, but Leila decided it needed it's own dedicated spot. So, off to Pinterest I went! I found THIS image and loved it, especially since there's a fairly wide open spot on one of our walls. I headed to Cost Plus and found the perfect frames!! (The entire Kingdom Animalia Collection is gorgeous - lots of rustic wood pieces, faux animal busts, vintage-inspired globes and tons more!)

Here are some of my favorites from the new collection:

I bought the frames in the 11 x 14 size and lined the wooden backing with cork. Inspired by the Kingdom Animalia "TRAVEL" art I mod podged an "L" for Leila and a "G" for Gianna with California maps.

I love that each girl has her own "information station" that we can pin birthday party invitations, school info, etc. to - so helpful to have it all in one place!

I then hung the frames and some hooks up on the wall and our school nook was born.

See that cute chalkboard arrow?? Another fun find from the Kingdom Animalia collection, and only $12.99!

I also picked up a few new throw pillows to change up the living room decor just a bit:

Want to hear something exciting? Cost Plus World Market is giving away an amazing safari for two - make sure to enter the  African Safari Sweepstakes online!  Seriously, how amazing would it be to win that???

 

The Grand Prize package includes:

• A trip for two to Africa (5 day Trip for 2 to Africa- includes airfare, accommodations and excursions)
• A $1,000 World Market gift card

Three First Prize winners will receive:

A $500 World Market gift card!!

The World Market African Safari Sweepstakes runs from  July 14 to August 17, so enter today!  Be sure to share the sweepstakes with 5 of your friends (via Facebook share or email) so you can receive FIVE additional bonus entries!!!  You’ll see those options as part of the registration process when you enter the contest. You can enter daily for more chances to win. Good luck!

For more information on Cost Plus World Market, visit World Market online. Follow World Market on Twitter and Facebook for the newest information and updates on products and sales! You can also see the Kingdom Animalia eCatalog online too!

This shop has been compensated by Cost Plus World Market and Pollinate Media Group, but all my opinions are my own.