Styled by Jess

Back to School with TOMS

We love TOMS in this house, I’ve blogged about them for years and my Z has a new pair every time her feet grow, or so it seems. Not only are they stylish, but they’re comfy, AND you can feel good about buying them with TOMS one for one program. I’m excited to share with you today that TOMS is offering 15% off footwear and eyewear at TOMS.com with code SEPTEMBER at checkout! Valid 8/26 through 9/1. And you guys – current styles of TOMS never go on sale, so you should jump on this! Here’s a few of my faves for everyone in our family, even though technically only Z is going back to school this Fall…

For my husband

For me

For Z

and a pair of Tiny TOMS for Baby M!

15% off footwear and eyewear at TOMS.com with code SEPTEMBER at checkout! Valid 8/26 through 9/1.

*Links in this post are affiliate links where I could make a small commission on purchases made – thanks for supporting the brands that support Styled by Jess. As always, all opinions are my own, we’ve been wearing TOMS for years and love ’em!

The Story of This Week

I have been a bit absent from social media this week with the exception of a couple pre-scheduled posts. Why? I’ve been debating all week if I bring it up here and in the end I decided to because, well, what happened was awful and majorly traumatic and I would feel weird going about business as usual and not mentioning anything. On Monday evening I had an accident and fell down our outside concrete stairs landing on my head in the driveway – all while I was holding my sweet baby M. I’ll preface the entire story by telling you we are both now ok. Great even.

We were all headed outside at the same time to eat dinner on our back deck as we’ve done most nights this summer when at home. The way our home is set up, to get outside to the deck you walk out the kitchen door through a screen door that opens on the left, close it, and walk right to get to the back of the house. I don’t even remember, but as I moved aside to let the door close – we fell. Down the stairs landing on the driveway. My husband said I didn’t even use my hands to break the fall because I was holding M and thank God I didn’t!

The next thing I knew I looked up and saw sheer horror on my husband’s face and blood staining the burp cloth I was holding. My husband picked up M and continued feeding him (I was feeding him as we walked outside) to help calm him down and a kind neighbor heard my screams, came running, realized I was the only one bleeding and rushed me to the ER. My husband followed soon-after with both kids and M and I were treated at the hospital.

I’m going to jump to the end of the story and tell you today we are both fine. We’ve seen many doctors, had many (especially M) exams, and our wounds will heal with no complications. No brain injuries. I have stitches in my head and my sweet baby has a small skull fracture. I have a lot of painful cuts and scrapes but thankfully M came out without a scratch.

It’s been a terrifying week. Not only were M and I physically hurt but my husband witnessed the accident and I can’t even imagine how scary that was for him. We think our Z had already turned the corner so she didn’t see it happen but saw the aftermath and was terrified. We talk about it any time she wants and constantly assure her we’re both ok.

So that was our week, thanks for letting me share. The photo above was taken the day after the accident – baby M all smiles as usual! And yes, the screen door was removed the very next day after the accident.

If I know you personally and this is the first you’re hearing of this, I’m sorry – we haven’t had the chance to tell everyone!

Fall Craft Classes

I am so excited to share with you the schedule of my crafting classes this fall! This term I’m doing a 3-class series called Handmade Tuesdays with Jess. Click here to sign up for all 3 classes and save! Below you can read the catalog description of each class and click through to sign up for individual classes. All classes are taught at Arlington High School in Arlington, MA. Can’t wait to see you in class!

Tuesday, October 14, 7-9pm Decoupage Frame

Decoupage—from the French word découper, meaning to cut out— is a fun and easy way to decorate just about any object. The process entails pasting varied shapes of paper to an object and then covering them with several coats of lacquer. The result is depth and patterns that look as though they are actually painted on the decoupaged object. Together we will create a picture frame (approximately 4×6-inches) using a selection of colored papers. Once you learn this fun and easy way to decorate just about any object, you won’t be able to stop. Get a head start on your handmade holiday gifts! A $12 materials fee is payable to instructor at class.

Tuesday, October 21, 7-9pm Handmade Cards

In May, one of Jess’s handmade cards appeared in Martha Stewart Living magazine, so we are not fooling around when we say that she is a local gem. Come join her for an evening of handmade fun. In time for the holidays, learn to create cards that express your creativity by using rubber stamps, embossing powder, paper punches and more. Once you learn how simple and pleasurable it is to make your own cards, you’ll never again settle for store-bought. We will make at least two cards each. A $10 materials fee is payable to instructor at class.

homemade-gift-tags-6

Tuesday, October 28, 7-9pm Gift Tags & Gift Wrap

You spend so much time and energy finding just the right gifts for the holiday season, it’s only right to wrap them in something equally personal. You’ll be delighted with how fun, easy and satisfying it is to make your own gift wrap and gift tags. We will focus on holiday-themed paper and tags, but once you learn the process, you’ll be able to continue the fun at home for any occasion. A $10 materials fee is payable to instructor at class.

Z Style – Back to School

I can’t believe in less than 3 weeks my little Z will start going to Nursery School. SCHOOL. Anything with that word in it sounds so grown-up! She is more than excited and I often hear her trying to tell whoever will listen “I go school!” She asks me to read “The Night Before Preschool” multiple times a day. And she is officially obsessed with her teeny tiny backpack. I decided to order a Swankaroo backpack since they are made for kids under 5 years old – she’s so small and anything we found in stores just made it look like she’d tip over. Anyway, the big first day is all the talk around here so I thought I’d pull together and share with you what she’ll be wearing for her first day of nursery school.

Chambray shirt – babyGAP (similar, similar girly version)/ Skirt – Target / Shoes – Livie & Luca / Socks – Amazon / Backpack – Swankaroo

Couple Things…

The most interesting restaurant in #newportri right now: The Revolving Door where they have a house chef (consistent menu) and a chef of the month who brings their own menu in. We’ve had our worst and best meal of the summer there! It really depends on who the chef of the moment is… I’m showing you this past weekend’s meal that was DELISH!

Speaking of going out to eat, we bring this bag of princesses out to eat with us every time to keep our Z entertained, we call them “the girls.”

Always on her “phone” in the car.

We made another batch of homemade pickles.

This guy is smiling, laughing, and cooing non-stop – the best!

I took the kids to The Butterfly Place in Westford, MA on Thursday to soften the blow of daddy’s first day back to work. Z loved it, M slept, and the butterflies (especially the giant ones) gave me the heebie jeebies.

Have a great weekend!

Handmade Baby Announcements

Every time I mention making the birth announcements for my babies, people think I’m nuts. And, well, maybe I am a little but I can promise it’s not as laborious as you would think. The main trick is to make most of the card while you’re still pregnant, you can do everything but take the photo of your baby and write up his stats ahead of time – even address your envelopes! Here’s how Baby M’s announcements came together, and yes – I used the same color scheme as his nursery:

I stamped my message and then used embossing powder on it to give it a textured feel.

Once those were dry I cut each one out with a scalloped edge scissor.

Then I used the top of a giant pencil to stamp polka dots on the blank card.

After M’s arrival, we had a little photo shoot and ordered prints. I then placed a photo on each card using photo squares. Then used tape to adhere the “Welcome Baby” message. We included a photo of Z and M on the inside along with his baby stats.

And I had to add a little baby stamp to each envelope as a special touch.

All Good Things Must Come to an End…

So today is the day – the last day of the Summer of Us, my husband goes back to work tomorrow. We have had the best. summer. ever. Can imagine the luxury of 10 weeks off together as a family? And to start our sweet baby M’s life with such a bang? It’s been truly wonderful. You can click through all of the Summer of Us posts but I also wanted to share a few fun days that I just honestly ran out of time to make posts for…

2 separate rides on the carousel where my husband and I got married in Newport, RI…

…and a trip to the aquarium at the same beach. After a major Z meltdown we had fun (although the shark touch tank was a little scary as seen here).

A day at the Franklin Park Zoo.

summer-of-us-5

Outdoor concerts and picnics (where we made Deviled Eggs and a Quinoa and Edamame Salad).

A ride on the swan boats in Boston.

Lots of playground time.

Local long weekends.

Countless beach days.

and best of all – non-stop sister/brother bonding, she loves to help him with tummy time.

This summer was fun, it was stressful, and boy was it tiring (especially for me, our M still gets me up twice a night to eat!) but I wouldn’t change a minute of it. And thankfully we have about 5,000 photos to remember it by! I hope your summer was as kickass as ours!

Toddler Nutrition

I would say our Z eats pretty well. But there are certainly times when it seems as though she on a hunger strike and will only want “friiiies” or “noodlz,” and well, those foods certainly aren’t nutritious. When the folks at HappyFamily asked if we’d like to try their new Super Nutrition Shakes for toddlers, I jumped at the chance, you know what big fans of HappyFamily we are already!

The shakes come in yummy flavors – chocolate and vanilla so your toddler will be sure to love them. We tried them for breakfast…

…and part of lunch (along with hummus & pita and pickles). Each shake has 8g of protein and 21 vitamins and minerals so you KNOW she is being nourished well. Let me know if you try them and how much YOUR toddler loves them!

*Disclaimer: This post is sponsored by HappyFamily, however all above opinions and thoughts are my very own.

Couple Things…

Uch, this week… It wasn’t a bad week, just one of those weeks where we were just over-scheduled and too busy. We had some last minute house guests, nights out, and now my hubby is gone for the entire weekend, wish me luck! I’ve been up since 4:30 today between feeding baby M, my husband getting up at 5 to catch his flight, and Z getting up at 6 for the day. Did they all plan this as a cruel joke?

Anyway, I went through my phone last night to pull my Friday post together and there weren’t too many pics to choose from. But I did find a series of about 30 Z selfies which is always a fun surprise so I thought I’d share one with you today.

Have a great weekend – cross your fingers for me that I get more sleep than last night!!

KidNosh

If you read this blog, you must know how much we enjoy food in this house. We cook a lot – trying new recipes weekly, if not even more frequent than that. What I don’t share all that often is how much we enjoy dining out, too! We are always on the hunt for a great, new restaurant – in fact my husband follows the blog Boston Restaurant Talk to always be in the know of what’s new, what’s closed, and what’s coming soon. We have an active list of new places we want to try and of course a never ending list of local faves we love to visit often.

A recent trip to Parish Cafe (Z’s meal and milk not pictured)

And yes, before you ask – we love to take our babies out with us! I remember the first place we took our Z was when she was a month old and we were dying to go out. We strapped her in her bucket car-seat, went at night when we knew she’d be asleep, and had a lovely dinner at (the now closed) Chez Henri in Cambridge. We’ve been taking her out with us ever since and of course Baby M has been dining out since he was 2 weeks old, ha!

Tavern on the Square in Burlington, we love to dine outside!

I will say though, especially now that we have a wild toddler, it’s tricky to always figure out a good place to go out as a family and have everyone be happy. Enter KidNosh. An awesome website that reviews restaurants so you know the best places to dine out with your kids – they do the tough part for you! You can search for restaurants by neighborhood, price range, or cuisine. It’s SUCH a great idea.

Ruyi in Lexington for hibachi! Z covered her eyes for the onion volcano…

I am so excited to share with you today that I have joined the team at KidNosh and will be reviewing restaurants for the site. You can imagine how exciting this is, I of course already have a short list of places to review. I’ll be sharing links to my reviews as they come up but in the meantime, check out the site and do some research as to where to bring your kiddos out to dinner next!