Date Night Idea: Date Night In With Kids

Have you, like me, always dreamed of a romantic date night in...you know the kind you see on the movies?

Dim lighting. A nice dinner. Wine. Maybe even a little stargazing....well, I was FINALLY able to get it....kinda.

My husband and I planned a little romantic night while we were in Joshua Tree staying at an airbnb with our 2 littles.

The PLAN was to get the kids fed, bathed then off to be and we would sit out on the beautifully and romantically decorated porch with a glass of wine talking about how the heck we made it to 8 years of marriage and our plans for the next 80! <3

We had our outfits all planned and wine chilled...but if you have kids, you KNOW nothing EVER goes as planned. Ever.

Our girls REFUSED to go to bed. they wanted to watch us from the windows :/

So we let them....Enjoy our pictures from the Date night That Never Was...

CAN YOU SPOT THE 6 YEAR OLD THAT WOULD'NT GO TO BED?

If you have better behaved kids than me and want to have a date night in, I recommend:

• Get dolled up! When you look good, you feel good. I got this romper from PrettyLittleThing.

• A nice cooked dinner (I did Lobster Tails, Rice Pilaf, and spinach)

• Wine (We love Port Wines)

• Some nice comfy chairs

• A neon sign is ALWAYS a good look

Family Photoshoot Idea: A Western Desert Dream

If you read my Things to Do in Joshua Tree with Kids post, then you know that for our 8 year anniversary, Greg and I took the kids to an amazing airbnb (Villa Suenos) in Joshua Tree for the week...and while we were there, I hit up our amazing photographer, Leah, to get some flicks of the family.

I was (again) stressed about styling everyone but the aesthetic of airbnb were toooo good to not lean on - so we were able to get some incredible shots! Enjoy!

Western/Desert Dream

My Look

• white baby doll dress from Pretty Little Thing

• Cowboy boots I got from Amazon.

McKinley's Look

McKinley's entire look came from Carter's!

• brown and white polka dot dress for both girls (because I love to match them) but on the day of, I had a change of heart...but the dress is really cute. Kin's boots also came from there.

Makyah's Look

• White Linen Romper from Amazon

• Moccasin soft bottom boots from Amazon

Greg's Look

Chile...ask him *face palm*

5 Lessons from a Family Photoshoot

Our first family photoshoot as a family of 4 (insert GASPING face emoji) and I stressed out for WEEKS about what we were going to wear! It was obvious that the summer was all about Orange & Pink but how would I dress myself, 2 kids + a husband in those colors?

SHEIN and Express, thats how!

First things first -- I've learned over the years that I HAVE to find my outfit before I can shop for anyone else in the family, it also helps me (really) settle on the colors/themes, so when I found this amazing pink/orange dress on SheIn website, I KNEW it was the one! Then the search was on for a perfect shoe, and the Jeffrey Campbell Bow Down Slides in Pink was EVERYTHING I could've imagined!

Then the search was on for the kids...thankfully SheIn has a kids section (whew!) I knew I wanted one kid to be in pink and the other in orange, so I browsed their kids section until I came across these adorable outfits:

For my 6 year old, I got this Square Neck Flutter Sleeve Dress and for baby girl, I ordered 2 outfits, the first was this Peplum top w/ a matching belted short (that she ended up POOPING up her back and ruining *cry face emoji*) and the second was a floral satin romper-- they both were equally adorable but as a second time mom, I've learned to ALWAYS bring/buy extra clothes because these kids DONT CARE ABOUT YOUR PHOTOSHOOTS!

Lastly...and the thing I struggle with THEE MOST - find an outfit for my husband. Here's the thing. I've identified as a woman my entire life and plan to identify as one for the rest of my life. I know NOTHING about dressing men. I don't know where to shop for them, what looks good on them Or why their stuff is so EXPENSIVE lol so dressing my husband is always a challenge (& he isn't any help either *eye roll)....but God must've been on our side because we went into Express and found the PERFECT suit jacket for our outfits! HALLELUJAH!

We paired them with some white casual pants, a white tshirt and white shoes and we were off to the races!

So what are my lessons for you? Here they are:

1. Feed babies/kids right before the shoot so they aren’t grumpy

2. Get a photographer that’s used to shooting with kids

3. Bring back-up outfits Incase your kid 💩 up their back🙄

4. Bring a friend to the shoot that won’t be in the pictures for help/support and to get extra footage

5. And bring a shot of liquor, so when it all goes to sh*t, at least you can drink 🤷🏾‍♀️