Things I Love Lately // 8.23.13

• Antoinette Tuff. She should think about changing her name to Badass Tuff--or the spelling of her  last name to "Tough." 
• Saying "yes" when the girls ask me for a soft-serve cone at 10:15am. (Oh yes, it was that good. They really have the best ideas sometimes!)
• Discovering that Saige Copeland Jones and Emma Lisa Jones stay occupied and entertained in our hotel room while the girls and I frolic (yeah, I just said "frolic") on the beach
  
• My coziest new hoodie from Target's FEED collection. Not only are the products in this line attractive and well-designed (in my opinion), proceeds from each purchase provide meals for children and families through Feed America. Each product features a tag that lets you know how many meals your purchase generates. Better yet, many of these attractive, feel-good purchases are currently on SALE. If you're interested, you can learn more about the partnership here. 
  
• Listening to A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engle with the girls on our North Carolina → Florida road trip and enjoying it just as much as they did!
• Being in Florida with our family for the week. Good times. Too much indulgence. Fun in the sun. Playing and swimming with Uncle Bobby. Driving the boat with Uncle Toby. Seeing dolphins jumping around us on the boat. Relaxing. Connecting. Tubing for the first time with Daddy. 
  
• And getting lots of good squeezes in with this one (I mean, really?) 
  
• Registering for fall soccer
• Anticipating an adult night out with our friends this weekend and enjoying the eats at Customshop (Get in my belly!)
• Geneva's first sand crab capture. She tried for 2 days and did not give up. 
  
• Having our first "sweltering, miserable, sticky southern summer" be super mild and not really living up to any of the aforementioned adjectives
• Attending Open House at the girls' school yesterday and seeing how confident and happy they are when they are there. Here's Piper with Geneva's classroom pet, Patches. We look forward (with some trepidation) to discover how well Richard Parker will get along with Patches on our designated weekend to enjoy his company at our house. (Keep your claws crossed that it all goes well for the feline-rodent encounter.)
  
• And speaking of school starting up again... I just love this article by Kylene Beers about the impact teachers have on our littles when we send them off to school each day.
• The fact that you can now shop H&M online. Yes, they've finally launched an e-commerce site for the US! Now your sweet little fashionistas can rock looks like this one or this one (for $15) in just a few clicks on the keyboard. And you might like to don this, this, or this once fall is upon us (I know I would). 
• Soaking up the last bits of summer sun with my favorite peeps 
  
• And THIS. What will you do with all that time?