GET US DRESSED / BRING IT ON, WINTER

on huck: wellies, jeans zara (similar), luvmother sweater, plaid coat old navy (similar)

on me: boots, socks, jeans, tee, cardigan, coat, bag

Not to alarm you or whatever but we haven't seen the upside of 40 degrees since the beginning of last week and I'm not expecting to see it again until half past the second coming, so. 

Pull out your woolens, kids, and hold onto your butts. This is it. 

This is also the first winter in Huck's life wherein a car is involved. Hooray! It has a heater! We're moving up in the world! It also has a stereo, too, but that up and stopped working just this morning, just in time for me to miss out on the all-Christmas radio station that started up finally, so I'm like--you know?? 

You know what else, I don't think having a car in the winter is all that and a bag of chips. Dressing for that dash from the front door to the car door and then surviving those excruciatingly arctic first five minutes before the heater starts pumping and then you're suddenly wearing too many layers is its own kind of torture. It's hard! I have to say, I almost prefer the forty-five layers of coats and walking quickly until your blood heats up method of winter survival. (Guys I miss having to walk.) (As do my skinny jeans.) (#idahospread)

So Huck + I are here today with Luvmother to remind you that wool is your best friend in these scenarios, because it maintains a temperature. It doesn't just heat up till kingdom come. This is especially good with kids, who have the worst temperature gauge of all of god's animals and would happily walk outside in a snowstorm in just their skivvies or else insist on wearing their coats fully buttoned after they've been home a few hours and you're watching their cheeks get redder and redder and you're like, KID. LET ME TAKE THAT OFF FOR YOU. Huck's been living in this gray sweater but we've also really loved this gray hoodie, this gorgeous sweater (elbow patches!), and these cozy sweats for nighttime.

Anyway, Huck has been wearing his Luvmother wool tees and sweaters near daily since the temperatures dipped. They're soft, they're lightweight, they wash + dry in the machine like a champ--they're really beautiful to look at, too. Like, I wish they made these in my size. 

I also like the idea of those old thermal union suits with the bum flaps that you wear while smoking a corn cob pipe and brewing moonshine in your bathtub? 

Idaho dreams.

The end. 

GET HUCK DRESSED

Hi! Hi! Hi!

Well, so this is our wall. I'd like to introduce you all to our wall. Wall? This is People. Shake hands and be friendly, guys. I occasionally post Instagrams of me standing in front of this wall looking dumb wearing various outfits that all look the same. One rad instagrammer person took to hashtagging "your wall" in the comments of these photos, and I think it's funny every dang time. So on we roll. Brandon tells me that if I insist on taking photos of the things that I wear that I should at least be switching things up a bit with new and exciting walls, and of course he's probably right, but where's the fun in that? So sue me. Do I feel silly about it? Of course I feel silly about it! But that there is the element of danger, you see. ;) 

Huck seems to get a kick out of this funny little tradition of ours and has been known to request multiple poses + faces and I'm telling you, somehow this is going to ruin his whole life, I am just sure of it. ;) But he's really good with an iPhone, and what a waste of talent it would be . . . ;)

Huck somehow still fits into a lot of the clothes he wore as a baby. A lot of his shirts and pants he's managed to wear for three years running! It's changed the way I think about his clothing allowances. He's like the incredible not-growing growing boy, which mostly comes down to how suuuuuuper fat he was. He's now stretching up into his clothes, rather than out. I'm perfectly fine with this, because once you find good kids clothes it's hard to let them go. I have a hard time finding clothes for Huck that I like. Huck has no issue with the way he dresses, I suppose we've reached a mind-meld when it comes to finding things for him to wear that we both like, but I mean, I know what I want Huck to look like, and it's not like he's ready to join a construction team or start a hip hop group. But that's just what I think. I say, let's dress our boys in neutrals and basics, and let's make these basics be the kind of clothes that are meant to stick around a while. With good fabric and strong stitching. Reinforced seams! I've realized that it's actually helpful in the long haul if I make a few investment style purchases here and there for Huck's wardrobe, because we really get our money's worth. For so long I'd had it drilled into my head for so long that spending any more than necessary on a kid's closet is a total waste, but it turns out it's not true. Not all kids are going to grow out of their clothes right away, and it's good to plan for an item to stick around beyond a few months.

Any time I come across a good source for kid's clothes I get pretty excited and want to inform the world, so here, I got one for your filing cabinet! Melijoe.

Melijoe is a French company started in 2007 by Nathalie Christen-Genty, a mother of 5 (five!). It's since become one of Europe's top e-commerce sites, carrying all of the industry's very best children's clothing brands in one place--120 in all!--and also featuring super quick worldwide shipping (hard to come by!) and customer service in six languages. I'd never heard of Melijoe before they this season and now I think that is just a shame. They carry a huge selection, so you'll find your basics as well as your hip hop options. :) Any time we can skip the big department stores and support a female-owned business instead is a good time by me. Plus there's a kick ass summer sale going down right now in case that's fun. (Of course that's fun.)

We recently picked out a few transition pieces for Huck. A light, spring weight cardigan, a summer tee, an updated stripe, and a pair of rain boots to fit his newly-enormous feet, and right away you notice they just feel different. The cotton is thick, the rubber is strong, they're constructed to last, they're the kinds of pieces he'll be able to wear over and over, on into fall, on into winter, maybe even on into next spring! So, consider this post a tally in the "sometimes investment duds for kids is a good idea" column. Sometimes. 

This post is also just a really good excuse to show off Huck's patented Stink Face. :)

Because it is a glory.

This post is brought to you in collaboration with Melijoe. Hey thanks, Melijoe!

GET US DRESSED 001 // THE ONE PIECE

I thought it would be fun to do something a little different with some of these outfit posts, and bring in some fresh blood! Maybe see things from another perspective, see what it's like to get dressed collaboratively (?), compare notes a bit, maybe enjoy how differently or similarly we all style a related item. Like a little duet! Yeah?

And so, my dearest Ratties (ew, no), allow me to introduce unto you Cassaundra, of The Blue Closet. Together we're each tackling a one-piece, which makes this a two-for-one, two one-piece outfits, outfit post. By that I mean, overalls and kaftans! Here we go!

I've always loved my overalls. (See here and here and here.) I wore them in the third grade with slap bracelets (back when that was cool), and I wore them in the eleventh grade with a mouth full of braces (back when back when that was definitely not cool). But the past few years have been just the loveliest for me as all these stylish ladies have embraced the church of overalls with me, so I no longer feel (quite as) silly. Praise be to the overall gods!

Cassaundra is a lover of kaftans. (See here and here and here.) (She has a killer style section on her blog, too.) She's the Commander in Chief of a tiny army of surfers and beach bums, so she's got that whole "Relaxed Earth Mother" vibe down pat. She makes kaftans look as natural and easy as the freckles on your nose, I'm so taken by her laid-back, eclectic style. So we decided to swap our one-piece favorites for a bit. What a great excuse to expand our one-piece repertoires, as well as our souls. You know, grow as human beings or whatever.

Cassaundra first!

At the age of four my fashion memories begin. That is when I got acid-washed, tapered jeans with fourteen pockets. Fourteen pockets. Can you imagine my bliss? This is when I knew. I knew the act of getting dressed would make me happy for the rest of my life... because I had fourteen acid-washed pockets and what could make you happier than that? Nothing. 

These kids of mine (Myes, 8; Ruby, 6; Ello, 4), they got the bug too. The Blue Closet is a place to find our style--my style, my kids' style--as well as real down to earth beauty tips with bits of my life sprinkled throughout.

Our family is a wild one; always moving, always going, always creating. We live in beautiful Southern California right next to the beach. We spend lots of time there as a family because that is the place my kids feel the most peaceful. We are run by boys and their hobbies: surfing, skateboarding, and camping. This year we traveled across the world to Fiji so the family could surf some of the best waves in the world, and it changed our lives. Now we can't go a day without talking about where our next surf trip will be. 

When Natalie and I decided to exchange some fashion inspiration I knew right away it had to be overalls, because who wears overalls better than Natalie? Nobody. [Editor's note: awww!] So I found this pair at H&M and paired it with my go-to shirt from Madewell. It was a match made in heaven. They're now a staple for farmer's markets, teaching art in the classroom, and lazy Sunday afternoons at the beach. If I am not in a kaftan or some kind of muumuu, you'll find me in my overalls. Thank you, Natalie, for helping me embrace the overalls, all over again.

--Cassaundra

Cassaundra is clearly a natural.

And now, my attempt at a kaftan. Starting ...NOW!

Before this collaboration, kaftans, to me, felt like something only luxurious ladies wore while waltzing about in their enormous houses being all fabulous and things. My typical at-home wear is much more humble; a slouchy white tee and maybe a pair of black leggings if it's cold, but surely we all deserve to wear something a little more regal? 

I can't really explain this next part without sounding like a bit of a whack job, but when my kaftan came in the mail and I slipped it out of its packaging, I had this combination memory/dream flash before my eyes, of my mother in the kitchen in her threadbare white floral night dress when I was about seven years old. I remember the light outside the window--that magical deep purple blue with just a few stars hanging on--it must have been early early morning--and watching her reach for the medicine cabinet to find me something to help me get back to sleep. (I had a sore throat and was already angling for my get-out-of-school-free card.) The dim orange light above the oven was the only light on in the house. It created hundreds of shadows, and a beautiful halo effect around my mother. Through my sleep-soaked eyes and scratchy throat I remember thinking that she must be the most heavenly creature in the world; an early morning angel in flowing fabrics, administering love and care to us smaller beings whom she'd sworn to protect. I hadn't thought of it in a long time, but I remember feeling so safe that night, and thinking that this must have been the whole point of motherhood; those intimate moments at home together in the dark of the night, quietly bringing the heavens to the earth by caring for each other. I thought of that memory as I held this silly kaftan, while simultaneously picturing that memory as Huck's memory, sometime in the future, of an early, early morning yet to come, when he needed comfort and I was there, of watching that orange light filter throughout the room from the oven behind me as I set about the task of providing care, gentle and quiet and calm. And not to be ridiculous or anything, but the thought gave me so much pleasure that the kaftan immediately became my life-long favorite, and I hadn't even tried it on yet. 

So, was this fun? It was for me! I'm such a fan of Cassaundra and her blog and her overall approach to life (har har, overall approach), and it's been such a pleasure to introduce you all, and maybe make a little blog match in the process ;). Thank you Cassaundra! 

On Cassaundra: H&M overalls, Madewell shirt 

On me: Kaftan c/o Far & Wide Collective 

Oh, and a side note: it's quite a bit sheer, my kaftan. We have a pretty open policy about our bodies at our house, we purposefully try to normalize all our body parts as much as we feel is appropriate for Huck's age, so it's not something we're concerned about, but in case you were concerned (which I completely understand and respect), I do appreciate it, but we're still okay with it. :)