Paw Patrol cake

Rubble on the double!

I thought I would share how I made my son's simple Paw Patrol birthday cake. Once he requested a Paw Patrol cake, I headed to Google to see what was out there. And out there was a whole lot of red, blue and yellow-frosting, fondant, actual cake. Every cake was literally dripping in artificial colors and dyes. Now I do allow artificial coloring every once in awhile, in moderation, but I just couldn't bring myself to make (or pay!) for a huge chemical cake. I decided to order a simple cake from my grocery store with vanilla and chocolate buttercream as the base. I bought my son's favorite character, Rubble and knew I wanted to have a "construction theme". I crushed up Annie's Graham crackers and spread them on top of the cake and inside Rubble's scoop! My son flipped for it and as a bonus-he got a new toy. The cake was delicious and I felt good that I wasn't feeding the kids Red40!

Best books for a 1 year old

 

For the past month or so, my daughter's interest in reading has sky rocketed. She will constantly bring you a book ("bup") and sit in your lap and she definetly has her favorites. Here is a list of the ones she (and my son!) have demanded we read to them over and over again. These are perfect to tuck into a gift for a 1st birthday party or baby shower.

Let's Go Outside by Katja Spitzer. This one is Ivy's favorite, hands down. I got this as a gift and before I even gave it to her, I fell in love with it! The colors, the whimsical and cheeky illustrations and the size of the book are just perfect. As it turned out, she became obsessed, so now it's hers. I might need to get my own copy. She especially loves the pages with the squirrel and I love hearing her try to say "Squirrel". 

Moo, Baa, La La La! by Sandra Boynton. You probably have seen Sandra Boynton books before but this is the best one for the younger set (10 months+). The pages are simple and it's a fun, quick read with lots of interaction. When my 4 year old happens to walk by if I'm reading this to my daughter, he will still come and sit for the duration of the book! I have this memorized, and if you get it, you will too! This book is the reason my daughter calls dogs "ruff ruffs" and I'm not mad about it. :)

Peekaboo Sophie! This book gets so much play at my house that I have to hide it because I need breaks from reading it! The peekaboo flaps in this book are large and thick and easy for small hands to grab, which is half of the draw. The other half is Ivy hears me say "peekaboo!" after she opens a flap, which never gets old in her eyes. Also, did you know that Sophie's friends are sophisticated animals named Lazare, Gabin and Margot? Must be a French thing. 

Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? by Eric Carle. Ok, I know what you are thinking, this is a no brainer. If you have kids, you know about this, but if you don't, now you know! We got our copy when my son was a baby and now, 4 years later it is literally falling apart. The kids love that purple cat and black sheep, what can I say. We constantly rotate books at my house to keep things feeling fresh but this book has a permanent spot and the kids never tire of it. A great book to turn into a sing song-y chant with clapping or just to flip the pages and name the animals. 

Ok, now it's your turn, what book is your child's favorite?

My "go to sleep" kit for babies and kids

Now that my daughter is one and her sleep is pretty regular, I am doing my best to keep it that way with nightly routines. With cold season coming up I know we are going to take a hit with my son bringing home lots of germs from preschool which always affect the kids' sleep. I'm sure our future holds many nights with the humidifier and nightly wake-ups due to coughing. I rely on my go-to sleep kit mainly for my daughter but I also can use it on my 4 year old son on especially rowdy nights or when he is sick.

I add a cup or two of magnesium flakes or epsom salts to their bath to start the calming process. Most people are deficient in magnesium and making sure your body is getting enough is key in getting proper rest. Other benefits include: improving circulation, stress relief and improving skin hydration among many more.

I spray Mommy's Bliss sweet slumber mist on my daughter's favorite lovey so she can snuggle it while she drifts off to sleep and not have to worry about the smell overpowering her pajamas. All of Mommy's Bliss products are safe and free of yucky chemicals. Sometimes I spray this on my pillow!

I roll essential oils on her feet as a final step to set the tone for sleepytime. My blend contains lavender and I feel that smell triggers something in her to know its close to naptime or bedtime.

What are your go-to tricks or routines in getting your kids to have good quality rest?

Greening your bathroom: Boka floss

I think the process of "greening" your bathroom can feel a little overwhelming at first, so I think it's best to go one product at a time and start with something slightly insignificant. Like floss! (Tip: do not start with shampoo, that one should go last) Most people aren't brand loyal when it comes to floss; they might get a pack free at their dentist or grab whatever they find at the store sort of without thinking. Unfortunatly for us, all the options at the typical drugstore are no bueno. Most floss is made from nylon (petroleum based product) and then coated with Teflon (yes the toxic stuff in the non-stick cookware, which is for another post). These are things we don't want in our mouth, period!

Enter, Boka Oral care. Their floss is petroleum-free and Teflon-free and coated with natural beeswax and mint oil so it still glides just as nice as the traditional kind. It also doesn't fray or shred! I seriously love this stuff. And not to mention it is the cutest little container.

All of Boka's products are designed so well and have ingredients you can trust. They have subscriptions too! I can't wait to try out their other products, especially their Cocorinse! 

#ivysgemjam

My daughter turned one this past week and here are some pictures from her gem party! 

 Let me know in the comments if you would like the sources of any of the items or DIYs!

Recent kiddo mealtime favorites

 I love this bowl! The Bump It Bowl is my new favorite mealtime product for Ivy. It suctions to her highchair tray (or anywhere really, but we have only used it at home) and she cannot knock it over! She definitely tried to pull it over the first time she used it and it would not budge. This makes mealtime a lot less messy, so I love it for when we are on a tighter schedule and don't want a huge mess on the tray/floor to deal with. It kept her black beans and cherries perfectly separate but that separator is also removable! I also love that it has a lid that makes it easy to go straight to the fridge.

I don't know if you can tell, but Jonas is a fan of the MyDrinky juice box holder! Truth we told, we are not a juice family and aren't fan of buying juice boxes for kids. But with that said, its hot here in the summer and staying hydrated is key, so every so often I will get some low sugar juices and have them available for Jonas. MyDrinky is so cute and fun for him to hold but the real winner here is he can't squeeze the juice and get a sticky mess all over him! Win-win. Also, if your kid is anything like mine, about half-way through his juice he will lay it down somewhere and I will find a nice little puddle of juice under it but with MyDrinky he always keeps it standing upright. This would also be perfect for little cartons of milk!

Father's Day with AwesomeBox

Not to brag, but this Father's Day I totally nailed it. Of course I got Jon a dopp kit and a wallet and some kid-made crafts, but the winner this year? It was a personalized AwesomeBox. If you are like me, you are the photographer and historian of the family, always taking pictures, gathering memories and trying to figure out what to do with everything. That isn't necessarily my husband's thing so I didn't know if a personalized box was going to impress him as much as it impressed me to put it together!

 I was wrong. He was floored! I did the 25 cards box and you can put a picture on one side and write something on the back. Since it was for Father's Day I mainly did pictures of my husband with the kids and wrote on the back what they were doing or why he was a great dad.

The quality of the cards is nice and thick and the pictures look so great, he has them propped up on his dresser and can rotate them. This would be an awesome (you like that?) gift for birthdays or anniversaries. I already want to make one for my parents 45th wedding anniversary.

If you sign up on their mailing list you can get 10% off! Take a peek here.

Making the best grilled cheese sandwich

I have a couple tips for making the perfect grilled cheese sandwich for you. One, high quality butter and cheese, duh. I used Finlandia unsalted butter and swiss cheese, soooo delish. But beyond that, the trick is patience! This is not the sandwich to make for a hungry, whiny toddler. You really don't want to rush the process or end up smashing it down so it cooks faster (it isn't a panini!). You really want to give each side 5-8 minutes to get golden brown and let the cheese melt. Once you have that down to a science, you add the yummy extras! If I am making one for my toddler, I usually just add turkey but if it's for an adult, I might jazz it up with pears or arugula.

You know it was an excellent grilled cheese if your fingers are a little buttery afterwards! Never again will I use cooking spray or store brand butter for my grilled cheese, its Finlandia high-quality butter, all the way. I can find mine at my local Costco and I am not mad one bit I will have to buy it in bulk.
Enjoy and happy first day of summer!

Our new laundry upgrade

I recently got the chance to try out some laundry products by Method and as a mom of two little ones, anything to make the laundry experience better is welcomed! We had been using a non scented powder detergent and no dryer sheets since we started cloth diapering 3.5 years ago. Since we didn't continue cloth diapering with Ivy, we technically didn't need to continue our current detergent. Maybe I need to get out more, but trying the key lime + coconut detergent and beach sage dryer sheets felt like a vacation. (Ok, clearly not, but for a stay at home mom, it was realllllly nice) Great smelling clothes once again!! I cannot tell you how much I missed this and didn't know I did.

The detergent is super concentrated so that huge jug will last a long time and there are a ton of uses for dryer sheets besides the usual (including used ones!). With two grimy little kids, the delightful scents of these two products is enough to keep me coming back to Method! Next time I think I'm going to try out ginger mango. ;)

Oli & Carol Natural Bath Toys

I am obsessed with these bath toys by Oli & Carol. The designs are fresh and playful and most importatntly, they are 100% pure latex from Hevea trees.
They also float in water yet do not have a hole so you don't have to worry about mold growing inside. That cheap tub of squirter toys from Buy Buy Baby is tempting, but you soon realize that if you don't squirt the water out after each bathtime, mold can grow inside.
I just got a couple for Ivy's Easter basket as they also make great teethers!