Tag: Amazon

Wild in WDM!

By: Emily Heaston

I got a head start on the weekend by kicking things off Wednesday with a pool day with my girlfriends & our little buddies! When I got home, the cutest early birthday surprise arrived in the mail from Nicole!

That night, I met my girls for dinner at Lucca & drinks at The Republic–a good excuse to wear a cute new dress & earrings!

Thursday, Clare got to have her girlfriend over for a playdate! Kids begged to go to Backyard Adventures & Rita’s!

After Tim got done with work, we took the kids to the ITAgroup Summer Celebration–the kids had a ball with inflatables, face painting, carnival games, pizza & popsicles! The big kids had fun too!!!

On Friday, Nicole, Lily & Maeve came from Omaha! We hit the pool for lunch & swimming, then had to take all 5 kids to HyVee. I think we’re both still recovering from all the kids wanting to push the little green grocery carts! HyVee, I’m begging you to make those disappear!

On Friday night, Clarebear had her dance team tryout! These cuties have been working hard and are so excited for the upcoming year of competition dance!

Friday night was also Tim’s favorite night of the year–when 80-35 kicks off in downtown Des Moines! This music festival is his first baby. He was on the board of directors for years and years as they founded the festival and we’ve had so much fun the past 12 years working on set-up, hospitality, tear-down, fundraising, and meeting incredible artists! We have so much hometown pride for this event which is hosted every summer by the Des Moines Music Coalition + over 500 community volunteers! Tim had a blast this year and took some highlight pictures from Friday night.

Saturday, Nicole and I were up bright and early to hit Yoga + Gallery Talk at the Des Moines Art Center with Good Vibes instructor Ben Spellman!

After yoga, it was time to load up the kids for swimming lessons and afterward we hit up LifeTime Poolapalooza for a little bit! Kids loved seeing the mermaids, playing with friends, and Clare even won a hula hoop contest!

After the pool, we all got cleaned up for a night out! I was getting dressed when the mailman came, and the kids ran up to me with a new outfit so I had to change!

Kids had big plans with Grandma and Grandpa while Tim and I attended a shower for our friends Nick & Amber! Their shower had the cutest golf theme and we got to catch up with so many dear friends!

Teddy snuck off at Grandma & Grandpa’s and ate all the granola bars!

After the shower, we met up with friends at the Iowa State Fairgrounds for the Iowa State Fair Blue Ribbon Foundation Corndog Kickoff! This was our first time at this event which features live entertainment, silent & live auction items, all your favorite Iowa State Fair foods & drinks, rides on the SkyGlider & fireworks! Tim & I couldn’t believe we’d been missing out on all this fun!

On Sunday, we got to sleep in a little until Teddy’s tball game! He is loving every second of it and its the cutest thing! This is his very first team and its so perfect that they’re the Giants–I had to get a picture of Teddy in Mollie’s favorite jersey.

After the game, we were all ready for some air conditioning and downtime! We watched some movies, played some Barbies & called it a wrap on a fun & busy summer weekend!

See you back here soon! xoxo, Emily

P.S. Just ordered this hairdryer for Prime Day! Only $39.28 at checkout and highly recommended by one of my favorite blogs, Somewhere Lately!

Amazon Prime Day, July 15-16!

By: Nicole Mikluscak

Amazon Prime Day 2019 is TODAY! The famous shopping event features deals on electronics, fashion and more. It runs for 48 hours making it the longest Prime Day in Amazon history. Expect savings on tech items like TV’s, headphones, wireless chargers, Echo and Fire products, possibly even smartphones. Other retailers tend to drop their prices to compete with Prime day as well. Remember, Prime deals are for Prime members only, so be sure to sign up for your free 30 day trial if you plan on making any purchases. Last year, I was able to get a jump-start on my holiday shopping during this event!

TECH DEALS

BEAUTY DEALS

HOME DEALS

KIDS

Finally, don’t forget Amazon’s Smile program is a free and easy way to donate a portion of your purchase to just about any charity. Start your shopping experience at smile.amazon.com instead of amazon.com. Get shopping!

Garmin Vívofit Jr.

By: Nicole Mikluscak

Today I’m reviewing a kids’ product that we have really enjoyed using in our family. My daughter Lily was given a Garmin Vívofit Jr. for her 7th birthday this year. I had only recently heard about how popular the device was becoming among the kids her age at school!

This activity tracker is designed to be kid-friendly; comfortable and water resistant. Lily even wears hers when swimming!There are band choices for boys and girls. It tracks steps, sleeping patterns, and gives recommendations for 60 minutes of activity a day. Lily loves the alarm feature and prefers the sound to her regular alarm clock.

The compatible app home page. Incredibly user friendly! You can also add multiple children to the app.

One of my favorite features is the chore tracker. Your child can earn coins to redeem for agreed upon rewards managed by mom or dad on the free compatible app. You choose the chores or behavior, and send the coins right from your phone when accomplished. The app also includes mobile educational adventures that Lily loves to play. In addition, the program unlocks different trails as fitness goals are met. I love to watch her excitement when her tracker beeps because she has met a step goal!

Lily’s current adventure trail full of games etc. based on her level of activity.

Another attribute to mention – The user replaceable battery will keep kicking for up to a year, so there is no need to recharge!! Lastly, the Vivofit Jr. fits bands for the Vivofit 3. As they get older it will not look childish with a replacement band.

This is a fantastic product with useful, practical functions. Summer is a great time to give the Vívofit Jr. a try! Add summer reading and studying to your child’s list of chores and let them choose a reward for earning their coins. It’s all about BALANCE, and I love that you can alter this fitness tracker to meet your needs in all aspects of your child’s life. Let us know what you think!!

Amazon:

Flower  —  https://amzn.to/2WfNySU
Minnie Mouse — https://amzn.to/2ELVnoq

Tried and True Baby Food Recipes

By: Annie Wagner
Annie’s Homemade Baby Food Purées

When it came time to start introducing solid foods to my now 10-month old daughter, Margot, I was extremely overwhelmed. Going from exclusively breast feeding to all the endless food possibilities was pretty intimidating.

I was inspired by some mom friends to try a few baby food recipes and realized how easy and cost effective it actually was. The best part – Margot loves it! She hasn’t turned down any homemade food yet, plus the added benefit of knowing exactly what you’re feeding your little one! Don’t get me wrong – we still love the baby food pouches for travel or days out and about.

Margot loving her zucchini, broccoli, applesauce & ginger purée!

These are all simple recipes that babies will actually eat. Each healthy combination includes a wide variety of nutritious fruits and veggies and is much more affordable than buying pre-made pouches or jars. Once I started, it was fun to get creative with food combinations. Don’t be afraid of adding flavor and spices either. The earlier you introduce different flavors, the less picky they will be later…at least that’s my hope!

I was able to make all of these recipes during Margot’s nap one day. Three hours of baby food making created about 6 weeks of meals – not bad! I store all of the purées in the freezer in Freezer Safe Glass Storage Jars or Silicon Ice Cube Trays with Lid. Every couple of days I take out enough food for 2-3 days of meals and put in the fridge to defrost. When it’s mealtime, I take a jar from the fridge and pop it in the microwave for 10-15 seconds and voilà!

Baby food storage in ice cube trays and freezer safe glass jars.

The steps are as simple as this:

  1. Roughly chop fruit and veggies.
  2. Steam veggies to soften.
  3. Blend mixes in a blender or food processor.
  4. Pour mixes into jars/trays
  5. Store in the freezer for 3-6 months.
  6. Defrost/store in the fridge for 2-3 days.

Ingredients/Shopping List:

4 Zucchini

2 heads of Broccoli (or medium bag of broccoli florets)

8 medium Carrots (or medium bag of baby carrots)

2 ripe Pears

2 pints of Blueberries

4 ripe Bananas

2 Avocados

1 Butternut squash (I buy the pre-cut bag from Trader Joes)

2 Sweet Potatoes (peel before steaming)

1 can of White Beans (drained and cooked)

2 tsps. ground Cinnamon

2 tsps. ground Ginger

Juice from one large Lemon

2 cups Organic Applesauce

1 cup Organic Creamy Peanut Butter

2 cups Whole Milk Plain Yogurt (I use Mountain High)

Mixes:

Zucchini, Pear, Banana

Carrot, Applesauce, Pear

Blueberry, Banana, Avocado, Lemon

Broccoli, Squash, Ginger, Lemon

Carrot, Squash, Cinnamon

Yogurt, Banana, Peanut Butter

Sweet Potato, White Bean, Cinnamon (Margot’s favorite)

The goods.
Steaming veggies to soften before blending.
Prepping baby girls food!

I hope this inspires you and makes homemade baby food less intimidating!

New Idea for Easter Baskets!

By: Emily Heaston
My little bunnies on their first Easters!

Last weekend, Clare celebrated her friend’s birthday and we wanted to pick out a special gift. The birthday girl loves to bake and we had the best time picking out ingredients for her!

Every year, I like to put new swim suits, books, and chocolate in my kids’ Easter baskets, and this year I thought they might enjoy their own special ingredients for baking too! Here is what the bunny is bringing, and bonus–its so inexpensive and you get to eat cake at the end! I hope this helps for any last minute bunny shopping!

Unicorns for Clare

Mermaids for Cate

Funfetti for Teddy

I also got a large pack of cute Easter Bunny Baking Cups to split among the kids’ baskets. Nicole and I were just talking about how our moms would sometimes bake cupcakes into ice cream cones and I found the handiest baking rack so the cones won’t tip over in the oven–I can’t wait for it to get here to make these with my kids!

Happy Easter from our family to yours!