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Back To School

*Sponsored Post*

It’s back to school time, and I’m loving these fun products that help make learning fun! With homeschooling multiple grades it’s super busy at times, but also so much fun to see my kids learning!

I am loving this rug from KC Cubs! I set it out in our school area for my 4yr old and eventually gave up on taking a picture of it with no toys on it. It’s his favorite place to play!

I love how he’ll play with toys and then we’ll discuss a few letters and then he’ll go back to playing. The seasons have been a favorite topic of conversation with his older siblings. They know the seasons, but seeing them laid out by month has been super interesting to them.

This rug is comfortable and doesn’t slide around on my floor. Basically, everyone loves it! It’s the preferred toy and game area in my house suddenly. And I’m loving that we can naturally have conversations about letters, seasons, and days of the week while the kids play.

And, what’s a school day without good snacks? I’m loving these fun cookies from Dick & Jane!

Not only are they tasty, they’re terrific conversation starters! We even had to look a couple presidents up because none of us remembered what they did.

I think we spend more time playing with these than eating them. Which really isn’t all that bad. It’s definitely a fun way to start or finish our school day!

And, last but not least, this super easy cookbook from America’s Test Kitchen. Because a school day isn’t successful without a tasty dinner! And I don’t always have time to spend a lot of time in the kitchen.

Each of these recipes really is only 5 ingredients, which makes them all super easy to make. I’m loving the addition of all these tasty and easy recipes to the end of our school day.

With only 5 ingredients, even my older kids can make us dinner! It’s a win win. Good food, and they’re learning how to cook!

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Teen Gift Ideas

*This post contains sponsored content and affiliate links*

For me, August is the month of Birthdays. Throw in some Back to School and end of Summer stuff and it’s just pure insanity! So, in honor of having my first official teenager this year, I put together a fun gift guide for my Girl.

Soo’AE

Skincare is super important for every teen girl. And what better way to kick off her teen beauty routine than with these awesome natural, vegan, cruelty-free, eco-friendly products from Soo’AE!

The face wash, face cream, and face masks are gentle and made with clean & green ingredients. So, they’re good for my daughter’s skin and good for the environment as well. I especially love that the masks are 95% natural!

We had a fun at home spa night with the masks and enjoyed hanging out with each other for a little while.

Spooky America

My kids LOVE ghost stories! Just as much as they love s’mores around a campfire.  And while I have no issues with them hearing / reading ghost stories, I do my best to make sure that these stories are age appropriate for them.

My daughter doesn’t know yet that there are 32 of these books and not just 2 – as soon as she figures that out, her Christmas list will be 30 books long…

My girls actually swiped these the minute they arrived and I had to go hunt them down just to photograph them (while the girls supervised so I didn’t “loose” any in my bedroom).

They told me that the stories aren’t really scary, but they’re very fun. And they want more of them. They’re also unwilling to let me borrow their books because they’re afraid I’ll keep them for myself!

These are definitely on my “need to buy the whole series” list!

Hogwarts Cookbook for Kids

I may or may not have been more excited about this cookbook than my daughter was. Though, my kids have been all about Harry Potter this summer! They had a friend at summer camp ask them about it and they all realized that they’ve never seen it.

So, our Summer family movie nights were all about Harry Potter. She was super excited about her new cookbook and has handed me a grocery shopping list a mile long!

So far, we’ve tried one of the sandwich recipes and everyone was thrilled with it.

 

Fidgets

My daughter was given an Amazon gift card for her birthday and guess what she rushed to buy? Fidgets! I had not idea that these things could come in this many different shapes, but there really is a lot of variety here.

And these days, when in doubt, a fidget for someone’s Birthday is the way to go!

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Tween Gift Guide

*I received free samples of these items for purposes of my review*

Tweens start getting more complicated to shop for. They want fewer toys and more personal care items. My tween loves games, beauty products, and baking! So, I’ve rounded up a few items that I know she’ll love.

Eco Lips

This fun chapstick comes in 3 very festive holiday flavors, Raspberry truffle, Candy Cane, and Gingerbread.

Eco Lips are organic and fair trade so something you can feel good about giving your child.

These are small and make terrific stocking stuffers or buy the multi pack and wrap it as a present.

The way my daughter looses lip balms, I’ll need a couple multi packs just to get her to next Christmas.

Not into holiday scents? They have lots of other flavors available. Including tinted products and bee free products. There’s something here for everyone!

America’s Test Kitchen – the Complete DIY Cookbook for Young Chefs

My daughter loves to bake! And this cookbooks is perfect for her. From making your own sprinkles, to sweet and sour dip, to ketchup, to butter, to milkshakes, to really anything you can imagine. The instructions are easy to follow. There’s lots of pictures. And everything in here is simple enough that my daughter can do it on her own – though sometimes I just can’t resist joining her.

This is the perfect gift for that kid who just loves to experiment in the kitchen!

Scenties

I feel like the 80’s are back! Well, the part I loved about the 80’s is. Scrunchies!!! And, they’re better than ever, they smell like cotton candy, cupcakes, and bubble gum. Honestly, my girls are obsessed with scrunchies. And I can’t blame them, they’re so easy and comfortable for fixing long hair, and what’s not to like about smelling like cotton candy while you’re at it.

Out of this set, the bubblegum hair bands are the favorite. We’ve been using those over and over and they smell like bubblegum every single time. It’s so much fun! Plus the little tag on them is just so cute, and honestly makes it just a little bit easier to grab onto the rubberband without grabbing my child’s hair.

And, if you really want to be all fun and 2020, they have face masks, with velcro loops that you attach the scented bands to. So you can wear a cute face mask AND sport your favorite scent at the same time. How cool is that?

My daughter has requested one of everything for Christmas!

Evel Knievel Stunt Cycle

I remember this being a thing when I was a kid. So I was super excited to check out this toy for my daughter.

It’s way more fun than I expected! This re-release of a classic toy is so well done! It’s quite sturdy and works way better than I was anticipating! All of my kids are having fun with it.

They built some ramps out of cardboard boxes and set up their own stunts in the driveway. They’re so cool! The toy is super easy to wind and use, and it balances well. We’re still working on mastering the wheelie – sometimes we can get it and sometimes we can’t. But, we’re close to figuring it out.

This toy has provided hours of fun and creative play and everyone is super excited every time we pull it out. We can’t wait to figure out what stunt Evel Knievel can do next!