April Favorites

Here are some things that Jack and I were loving in the month of April...

Jack's Favorites...

The Fisher Price Little People Wheelies Loops 'n Swoops Amusement Park. We have had this toy for about a year now and it has by far been Jack's most loved toy and has provided hours upon hours of entertainment. Since I rotate his toys, this was brought back out at the start of April, making it "like new" again. Rather than using the cars that are made for it, we use Hot Wheels and Match Box Cars. It's so fun for Jack to race his cars down the track. An added bonus is that this is something special for Matt and Jack to do together and Matt actually gets enjoyment out of it as well, because he has had a blast building up Jack's Hot Wheel collection. 

Mega Bloks First Builders Big Building Bag. Until recently, Jack has never been too interested in playing with these and when he did, they would only hold his attention for a short period of time. I think the reason for this is because they were tucked away on his shelf in the playroom amongst all of his other toys. I recently brought the bucket out into the living room, where they are more visible and not competing with the other toys. Best. Decision. Ever. It's a great distraction for when I'm cleaning or making dinner. On a good day these will hold his attention for a solid 20 minutes, which in toddler world is an eternity.

Crayola Bathtub Crayons.  Jack received these in his Easter basket and they've sure made a big splash in the tub. Jack has never been big into coloring, until these. Our bathtub has never seen so much color and I enjoy seeing his adorable scribbles every time I set foot into the bathroom. He also enjoys to sort them on the rim of the tub, as well as put them into a cup and dump them out all at once into the water over and over again.

Melissa and Doug Ball Pounder. We found this for him at Home goods for a great price. I prefer to buy toys that Jack can grow with and I definitely think this is one of them. Right now he is completely entertained by hammering the balls down the holes and watching them come out the bottom. But I think as he gets older he will enjoy matching the color of the balls to the colors on the side of each hole, as well as, counting the number of balls as they go down. I, on the other hand, find the clinking noise of the wood to be somewhat therapeutic and get excited every time he chooses to play with it.

My Favorites For Jack...

Honest Kids Organic Juice Drink.  Don't ask me why, but I've always felt extremely guilty about giving Jack juice. I've also worried that if I give him too much juice, he won't want to drink anything else, so up until the past few months I've made every effort to avoid it all together and just offer him milk or water. But now that he is older, I thought it would be fun to give it a try. I don't give it to him on a daily basis and it's more like a special treat. I love this brand because for starters it's organic and also because there is no added sugar. It's sweetened only from fruit juice. It tastes more like flavored water than juice, which also makes me feel better about giving it to him. It's a little more spendy than other juices on the market, but totally worth it.

My Favorites...

Shark Professional Steam Mop. As you know, we recently installed hardwood floors and I was on the hunt for a mop that was quick, easy, Eco-friendly, and free of harsh chemicals. This is absolutely perfect because the pads are washable and the only thing it requires is water. It claims to sanitize and clean with the power of steam and I totally believe it. It's so cool to see the steam come out of it as I clean the floors. It takes me less than 10 minutes to mop the entire main floor of our house. The only downfall is that it's not cordless; however, the cord itself is really long. I also purchased a gallon of distilled water to use with it, to avoid water marks on the floor. The entire gallon should last me a really long time, as it only uses a small amount of water each time.

Ninja Professional Blender. In an effort to eat healthier, I decided to supplement one meal a day with a green smoothie. Our old blender was really crappy and did a horrible job chopping up the fruit and it took forever, making it super inconvenient and not worth my time. I decided to use the money that my in-laws gave me for my birthday and splurge on this one. I. Love. It. It's super quick and easy and chops up anything I decide to add in seconds.

Seventh Generation Natural Dish Soap. Let me let you in on a little secret. We do not have a dishwasher. That's right. I have to wash all of dishes by hand. It's extremely time consuming and a big pain in my butt, especially having a child that goes through countless dishes a day. I used to use Original Dawn, but I started to notice all Jack cups smelled like soap no matter how thoroughly I rinsed them out. The contents inside of the cup tasted like soap as well. It got me thinking about the ingredients in the soap and I just didn't feel comfortable with the idea of Jack potentially ingesting harmful chemicals on a daily basis. So I switched to this product, which is all natural and bio-degradable. To my surprise it actually cleans the dishes really well, if not better and I haven't had any problems with jack's cups since. It's also around the same price as Dawn, so I'm happy about not losing any money on it.

Old Navy Vintage V-neck T-shirts.These are so comfortable. Before discovering them, I bought a style similar to this at Target. I feel like these are more flattering for my body type. I usually get them when they are on sale, making them cheaper than the ones at Target. Bonus!