The Skinny on Meal Delivery



Hey Friends, what's new?  For the past several months we have been trying out a bunch of the meal delivery services available.....there are a lot to choose from!  I thought it would be fun to share our experiences with each one that we've tried - all the deets are below.

But, before we move on let's chat more.  These services are super handy, but in all honesty, if you asked me if I use them all the time, the answer is a big fat nope!  At first, I thought this could be a brilliant way to save money on groceries and not have to think about dinner.....and although that is still true, it can also sometimes feel like a chore to prepare and get these made before they spoil (except for Munchery).

If you are someone who likes to cook, these meals can be fun and a good way to expand your skills and recipe repertoire.  That said, home cooks (like me) may find it's easier to cook from what you've got in the fridge.  If you are not a cook, these are a great way to learn, but may be cumbersome for a weeknight (especially if you've got a crazy toddler).

So, after all this, what I've found works best for us is to use the service if we want some change in our regular menu, but not all the time.  I also think the meal delivery services are great for when you are returning from vacation - having the food show up when you get home lessens the need to run to the grocery and the thoughts involved in planning meals for the week.

Keep reading to see what we thought of each service (and look for the giveaway in the Blue Apron section)!

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Munchery
Prep time - The Fastest.  Everything from the Munchery is already cooked, so it only needs to be re-heated in the microwave, oven or toaster.  "Eww" you may say, but no my friends, no.  Read more about the taste in the flavor section below.
Packaging - Munchery does a good job of using compostable containers with recyclable plastic tops. The meals are fully prepared, so usually just one container, unless there is a sauce or fresh (no heat needed) side.

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Flavor - OK, so YUM.  Munchery food is really good.  And I should preface this by saying, the thought of microwaving my dinner totally grosses me out.  But this stuff does not taste microwaved. At. All.  Apparently a lot of science went into how Munchery prepares the food so it actually tastes good coming out of the microwave....and it really, really tastes good.

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Price - The meals are about $9-$12 each, so similar to the un-prepared or semi-prepared box version competitors.
Ease of delivery - Really easy.  You can order Munchery food same day up to a certain time.  Leave a cooler on your porch and they will drop it, plus text you when it's on its way and when it has been delivered.
Additional deets - Munchery is nice because you can order one meal or ten and if you pick one option it doesn't limit you from choosing any of the other options (some of the boxed competitors do limit you, but have recently been changing this).  The last minute ordering is great too and they have kids meals!  Our toddler was a fan.  I believe Munchery's delivery areas are more limited because this is more of a delivery service as opposed to a box being shipped by UPS or FedEx. That said, we live in a suburb of a moderately sized city and we can still get it delivered.  Here is a link to some of the things we ordered from the Munchery and reviewed.

If you want to try Munchery for $20 off, please use my code: munchery.com/invite/4D4F9B9Z
*Disclaimer - if you use my Munchery code, I get $20 too, so thanks!


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Blue Apron
Prep Time - Like you are making your own dinner.  So, a little time is saved because you have everything you need, it's labeled and you can unpack it into your fridge in "meal groups".  Plus extra bonus points for time saved not grocery shopping.  But, you still have to cut/slice/peel/chop/zest and occasionally mix sauces.  Let's be real.  This stuff takes time!  What I typically do is order my box so it arrives on a Monday.  That evening, after the toddler goes to bed, I do all of the prepping I can realistically do at once, then stick it all back in the fridge. For the next three nights all I have to do is assemble and cook each meal; with prep time now eliminated, it is pretty quick.
Packaging - Blue Apron's box and all the internal packaging are recyclable, they also have a handy recycling guide on their website.  If your town does not offer a recycling program, Blue Apron has a return program too - you can return 100% of the meal packaging and they will recycle it for you. They also note: We've partnered with the USPS to use existing delivery routes, so there's no additional carbon footprint to your return.  Great work Blue Apron!
Flavor - We found Blue Apron to have the tastiest and most interesting dishes.  There are always things that surprise me with their meals and we have not been disappointed or even "meh" once.  The food is good and so is the quality.

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Price - Depending on the type of plan you choose the meals are $8.74-$9.99 each.  You can choose between a two person plan of 3 meals per week for $59.94/week; a four person plan of 2 meals per week for $69.92/week or a 4 person plan of 4 meals per week for $139.84/week.  If you use Ebates* you can get $7.50 off your first order.  If you are a Costco shopper, you can buy $100 worth of Blue Apron gift cards for $80, which will give you 20% off.  (You load the gift card code onto your Blue Apron account and it gives you a credit.)
*Disclaimer - if you click the Ebates link and sign up, I get $25, so thanks!  If you are not familiar with Ebates, it is a super easy and awesome service where you get an actual check every month for certain on-line shopping purchases.
Ease of delivery - Pretty easy once you get it going.  Your first order might be a week or two out, but after that you will receive meals weekly unless you skip or cancel.
Additional deets - One thing I really like about Blue Apron is that I find I am learning a lot more about cooking than I already knew.  I like to cook a lot and grew up in a cooking house, so learning new stuff is great. Some of my favorites that Blue Apron has taught me are how to make the perfect soft boiled egg (every. single. time!) and pickle onions.  The meals also have a good variety, so I feel like we've tried a lot of new stuff as well. I also think their recipe cards are the most clearly written and easy to follow.  Once you've used Blue Apron a bit they will send you free meals to share with your friends, it's always nice to send someone dinner!  I have a few free meals to share for new customers, if you want one, shoot me an e-mail and I'll send one your way - first come first served basis for what I've currently got, no guarantees.  :)  That said, while it's nice to get food to give away, it would be cool if Blue Apron had a program where we could earn free meals for ourselves too.


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Marley Spoon
Prep time - The meals we got from Marley Spoon were simpler recipes than what we got from other services (like Blue Apron or Green Chef) and therefore, took less time to prep and make.  I would place Marley Spoon somewhere between Blue Apron (prepping a big majority of ingredients) and Gobble (prepping almost none of the ingredients).  In one of my more brilliant mothering moments I had our 7 year old cook one of the Marley Spoon dinners for us (with oversight, of course) and he did great.
Packaging - Overall I thought Marley Spoon did a better job of using less ice packs by keeping the non-refrigerator items (like veggies) on top, then wrapping the perishable items underneath in an extra insulated wrap with the ice.  The non-perishable items were in bags with a sticker label indicating which recipe they were for.  The perishable items were packed together in a plastic bag but there was no sticker.  It was not terrible to figure out.  I did feel like the use of extra plastic to group the perishable items was kind of excessive, but I did keep the zipoloc type bag to re-use it.
Flavor - Well....it was OK.  Overall the dishes filled our tummies but they weren't super tasty or surprisingly good like some that we have gotten from Blue Apron.
Price - I got a free trial from a friend who uses Marley Spoon, so for me it was free.  For a two person box, 3 meals per week it is $61.50, for a family box (2 adults, 2 kids), 3 meals per week, it is $106.80.
Ease of delivery - This is a box service so it is shipped directly to your door in a refrigerated box. Like most of the services, there may be about a 1 week delay from when you place your first order, but after that you will receive the meals weekly (unless you skip or cancel).
Additional deets - Marley Spoon is partnered with Martha Stewart.  This is the only meal service that I'm aware of that is partnering with a TV chef.  Martha is not my fave so that piece was neither here nor there to me.  Like a lot of the other box services, if you change one of your menu choices, it eliminates some others as options.  In this case I ultimately went with the three menu items originally offered.  I should add to this that I picked the family plan and it seemed like the "family" dishes were more geared towards kids tastes.  Two of the three dishes had ground beef, which we don't dislike but also don't eat a lot of, so I staggered the meals so that we weren't getting ground beef 2 days in a row.  The first recipe we tried was the Cottage Meat Pie with Carrot Potato Mash.  This put us off to a bit of a bad start because a worry (and pet peeve) of mine is that, imho, these recipes should pretty much look how they are pictured......

Beef Cottage Pie with Carrot Potato Mash

















.....note the thick layer of mashers over basically the whole dish.  I was provided with 1 regular sized potato and one small potato + 1.5 carrots to pull off this mash (in a 13x9 pan...maybe I was supposed to use an 8x8...idk because the recipe didn't indicate).  Needless to say, there was not nearly enough mash to cover my meat.  Let's just be real, the mash makes this dish.  Who wants to eat a pile of ground beef with peas & carrots?  If you are going to make this dish, I suggest doubling the amount of potatoes (I did).  That said, the box should give you everything you need to make it look like the picture, so throw in an extra potato Martha.
The other two dishes we got were Macaroni & Cheese with Crunchy Salad and Egg Noodles and Meatballs with Sour Cherry Jam and Salad.

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Green Chef
Prep Time - Like you are making your own dinner.  So, you will be chopping, slicing, dicing, zesting, etc.  They have color coded labels for each meal which was helpful.
Packaging - Green Chef packaging is also recyclable and reusable.  I'm still using a ton of the little jars I received in our package which are great for kiddo's lunches.  You can learn more about recycling their packaging here.
Flavor - Good, and the quality is outstanding.  The piece of tuna that they sent us was near perfection.  The overall flavor though was, in my opinion, not as interesting or tasty as some that we have received from Blue Apron.
Price - Green Chef is a bit pricier because their food is certified organic.  You can order 3 meals per week for 2 people or 2 meals per week for 4 people.  The price of the meals depends on the plan you choose (vegetarian, omnivor, vegan, carnivore, Gluten-Free, paleo) and range from $10.49-$14.99 per meal.  If you want to try Green Chef, please use my code: http://greenchef.com/invite/5kb9n8
*Disclaimer - If you use my Green Chef code I'll get $25 when you place your second order, so thanks!
Ease of delivery - Again, a box service so it is shipped directly to your door in a refrigerated box. Like most of the services, there may be about a 1 week delay from when you place your first order, but after that you will receive the meals weekly (unless you skip or cancel).
Additional deets -  I want to re-iterate the quality of this food.  We were seriously amazed at the piece of fish we were sent.  We are food snobs and picky about fish quality in particular, so we were impressed.  I mentioned the color coding of the labels, which I thought was great too.  Green Chef is nice in that it also offers all different meal types, like paleo or gluten-free, which I think is a great service, especially if you are new to cooking with those methods.  Also, the meals looked exactly like the picture when they were done and the portions were generous.

This is the Lemon Herb Tuna I keep raving about


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Gobble
Prep Time - Fast.  The Gobble meals come pre-prepped: veggies chopped, cheese grated, even my pizza onions were caramelized.  They call it a "10 minute dinner", I would say more like 20, but that's pretty good for prep time.
Packaging - Gobble claims to have the most eco-friendly box in the entire meal-kit industry and it definitely seemed that way.  Let's hope so because my dog ate the compostoble ice packs.
Flavor - Pretty good!  The meals we tried were good and satisfying and the portions were generous, but I wouldn't call them excellent or great.
Price - I was given a credit from a fellow mom, so our initial order was around $35.  Gobble meals are $11.95 each, so a bit more than the standard meal delivery service, I assume the higher prices is because the meals are mostly pre-prepped.
Ease of delivery - Again, a box service so it is shipped directly to your door in a refrigerated box. Like most of the services, there may be about a 1 week delay from when you place your first order, but after that you will receive the meals weekly (unless you skip or cancel).

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Additional deets -  A few things here.  The Gobble meals were packed into separate large bags (one bag for each meal) which was helpful.  But the individual ingredients inside each bag were (mostly) not labeled.  For the most part this is no big deal.  However, one of the meals we had was an Indian dish and although I know what Paneer and Haricots Verts are, a lot of people may not.  Strangely, the cilantro was labeled and contained in a plastic box wrapped in bubble wrap.  (For the record, Paneer is a type of cheese and Haricots Verts are green beans....wouldn't it have been easier to just call them green beans?)  There were only a few pictures per recipe card, which also wouldn't necessarily assist in figuring out what was what.  A lot of the Gobble food I received was pre-frozen, so, not as fresh as food we have received from other box services where more prep is required.  Last, one of our meals was a chicken dish.  The chicken came in one package and because it was frozen it looked like one breast when there was supposed to be two.  I e-mailed Gobble multiple times and the only response I got was a blank e-mail in return.  It turns out after defrosting the package there were two chicken breasts, so, no harm done.  I finally received a response from Gobble much later indicating they were having trouble due to the storms in CA.  Well, I live in CA and we had a whole bunch of extra rain this year, but nothing that would have caused your computer to stop working so....

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Hello Fresh
Prep Time - Like Blue Apron and Green Chef - like you are making your own dinner; you will be chopping, slicing, dicing, zesting, etc.  Each meal mostly comes in it's own separate box, which is helpful and the boxes fit nicely in a french door fridge.
Packaging - Pretty much the same as the other services, except with the individual boxing mentioned above.  They also have a handy recycling guide on their website.
Flavor - Pretty good.  That said, we personally found the Blue Apron food to be more fresh than Hello Fresh, so because of that Hello Fresh didn't taste quite as good as some of the competitors.
Price - Hello Fresh pricing is $9.99 per serving for the Classic Plan for 2-4 adults.  I believe I tested it out with a promo code for my first go-round - these are easy to find on line or even direct from the site...or below.  :)
Ease of delivery - Again, a box service so it is shipped directly to your door in a refrigerated box. Like most of the services, there may be about a 1 week delay from when you place your first order, but after that you will receive the meals weekly (unless you skip or cancel).
Additonal deets - Pet peeve here but: the recipe cards are written in a paragraph format (as opposed to a list) and in my opinion that is pain to read when you are cooking (with a toddler, a hungry grade-schooler, a dog and whatever else is in your kitchen).  I have heard more than one person say that fish they received from Hello Fresh smelled fishy.  We did not have this issue, but it is concerning to me.

If you want to try HelloFresh for $40 off, please use my code by clicking the following link: SARAHLUQ
*Disclaimer - if you use my HelloFresh code, I get $20, so thanks!


So friends, that is the skinny on meal delivery!  Have you tried it?  What are your favorites?  Tell me more!

♥ TCW

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POPSUGAR Must Have Box - August 2017

Source: POPSUGAR MustHave


Hey!  Have you seen POPSUGAR's monthly Must Have Box?

#MustHaveBox is a monthly box subscription that contains all kinds of surprise goodness.  I was fortunate enough to have POPSUGAR send me a complimentary box this month and I'm loving all of the good stuff inside.  (Don't tell The Cyclist but I ate all the cookies before he got home!)  The August box was curated by POPSUGAR's founder and team of editors to be filled with all of their faves in celebration of POPSUGAR MustHave's 5th birthday!

Even better, POPSUGAR will be hosting a bunch of giveaways this month!  You can qualify to win even if you are already a current subscriber and if you're new!  And if you're new.....

Include the discount code PARTY to get $10 off your first box!  (Expires 8/31.)

If you are already subscribing you can still sign up before the end of the month for a chance to win some sweet prizes from Pehr Designs, First Aid Beauty, Kendra Scott, Tarte cosmetics or Cambridge Satchel Co.

So yes, this is a sponsored post, but like always, I only share the things I think are great.  This box would make an amazing gift for a friend, or for yourself!  Who doesn't love a good surprise in the mail?  Check out what's been in some of the past boxes below and sign up for your subscription here.

Source: POPSUGAR MustHave Past Boxes


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Photos on Canvas



Hey there, happy to say I have a giveaway for you all today!

I was recently contacted by the Canvas Factory to host a giveaway here on the blog.  They generously sent me a code to order my own canvas free of charge*.  I mostly struggled over what photo to choose.  I narrowed it down to these three:



































and eventually picked this one....


See the note below regarding photo cred**

























I don't know about you guys, but I love feet pictures.  We ended up with the best wedding photos but I didn't want some giant picture of our faces.  I think this one is such a neat reminder of the day without being super portrait-y.  It was fun going through these pics too.  I love the photo of me kissing Nick's cheek!  I hadn't remembered it until I went back to sort through and find a picture for the canvas.

Anyway.  Once I had the photo picked, I went to the website to upload it.  I found the whole process easy-peasy and the site very user friendly.  About a day after ordering I got an e-mail indicating they had made and adjustment and asked me to approve it.  I couldn't tell what they did, so I replied and found out that there was a blank spot on one of the edges they way I had set it up, so they fixed that.  The canvas then shipped.  This was the only minute downfall, because it took some time to get to me.  I believe it came all the way from China (full disclosure because I know some of you prefer to buy items made in the USA).

When the canvas did arrive it was wrapped to be sufficiently protected, but used as little packaging as possible, which I thought was great.  The quality and colors look amazing.  The standard canvas size is 16x20 which is what I received.


Now I just have to find a place to hang it!

Do you have a photo you would like to see on canvas?  Well good, because Canvas Factory has generously offered a giveaway for my readers (that's you!).  The giveaway is open to US and Canadian residents only (sorry to all of my friends on other parts of the globe).  Enter here:

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Thank you for your entries!  The winner has been notified.

*So yes, this is a sponsored post.
**Sadly our wedding photog does not do photos anymore!  But, she does sell LLR, so you should check out her shop here.

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On Cloth Diapering


Holy poop I'm writing a post!  And ironically it's about poop!  OK, well not poop, but diapers, cloth diapers. Let's talk about them mmkay?

So, last time you really saw Syd she was just a wee-one.  Now this big girl is going to school!


I know everyone says this but it really is crazy how fast they grow.

But let's get back to those cloth diapers!  So yes, we use cloth diapers.  When the idea of using cloth first came up I had a "no way!" gut instinct.  I knew cloth diapers had changed greatly overtime, but I also had heard of inserts...the thought of pulling out a poopy insert was not at all appealing to me.  And the laundry seemed like it would be crazy.  Let's be real, we both work full-time, could we really do this?

Our good friends had a baby 5 months before us and got on the cloth diaper bandwagon before they delivered. Their friends gave them the low-down and once I learned a little more about it, we basically copied what they did.

We use bumGenius Freetimes.  These are an "all-in-one" style diaper, meaning the inserts are sewn in, so you don't have to put any in or take any out.  Let's just stop for a minute first though.  There is a ton of cloth diaper lingo out there.  I don't know it all yet.  In fact, I didn't know what an "all-in-one" was until after we bought our clothies.  For CD (that's Cloth Diaper, so I guess I do know some stuff) newbies, I highly recommend joining the Facebook group Fluff Love & CD Science.  There is a ton of good info and helpful people there with all kinds of CD knowledge.  In addition to that, I recommend looking for local CD pages and CD swap pages.  If you are in Sacramento, you can join Sacramento Cloth Diaper Swap.

So back to those diapers.  This is a good image of the diapers we use.  The "inserts" are sewn in at the edge and work like two overlaying flaps inside the diaper.


Don't quote me on this, but CD's with inserts that can be removed are often called "pocket" diapers.  The really great part of BumGenius diapers is that they grow with your baby.  For the first three months we used disposables, then made the switch.  Admittedly, the diapers are a little bulky at first, but really, who cares?  

Now, let's do some math.

Typically I'd say most people use about 7-8 diapers per day.  This is comes out to roughly 225 diapers per month.  Holy crap!

Let's say you are buying your Diapers on Amazon Prime Subscribe and Save:
Seventh Generation* diapers = $41.46 for 96 diapers or 0.44 per diaper.  This is $99 per month for diapers.

Huggies* diapers = $36.46 for 192 diapers or 0.19 per diaper.
This is $42.75 per month for diapers.

Assuming your kiddo will potty train at about 3, you will spend about $3,564 on Seventh Generation diapers and $1,539 on Huggies.

The bumGenius Freetimes are $19.95 each.  "Ouch", you say.  Well....not really.  We have 21 diapers.  Had we gone out and bought them all ourselves it would have cost $418.95.  The reality is we probably spent about $150 on the diapers, the rest were gifts (or purchased with gift cards).  But let's pretend we did spend $418.95.

Comparing to Seventh Generation, our CD's paid for themselves in the first 5 months.
Comparing to Huggies, our CD's paid for themselves in the first 10 months.

Looking at the period 3 months to 3 years (potty trained) CD's are by far cheaper:
$418.95 vs. $1,539 or $3,564.  

This does not take into account several other important factors - 
  • We really only spent about $150 and the rest were gifted
  • You can use your CD's again for your next baby
  • You can sell your used CD's on a swap page
  • You can cut down the up-front cost by buying your CD's used or receiving them as gifts
  • You can gift your used CD's to a friend or someone in need
There really is no arguing the cost savings.  Not to mention the 10,800 diapers you would be depositing in your local landfill.  Seriously.  10,800 diapers.

10,800 is a shitton of diapers




So now let's talk about cleaning these things.  Syd was a breast fed baby, so poops were really no big thing until she started eating solid food at 6 months.  I'll just be real, from there the poops just get progressively worse. But that's good because you get progressively used to them.  It is absolutely imperative that you get a sprayer attachment for your toilet.  We use the bumGenius sprayer pictured below.  (Here is a similar sprayer* on Amazon.)



They are kinda pricey but worth it.  I scored mine brand new on a mom's group for around $10.  This is really a must have item if you are cloth diapering.  I have traveled with our diapers and it is kind of impossible to get sticky poop off without the sprayer.  So get the sprayer.

We also have the Diaper Dekor* diaper bin and we use these reusable liners*.  We have two of the liners and that works for us in our laundry rotation.

Before we talk about laundry, let's talk about something I have never seen addressed in a cloth diaper post (seriously, I've googled it).  So your kid poops.  You take off the poop diaper and clean up your kid.  I'm guessing your changing table and diaper pail are in your kids room.  So you take the diaper into the bathroom and spray the poop out (another glamorous part of parenthood, right?).    

Now what?  No, really.  Now what?  You have a drippy, kinda poopy, wet cloth diaper.  What's the best method to get it from your bathroom back into the diaper pail?  This is what we do...and before I tell you, please to you extra super granola people who may be reading, let me just preface this with a "simmer down": We drop the diaper in a plastic bag, tie it off, walk it back to the diaper pail and drop it in.  Yes extra super crunchy granola people.  A plastic bag.

So.  Even though we are doing good for the environment by using CD's, we are doing bad by using a plastic bag to transport the dirty CD back to the bin.  The solution to this would be to buy more wet bags, which I haven't done.  Please accept this post as my admitted suckiness to the environment.  For the record, I also should buy these reusable trash bags* and then we will have cut a bunch of plastic out of our lives.

But wait.  What are wet bags?  Wet bags are these nifty bags that you can put your dirty CD's in.  They contain the smell and the wetness which is great.  My favorite is this off-brand one* I found on Amazon.

Now let's talk about the nitty-gritty of laundry.  I do a diaper load every other day.  At one point our diapers were getting a funky smell, so I consulted the Fluff Love & CD Science page and was given a particular washing routine for our particular washer/dryer and diaper type.  Also, we were using the environmentally friendly Kirkland detergent from Costco, but we have since switched to Tide.  We were on vacation and bought Tide at the grocery and it just worked much better on the diapers.  Last, we line dry our CD's as much as possible.  The sun is great at bleaching out any spots (that said, we rarely end up with spots after washing) and is of course, more environmentally friendly than using the dryer.  


While we're at it, let's also talk about diapers and daycare.  Our school "accepts" cloth diapers.  In our search for a school only 1 told me no so they got crossed off the list.  I bring 8 diapers on Monday morning with a wet bag. The school puts dirties into the wet bag (and poops in a plastic bag inside the wet bag) and sends them home each day.  I return each morning with the amount of diapers they sent home the prior day.  On Friday's I bring them all home.  This seems like a lot but it is really no big deal.

I want to be honest in this post and mention that, in our opinion, cloth diapers are an overall better choice health-wise as well.  I do not want to start a debate about what is better for all babies.  What is best for your baby is whatever you decide.  That said:  There is a lot of different info out there on what chemicals are in disposable diapers.  I have not done a bunch of research on this but I will say sentences like these really freak me out:
Diaper companies aren't required to list what's in their product on the packaging,
Sodium polyacrylate is supposed to stay in the core of the diaper. But sometimes it leaks through the lining, leaving small transparent crystals on the baby's skin.
To avoid any of these ingredients, look for diapers that are dye-free, perfume-free, chlorine-free, and so on. 
Source

The chemicals in some disposable diapers definitely helped us in making our decision to use CD's.

If you are still sticking with me on this very long post, let's talk about CD vs. Disposables in regard to the wet factor.  I don't think there is an argument about disposable diapers being more absorbent.  They are.  They also seem to keep babies much more dry, this is at least in part, because of the chemicals they contain.   So, with CD's you are changing your baby more often and your baby is feeling wetness.

Some people may view this as a negative but to me it is a positive.  I've been through 2 kiddo's in diapers, one in the "dye-free, perfume-free, chlorine-free" disposables mentioned above and the other in cloth.  We've had a total of 2 diaper rashes between those two kids.  So in my very unscientific study, I've found that CD's or natural disposables are better for the rash factor.   When we had a rash we used Boudreaux's Butt Paste*^ (the natural version in the green tube is safe for CD's) and it works great.

Another positive of the wet factor is that CD or natural disposable diapered kids tend to potty train faster. Again, another totally unscientific study on my part.  However, because these kids are feeling wet, they are recognizing it and wanting a change.  Syd tells us and daycare when her diaper is wet, which is very helpful. So, at 22 months we have started potty training!  Though I will be glad to make a big dent in the CD laundry, I'm admittedly a little sad to start saying goodbye to our CD's.

I hope this post was helpful!  If you have any questions, please ask in the comments.

♥ TCW

NOTE - The Amazon prices listed were current at the time of this post.  Amazon prices are constantly changing, so the links may lead you to prices different that what I used.  Hopefully when you click the link the prices have dropped.

*Affiliate link - if you click this link and buy something from Amazon it won't cost you a penny more but it will help support the blog, so thank you!
^Bourdreaux's kindly gifted me a couple of tubes of their product for this post.  That said, I only post about things I actually use and their product was specifically recommended on the Fluff Love page for CD's.  It works great.








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MINTED Holiday Cards + Family Pics!

Hey everyone!  Have you purchased your holiday cards yet?  I am pumped to be partnering with Minted again this year.  We have created our cards with Minted for the last three years and I am always so happy with the results.

The 2013 card is probably my favorite ever.  It makes me crack up every time I see it.  We had to convince Levi that he needed to have serious face for the picture.
Last year Minted helped me to combine our Christmas card with our birth announcement, which was awesome because being a new Mom at Christmas is #overwhelming.

And this year we are doubly pumped to share a sneak peak of both our Minted card and a new family photo....


.....TA-DA!  We just had our pictures taken by Barbara Brooks and she did an amazing job.  That tent in the photo, she made it!  She was great with the kids and we got a ton of really beautiful photos.  If you are in the Sacramento area, I highly recommend her!

Our Minted cards this year are foil pressed (read: fancy schmancy), I cannot wait to see the hard copy version. Minted has so many unique options for cards and the customer service is outstanding.  They will also address your cards for you!  Not. Even. Kidding.  It's as simple as downloading their address template, filling it out (or in my case, cut/pasting from my own template), then uploading to the site. Making changes is super easy too.  So this year all we have to do is stamp these babies and send them out, which is great.  Also, Minted sends a proof, so you can review your card before printing.  I made a couple of boo-boo's on mine, so I was able to fix these thankfully.

You are not too late for holiday cards, so go over to Minted and get yours now, they are constantly running great deals!  And if you are reading this on December 25th, you still aren't too late, Minted has a plenty of fabulous New Years card options as well.

Welcome to December!!

♥ TCW

**P.S.  This is a sponsored post.  Minted gave me a credit to use towards our holiday cards this year.  That being said, I will continue to order cards from Minted, credit or not, because they are awesome.  In fact, I did just that last year.

P.S.S.  It's Cyber Monday and Minted is running deals!



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Mesa Falls - Island Park, ID {take a scenic byway}


Hey friends.  I've got more goods from our Idaho/Montana/Wyoming adventure today.  I was wondering, how many times have you passed a Scenic Byway sign and just flown right by it?  I think most of us do this honestly, in our haste, we tend to want to get where we're going, thus missing some pretty cool stuff.

If you're on vacay, I suggest you might spend sometime to investigate one of these signs....you never know what you might find......


.....like an incredibly beautiful set of waterfalls.

This is Upper Mesa Falls; farther down the river you will find Lower Mesa Falls.  Upper Mesa Falls has a paid entrance (I believe $5 per car) and well maintained paved paths as well as several overlooks.  The views are spectacular.



According to local legend, some kids actually decided it would be a good idea to go over the upper falls in a kayak years ago.....they survived.....and it looks like people still go down the lower falls....



The gift shop/museum used to have a news article posted about the kids on the upper falls, but they took it down as to not encourage any other potential Darwin Award winners.

Via


Speaking of the gift/shop museum, it's worth taking a peek.  Especially the back room which has a ton of different animal hides and skeletons that you can actually touch.  Be careful though, per the sign, certain things are not to be touched - if you do you will be "shot at dawn".  Levi touched one of these untouchable items - after I read him the sign I think he was terrified to get up to early the next morning.





On our way in we met this guy on the path and he quickly attached himself to Levi's shoe.  Those guys are sticky!!  We had trouble getting him off.



So next time you are out and about, don't pass the scenic byway, you are probably missing something good.

Here is how our adventure went for this mini trip:

From Island Park heading South on Hwy 20, we actually passed (I know) the Scenic Byway sign and first headed into St. Anthony to grocery shop at Broulim's.*

We waved to the Teton's...


....and after grocery shopping and eating the best deli sandwich of our lives, we headed back East on Highway 20 and this time did not pass the Scenic Byway sign.

Then we turned off on ID-47 N toward Mesa Falls.

Here is a map of Mesa Falls:

Via


*Side nugget of info, if you are going to stay in the area, Broulim's is a great little store - more selection than Dave's in Ashton and cheaper than the stores in West Yellowstone and they made the best deli sandwich of our lives.

So, enjoy your Scenic Byway adventures, you never know what you might find!

♥TCW




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How to Road Trip with Kiddos



So we recently returned from our summertime Idaho, Montana, Wyoming adventure.  Living in Northern California, it is a 14 hour drive for us to reach our destination.

Back when we were only 2 plus a big dog, we made a bed in the back of our Subaru wagon and one of us slept while the other drove.  We drove straight through, leaving at 2 a.m..  Oh the freedom!

Two years ago when we took our then 4 year old, our Subaru wagon still worked for us, though no bed in the back....and we still managed to do it in a straight shot, leaving at 2 a.m....although this did occur at hour 13...


This year, with a baby and a now 6 year old some changes had to be made.  First off, we bought a new vehicle.  I'm obviously not suggesting the way to take a road trip with your kids is to go out and buy a new car, but we knew it was coming....in fact, when we went on our Father's Day adventure with only 1 small bag each, a small cooler and baby's ultra small travel crib* and no dog, we had zero room left over.  Hence, new car, or in our case truck.

So, Tip #1 - Have enough space to be comfortable.
This is real folks.  It is hard enough being crammed in a car with kids and car seats and dogs and stuff for a long, long time.  Comfort is your friend.
 

Tip #2 - Be healthy.  In our case this means: don't find out your 9 month old is allergic to raspberries the day before you leave so that then you are driving with a 9 month old stuck in a car seat with a head to toe itchy rash.  :(


The only good part about this was the cure was Benadryl, which meant she slept basically the whole time.

Tip #3 - SNACKS!  For real.  Snacks are required for any road trip, no?  But snacks are especially required with kids.  You can avoid multiple stops by having snacks at the ready for when your little one's get hungry - or you do.  We had granola bars, apples, bananas yogurt, sandwich food and more.  For the babe, we used these* and they were a lifesaver!  Way easier to feed a munchkin in a car seat with a squeeze pouch than food in a jar....and way easier than breastfeeding said munchkin in a car seat.  #truth




Tip #4 - Entertainment.  We are pretty TV minimal in our house, especially for the kiddos.  This year, we broke down though and set our 6 year old up so he could watch Wild Kratt's on the drive.  He was in hog heaven.  While Levi watched his show, Nick and I listened to Podcasts.  Some of our favorites are: RadioLab, This American Life, The Moth, Criminal, Love & Radio and Strangers.  (We also loved Serial, but finished it long ago.)  I think we all agree the entertainment breaks made the long trip a little better for everyone.



Tip #5 - Stops.  So, when you decide to drive a long way with kiddos, be prepared to make stops.  Gone are the days of driving straight through with only potty and gas breaks! We suggest planning a couple of long-ish stops to break it up.  With a planned stop you can tell the little ones, "we'll be stopping in 20 minutes to eat lunch and hang out" which seems to settle ants-in-the-pants.  Also, depending on how long your trip is, you might want to make overnight stops.  Our trip was 14 hours, so we stayed the night in the middle both going and coming home.  (I'll share our whole route below.)  On the way out, we stopped for lunch at a park in Battle Mountain, NV.  I think it was Elquist Park, but I'm not positive.


Parks make good stopping places because the kids (and dog) can play and they have picnic tables for lunch making and eating....so a free stop is always a good one.


Tip #6 Enjoy the scenery.  It's a big world out there.  Find the beauty in your surroundings.


And apparently you take less pictures on the way home because you're sad to leave vacation.  :(


Tip #6 Know Your Route.  To be honest I mostly just stare out the window.  The hubs handles the route.  Here was ours:

Sac to Idaho:
Day 1
Sacramento to Reno via I-80 E
Breakfast at Jack's Cafe in Sparks
Reno to Battle Mountain - stop at the park (above)
{Change from I-80 E to US-93 N in Wells}
Battle Mountain to Twin Falls
{Change from US-93 N to I-84 E in Twin Falls}
Stay at Best Western Twin Falls
Dinner at Jaker's Bar & Grill (we got it to go and ate in our hotel room)

Day 2
Twin Falls to Pocatello
{I-84 E to I-86 E}
Costco for groceries
Avoid hailstorm by hanging out under Costco gas canopy.  Thank you Costco.
Pocatello to Island Park
{I-86 E to I-15 N to Hwy 20 E}
Say hi to the Tetons as you pass by.
Arrive at Cabin.

Idaho to Sac:
Day 1
Island Park to Twin Falls via US-20 W
{US-20 W to I-15 S to I-86 W to I-84 W}
Continue to Elko
{I-84 W to US-93 S to I-80 W}
Stay in Elko at Best Western
Eat dinner at Machi's Saloon & Grill
People watch all the biker's headed to Sturgis from your hotel window.

Day 2
Elko to Lovelock via I-80 W
Stop at the Courthouse in Lovelock to eat lunch
Enjoy the LoveLock/Lovelock art display

Lovelock to Truckee via I-80 W
Stop in Truckee and eat at Marg's Taco Bistro
Truckee to Sacramento via I-80 W
Arrive home.
Be sad that vacation is over.

So those are our tips, we hope you enjoy your next road trip!!

Oh guess what, some friends of ours just road-tripped with kiddos too, here are Amber's tips!

♥TCW


*affiliate link





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