This shop has been compensated by Collective Bias, Inc. and its advertiser. All opinions are mine alone. #NaturalGoodness #CollectiveBias

When I had the opportunity to write up a post with Tom's of Maine, I jumped at the chance because girls love their toothpaste. It's the only toothpaste that they have used and they don't like anything else!  It's also the perfect throwback to this amazing video that my husband created a few years ago (before our kitchen remodel..yikes!) where he raps about our favorite toothpaste brand:

I love Tom's products because I trust the ingredients that they use. I love that you can find such a high quality natural brand at main stream stores like Walmart. I picked up a few extra flavors that we have never tried (the girls' favorite is Silly Strawberry).

I also grabbed Antiplaque & Whitening Peppermint Fluoride Free Toothpaste, Whole Care® Peppermint and Spearmint Fluoride Toothpaste, and Unisex Long Lasting Apricot Deodorant ( I have never tried the deodorant and thought I would give it a shot!)

To celebrate earth month with our earth friendly toothpaste, I made some tiny toothbrush timers (say that 10 times fast) to encourage my girls to brush for a full 2 minutes. They turned out so cute and the girls love them!

Here's what you will need:

Fill your jars up about 3/4 of the way with water

Add a full tube of glitter glue as well as about 1 tsp of fine glitter.

If you are worried about your child taking the lid off, you can add a bead of super glue to the inside of the lid before putting it on.  Shake up the jar until everything is fully mixed.

The glitter and glue will SLOWLY move around as it settles to the bottom. It's super fun for kids to watch. I timed it and it takes almost exactly 2 minutes for all of the glue and glitter to completely settle to the bottom.

So, when it's toothbrushing time, they can shake up their jars and watch as they brush their teeth. When the glitter is all at the bottom, they know it's time to stop.

Pretty fun, huh? I got this idea from the time out bottles I've seen on Pinterest and thought a tiny version would be the perfect toothbrush timer.

What are your favorite natural hygiene products to use?  Click here to get a $1.00 off coupon for Tom's of Maine toothpaste at Walmart!

DIY Velcro Chore Charts

This shop has been compensated by Collective Bias, Inc. and its advertiser. All opinions are mine alone. #PalmoliveMultiSurface #CollectiveBias 

 Now that warmer days are upon us, the itch to do some spring cleaning is real.  I am always looking for ways to get my girls involved in cleaning. I know we've slacked off on having some regular chores so I decided to revamp our cleaning job system and came up with a super easy DIY chore chart! I hung the charts to create a little chore command center for the girls.

 These charts are really so simple to make and I love them because it's easy for even a toddler to remove the chore tags and move them over to the "done" column.

I also discovered a great new product from Palmolive® (Palmolive® Multi Surface) that makes cleaning so easy for kids because it's one product that cleans multiple surfaces. But first, here's how I made the chore charts!

I picked up these cute chalkboard clip boards at Michaels. You could use any old clip board and paint it with chalk board paint or even just keep it plain. You will also need some circle tags, self adhesive velcro and wooden letters.

 Use a permanent marker to draw your chores on the tags. I drew pictures for Pearl and Jane but wrote out the chores for Lula.

On the back of the tags, stick on one part of the velcro. 

Attach the coordinating side of velcro to the chart. You want to make some rows on both sides of the chart so that you can have a "to do" and "done" column.

I glued on an initial letter at the bottom for each girl. Draw on your "to do" and "done" with chalk.

I hung my charts with command hooks and they stay great!

They are at perfect eye level for each girl and now they are so excited about cleaning!

To make their chores even easier, I picked up some Palmolive® Multi Surface dish soap at Walmart.

Palmolive® Multi Surface eliminates 99.9% of bacteria (*staphylococcus aureus, Salmonella enterica and E. coli ((157:H7)) from dishes and hard non porous kitchen surfaces. We mixed it with water and put it in a spray bottle.  The girls can spray down the counters themselves and wipe down with sponges!

Then they can race over to their charts and move over the chore tags to the "done" column.

Exciting stuff!

Do you have chore charts for your kids? I would love to hear any tips and tricks! And be sure to check out Palmolive® Multi Surface to make your life a little easier!

Give Extra Printable

This shop has been compensated by Collective Bias, Inc. and its advertiser. All opinions are mine alone. #ExtraGumMoments #CollectiveBias

I can't believe it's November and Thanksgiving season is upon us! This time of year always sneaks up on me. I always have the best intentions to make gifts or hand out thoughtful notes to people in my life but I'm usually playing catch up and fail to carry out my plans. This year I was thinking about how I rarely do anything special to say "Thank You" to the people in our life that work so hard, specifically teachers...let alone around Thanksgiving. Wouldn't it be a great tradition to start finding small ways to thank the people in our lives for simply doing an excellent job? So, I created this fun printable that you can give along with some Extra gum.

It's the perfect "just because" little gift to hand out to anyone! I decided to make the printable a little coloring book tag that kids can color to personalize it. I had my 6 year old help with coloring a few and she loved it. I know she will love thinking of a few people to help me hand these out to. I know I mentioned teachers earlier, but what about the people who probably never receive a "thank you"? My daughter and I thought about the mail carrier, firemen, the workers at our local YMCA, trash collecter, grocery store clerk and police officers. There are so many other people that we come into contact with everyday and probably don't even know their names.

Find some Extra gum. I thought the mint chocolate chip flavor looked yummy!

Color in the tag or leave it blank. Colored pencils work best. And then punch a hole in the corner.

Then, tie it on! I found my black and white ribbon in the Target dollar spot.

Want to make your own? Go grab your free printable here!

For more ideas about how to give Extra Gum as a gift, visit their Pinterest page!

Black Bean and Pumpkin Chili + A $25 Target GIVEAWAY!

Content and/or other value provided by our partner, Target. All opinions are my own.


Crisp autumn evenings are perfect for a date night in! Reid and I always do what we call a "late night date night" where we cook up something yummy to eat and watch a movie after the girls are in bed. It's a great way to get in that date night without getting a babysitter! Recently I concocted the perfect fall meal...Pumpkin and Black Bean Chili!

I know, it sounds a bit strange, but it actually turned out so yummy! It has really healthy ingredients and the pumpkin makes the broth really thick and creamy. It's also versatile, so I'm sure you could add in anything you wanted to make it your own!

And if you are looking for a winter wedding gift idea, how cute would it be to include a "date night in"? You could include a few items from Target as well as a pretty note card with this recipe written on it.

Crock-Pot® 6 Qt. Designer Series Smart-Pot
 Crock-Pot® Programmable Slow Cooker
 KitchenAid Ultra Power 4.5 Qt Stand Mixer
Target Seasonal Products

Ready for the recipe?

Pumpkin and Black Bean Chili (adapted from this recipe)
1 lb ground turkey
1 can black beans
1 can diced tomatoes (14.5 oz)
1 can pumpkin puree
3 cups chicken broth
1/2 onion, diced
2 Tbs olive oil
1 clove garlic, minced
a pinch of cinnamon
1.5 Tbs chili powder
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp cumin

Saute turkey, onion and garlic in olive oil until turkey is cooked through. Add the other ingredients. Cook in a crockpot on low for 3-4 hours or simmer on the stove for 30 minutes. Serve with shredded cheese, sour cream or any other desired toppings!

And now for the giveaway!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Van Gogh Inspired Paintings Featuring Target's Toy Emporium

This shop has been compensated by Collective Bias, Inc. and its advertiser. All opinions are mine alone. #TargetToys #CollectiveBias

As a former elementary art teacher, I was so excited to team up with Target and play with some of their Kid Made Modern art supplies. These can be found in stores or at Target's Toy Emporium available only online.  Just the packaging alone is enough to catch my eye, but the art products are super high quality.  I came up with a Van Gogh inspired painting to do with my Kindergarten and Preschool age daughters using these fun products.

I wasn't sure how it would go over since I used to do similar projects with 2nd and 3rd graders, but they loved it and I think they turned out super cute.  It also goes to show that pretty much kids of all ages could do this little painting project and love it.

These were the Kid Made Modern products that I chose:

You will need:
Heavy white paper
Construction paper
Acrylic paint
Crayons

First, I showed Van Gogh's Starry Nigh to my girls and just talked with them about what kids of lines, shapes and colors they saw.

Then, with crayons, they made the moon and stars.

Lighter colors work better in the end,  but also let them get creative with it! Next, they added swirls and dashed lines to mimic the brush strokes in the original painting.

I mixed some of the shimmer shine acrylic paint with water and let the kids paint over their entire picutre. The crayon creates a resist and shows through the paint.

The colorful night skies look so pretty once they are completely painted.

Lastly, Lula cut out some construction paper to create the silhouette of a landscape at the bottom. Jane left this part out (shes only 4). So an older child could get much more detailed with this step or a young one can skip it!

The girls had so much fun learning about Van Gogh and playing with new art supplies.

Visit the Pinterest board below for more inspiring and creative ideas!