Most of the things I read, buy and try I find out through other people’s suggestions both in real life and online. I like hearing about books, podcasts, products, recipes and tips that others have found helpful and trying them out for myself. So I thought I’d start sharing a roundup of my favorite things from the past two months.

Especially now, when you may be in need of some little things that bring you happiness. Hopefully you’ll find something to read, listen to or try out too!

Recipes & food

• Simply Real Eating cookbook: I purchased this cookbook a couple weeks ago and have already tried 4 recipes from it. Two dinners and one salad that we all loved: Broccoli, Basil, and Goat Cheese Pizzas (page 184), Turkey Sausage and Veggie Polenta Bowls (page 190) and The Fall Salad (page 124). I’m excited to try more too.
• This Peanut Butter Apple Cinnamon Chia Oatmeal has been on repeat. The girls and I love it!
• Iced Green Tea: This has been such a simple luxury in the afternoons, making a cup of green tea and pouring it into a big glass of ice. Yum. I love the Yogi Tea Green Tea Super Antioxidant.

Kiddo stuff

• GoNoodle: These videos are super silly but the girls have been in to them. The videos focus on movement and mindfulness, great to get wiggles out or calm down a bit.
• Khan Academy: For parents now homeschooling, we have been using Khan Academy for Leah (she’s 5), and have been really impressed with it. It has interactive learning games that she really enjoys and they’re really simple to follow. It has been a really good resource for us.

Easter basket goodies

• Matching pajamas: One of my favorite things to put in the girls’ Easter baskets is matching pajamas. It’s surprisingly hard to find matching pjs in all three of the girls sizes, that aren’t super expensive, but I found ones with similar space patterns you’ll love. I ordered these for Jordan and these for Raegan and Leah from Old Navy.
• My girls all love the Princess in Black book series. They’re chapter books that also have pictures, and the story is fun: Princess Magnolia turns into the Princess in Black to fight off monsters from Monster Land. It’s a really fun series.
• Bubbles, play-doh, chalk and slime. I’ve been trying to think of more practical things we’ll be using now that we’re home, and all three of my girls play with these things.

Random favorites

• Family walks: We’ve been trying to get outside as much as possible and one of our favorite things has been doing family walks before or after dinner. We do a loop around the block, the girls run and Alex and I get to sometimes actually have a conversation together without being interrupted 5x. 🙂
• Citrus diffuser blend: I’ve always loved citrus scents and lately I’ve been diffusing orange and lemon together and it’s another little luxury that makes the house smell really fresh. I buy individual Plant Therapy essential oils and have been using the Sweet Orange and Lemon a lot lately. This is the diffuser that I use.

Purchases

• Compost bin: We have chickens and feed them the leftover food scraps from our meals. Before we bought this, we kept using a bowl and left it on the counter … sometimes it would smell and it always dirtied a bowl. So I bought this one to fit under the sink and we love it. I love that it has a lid, is easy to clean and has a handle so the girls can carry it out to the chicken coop. It’s a great food scrap holder if you have chickens or a compost.
• Winc Wine delivery: I’ve always loved the idea of becoming a winery wine club member, but don’t like that it’s limited to a specific winery. So for Christmas, I bought Alex a monthly wine subscription through Winc, and after a few months of it, we’re really enjoying it. You can rate the wines you try so that the deliveries are more likely something you’ll enjoy. You can also select (or be surprised by) your wines and choose how many bottles of white or red. Their customer service is also really great. Plus, the wine is delivered so no stepping into the market. 🙂 If you sign up, here’s a code that will get you $22 off your first order!

Here are more of some of my favorite things too. Hopefully you’ll find something interesting to check out or try. Let me know if you do, or if you have any favorite finds too. 🙂