4 Nut and Dairy Free Ideas for School Lunch

By sunshineandholly on July 20, 2018

This post may contain affiliate links. Purchasing through them helps support this website. (Click on the pictures to shop the links.)

Disclaimer: I was provided with free product from Stuck on You in return for my honest review. All thoughts an opinions are my own.

I know we’re still deep in the thick of summer, especially those of us here in the south where the temperature is way above “glistening” and on to full “sweating.” But back-to-school time will be here before we know it! My son is starting Kindergarten this year and I’m so excited for him. He’s going to an amazing charter school with a wonderful community of teachers and parents. We’ve already had a couple of play-dates and a family picnic this summer to get to know people.

His new school is nut-free, and we’ve also cut out almost all dairy from our diet. So school lunches have been on my brain. My son eats a peanut butter and jelly sandwich almost every single day. (In fact, when he was 2, his teacher at preschool told me he cried that day during lunch when he saw he had a ham sandwich instead of peanut butter!) Needless to say, I’ve been preparing him so that he’ll know he won’t get to have his beloved pb&j at school anymore, but he can have it at home! And I’ve been wracking my brain trying to think of healthy, filling school lunches that don’t include dairy or nuts.

Here are a few ideas I’ve come up with so far:

4 Nut and Dairy Free Ideas for School Lunch

Mediterranean favors fill this lunch box. My kids love hummus almost as much as I do, so I know this lunch will be a hit.

Favorite Funny Thanksgiving T-Shirts

By sunshineandholly on November 17, 2017

This post contains affiliate links. Purchasing through them helps support this website.

There are so many cute Thanksgiving themed outfits for babies. Especially the “first Thanksgiving” outfits – adorable! (Take a look at this one and this one. So cute!) And I still have no problem finding cute little Thanksgiving dresses for Maddie to wear to celebrate the holiday.

But where are all the cute boy Thanksgiving clothes?! I have the hardest time finding any!

So a few years ago, I started a fun tradition of getting Graham a funny Thanksgiving t-shirt to wear for Turkey day. Here are a few from past Thanksgivings. (Excuse the terrible quality of these pictures. This was BTB – before the blog.)

Favorite Funny Thanksgiving T-Shirts:

Caramel Apple Slab Pie with Autumn Glory Apples

By sunshineandholly on November 15, 2017

This recipe for Caramel Apple Slab Pie with Autumn Glory Apples was sponsored by Autumn Glory apples, but all thoughts and opinions are my own. #autumngloryapple

My favorite season is autumn. The weather is perfect, there are so many fun outdoor activities going on, and so many opportunities to spend time with friends and family. And of course, there’s tons of amazing fall food! From soups, to pies, to warm crock-pot meals, autumn is definitely all about delicious comfort food.

One of my favorite fall comfort foods is apple pie. Apples are amazing in autumn – they’re at their peak of flavor, and they imitate the autumn weather – crisp and sweet. This autumn, here in Atlanta, a new variety of apples is headed our way. Autumn Glory apples are rich with the fall flavors of sweet caramel and warm cinnamon. They’re perfect for snacking, slicing for a cheese platter, or baking in a warm apple pie. My kids love them too, and while they usually only take a few bites of an apple and leave the rest sitting on the counter, they gobble up entire Autumn Glory apples!

Read more…

How to Prepare a Fully Stocked Medicine Box

By sunshineandholly on November 13, 2017

This shop has been compensated by Collective Bias, Inc., Breathe Right, DIAL®, Halls, Kleenex, Theraflu and TYLENOL®. All opinions are mine alone. #HappilyStocked #CollectiveBias

Where there are kids, there are germs. All the parents out there know what I’m talking about! In the fall and winter, someone is almost always sick in our house. The kids bring home so many germs from school and we end up passing around all different types of sicknesses and ailments. I do my best to prevent sickness by making sure the kids are washing their hands and not having any play dates with children that are recovering from an illness. But no matter how hard I try, someone is bound to catch something and bring it home to infect us all!

Having a fully stocked medicine box in our kitchen has come in handy so many times the past few years. You never know when someone is going to come down with something, and having different medicines and remedies readily available is great for when a bug hits our house. Because there’s nothing worse than having to take a sick child to the grocery store. Except for taking two sick children to the grocery store when you’re also not feeling well. Being prepared is key! Here’s how I prepare our medicine box.

2 Comments

5 Reasons to Stay at The Grove Park Inn in Asheville

By sunshineandholly on November 2, 2017

10 years! I still can’t believe we’ve been married that long.

Josh and I went back and forth about what we wanted to do for our anniversary. Years ago we decided we’d go back to Italy to celebrate, but with two young children, that was out of the question. We also talked about going to Disney World. (We’re both big Disney nerds and we honeymooned at Disney.) But Disney is best when you have at least 4 or 5 days to explore, and again, with the kids being so little, we knew childcare wouldn’t work out for us to be gone that long.

So we narrowed it down to places we could visit that were driving distance from our house. Asheville came up in conversation, and we both agreed it would be beautiful this time of year. I remembered reading about The Grove Park Inn a while ago in a Southern Living magazine, so I checked out the website. It looked gorgeous and after I saw pictures of the spa, I was sold!

We booked a two night stay, but I wish we’d been able to stay longer. The hotel was absolutely beautiful. From the huge fireplaces in the great hall, to the breathtaking views of the mountains from the restaurants and from our room, to the spa that was basically my personal version of paradise, everywhere we turned in the historic resort was another area of opulence.

Planning a romantic getaway or an anniversary trip? Here are 5 reasons to stay at The Grove Park Inn in Asheville.

2 Comments