Fun Toys for Dining Out

Dining out with kids can be stressful - but it doesn't have to be! My best advice when going out to eat with kiddos is to have fun toys that are ONLY for when you go out. This makes them always fun and exciting and almost guaranteed to entertain. Below are a few of our most recent favs that we took with us last Friday night - BONUS, each of these toys are small enough to stash in a diaper bag and under $10 - score!

The Magnetic Car Race Game from The Purple Cow was so much fun!! My 7 year old and hubby loved to play it. The dice and playing pieces are magnetic and the metal case unfolds and then is held together with a plastic clip to form the playing surface - brilliant! The game is straight forward, rolling the dice, and moving forward or backward a certain number of spaces, but it lead to quite the entertaining wait time for the two of them!

Playgro Playmate Elephant is perfect for my little 10 month old baby girl! It is brightly colored and fun and there are so many things on it to engage her senses. The elephants ears crinkle. She loved to suck on the elephants trunk, and the little plastic rings that slide around were another fun feature. She basically had a grip on this fun toy the majority of the night!

HABA Wooden Puzzle was another fun toy for the baby and her big brother to play with. It's a series of 4 emergency vehicles in a layered puzzle design. Not only did we have fun putting the puzzle together, but we also loved using the puzzle pieces for pretend play too! HABA products are the best quality wooden toys and we're big fans of everything they make!

How do you keep your kiddos entertained at restaurants? Liked this post? You can read more about dining out with a baby here!

I'm preparing to take on a Sparkling Detox - Join Me!

Summer was a blast - I lived it up with my family taking multiple vacations and indulging in all of the local flavors. I was in the moment and I loved it. Now that school is back in session though, and Fall racing season is approaching, I want to get more serious about my training and my eating habits. I have some big goals this Fall and I know I train and race better when I fuel my body with healthy options.

Gerolsteiner Sparkling Mineral Water is hosting a #SparklingDetox Challenge that I’m really excited about! They are challenging you to replace your normal beverages with Gerolsteiner Sparkling Natural Mineral Water for 5 days (from September 11-15). Part of eating healthy is drinking healthy too, especially when running and training in the hot desert climate like I am in Arizona.

For those 5 days I plan on eating and drinking 100% clean. I’ve never done this before - I’m more an 80/20 eater - I love my lunchtime salads but my after dinner ice cream and glass of wine are daily indulgences too.

Avoiding certain foods, even just for 5 days, can make a big impact. It will help reset your body and retrain your mind, leading to new behaviors and helping you develop new long term healthier habits. How am I going to do this? The weekend before my Sparkling Detox I plan on making a meal plan and formulating a grocery list. Once I get my meals and snacks planned out and shopped for, I will meal prep as much as I can ahead of time: hard boil eggs, chop veggies, wash fruit, etc. By prepping ahead of time, it will allow me to stay on track by simplifying meal times.

How will I prepare for my Sparkling Detox?

1. Stockpile Healthy Snacks - Eating healthy snacks can help curb overeating and control cravings too. For me, if I have a healthy snack prepped, I’ll reach for that over a handful of the kiddos chips in the pantry. The key though, is pre-portioning out the healthy snacks. One ounce of nuts is a great clean snack - the entire bag is not! If a healthy snack doesn't already come portioned out, I’ll do it myself ahead of time, so when hunger strikes, I’ll be able to grab a snack and move on.

2. Organize my refrigerator - Make your healthy prepared foods and drinks the first thing you see in your fridge and those will be what you reach for! I line the top shelf of my fridge with my bottles of Gerolsteiner Sparkling Mineral Water and have my cut up fruits and veggies in clear containers right at eye level so I’ll be most inclined to reach for them.

3. Get Support - Tell your friends and family that you are participating in the Sparkling Detox Challenge. You’ll be able to rely on them for support and encouragement and who knows - you may even inspire them to join you too! Gerolsteiner has set up an online Facebook Group for the challenge. I encourage you to join it  for extra support, daily motivation, and useful nutrition tips from experts and the community! Visit HERE for a direct link to the free challenge support group.

Want to join me? Gerolsteiner invites you to “Mineralize Your Life” for a chance to win a FREE Gerolsteiner Water Supply just in time for the challenge. Go HERE to find out details and register to win. I know we can do this together!!

This post was written in partnership with Fit Approach and Gerolsteiner Sparkling Mineral Water. All thoughts and opinions are mine.

Baby Butz

IS there anything more adorable than a sweet little baby butt? I think not! My normally happy baby only cries at 2 times - when she's tired and when her bum has a diaper rash.

 She has eczema, so it's extremely important for me to find something to treat her diaper rash in a natural way that will not irritate her skin even more.

Baby Butz Cream is our holy grail of diaper rash cream. I apply some on her bum at the first sign of irritation and typically it's all cleared up by the next diaper change! It's 100% all natural and super soothing.

The consistency is like a thick paste so a little goes a super long way. I also love that it's in a tub, not a tube, so you can use every last bit of it! It has a pediatrician gold standard and even a money back guarantee.

And Taylor likes it so that's what really matters :) You can get your own tub of Baby Butz Cream here on Amazon.