Thank goodness it is a new year. Last year I chose a new monthly goal instead of resolutions (check out here) but I found a month wasn't long enough to form a new habit or really get into my goal. So instead this year I am picking 6 goals instead of 12 and really focusing in on them. I found that I really loved this approach vs having one big new year resolution. Each month I would get excited to check out the post and see what goal I had. My goals this years are simple and what work for me in my life. I'm choosing to take on my biggest task in September and October because Leo will be starting full day Kindergarten and I know I will be missing him. So why not be distracted by a big task. 

Today I am sharing my educational gift guide for kids. I have items from your tiny builder to your science kid. Mind you these are toys I have had for Leo but I think that some of these toys would be enjoyed up to 9 years old. Especially things like the ant farm or the venus fly trap. Also another educational item WE LOVE the Ranger Rick magazines. My kids look forward to getting theirs every month. So check out my educational picks and also I shared what they both asked for from Santa!

Christmas is here! Although no one will really be able to see my house all dressed in its Christmas best we will be able to enjoy it. 2020 has not been the best at times, but there is one thing that is for sure my house is going to be festive and merry. I am sharing all the places I found all my ornaments and where we found the tree. I Looked at a ton of decorated flocked trees and I decided to go with gold, silver, white, with pops of greens. I love the way it turned out and if in a few years I want to change my "pop" of color it'll be easy to do so since most of the ornaments are neutrals.

So I technically know we aren't supposed to be traveling for Thanksgiving or Christmas, but I think if you decided to spend the holidays with your family or not that is a personal choice. We will be seeing my parents and in laws but not our large extended families. That is our comfort level and I understand it isn't for everyone.

With that being said some of you might be traveling so here are my travel items for kids.
We probably spent a good 100 hours in the car road tripping this year. Our longest being 20+ hours that we went from Scottsdale back home to Washington after covid hit. Now that I have put the hours in I figured I'd share all my secrets for entertaining kids in the car.

Every fall I enjoy finding some new sweaters. This year I snagged a few more. I hate saying this but I am one that will buy something that is more considered "fast fashion" if I feel like the sweater is something that is going to be more trendy. So I did a little round up of 3 different type of styles that will take you through fall and winter. In other news hope everyone is doing well. The past few weeks haven't been my favorite so I decided yesterday it was time to put up some Christmas. My house is very confused one room is fall the next is Christmas! I usually wait till mid November but I feel like there are no rules this year. Read below about Monroe's little disaster of a fall Monroe had this week.

I am always searching for an easy recipe to make for the kids that get them eating a protein that isn't from a frozen state. I started realizing when we got thai food they both loved beef larb and pad thai. So I decided to try and make something that combined the two. So here is one of our favorite meals in the Loera household.

If you follow my social media it is no secret that we have been enjoying ALL that the PNW has to offer. Jay and have I have taken the kids a a few little road trips since March. We had quite a few spring and summer plans pre COVID but after those trips were cancelled we decided to open up a map and look up some places in the PNW. I wanted to share some of our favorite driving vacations. Today's list is going to highlight some kid friendly and no kid recommendations for fall and winter!

Halloween pj's in our house as just as exciting as Christmas pjs. Halloween isn't that far away so here is your reminder to get your Halloween pjs TODAY!  I have found quite a few that I am sharing with you today. Who knows what Halloween will look like this year but at the end of this post I share some fun ideas that could work in place of traditional trick or treating.

Hey all you cool cats and kittens....did I really plan a birthday around the Tiger King? The answer is no but it may have swayed me that way. It is so funny what your children chose as their favorite thing. We bought Leo a bunch of lion things as a baby, I mean Leo the Lion, but he had absolutely no interest in them. Then our little Roe Roe enters the world and as much as I have tried for her to live in a world full of princesses, butterflies, and unicorns, she just loves lions, tigers, bears, dinosaurs, and bugs. She has a special love for Lions since about the age of 1. I would say she is actually OBSESSED with Lions to put it mildly. I had a different planned theme for her birthday but when covid hit and we had to have something a lot smaller I knew what the theme had to be. Carol Baskin from Tiger King.... then I texted my party planning girl Kate from Posh Party Bebe and she made my dream come true!

We are in prime garden season. My tomatoes are going crazy, we have more zucchini than we know what to do with. I am always looking for new recipes with these ingredient and this one is a favorite around here. I mean add (cheese) tortellini to anything and it will be delicious, if you have an abundance of basil you can make some homemade pesto instead of store bought.