Friday Favorites: This Year’s Winter Favorites

This has been a rough winter: extra cold & extra snowy. Spring is right around the corner and today i’m sharing 7 things that got us through the winter. They are all things you can certainly enjoy all year long, but all of them were new to our house over the past few months & made our winter feel a little warmer.

1. Stokke Stroller Footmuff 

Up until last month, I would tuck a blanket around the girls legs when we walked around town. Now that they are bigger, and hardly sit still for a minute, the blankets fall off & get stuck under the stroller throughout the walk. Now we use the Stokke Stroller Footmuff & it’s awesome! It’s so much warmer & zips all the way up. It stays in place & keeps the kids warm & toasty. This is one of those products I wish  I had gotten sooner! 

2. Oh My DeVita Baby

My girls both get very dry, sensitive skin in the winter. This year, I started using Oh My DeVita Baby & it’s been wonderful. It’s a line of line of vegan, all-natural skincare for babies and toddlers. It’s an extension of the well know, trusted DeVita line. The products smell great, are gentle enough for little ones & you can trust there are no harsh chemicals. You can buy it at Drugstore.com, Walgreens & Target.

3. Honest Fruit & Veggie Wash

Fruit and veggies never look quite as nice in the winter (where we live anyway). In addition to being a healthy way to clean your fruit, I think the Honest Fruit & Veggie Wash also makes the fruit look fresher. You don’t need much of it to clean the fruit & veggies, so the bottle lasts a long time. 

4. Disney Look and Find Books

Think Where’s Waldo meets Disney Characters. These books have been a hit in our house. Both of my girls love them (2.5 & 4). We do the “My First” Look & Find books, which are the easier version. These books are great for long winter days.

5. Rodan and Fields  

Like my kids, my skin gets very dry & sensitive in the winter. I always feel like it looks dull & never feels soft. I saw a huge difference after trying 2 Rodan and Fields products: the Micro-Dermabrasion Paste & the Night Renewing Serum. The Micro-Dermabrasion is a maximum gentle exfoliator. After using it, your face feels so much softer & smoother. The Night Renewing Serum works overnight & I felt a major difference after only using it about 2 nights. I have very sensitive skin & both of these products were gentle enough. I highly recommend! 

6. Simple Chicken Soup

This has been my “go to” recipe of the season. I make a big pot & the first night I add pasta for Chicken Noodle Soup & the 2nd night I add rice for Chicken Rice Soup. 

Here’s how to make homemade chicken soup easily: 

Boil a whole chicken in: water, salt, pepper, 1 onion cut in half & a few celery stalks with all of the “leaves” in the middle of the celery. After about 1 hour (or when the chicken is done), Set up the crock pot. Remove the whole chicken from the pot of water & place on a cutting board. Drain the broth into the crockpot (throw out the celery, onion, etc). Add chopped celery & chopped carrots to the crockpot. Cut up the chicken & add to the crock pot. You can now leave it in the pot for hours – until you are ready to eat. I usually leave for about 3 or 4 hours on low. Then we add the rice or pasta when ready to eat. 

7. Vintage Growth Chart Ruler (10% off using coupon code CHIRPING)

When I received my new Vintage Growth Chart Ruler in the mail, it was a particularly snowy day that left us stuck indoors. It was the 2nd time that week that preschool was cancelled & I was going a little bonkers, to say the least. As I made the first “checks” on the ruler, to show the girls height, I was reminded just how fast they grow. As long as some “snow days” can seem, the years go by quickly. These Vintage Growth Chart Rulers, from Carone Creations, are beautiful & a very special addition to any family’s house. They are handmade by a Mom who knows the importance of having a special place in the house to “track your family’s growth”. She knows that so many family’s track height on a wall or door in their house, which is wonderful – until you have to move! These rulers are a treasure you can take with you when you move & pass a long to your children someday. They are SO well made & truly beautiful. Carone Creations is offering our readers 10% off using coupon code CHIRPING. You can also enter to win one in our current giveaway. 

You can see some of our favorite ways to “beat the winter blues” and enter to win a ton of great prizes in this week’s big group giveaway. We’ve teamed up with some great blog’s for this one! The Vintage Growth Cart mentioned above is one of the many items you could win. Enter here.