Halloween Headquarters at Oriental Trading: Costumes and Candy and Crafts, Oh My!

We received free product to facilitate this review. No other compensation was received. 

All opinions expressed are our own.

One of my favorite parts of this time of year is that there is a holiday to look forward to every month for the next several months! We're always counting down the days to something at this time of year. Right now, it's Halloween!

It's so exciting to enjoy fun holidays alongside my children. My six year old starts planning her Halloween costumes on November 1 each year for the following year. She usually changes her mind about 24 times before October 31... usually for the last time about 4 days before the big day, but every idea is super exciting and magical to her, so we just go with it!

This year, as soon as we hit the official first day of fall, we were ready to celebrate! Decorations, costumes, candy, and fun. We were ready for Halloween early this year - thanks to Oriental Trading!

Halloween Headquarters at Oriental Trading has absolutely everything you need to celebrate this year. Whether you're in the mood for festive or spooky, looking for a costume, some decorations, toys, crafts, or even candy, Oriental Trading has you covered. With a huge selection and affordable prices, you won't be disappointed. 

These Jack O'Lantern Dry Erase Stickers are great for decorating your home for the fun occasion! The set comes with one blank pumpkin and two more partially decorated ones just waiting for your finishing touches before hanging.

Our new Peanuts® Halloween Bowl is filled with Black Cat Character Suckers and Mini Swirl Pops. They are cute and something different for us this year. Usually our bowl is full of traditional chocolate favorites. Oriental Trading has those as well, but we went with lollipops this year and loved the look of these. Of course, we've taste-tasted them, and they were winners in that regard too!

Since we've spent much of this year dealing with some food allergies in our youngest, we were glad to see that Oriental Trading has stocked their shop with lots of non-food Halloween treat options. We ordered a Teal Pumpkin this year in honor of food allergy awareness - to signify that we'll have some non-food treats to offer to kiddos who may not be able to eat all the candy. 

We've filled a second treat bowl with these adorable Halloween Bears and Jack-O-Lantern Rubber Duckies. The vinyl bears really are the cutest and they come in sets of 48. My daughter has already gifted one to each of her classmates and we still have plenty to give away on Halloween night! These treats will be a fun option for any visiting kids who may not be able to eat our candy offerings. Most likely, we'll let everyone take one, because who could look at these cute faces and not want one?!

No holiday is complete without stickers, right? Actually in our home, no day is complete without stickers. These Peanuts® Halloween Stickers are great for the season and my daughter has been loving creating crafty cards for her friends with these. The roll comes with 100 assorted stickers.

We've also been doing some seasonal crafting with this Halloween Witch Clothespin Craft Kit. I adore these foam craft kids from Oriental Trading. They are so easy, mess-free, yet totally adorable and very fun for little crafters.

Perhaps most excitingly for this time of year, Oriental Trading has tons and tons and tons of costume options for both kids and adults! If there's something you have in mind, Oriental Trading is sure to have it. And if you just can't think of what to dress up as, Oriental Trading will give you some great ideas!

My daughter has decided to be an angel this year and Oriental Trading had the perfect costume for her. This Angel Costume with Wings & Candle is simple, sweet, beautiful, and perhaps most importantly, practical. I wasn't sure that I would love these feather wings but I do! They look fantastic and really fancy this costume up. You never know what the weather will be like around here on Halloween, but often it's a night to break out the winter jackets. This white angel dress will fit over whatever jacket we use. The only downside to this costume is the lack of halo, but we'll be able to make one of those without too much difficulty. Here's a costume sneak peek... I'm hoping she doesn't change her mind!

I know some of you might be surprised that we're not dressing at Shopkins this Halloween! For all you Shopkins fans, rest assured Oriental Trading does even have a costume for you! Strawberry Kiss and Cupcake Queen are full of glittery goodness, so if Shopkins are your thing this year, Oriental Trading has you covered.

We were so excited for Halloween this year as always, and even more so now that Oriental Trading hooked us up with everything we need for a great night. Check out Halloween Headquarters at Oriental Trading for anything and everything you need this year!

Canobie Lake Park - Summer Fun Year After Year!

We received complimentary admission to Canobie Lake Park to facilitate this review.

All opinions expressed are our own.

Our family just simply can't get enough of fun day trips in the summer! Amusement parks are always a favorite for our six-year-old thrill-seeker so we typically try to hit up as many as possible once school gets out. This year, with a new baby slowing us down just a bit, we cut our amusement park list down and chose our favorite - Canobie Lake Park - for some good old summer fun.

Canobie Lake Park is conveniently located in Salem, New Hampshire, just a little ways off of Route 93 -  an easy drive from most anywhere in New England. Parking is free and although you can't bring any food or drink in with you, the park is full of meal and snack options, so it's easy to arrive early, leave late, and spend the entire day making memories with your family!

I've been frequenting Canobie Lake Park since I was a kid. Someday I should dig through old photos and get one up on the blog! This park has been around for a long, long time... long before me! 

Canobie Lake Park is full of lots of family friendly fun. There are rides and activities for everyone - no matter their age or stage! This was our first year having two children with us at the park and our first year bringing an infant so my focus was a little bit different than in years past. 

Knowing about my options for breastfeeding at the park was at the top of my list of priorities. Canobie Lake Park allows breastfeeding throughout but also offers a cozy nursing room if privacy is preferred. I was able to find a shady spot at a picnic table under a tree during our family lunch but chose to check out the nursing room later in the evening when my baby was maxed out on stimulation from the crowds. It was such a nice space with a rocking chair, changing table, sink, and a locked door, only accessible with a key that can be obtained from an employee at the front of the park. It was exactly what both my baby and I needed to quietly unwind at the end of a long day.

Another focus for me this year was food allergies. Canobie Lake Park does not allow food to be brought in but they do have tons of dining options within the park. With a nursing infant struggling with sensitivities to multiple foods through my milk, I needed to know exactly what allergens were found in the foods that were available so that I could find something good to eat! My expectations were low and I was so pleasantly surprised! I was able to obtain a food allergy guide at the front of the park which listed every food option at every dining facility and which food allergens, if any, it had. Once I found something I was interested in, I was able to go to that dining area, share with them my dietary restrictions and view the packaging of the items I wanted to eat so that we could all confirm that they were safe. I was treated with the utmost respect and sensitivity - and I had the most delicious lunch!

Much to my oldest's excitement, we spent a bit more time than usual in the water portion of the park this year! The crowds are intense in this area on hot days, but the kiddos have so much fun! We had uncles and grandparents with us this year so plenty of playmates to help her manage the crowds.

Whether you're looking for water fun, roller coasters, a train ride, or some fun live music, you'll find it at Canobie Lake Park. Truly - there's something for everyone!

We can't wait to head back to the park again next summer for more fun!

Visit Canobie Lake Park's website for dates, pricing, and more details!

1-Ingredient Banana Ice Cream - Allergen Free!

I've been trying a lot of new recipes since starting the breastfeeding elimination diet. As silly as it may sound, I'm pretty sure this banana ice cream one might be my favorite!

Eliminating ice cream from my diet felt like a big loss to me. I sometimes wonder if the amount of ice cream I ate during pregnancy was my demise! There are dairy-free, soy-free ice creams available  at my local grocery stores - mostly coconut based. I don't mind the taste, but the price is a whole other matter.

I'm hooked on bananas lately because they seem to settle well in my nursing baby's belly - and they just add that extra oomph to the plain Cheerios I eat almost daily for breakfast! And honestly - bananas are cheap, so I don't mind going through them quickly.

This banana ice cream - with literally ONE ingredient - is amazing.

Ingredients:

• Bananas - that's it! Maybe 1, 2, or 3 depending on how many days you want your ice cream to last.

Directions:

• Peel and slice a ripe banana
• Freeze the slices in a freezer bag or freezer-safe covered bowl for a few hours or overnight
• Pop the frozen banana pieces into a food processor
• Pulse, pulse, pulse, pulse, pulse
• Scrape down the sides periodically as needed
• As you pulse the food processor you'll notice the banana break into little pieces, start to look crumbly, start to stick together, and then magically become smooth like soft-serve ice cream. It really is kind of magical and it only takes a few minutes!
• Once it looks like soft-serve ice cream, scoop it out and either eat it like that or stick it back in the freezer to firm up a bit.

Delicious, healthy, and (unless you or your baby is allergic to bananas) allergen-free!

Embracing the Elimination Diet

It wasn't long after the birth of our second daughter that we realized that she was going to give us a run for our money. Our oldest daughter was a very easy baby. Once I accepted the fact that breastfeeding was not her thing and agreed to pump around the clock, we were good to go. She hardly ever cried and hardly ever got sick. She was just a happy, content, independent, healthy, growing baby.

Our second daughter is the opposite... she loves to nurse, is very fussy, and has already been sick and hospitalized in this short seven weeks she's been here! With our first daughter we felt like we had it all together. Now my husband and I walk into appointments with the pediatrician like deer looking into headlights and beg for recommendations to make life easier for all of us!

About three weeks into life with our new baby, it was clear that something was going on beyond fussiness. She was already on prescription medication for reflux which seemed to be helping but something was just still not right. I called the pediatrician's office in tears and they asked us to bring up a few full diapers that they could use to test for a milk protein allergy. My husband made the drop-off and I quickly got a call from the nurse telling me there was blood in her stools, indicative of the allergy, and that I needed to eliminate all dairy and soy from my diet. Say what?! I asked what formula to purchase. She told me not to do it. My babies tummy was already stressed out and she predicted that introducing a formula in place of breastmilk would only cause more difficulty as it would be even harder for to her digest.

I'm not sure if you've ever looked at the foods you eat and the drinks you drink and really studied the labels, but if you do, you'll see that many of them contain milk and soy! I was told that soy lecithin and soybean oil were still okay but other than that, I needed to be completely dairy and soy free because of this milk protein allergy. She'll likely outgrow it in a year or two, but until then, if she's drinking my milk, it has to be free of her allergens, which means what I eat needs to be free of them too.

To make a long story a little bit shorter, after eliminating dairy and soy from my diet for 2 weeks, we retested her diapers and saw improvement. Great news! The not so great news was that she was still miserable after feeding until she could finally, as painful as it was, get rid of whatever she had consumed. It was heartbreaking. The pediatrician then recommended that I eliminate some other common allergens from my diet such as peanuts, eggs, and tomatoes. On my own, about a week later, with the help of the Joneja Allergen Chart, I also eliminated wheat. Now, seven weeks into life with this baby, we are finally seeming to settle down and she is smiling and enjoying life a lot more often - even between feeds!

I'm not going to lie. I miss my old foods! But, I'm embracing the elimination diet - eliminating the top food allergens from my breastmilk - and finding some delicious recipes that work for my whole family (because who wants to cook several different meals at once?). I'm still new to this but look forward to sharing some of my meal ideas and recipes with you! Stay tuned!

Do you have a dairy-free, soy-free, peanut-free, tomato-free, egg-free, or wheat-free recipe you love? Please share it here!