Back to School Favorites

Wow, what a week!  My crew headed back to school this week.  Thankfully, it was just a 3 day week for them and they're both off to a wonderful start.  Both have teachers that they like, are making new friends and we're figuring out our back to school schedule.  I'm never eager for Summer to end, but this was about as good of a start as I could have hoped for.  The kids are no longer "new kids" and were feeling confident in how their school runs.

I'm going to share some Amazon affiliate links to some of our favorite things below.  Keep your eyes peeled!  The best parts of our week were:

1 // Great Start

Olive and Fletcher were a little nervous about their first days, but mostly excited.  Thanks to a back to school open house where we got to meet their teachers, find their desks and get familiar with their new classrooms.  Leo missed them tons the first day they were gone.  We had the best summer ever, squeezed in as much family fun as possible and feel confident in the direction our family is heading. 

2 // Rainbows

You know I love spotting rainbows and that they've been popping up for us often as we've made this big move.  I opened our front door one day this week and spotted this pretty rainbow.  These God winks and reminders of God's promises has been so encouraging in a season filled with so many changes for our family.

3 // First Grade 

Fletcher has had a great week in first grade.  His teacher is really sweet and he seems comfortable already.  He says his days are long, but he hops in the car at the end of the day smiling.  He's made new friends, is happy to see familiar faces from students and teachers and is really into math.

4 // Fourth Grade

Olive says her teacher makes everything fun, has tons of learning games and is really nice.  She met "the nicest new friend ever" which is a huge blessings since her best buddies from 3rd grade weren't in her class this year.  I've been praying hard for her to make good friends.  She loves the new set up of changing classes, her new binder system and seems totally ready for her new responsibilities as a 4th grader.  She still makes sure that Fletcher gets to his class every morning.

5 // Yumboxes!

This is our 6th year using yumboxes for the kids lunches and we are still obsessed.  It saves me so much time filling them instead of packaging each item separately and saves me so much money in ziploc bags.  I just fill the 6 compartments the night before, pop them into the kid's lunch boxes with a slim ice pack and they're set.  The hot pink yumbox is 6 years old and still working great.  We have only ever had one break - they are so durable and totally worth the $30 investment.  We also love these Thermos Funtainer water bottles.  They are so durable and keep ice in their drinks for hours.  We've been using some of the same ones for 6 years!

We've collected several over the years - this monster one is new this year.  Isn't it so cute??  I always hand wash them to help them last longer.  We love this style the best.  It's the Yumbox Original.  They make bigger and smaller options.  This size has worked perfect for the kids from Pre-K to 4th grade.

6 // New Friends

Being new to town, our whole family is working hard to make new friends.  We read When Pencil Met Eraser and it was a really a really cute reminder that there are good friend options all around us if we keep our eyes open for them.  The kids were inspired to do some pencil/eraser art after reading this cute book.  We'd highly recommend this book!

7 // Stickers

I let the kids grab a new water bottle and then we got the cutest sticker pack from Amazon to personalize all of their stuff.  This pack was super kid friendly and had plenty of stickers that were appealing to me as an adult.  They loved personalizing their stuff.  I couldn't believe how cheap the stickers were!

 

8 // Label Maker

This label maker is my BFF this time of year.  I labeled all of their lunch boxes, water bottles, yumboxes, backpacks and more with it.  The labels are water proof and really stay for a long time.

 

9 // Accessories

We made back to school bracelets again this year.  The kids love wearing them the first few weeks of school in case their start missing home.  They're so cute!  They love picking out new outfits and Olive cared very much about her nails, hair and all the details.  They used their old Pottery Barn Kids backpacks and lunchboxes again because they were still in great shape. 

10 // Friends!!

Speaking of friends - my sweet friend Jacque - stopped by their school to check in on them this week!  She said they seemed so confident which made me feel so good.  Our transition to a new school would not have been so smooth and so wonderful if Jacque hadn't helped with every step of the process. 

11 // Pumpkin time!

My kid's #1 favorite cookie is a pumpkin chocolate chip cookie.  Once they head back to school it feels like pumpkin season begins.  I surprised them with fresh pumpkin cookies after school.

12 // Leo

After a day or so, Leo and I found our regular routine again of being home together.  He likes the one on one time and loves playing with any toy he wants when he has the house to himself :)  These little years go by too fast so I'm soaking up our days together.

13 // Facebook pages

Both kids have teachers with super active Facebook pages.  They're so sweet to snap and post pictures each day of the kids.  I love seeing them with new buddies and learning new things.  Their school is wonderful!

I hope you've had a great week!  Are your kids back to school yet?  I hope they have the best year!

Linking up with Momfessionals

It's time to START

Do you have drop zones in your house that collect clutter?

Or cabinets that spill out contents when you open them?

Or have drawers that are hard to open or close because they are so full?

 

I have several drop zones that collect clutter - the mud room, the kitchen counter, command center and the laundry room - come to my mind first.

I am always having to keep a close eye on those locations and declutter them often.

My family just seems to drop things there and then I manage the things.  Since my kids are little I do a lot of the organizing with them or for them.  Hopefully they're learning skills to be able to do it on their own eventually.

I write "declutter" on my daily to do list.  I just work on whatever needs it most that day.  This has really helped me to keep close tabs on keeping areas tidy.  If you do a little work every day, it's much easier to keep your home organized.

I want to encourage you today to pick one of those problem areas in your house and tidy it up today!  It's the perfect time to start.  You can set a time for 10-15 minutes and see how much you can get done.  If it's a big mess, it might take you a couple of sessions to tackle it, but I bet you have a lot of spots in your house that you could fix and tidy up in just 15 minutes.

I'll show you the process at my house and hopefully you'll get some ideas for doing the same decluttering at your house.  It's easy - it's free - and you can make it quick!

Command Center: After - it looks so much better & I know exactly what is here.

Command Center: Before.  It was a big mess.  A dumping ground for all the back to school supplies and mail and clutter.  It was hard to find anything.

I decluttered the command center to the left and then realized that I only really use 2 canisters to the right.  I put the 3rd one in my pantry and freed up a little more counter space.  I try hard to keep as little as possible out on my counters.

Our mudroom bench is another drop zone for art supplies, school stuff and just general junk.  This bench was full and hard to use.  I cleared everything off and put it back where it belonged.  Much better!  Each kid has a hook for their backpack and a shoe basket for their shoes.  Their coats go here in the winter.  It works perfectly for us.

Declutter your fridge.  Keep close tabs on your leftovers so you aren't wasting food.  I keep my leftovers in a certain section of my fridge.  I always look there first when I'm figuring out what to eat for lunch or what to reheat for dinners.  Organize your fridge - wipe things down - and it'll be much easier to use up the food you have.

Warning: If you've got little ones around, they might find their own ways to stay busy while you're busy organizing.  Leo gave himself some pretty sweet tattoos :)

You can do it!  I'm here (along with Penny!) to cheer for you as you tackle a problem area or two in your home this week.  If you need some encouragement in this area - comment below or email me (polkadottyplace@hotmail.com) and I would love to touch base with you about organizing!

What areas of your home would you like to work on first?

5 HomeGoods Clearance Tips

I'm so happy to have a HomeGoods nearby in our new city!  I have found some pretty great things for our new house - ottomans, frames, holiday decor, rugs, pillows, party supplies and more.  I really love checking out all of their end of season clearance.  Their clearance aisles are PACKED right now.  Everything Summer needs to go along with a lot of regular home decor.

I learned some tips this week that I thought you might enjoy hearing.  Plus, you can have a sneak peek at some new home decor for our house!

1 // Kitchen & Bathroom

Check the end caps in those sections as well as the big clearance aisles in the back of the store for great deals.  I love when I find something that's been marked down twice.  I grabbed some new hand towels and had to dig for a bit to find some without any snags or defects in them.

2 // Home Decor

This pretty piece was double marked down and in pretty good condition.  It's missing a screw that I think should be easy to replace.

I noticed when I got home that it rang up for $24.00 instead of $15.  I took it back into the store a few days later to check on getting a price adjustment.  She confirmed that it was supposed to be $15 and said that the clearance tags are supposed to be stacked so this doesn't happen.  I'll pay more attention in the future if the tags are like this.

3 // Summer Serving Pieces

My store had TONS of summer dishes, serving pieces, outdoor play stuff and decor.  It was almost hard to navigate through the section.  I grabbed these two stainless buckets for just $9 each!  They're huge and will hold drinks or s'mores supplies or plates when we host events.  They look really nice and look much more expensive than they were.

4 // Toys

Always stroll through the clearance books and toys if you've got kids in your life.  I found a Green Toys helicopter for Leo for Christmas that was just $9.  New in the box.  He'll love it and I'm saving it for Christmas.  All of their Summer toys and water toys were marked down.  If you aren't sure if a toy is a good deal, do a quick Amazon price comparison while you're in store and see which place has the best deal.

5 // Pairs of Things

I had to hunt and hunt to find a second floral pillow that I loved.  I made a comment to the cashier about it and she said that they are told not to put like items together to encourage people to have to hunt for things.  Well well that makes sense.  I guess you are likely to find more to buy when you're going through all the aisles.  So keep that in mind if you're looking for a set of something or pair of things at stores like HomeGoods - be prepared to track them down!

Do you shop clearance items at Home Goods??  I hope these tips help you find some great deals.

Pepperoni Pinwheels

Hey friends!  It's been a busy few days here prepping everything for the kids to head back to school today, we've had big storms in the Midwest so our power has been touch and go and we're all sad to say goodbye to Summer 2022.  I've got some fun posts coming your way from Destin, Florida and some back to school posts.  Stay tuned!

I have a really easy recipe to share with you today - Pepperoni Pinwheels.

I've been making them for years.  They're so so good and very simple to make.  You just need 7 ingredients to make this quick dinner for your family.

Ingredients:

1 refrigerated pizza crust

1 pkg turkey pepperoni (or any pepperoni that you love) chopped

3T Ranch dressing

1 T Lawry's Season Salt

*Optional green onions sliced thin

1 bag of mozzarella cheese

Your favorite pizza or pasta sauce

Directions:

Roll out the pizza crust and flatten it to the edges of a baking sheet.  Be careful to not rip the crust as you gently flatten it out.  Add the ranch dressing and spread it around evenly.  FYI My husband does not love ranch and he loves these.  They do not taste ranchy once you bake it - it just adds a lot of flavor.  Sprinkle on the season salt, the entire package of chopped pepperoni and the green onions.  Top with about 1/3 of a bag of cheese.  Then roll up the pepperoni pinwheels just like you'd do for cinnamon rolls.  Slice them into 9 pinwheels.  

Place them on a greased baking sheet (the same one you just rolled them out on to save time on dishes!) and then top them with the remaining cheese.  I like to put a little mound of cheese on each pinwheel.  Bake at 350 for 15-20 minutes or until golden brown on top.  While they're baking, heat your favorite pizza or pasta sauce on the stove.

Serve with a big scoop of your favorite sauce and a side salad.  It'll be delicious!  They also reheat really well for leftovers the next day.

Would your family or friends enjoy these?

Couscous Salad

I whipped up this salad for a family dinner a few weeks ago and it's my new favorite.  It's light, fresh and so good!  It is the perfect side dish for any Summer bbq.  The recipe is totally flexible for whatever you love or whatever you have on hand.  Here's my version of a delicious couscous salad.

 

Ingredients:

2cups uncooked Rice Select Pearl Couscous

broccoli

cauliflower

sweet peppers

cucumbers

purple onion

green onion

Olive Garden Italian Dressing

Everyday Seasoning Salt (or salt and pepper or Montreal Steak Seasoning)

Fresh grated Parmesan cheese

 

Cook and drain your couscous according to the package.  Let couscous cool.  Chop everything into tiny bites.  Combine the two.  Add salad dressing to taste and add in the parm last.  Refrigerate at least 1-2 hours before serving.  The couscous will soak up the dressing as it's refrigerated so be prepared to add in a little more before serving.

I'm drooling!  This was such a yummy, unique pasta salad.  Would your family or friends enjoy it?

Summer Charcuterie Dinner

Have you made any charcuterie boards this Summer?

I made this one recently and it was a big hit!

I love all these bite sized foods for a quick dinner.  No cooking required.  Bake some homemade bread if you enjoy doing that or grab a loaf of delicious bread at a local bakery.

I like to add in t least 3 meats, 3 cheeses, raid my pantry for handfuls of all of our favorite salty cracker snacks and do the same by grabbing any fruits or veggies we have on hand.  I try to buy a few things that are specific for these dinner boards and then shop my fridge and pantry for the rest.  That will keep your boards budget friendly :)

Yum!  Any leftovers work great for snacks the next day.

What new things would you buy to build a charcuterie board dinner for your family??

Wisconsin Deer Park's 70th Birthday

We just love the Wisconsin Deer Park.  It's like no other petting zoo and it is celebrating it's 70th birthday this year.  That is just amazing!  It's such a fun family activity and if you arrive early the deer are very hungry and very friendly to park visitors.  The crowds are low and you can very much go at your own pace.  We love to buy the crackers at the admission point and then buy some cones full of corn and seed throughout the park.  I think the cracker packs are around $6 each and the seed cones are $1 each.

You can see deer, ostriches, turkeys, lemurs, raccoons, buffalo, bunnies, horses, goats and more.  There are animals all over to feed and see.  My kids love feeding the deer and then watching all the others.

Leo was so excited to see the deer, but I will say that it can get very overwhelming for kids in strollers because the deer get right in their faces.  The deer are sweet, but they're eager to eat so we had to shield Leo just a little bit from the snacky deer at first.  The deer just sniff and drool - nothing aggressive.  Once Leo got used to them, he was really happy to have help feeding them.

We learned that it's best to give the adults the cracker packs because the deer will easily take them away from the kids.  So Kevin kept the crackers and handed them out to all of us one at a time.  They lasted much longer this way.

The last time we came to the deer park it was Fall.  It was such a treat to see the deer in Summer with their fuzzy antlers!  I was so neat.

The deer are eager to eat, but are really so gentle to be around.

Olive really enjoyed spotting all the babies with their moms!

The baby goats were fun to watch.

We 100% recommend visiting here with your family!  It's the coolest park.  You can easily stroll through in about an hour stopping to see and feed all the animals.  We always go right when it opens at 9am and have the best time.  We'll definitely be back!  Let me know if you have any deer park questions :)