10 Essentials for Packing for Vacation (with Kids!)

I don’t consider myself a highly organized person. I think if you saw my house before I clean it, you’d agree. But the feedback I often get at work is how highly organized I am, how I have incredible attention to detail. That’s fair! I know it’s true!

Last year when we went to Disneyland, my husband’s mom remarked on how organized I am, especially when it came to packing for our kids. Truly, I wish I could wear that like an Olympic medal. Yes, I have a silver medal in packing for children.

I often make recommendations to my friends and family for things I’ve bought and use to make packing a little bit easier. I don’t believe in buying things willy nilly (although I’m totally guilty of falling for TikTok hype and ending up with 4,000 gadgets I don’t need) because I have enough clutter as it is.

Here are my 10 essentials for packing for my kids.

1. Day of the Week Packing Cubes

These are my absolute favorite thing to use when packing, even for short weekend trips. I lie two sets out for my kids and start just lying their clothes down on top. It helps me plan exactly what we need and keeps me organized. The visual aspect helps so much too. I previously used a set like this, which is also great, but they were a little too small for my 10-year-old’s clothes. (Perfect for babies and toddlers!)

2. A First Aid Kit

The thing about traveling with kids is that… anything can happen.

One time while on a road trip to Idaho, my son, who I think was 4 or 5 at the time, fell off a curb while at a gas station. He absolutely gashed his knee! It was bad. I only had a few band-aids in the car and they weren’t big enough. My husband had to run into the gas station, buy the extra expensive band-aids, and come back, all while my son cried in his car seat. Awful.

Ever since, I have kept a thoroughly stocked first aid kit in my car and I travel with a mini version in my purse or backpack at all times. I even took this into Disneyland, a place that is well known to help any first aid situation immediately.

3. Clear Zipper Pouches

I love these pouches for compact packing; think swimsuits, underwear, bras, you name it. They just help keep things a little tidier; everything has a place, a home, a cubby. They also make it easier to see what’s inside. Is this my toiletry bag or my swimsuits?

4. A Mini Diaper Bag

I’ve written about it before, but I love this mini diaper bag. It’s cute, it fits everything you need for being out-and-about, and if it gets trashed, it’s not like you brought your deluxe diaper bag with you. This has gone with us on road trips, to Disneyland back, to daily errands… everything. It’s a perfect little diaper bag: enough room for a pack of wipes, 2-3 diapers, hand sanitizer, a few band-aids, and diaper cream. Now that both my kids are out of diapers (what a relief), we no longer have a need for this, but it could totally work as just a hygiene kit for the car.

5. A Travel Potty

Speaking of potty training, until my kids are like 5, I don’t leave the house without a training potty. I love this one because it folds flat, so it fits underneath my seat. It comes with bags to put inside that catch everything. Easy to use, pretty sturdy, and folds small? Heaven in a potty.

6. A Travel Toilet Seat

Another potty training one, I love this fold out potty seat! Perfect for making it into gas stations, restaurants, everything… and it folds up tiny. I carry a pack of sanitizing wipes to give it a quick wipe down after use. It goes back into the carrying case and we’re on our way. Now I don’t have to try to hold my 35 pound toddler over a nasty toilet.

7. A Med Kit

Separate from the first aid kit, I like to keep a selection of individually wrapped meds in our first aid kit, car, and travel stuff. They just make me feel better, I don’t know. This selection is basic: Imodium, ibuprofen, acetaminophen, antacids, the usual suspects. Alongside your must have medications, these ones are crucial for travel — from headaches to sour stomachs. I also like to bring a few packets of kids chewable Tylenol and Motrin.

8. A Toiletry Kit

I like to take travel size items with us, because I hate spending money. This set is so cute and chic. (And full disclosure, it’s my number one seller on Benable.) The bottles are flexible, making them easier for kids to use, and it comes with a decent variety of items.

9. Compression Packing Cubes

Remember what I said about liking to pack everything as compressed as possible? These compression cubes help maximize space and they’re not overly expensive. I bought a new set for our upcoming Hawaii trip so both my husband and I could use them.

10. A Foldable Duffel Bag

If your souvenir shopping gets away from you, don’t worry about shipping. This duffel bag folds really tiny, so I always bring it on trips for anything extra we get. It can become an additional checked bag. It can become your dirty clothes bag. The uses are endless and it’s better than buying an extra bag wherever you are.

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Packing is something I always dread with kids. When my oldest was young, I remember thinking I’d nailed it when he was about a year old… only to realize, halfway through our road trip, I had forgotten the pack’n’play. You know… the thing he slept in. It’s gotten easier as my kids have gotten older, especially now that they’re to the age that if we need anything, we can simply buy it quickly. I love having a tried-and-true system and this list outlines my system: keep things organized, tidy, and tightly packed.

5 Tips for Your Toddler at Disneyland

Sometimes, when the words “I’m taking my toddler to Disneyland” come out of someone’s mouth, a lot of people have opinions.

“Now, why would you do that? That seems miserable.”

“They won’t even remember it!”

And it’s the remembering thing that really gets me. Because, if I’m being totally honest… we do lots of things our kids won’t remember. They won’t remember us reading them bedtime stories every night or singing them a lullaby or rocking them when they were newborns… but that doesn’t make those things unimportant. If we base everything we do on whether our kids will directly remember it, we wouldn’t do anything the first 3-4 years of their lives.

This is me, from one parent to another, telling you that you are not crazy to want to take your kiddo to Disneyland. It’s kind of the ideal time: under age 3 kids are free, which means it reduces the overall cost significantly. Plus, it will make YOU happy and your happiness does, in fact, matter. That’s a win win.

Here are my tips for taking your toddler to Disneyland.

1. Don’t Plan Anything YOUR Toddler Can’t Handle

You know your kid. You know your kid better than a stranger (me, or everyone in Disney planning groups in Facebook) on the internet, that’s for sure. So when someone tells you, “this was totally fine for my toddler” or “my toddler would never be able to do that”… take that with a grain of salt. You. Know. Your. Kid. Plan accordingly.

You know if your kid is going to be able to sit through a character breakfast. You know if your kid is going to freak out on a dark ride. You know your kid will be thrilled by a stage performance. Plan according to your kid, not what the internet tells you.

Just for some anecdotes, my toddler loved Winnie the Pooh. We prepared her for our trip by watching YouTube videos of rides and the Winnie the Pooh ride stuck with her. We rope dropped it every day, I’m not kidding. Some people would hate that. They would be miserable about that. But she loved that ride. I knew my daughter could handle that ride; I knew that was about the limit of intensity for her.

2. Set Realistic Expectations

Hey, so this trip probably isn’t going to be the trip where you ride every single ride. And, just talking realistically, it’s also probably not trip where it will be magically not crowded, you’ll get the best seats for the parade, etc. Keep your expectations realistic.

You’re likely going to need a mid-day break. A nap, a splash in the pool, a hearty snack, and back to it. You’re going to find shade and eat snacks several times throughout the day.

3. Buy a Mini Diaper Bag

This was one of my best tips and it’s honestly one of my favorite purchases of all time. Let me explain. When we took our daughter to Disneyland last year, she was still in diapers. I stressed about carrying a massive diaper bag into the park. Then, I found this mini diaper bag. It’s the right size for a pack of wipes (needed for more than just diapers, tbh), 3-4 diapers or pull ups, a mini diaper cream, and some hand sanitizer. It’s quite literally perfect. I recommend it to everyone.

4. Prepare to Stop Early

Our typical tactic in previous years was to spend the day at Disneyland, eat dinner, get our oldest (who was <6 at the time) to sleep, then return to the parks while a grandparent sat with him. This time, that was not the case, since our toddler refuses to sleep without one of us present — and also her nap schedule got totally destroyed on our trip. Honestly, it was fine.

Since we stayed at Pixar Place, I could get her to sleep at around 8pm, then drink a crispy Diet Coke while watching the lights of California Adventure. My husband would take our son to the parks and come back with a special snack for all of us.

Like I said earlier, this might not be the case for you, depending on your kid, but if your toddler loves a routine… honestly, you’ll be finishing your days earlier than you might want to. Prepare for that reality and make the most of it.

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Wow, thanks for reading. I started writing this post almost a year ago and finally finished it now, on July 1, 2026. What are your top tips for a Disney trip with your toddler?

King of Christmas Review: Are These Viral Christmas Trees Worth It?

A few months ago (although it feels like I just blinked), I received the opportunity to review a King of Christmas tree. If you’ve spent any amount of time on social media, and especially if you follow home decor, mom bloggers, etc., you’ve seen the King of Christmas trees. They always look so gorgeous and high quality.

I’ve had the same Christmas tree since 2019 — I bought it for about $200 at Walmart because my (also cheap) Target tree had stopped working. Last year, I knew that tree was on it’s last leg: I’d replaced so many lights and it was just limping along. So getting the opportunity to review a tree from a brand I’d wanted to try was so, so exciting.

I chose the 6.5’ Yorkshire Fir with warm white lights. Controversially, my husband is a colored lights guy and I’m a white lights only girl; it’s been a source of contention. We were both so excited for this tree though that I think he was willing to accept my top choice.

This tree came in a shockingly small box! When I opened it, I wasn’t quite sure how it would come together into a 6 1/2 foot tall tree. However, come together it did — in only a few minutes. Violet was helping the entire time and was so excited to see a Christmas tree come alive in just a few short minutes.

Together, we fluffed the branches, got it plugged in, and put on the tree skirt.

She was obsessed — and only got a few wayward pine needles stuck on her foot!

A few things I loved:

• The quick and easy assembly. It goes without saying, but with 2 kids and now a tiny puppy in our house, having something just… come together in a few minutes means a lot.

• It comes with a storage bag. I’m so excited about the storage bag! Every year, I struggle to get my tree back into my storage closet in my office (it’s a big storage closet, but it has a short ceiling) and it will be so nice to get rid of that big, bulky box.

• Fluffing it is so easy. Some trees you can fluff for days and they still look like a spindly tree that came out of a box. This tree definitely looked full from the start and just about 5-10 minutes of working on branches left it looking incredible.

In sort, I’m obsessed and cannot wait to get out the rest of our Christmas decor to decorate this tree and get it looking incredible.

If you’re in the market for a new Christmas tree to last you for years to come, I cannot recommend King of Christmas enough. They’ve got so many trees to chose from, unlit and prelit, and so many varieties… there really is something for everyone.

Disclaimer: As noted by the asterisk (*) in this post’s title, this post is part of a product exchange partnership with King of Christmas.

Pixar Place Hotel Disneyland Review: Family-Friendly Stay 2025

Way back in 2013, Danny and I stayed at the Paradise Pier Hotel for our honeymoon—the precursor to the Pixar Place Hotel. At that time, it was beach-themed with occasional Nemo tie-ins. It’s been 12 years, of course. The hotel closed in 2023 for the renovation and reopened January 2024 with the full Pixar reinvention complete. And let me tell you—it is reinvented. I do not even recognize the interior of the hotel, although the paths outside are very familiar.

While booking our trip for August 2025, I knew I wanted to stay on property; we stayed at the Disneyland Hotel in 2021. I have a slightly unpopular opinion about the Disneyland Hotel: a majority of the rooms are extremely outdated and falling apart. Unless you’re willing to pay for an upgraded room or the newest tower, the rooms just aren’t worth it; when we stayed in 2021, all of the towel hooks were falling off the wall. I also found maintenance to be really lackluster; most days, our room wasn’t cleaned.

I chose Pixar Pier because I knew it was newly renovated and I wanted to see the Pixar theming. As a first impression, I knew both of my kids would love that. I have a 9-year-old and a 2-year-old, so I knew there would be something for both of them.

When we arrived, our room was not ready yet; however, in the lobby, there was a pianist performing music from Soul and Bing Bong from Inside Out was walking around, taking photos and greeting guests. We took photos with the big Pixar lamp in the atrium area of the lobby.

The lighting and theming in the lobby is incredible. It’s atmospheric, like being inside a movie itself. There was a gift shop and two dining places on the first floor. One, the Sketchpad Cafe, is a quick service, grab-and-go place, perfect for a quick snack. The other is Great Maple, a sit-down restaurant that serves modern American food. The gift shop did have a selection of merch, plus basic necessities if needed (sunscreen, deodorant, batteries, etc).

Location & Convenience

Pixar Place is located on Disneyland Drive, across the street from the Grand Californian. It is sandwiched between Downtown Disney and Disneyland Hotel. My other unpopular opinion is this: Pixar Place is a shorter walk than the Disneyland Hotel. I hate to say it! It’s true!

There is a walk that takes you from Pixar Pier to a Downtown Disney entrance, close to Din Tai Fung. However, I found that walk pretty long and there isn’t much shade. Our preferred walk was to cross the street and walk through the Grand Californian. (You do need a room key to use this method, so it’s not a hack for other hotels on Disneyland Drive or nearby.) This route is so nice for 3 reasons: 1) the security lines are in the shade (love); 2) at the end of a long day, a majority of the walk is air conditioned; and 3) it’s shorter! This route deposits you into Downtown Disney just beside the Sephora. The perfect entrance, to be honest.

In short, we loved the short walk and the ability to go through the Grand Californian. Pixar Place does have it’s own entry into California Adventure, but we did not utilize this as the hours were pretty wonky; we found out on our last day that Disney will actually be removing this entrance because it is so rarely used by guests.

Room & Amenities

I loved our Pixar Place room. We were on the 4th floor and had a view of California Adventure. At night, we could see the ferris wheel and Incredicoaster all lit up. The layout was very similar to the Disneyland Hotel. There was a bathroom with a large vanity and shower. We had a desk area, a TV, 2 queen sized beds, and a large window. Like the Disneyland Hotel, the headboard for the beds lit up and had interactive elements—always fun.

A big downside here, which I’m sure you picked up on reading that paragraph: there was no bathtub. For a hotel at a park designed, primarily, for kids, you’d think they’d know they need to have a bathtub. But no, it was a gorgeous shower with white subway tile. Which for an adult is great! But most toddlers need an end-of-day bath (especially after Disneyland to get all the sunscreen off) and it just wasn’t possible. That was a big bummer.

The room had a coffee maker, and came with a selection of coffee and some condiment kits that did have liquid creamer in them! That was a new one for me, it’s usually powdered creamer. There was also a “fridge”, by which I mean beverage cooler. I’m fine with a beverage cooler, but I do think it should be labeled appropriately.

The Pool

One thing we always try to do on a Disneyland trip is spend at least one evening in the pool. The Pixar Place pool is pretty renowned for being great; in the evenings, you can watch the fireworks and they include the music from the parks. There are also movie nights, games, private cabanas, and a place to get food and drinks called Small Bytes.

The pool is relatively small, but really fun. There is also a splash pad for younger kids with a tiny pool and a huge slide.

The pros are obvious: lots of kid friendly spaces, lots of room to lounge, great food and drinks.

The cons are this: there is no shade on this pool. It is full on sunshine. The afternoon I took Violet to the splash pad, the sun was so intense that it made the lounge chairs so hot they burned. I could barely see. Even with the umbrellas, it just wasn’t enough; they need to consider some tree shade or an alternative, because it was a lot of direct sunlight, especially during a heat advisory.

Is Pixar Place Worth It?

I really, truly think it depends on what you’re looking for. The price was not bad—I think I would have spent a similar amount anywhere around Disneyland—but I know I could have found something slightly cheaper.

The increased cost came with a few distinct benefits to me:

• The path through the Grand Californian is so much better than walking through the blazing sun.

• The atmosphere can’t be beat. The characters in the lobby, live music, and kid-friendly parts of the hotel are fantastic.

• The rooms are comfortable and I loved having a view of California Adventure.

There are a few downsides that I think are important to consider:

• With the loss of early entry and the closure of the Pixar Pier specific entrance, there aren’t really any significant benefits to staying on property. Back in the day, you got an hour early entry, then it was reduced to 30 minutes, and now they’re getting rid of it. There just aren’t any specific perks to staying on property and for some people that makes a huge difference.

• The lack of bathtubs in the standard rooms were a huge downside for us.

Would I stay here again? Possibly, I never say never!

Full disclosure, we have already booked another trip in a bit over a year and decided to go with the Cambria Hotel & Suites, which is a newer hotel. It has kid suites with a kitchenette and bunk beds, as well as a complimentary breakfast and several places to eat in the hotel itself. We know we eventually want to stay on property again, but it’s not an every-single-trip thing for us.

Everything I Ate At Disneyland in August 2025

To me, Disneyland is all about the treats. And the rides—there are so many iconic rides that I love so much. But the snacks really make it for me. There is nothing quite like going on a few rides then taking a break to people watch and eat a snack. It’s truly my favorite part of visiting Disneyland.

We went to Disneyland in August 2025—from August 18 to August 20. Let me start by telling you the saddest part of those dates: Haunted Mansion was closed, Star Tours was closed, AND Radiator Springs was closed. That’s a lot of our favorites. We didn’t realize it when we booked those dates (fwiw, we booked in January!) and if I’d known, I probably would have adjusted. But it was what it was and we still had snacks to look forward to, right? Let’s talk about everything I ate during our trip.

Day 1 - Arrival

During this trip, we stayed at Pixar Place (full review coming soon). We arrived, got to our room, briefly refreshed, and then realized we were fully starving. Usually, our first day meal is Tortilla Joe’s, a Downtown Disney icon; however, the Downtown Disney location closed earlier this year, which was devastating. We needed a new first night tradition—and I think we found it in Naples. Naples has been in Downtown Disney for a long time, but we’ve never eaten there. They were quick to accommodate our 9 person group (no small feat) and the food was fantastic.

I had the chicken caesar salad, which was fantastic. Both Forrest and Violet got the kids pepperoni pizza—and I have to say, it was one of the best pizzas I have ever eaten. It was incredible. Forrest also ordered the calamari appetizer and it was fantastic; some of the best, most tender calamari I have ever had.

On our walk back to the hotel, we got Forrest a churro—his absolute favorite Disney treat—and he picked Oreo cheesecake. It was decadent and so, so good. Great choice on his part.

Day 2 - Disneyland

Is there a better feeling than waking up your first day at Disneyland? I was so excited, I was awake at 4am, drinking coffee, fully dressed. Once everyone else was awake (at a very reasonable 6:30am), Forrest and I ran downstairs to the Sketchpad Cafe to grab some breakfast. I got a bagel with cream cheese; Forrest got a chocolate croissant; and I got a balance box for Danny and Violet to share. The balance box was a premade box that included: hummus and pita bread, veggies (carrots & cucumbers), and a boiled egg. Violet ate the boiled egg and Danny ate the hummus, pita, and veggies. The Sketchpad Cafe was a great place to grab some quick snacky items or a lunch, as they had lots of premade wraps and salads.

Once we were in the park, it was on. The first snack I got, after about 3 hours in the park, was popcorn: if you know me, you know I LOVE Disneyland popcorn. Actually, I love popcorn in general, but Disneyland popcorn is so good. Danny bought it for me while I was on It’s a Small World with Violet; he also got me one of the souvenir popcorn buckets. (It’s a Mickey Balloon bucket that lights up.)

After a lot more rides and after Danny took Violet back to the hotel for a nap, Forrest and I went to Pizza Port. Forrest got a slice of pizza and I got one of the side salads—I love the Pizza Port salads, I know that sounds weird. It was just a light snack, as we had specialty dining at 1:40.

At 1:40, we went to the Plaza Inn for a specialty dining that also got us reserved seating at the parade. If I had to go back in time, I would not have booked this; it’s not that it wasn’t good, it’s that it was really expensive for kind of a stressful experience and we ended up not really needing the reserved seating. I originally was going to write a full review of this, but I don’t think I need to; consider this my mini-review. The menu is pre-set as well for this dining and I wasn’t particularly impressed with what was offered. For the adults, we received meatloaf with mushroom gravy, mashed potatoes, and pea puree; a baby wedge salad with ranch dressing; and a Paint the Night dessert. The meatloaf was pretty dry; the mashed potatoes and mushroom gravy was good; the pea puree was a choice; and the baby wedge salad was good. The dessert was a solid OK. For the kids, they got mac and cheese, chicken tenders, a roll, a bag of baby carrots, a Motts applesauce, and a dessert as well. I just wasn’t particularly impressed and was a little frustrated with myself that I wasted money, but the kids did enjoy it.

At the end of the day, Violet was very cranky, so I stayed behind while Danny and Forrest went the parade. (Note the frustration about wasting money—I didn’t even go to the parade!) They brought me back a Mickey pretzel with cheese and mustard, the perfect end to a night.

Day 3 - California Adventure

Confession: I have not attended a character breakfast since I was… 14? And I was way too old for the characters at that time. However, Violet is a Mickey and Minnie superfan and I knew she would love this. And she did. We attended the Autumn Adventures breakfast at Storyteller’s Cafe, which is located in the Grand Californian. Was it expensive? Yes. Was it worth it? Also yes. The buffet was incredible and the cast members working at Storyteller’s were fantastic. I cannot recommend it enough. Violet and Forrest got to meet Mickey and Minnie, Chip and Dale, and Pluto and they had so much fun.

After breakfast, we used the Grand Californian entrance into California Adventure. After a few rides, Violet ended up falling asleep in her stroller while we were on Soarin’ Over California (my father-in-law had stayed behind to watch her). Danny took Forrest to ride more rides, while I ate fries from Smokejumpers Grill. Violet was asleep for so long, I managed to walk from California Adventure to Downtown Disney, go into World of Disney to buy a few things, and then walked to Disneyland. In Disneyland, I walked all the way to the Adventures of Winnie the Pooh, where I ate popcorn while Violet slept another hour and a half.

When she finally woke up, I treated myself (and her) to a frozen lemonade and a pretzel with cheese & mustard.

In the evening, my in laws watched Violet and Forrest while Danny and I went into the park solo. We went to Rancho Del Zocalo… this is a restaurant we have seen so many times in the park, but we never ate there and we both wanted to. And we did. I had the Burrito Sonora and Danny had the Soy Chorizo Tacos, and we shared an Esquites Bowl. It was incredible, super fast and very filling. 10/10, recommend this for a dinner in the park.

After that, we treated ourselves to some beignets and a Mint Julep before going on some rides.

Day 4 - Disneyland

I woke up on this day and cried because it was our last day. I was fully exhausted, but i felt like we’d finally hit our stride at Disneyland with 2 kids for the first time!

We went to Carnation Cafe with Danny’s parents for breakfast; I’d made this reservation first thing because it’s our favorite breakfast place. And it’s becoming tradition to get breakfast there on our last day. We all got the Mickey waffles (except Danny, who got pancakes). They were delicious, as usual. Carnation Cafe - Mickey waffles

After that, we went on a bunch of rides, then got Dole Whip. I got a Dole Whip float, which I prefer, because I feel like I need the slightly tart pineapple juice to go alongside the Dole Whip.

Violet needed a nap, so I spent time with Forrest. He wanted Pizza Port for lunch again (it’s his favorite): we both got pizza, pepperoni for him, cheese for me, plus the garlic breadsticks.

After a long nap and some more rides, we all went to Hungry Bear Jamboree for dinner. I got the Smoked Brisket Sandwich, which I wanted to love; however, the brisket they gave me was almost entirely fat, so it was barely edible. The fries were good though. Danny got the Barbecue Salad, which looked so much better than what I got and came with a corn rib. We got funnel cake fries to split as a family. Forrest got the kids chicken fingers and said they were the best he’d eaten on the trip; he also appreciated that they have a ranch dispenser, which is rare in the park.

At the end of the night, Danny’s dad offered to watch Violet and Forrest while we went into the park with Danny’s mom. We got a pretzel with cheese from the Refreshment Corner on Main Street (Danny and I call this the Coke Corner, but we can never really remember why). I don’t like the cheese sauce they use at the Refreshment Corner specifically and they didn’t have mustard packets, so that was a bummer. However, Mickey Pretzels are my 2nd favorite snack after popcorn, so it was a fitting end to 3 days of eats.

Brown Butter Snickerdoodles

Can I tell you a little dream I’ve had lately? I got it into my head a few weeks ago to open a farm stand. You’ve probably seen them popping up if you live in a small town: self-service stands where you can buy produce, honey, sourdough, etc. I’m not a sourdough baker (yet, I restarted my starter this past week so wish me luck), but I do love baking everything else: rustic Dutch oven bread, cookies, cinnamon rolls, you name it.

I’ve toyed with the idea of selling holiday cookie boxes the last few years—mainly at the request of my husband’s coworkers—and I’m looking for a bit of a productive hobby. Something I’ve never done before and that gets me off the internet a bit.

That is all to say: I’ve been testing recipes the last few weeks and wanted to share one that I’ve perfected.

These brown butter snickerdoodles are everything you love about the classic snickerdoodle: sweet, cinnamon-y and soft. The addition of brown butter gives them a more caramel flavor.

Ingredients:

Dry ingredients

• 2 ½ cups all purpose flour

• 1 teaspoon baking soda

• 2 teaspoons cream of tartar

• ½ teaspoon cinnamon

• ¼ teaspoon salt

Wet ingredients

• 1 cup unsalted butter (2 sticks)

• 1 cup packed dark brown sugar

• ½ cup granulated sugar

• 1 large egg plus 1 egg yolk

• 1 teaspoons vanilla extract

• For rolling mixture: ¼ cup sugar and 2 teaspoons cinnamon

Instructions

First, brown your butter: add butter to a large saucepan and place over medium heat. The butter will begin to crackle, and then eventually foam. Make sure you whisk constantly during this process. After a couple of minutes, the butter will begin to brown and turn a nice golden amber color on the bottom of the saucepan and the foam will dissipate. Continue to whisk and remove from heat as soon as the butter begins to brown and give off a nutty aroma. Immediately transfer the butter to a medium bowl to prevent burning. Set aside to cool for 5-10 minutes or until cool enough to touch. I personally pop it in the fridge to speed up this process.

Once brown butter is cool, add all of it to the bowl of an electric mixer, along with the dark brown sugar and granulated sugar. Mix on medium speed for about 1 minute.

Next, add in the egg, egg yolk, and vanilla and beat on medium speed until well combined, smooth and creamy; about 1-2 minutes.

In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, cream of tartar, 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon, and salt in a bowl. Slowly the dry ingredients to the bowl of the electric mixer and beat on medium-low speed just until combined.

Cover dough with plastic wrap and chill in the fridge for 2-3 hours or up to overnight. When I first made these, I did not chill the dough and the results weren’t my favorite; the texture was off. You can also put in the freezer for 30-45 minutes, but I promise you don’t want to skip this step.

Once ready to bake, preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Let your dough sit at room temp for about 10 minutes, then begin rolling into balls—about 2 tablespoons of dough for each one. But if you’d like bigger cookies, go for it.

Once all your dough is formed into balls, mix 1/4 cup sugar and the 2 teaspoons cinnamon in a bowl. Roll dough balls in cinnamon-sugar mixture, then place on cookie sheet, 2 inches apart.

Bake the cookies 8-12 minutes or until the edges of the cookies begin to turn golden brown. I found that closer to 11 minutes was the perfect temp for my oven. They will look a bit underdone in the middle, but will continue to cook once out of the oven.

Let the cookies cool for 5 minutes on the baking sheet, then move to a wire rack. This recipe makes approximately 24 cookies.

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Let me know if you try this recipe! My son was a big fan—but he loves snickerdoodles anyway—and I loved them as well.

I Tried Bark, the Phone for Kids, So You Don't Have To

For about a year now, my husband and I have been debating when to get our son a phone of some kind. We’re pretty strictly anti-smartphone for under the age of 15—it feels like a driving age thing, right? But with Forrest doing more activities outside the house—coding camps, days with friends, and school—we have both had moments where we think… “I wish I could text Forrest something”. Or, conversely, we want him to be able to get ahold of us if he needs to.

For a year, I’ve been researching Bark, a service for kids that offers monitoring and strict parental controls. I’d heard good things, even great things—partly because they seem to have a very intense influencer program. But we weren’t ever quite ready to give Forrest a full phone.

Recently, Bark released smart watches for kids. They’re relatively affordable—$25 a month for the watch and service—and most kids love smart watches. You can set up contacts, emergency contacts, and parental controls through the Bark app.

This felt like the right choice for us. So I took the plunge and ordered it.

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The first thing I’ll say is this: I’m beyond frustrated with Bark’s customer service.

The second thing I’ll say is this: Bark sent me a faulty watch that was unable to connect to the Bark network (T-Mobile), and they blamed it on my internet (?) even though I was actively using the internet to speak to them.

The watch arrived on Friday. I had been working from home with Violet all day and was excited to be able to give something special to Forrest. With a much younger sibling, Forrest sometimes doesn’t get as much attention as he fully deserves.

The instructions that came with the watch were simple: turn the watch on; scan the QR code; and follow the prompts. And yeah, that part was easy. I already had the Bark app downloaded and set up; I added the watch to Forrest’s profile; I added the contacts I wanted him to be able to text and call.

And then… that’s the biggie, isn’t it? What happened next? I sent myself a text from the watch to test and… nothing. It didn’t send. Tried again. Tried again.

What followed was nearly 2 hours of back and forth on Bark’s customer service chat. We re-added the network, I turned the watch off and on 4 separate times. Finally, the customer service rep told me they’d “updated the watch” on their end and I’d have to wait 24 hours to see if it worked. By that point, I was fairly sure they’d sent me a previously used watch that didn’t work. The CSR also told me multiple times that the issue (of the watch not being able to connect to Bark’s mobile network) was because of our internet at home—which didn’t make sense for two reasons, but that’s neither here nor there.

I refused to wait 24 hours. The watch was slow—slow to start up, slow to reset, slow on every single load screen. It was painfully slow to try to troubleshoot. And it was clunky—like way big. I was sure it would look weird on Forrest’s wrist, but he never got a chance to try it on.

I canceled my service barely 3 hours into having it and demanded a refund. The watch is currently back in the box it came in and waiting to be picked up by FedEx.

Since then, I’ve stumbled onto the negative Bark reviews that I didn’t see previously. They break down into a few points that I can attest to:

• Incredibly poor customer service that refuses to take responsibility for errors or issues.

• Sending out faulty or used equipment without alerting the customer.

• Slow load times and outdated, sluggish software used for the Bark OS itself

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So that’s what I have to say about Bark. It’s been a monumental waste of my time and money—and I’m still waiting (3 days later) for any kind of response to my request for a full refund.

What are parents, like me, supposed to do? There are some many options but the one Danny and I have returned to is this: getting Forrest a dumb phone on our phone plan. Full disclosure it’s hard to find dumb phones these days, but there are some options. We priced it out and while it would be more expensive than Bark, at least we would know the phone and service work.

5 Items to Refresh Your Life for Spring

As a full-time autumn and winter girlie, it pains me to say it (but it’s true): by early March, I’m pretty done with winter weather. Here in Oregon, it’s been rain, rain, rain, and, you guessed it, more rain. So much so that my town experienced flooding this past weekend (yikes).

It’s that time of year that makes me want to open every window in my house and throw away every single thing I’ve ever owned. That’s just the vibe, honestly. So it’s no wonder that I decided to redo two rooms in my house: my bedroom and my office. These aren’t the two most high traffic rooms, but they are rooms that become catch alls, which means that when things get busy (like in back to school season, the holiday season, and just-started-a-new-job season), the decluttering tends to take a backseat.

To my great embarrassment, I also have to tell you that in cleaning out the closet in my office (to make space for all the stuff I needed to move in there), I found boxes of notebooks from the job I had from 2014-2019 (why did I keep them?), as well as a completely unopened box of books I bought from Scholastic when Forrest was in pre-k. Not my greatest moment, honestly.

This is all to say: it’s clean out season and that means it’s refresh season. Which means treating ourselves to a few key items to spruce up the house. Here are my top 5 this spring.

A New Rug

Danny and I got rid of our wool rug when we moved into our house—in 2019. So our bedroom has been rug-less for almost 6 years. And not that’s its a necessary thing, but I was getting really tired of our bedroom. This rug is machine-washable and affordable even for the 8x10 size—plus it comes in a few different color ways, all of them really pretty. This has absolutely changed the vibe of our bedroom, lightened it up, and gave it more life. A win-win.

A New Vacuum

I bought a vacuum in 2018 and have been steadfastly using it since. With a large dog, that vacuum absolutely put in the work for a long time. But in the last year, it’s definitely been limping along: there were times where I could tell it was simply not picking up what it used to. I’ve been shopping for vacuums for about 6 months, but couldn’t really decide what I wanted. I ended up going with another Shark; this one is a little more heavy duty and definitely weighs more than my previous vacuum. It works so well that I feel like my floors are finally clean after my poor, weakening vacuum was laid to rest.

Fresh Frames

Since around 2021, I’ve had a mural wall in my office that I love—but I really had started to feel like it was too busy. I’ve had it in my head to start getting prints of my favorite art and so a set of frames became a necessity. This set is so cute and will fit the same vibe as my mural wall—just a little more clean and grown up.

A Fresh Body Scrub

The winter has truly done a number on my hands and feet—and let’s not even discuss what hand foot and mouth disease did. I’ve been moisturizing like crazy and I realized, very suddenly, I need to exfoliate all the winter skin off. Dove body scrubs are really affordable and smell great—and they’ve helped with my hands a lot lately.

A New Bathmat

When we first moved into our house (again in 2019—6 years ago), I couldn’t find an affordable bathmat. I ended up buying these cheap, tiny ones from the College section in Target. And while they work, they’re now falling apart—almost like they were not made to last 6 years of use. The backing crumbles every time I wash them. They’re done! Finished! Through! It was time to say goodbye and upgrade and I’m glad I did. No more crumbly mess after I wash them.

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That’s that! 5 items I’ve added to my life lately that have made a huge difference. I’ve been working to make purchases more intentionally for the past 2 years and that often means taking more time to replace something I had to buy out of necessity years ago. What are you loving lately?