Since we are all vegetarians over here in the Manno household, people always ask me what my kids eat. I figured I would take this opportunity to show a few examples of the lunches we pack them for school, while showing the variety of products available at Walmart. New customers can use promo code Triple10 to save $10 off their first 3 pickup or delivery orders. There is a $50 minimum and some restrictions and fees apply. Seriously give it a try and see how much easier it makes your life! We were out of town this past weekend and I was able to order stuff for the kids lunches to be at the house when we got home. Soooo much better than going to the store after a fun but exhausting weekend.

Ok here are some lunch ideas that are go-to’s for me! I linked everything so you can easily order an use the discount code Triple10

Lunch 1 – “Uncrustables” Sandwich with Fun Shaped Veggies!

• Dave’s Killer Bread – 2 slices
• Your choice of filling! You could do a PB&J (like I did with sunbutter) or a grilled cheese or anything really!
• Cut sandwich with these Uncrustable like sandwich cutters. My kids are WAY more likely to eat what I put inside when I use these! The set also comes with the stamp tool that I used to cut the cucumbers.
• Cucumber sliced and that stamped with on the stamps from the sandwich cuter set. You can cut sooo many things with these to make food more fun for you kiddos
• Snack Factory Pretzels – my kids love the flat shape
• Sliced Strawberries
• Organic Raisins – Keep those kiddos regular, if you know what I mean. My son Riley always gets constipated.

1. BLUE BENTGO BOX | 2. SANDWICH CUTTERS | 3. DAVE’S KILLER BREAD | 4. SNACK FACTORY PRETZELS | 5. CUCUMBERS | 6. RAISINS | 7. STRAWBERRIES 

Lunch 2 – Burritos bowl

My kids LOVE to be in control of their lunch. So by giving them all the ingredients to mix together they have control. I also sometime include a tortilla pocket like this one so they can make their own taco at school.

• Organic Smashed Black Beans (I heat and mash them up with some butter)
• Tostitos Chips – I like the small flat ones so the fit in the lunch box and don’t break with guacamole on top or when closing lunch box.
• Wholly Avocado individual cups – the sell individual cups that makes it so the guac doesn’t turn brown
• Organic grape or cherry tomatoes – I still slice them in half for my kids
• Organic romaine lettuce sliced up
• Cheese

 1. PURPLE BENTGO BOX | 2. WHOLLY AVOCADO | 3. TOSTITOS | 4. CHERRY TOMATOES | 5. SHREDDED CHEESE | 6. BLACK BEANS | 7. ROMAINE LETTUCE

Lunch 3 – Slider Sandwich with and Hidden Fruits and Veggies

• Hawaiian Rolls. My son likes a little sweetness in the roll. You can put whatever you like on it. I added organic romaine, organic tomato,  mayo, ketchup, and cheese.
• A string cheese cut up
• Organic veggie puffs to sneak in more veggies!
• Organic baby carrots
• Pure Organics fruit bars cut up to sneak in more fruit!

 1. BLUE BENTGO BOX | 2. HAWAIIAN ROLLS | 3. STRING CHEESE | 4. ROMAINE | 5. ROMA TOMATOES | 6. VEGGIE PUFFS | 7. BABY CARROTS | 8. PURE ORGANICS FRUIT BARS

I hope you guys found this helpful and got some lunch ideas! I know for a fact that my kids would get bored with the same lunch every day, so it’s cool that we can stock up on a bunch of stuff at Walmart without spending a bunch of money. Also, as we get deeper into the school year and the calendar starts filling up more and more, it’s a real time saver using Walmart’s pickup and delivery. By the way, new customers can use promo code Triple10 to save $10 off their first 3 pickup or delivery orders. There is a $50 minimum and some restrictions and fees apply.

If you have any creative lunch ideas that your kids love, please share them in the comments below! I know I’m always open to trying new things! Plus it will help other parents reading this!

And thank you to Walmart for being a sponsor of my blog and for making my life easier!

The post Vegetarian School Lunch Ideas appeared first on Ali Manno (Fedotowsky).

Carrot and Raisin Salad

As many of you know, we’ve been staying with my in-laws for the past month in Indiana. Over the last four weeks the kids have gotten so much amazing quality time with their grandparents and these are memories we will truly cherish forever! The other day I came home from the grocery store with Sun-Maid Raisins, a staple in our home— they keep Riley regular if ya know what I mean ;), and when Kevin’s mom saw them she told me about this carrot raisin salad and how it was a Manno family tradition that has been passed down in their family. Plus, I knew it would be a huge hit with Molly and Riley because they’re both obsessed with Sun-Maid Raisins and carrots!

Carrots are full of vitamins and great for their eyes and Sun-Maid Raisins are whole fruit that provide sweetness with 0 g of added sugars. Made with nothing but grapes and California sunshine, Sun-Maid Raisins’ timeless and trusted goodness have been a healthy snack for kids and grown-up kids alike since 1912. They are also incredibly versatile and easy to add into recipes or eat as a stand-alone snack.

Heck yes, mom win!

And I’ll just start right off the bat by saying both Molly and Riley love this recipe! We served it at Thanksgiving and will be serving it with our Christmas dinner as well! Plus, I just think it’s a really great nutritious snack to make in advance and keep in the fridge.

I’m telling you, if you have a picky eater on your hands like I do with Riley, this might be a huge hit with them! The sweetness from the raisins and the carrots go over really well with Riley because he usually won’t eat anything unless it’s sweet. But these are ingredients I can feel good about giving him!

And last thing I’ll say before I get into how you make it is that it is so easy! You could whip this up in about five minutes! Another mom win. So here’s how you make it.

THE RECIPE

We made ours vegan so that Kevin could eat some as well, so I will provide both options of the recipe below!

Ingredients

• 4 cups of shredded carrots
• 3/4 to 1 1/2 cups raisins – We use Sun-Maid Raisins. I love that they are whole fruit and add sweetness to the recipe that Riley loves.
• 1/4 cup vegan mayo (or regular mayo)
• 1 tablespoon of honey (or 2 tablespoons sugar)
• 2-3 tablespoons of nut milk (or 2% regular milk)

INSTRUCTIONS

1. First, you peel the carrots and then shred or chop them up. We used a food processor to make it super easy!
2. Then in a large bowl, add the chopped carrots and mix in your Sun-Maid Raisins.
3. The final step is to add your vegan mayo, honey, and nut milk. Mix it all up really good.

That’s it!

Well there you have it! Easy peasy! Could that not have been easier or what?! I hope you guys give this a try we truly love it and who knows maybe we’ve just passed on our new family tradition to some of you! I’ve always said sometimes when you don’t have family traditions until you start your own for your kids and generations to come!

The post Carrot and Raisin Salad – A Manno Tradition appeared first on Ali Manno (Fedotowsky).

Also to be honest, after chatting with a pregnant friend who was feeling isolated and down while self-quarantining, she told me that she decided to think of something positive and do something positive by setting up her baby registry. And that further inspired me to write this post. I hope that it helps any mom-to-be’s out there and allows them to focus on the joy in their lives right now, which is their soon to be little baby in her arms while creating their registry. Plus keep reading because Hello Bello is giving away a years worth of Hello Bello diapers and wipes.

 1. HELLO BELLO “POOP PRINT” DIAPERS

For full transparency, Walmart has sponsored this post, but all of my reviews for each of these products are my own! I chose all of the products simply because they helped me raise my kiddos. In my opinion this list is the best of the best and the things that without a doubt I could not have gone without during the first couple years of my kiddos lives. And some of the things we still use to this day!

So for those of you in my Facebook group that of us have been asking about baby registry items, I hope this is super helpful for you! And for anyone who just stumbled across this blog post who might be expecting, I’m glad you’re here and I hope this helps you so much and takes your mind off the craziness in the world right now! Or maybe you already have little ones and you’re reading this post, and in that case there are some items that I think are worth getting even if you have toddlers! Starting with my #1 item for getting your kiddos to sleep longer!

Hatch Baby Rest

If you’ve been reading my blog for a while than you know I talked about the Hatch Baby Rest a dozen times! Whether it’s on my blog or my Instagram stories, I cannot sing the praises of this product more! We started using it I believe when Molly was about 1 1/2, but I could be remembering wrong. But I do know we started using it with Riley around 8 months old. Did he understand the light completely eight months old? No, it took a little bit of getting used to. But he learned very quickly.

1. HATCH BABY REST

Okay, okay. I’m getting ahead of myself, so what is the Hatch Baby Rest? It is an ok-to-wake light that basically turns on at whatever time you set it to and it lets your child know it’s okay to wake up and get out of their bed. Or if they’re in a crib, it lets them know it’s okay to wake up and start calling for mommy and daddy. Actually you can manually change the light from an app in your phone or you can set it turn on at a certain time every morning or a certain time after every nap. I used to have Molly and Riley’s automatically turn on at 6:30 AM every morning but, now I’ve actually changed it so that when I hear them making noise I’ll wait a few minutes and then turn it on and go get them. Only because now they’re great sleepers so I don’t even really have to worry about it!

I swear both of my kids used to either yell for me in the morning to come get them or talk loudly asking for me to go get them in the morning and then after this light they are almost completely silent until the light turns on. Molly is almost 4 now and she will quietly talk to herself in the bed and even sometimes ask the fairies to come in her room to turn the light on when she wakes up in the morning. But that girl will not take one step out of her bed until the light turns on. I recommend you start using it when your child is young just like we did with Riley – I say it’s never too early to start. A baby can understand the process of the light coming on and then a parent coming in the room well before they can talk.

 1. HATCH BABY REST

Joovy Double Stroller

So I haven’t had the stroller since the kids were infants, but I just think it’s a game changer for parents so I had to add it to this list. To be honest we’ve had a few different double strollers. And the reason I ended up getting this one even though we already had one is because we were going on a trip and I knew I needed something really light weight and super easy to fold up for the plane. This stroller did not disappoint! I love it so much that we now use it even when we’re not traveling!

1. DOUBLE STROLLER | 2. SLIP-ON SNEAKERS

It is so lightweight, super easy to collapse and unfold, and has a strap so you can easily throw it over your shoulder to carry when it’s folded up. In the picture below you can see Molly and Riley in it when we were on a trip to Indiana. While I don’t have any pictures of our of them in it on our trip to Hawaii, we also brought it to Hawaii. So if you have two kiddos and you need a good double stroller, I highly recommend this one! Or if you have one child and you’re expecting your second definitely put this on a registry if you have one for your sprinkle!

 1. JOOVY DOUBLE STROLLER

Joovy Spoon Baby Walker

I know this post is about items that we used when our kids were infants that we still use now, but I really want to add the J00vy Spoon even though Riley doesn’t use it anymore just because I was just talking about their stroller which reminded me of the Spoon and how much we loved it. I want to start this with the caveat that there’s been some discussion online that walkers like this are not safe because a lot of kids end up in the hospital from injuries related to baby walkers. And the reason for that is that these walkers allow kids to reach things that they normally wouldn’t be able to reach when they’re a baby and it also makes it easy for a child to fall down the stairs. So I want to start by saying baby proof your home! We used this Joovy Spoon walker with both of our kids, and you guys know because you saw in my Instagram stories all the time, and we never had one injury! And that’s because we made sure the stairs were and still are blocked off with a baby gate, we made sure that objects that were not safe were out of reach of our kids, and really we just made sure to keep an eye on the kids whenever they were in it. Now let me tell you I love it!

 1. JOOVY SPOON BABY WALKER

When your baby is around the age where they can sit up but not really crawl well, life can get a little bit frustrating for them! They want to get to things and they want to explore, but they can’t because they don’t quite know how to yet. That’s where this baby walker comes into play! We would pop Molly and Riley into the Joovy Spoon and they were able to use their little legs to push around the house and explore everything. It made them feel more apart of what was going on in their environment. Riley would have so much fun pushing this thing back-and-forth around our house laughing and smiling. I have the best memories of it! We also fed the kids in this a lot. Because of the tray it’s so easy to put food down in front of them and let them eat while exploring. Although keep your eyes on them in this case for, because those little sticky hands will get all over your furniture and walls while they’re exploring while eating. Ha!

There’s also been some talk about how putting babies in a walker like this can delay walking. I highly disagree because Riley walked at eight months old. And we used this thing all the time! So do your research, baby proof your house, and decide if it’s right for you. For us, we used this every single day multiple times a day and it just made our lives so much easier.

 1. JOOVY SPOON BABY WALKER

Diapers

Back to things use used from infancy until now! I want to talk about diapers next because you’re obviously going to need a lot of them! But the reason I’m mentioning it here is because Walmart is doing a really cool giveaway with Hello Bello diapers right now that I want to tell you guys about. You guys may know that Hello Bello is Kristen Bell and Dad Sheppard’s brand and to celebrate the brand turning one years old they are giving away a years worth of Hello Bello diapers and wipes to families in need throughout the month of March. So to check out that giveaway go here and find out how you can enter via Instagram stories. Given what is going on in our world this giveaway couldn’t be more important.

By the way, how cute is Riley in this little poop diaper print that they have? That’s one thing I absolutely love that their diapers is that they have the cutest designs for different holidays or occasions or just funny ones like the one Riley has on now!

 1. HELLO BELLO DIAPERS | 2. OVERALLS

Real quick because these overalls are also from Walmart, so I definitely recommend adding them to your cart if you’re doing some shopping right now. Usually what I do when I buy clothes from Walmart and I want to get free shipping is I will add diapers or soap to my cart to make the total over $35 so I can get the free shipping. They are items I need anyway so I legit never pay for shipping when I order from Walmart. Even if I’m buying a $9 shirt.

Anyway, these overalls are ridiculously comfy and perfect for any mom or any woman! I would say they’re true to size. I got a medium and I’m normally a medium and they’re not made of denim. I think they’re made of cotton. It’s a super soft material whatever it is – and they are only $29! Also, they are a great option for moms who are still nursing. Because you can easily unclip your overalls to nurse with a nursing tank underneath.

Organic Bedding

One of the biggest stresses about as a new parent is getting your child to sleep! I’ve written dozens of blog posts about sleep training or ways to set up your kids room for the best night sleep so trust me I get it that you’re willing to do whatever it takes to get those precious Zzz’s! Not only for yourself but for your baby as well. One of the things that I found very important to me when both my kiddos were infants was to have organic bedding, but it’s not always affordable to buy organic bedding and that’s unfortunate. So I wanted to quickly share Little Star Organics with you guys because they have really cute organic clothes and bedding that is really affordable for everyone. I am absolutely obsessed with this crib sheet that has hearts on it. I almost bought it for Riley’s bed, but then the second sheet that comes in the pack is pink and didn’t really fit with the decor in his nursery, so I decided to get this moon print instead. I’ll link the hearts below for you to see! Honestly Riley is so obsessed with the moon and he loves this crib sheet! I know you might think I’m full of it saying that my 22-month-old is obsessed with his crib sheets, but I am telling you the honest truth! He gets so excited to show me the moons every morning!

 1. ORGANIC MOON SHEETS | 2. CRIB 

And we’ve been a fan of the brand for a while. As you can see in this picture of Riley below, he is snuggled up with one of their blankets. I’m not quite sure how old he is in this picture. I think maybe 14 or 15 months? He’s about 22 months now. It’s crazy how time flies. I just realized that this pajamas are also from Little Star Organics and they are still available in a lot of sizes.

1. ORGANIC BLANKET | 2. PAJAMAS

4mom Pack n Play

We own two of these pack and plays. And we have use them so many times! Not only for kids when traveling, because there was a point or both of our kids were in cribs, but also when friends come over to visit. My friend Stef and her family visits as often here in Los Angeles. She has three young boys, which over the last few years have been in cribs. Her youngest is just two weeks younger than Riley so he still in a crib. And every time they visit it’s so nice to have a safe and comfortable place for her kiddos to sleep. We just pop up at the pack and play and it’s her little guys bed! And when we travel down to San Diego to visit her, we just throw the 4Mom’s pack and play in our car so Riley has a place to sleep down there. Last time we went down there both Molly and Riley were still sleeping in cribs so we bought brought both of our pack and plays.

I remember before we had them, we visited my mom and sister in Massachusetts when Molly was just a baby. My sister had one of those old-school pack and plays that is absolutely impossible to figure out how to open or breakdown. I think it took Kevin and I an hour and a half to figure out how to set it up. Ha! But the 4Moms one, you literally just push out the middle of it and it opens and then you pull a little loop in the middle of it to close it when you’re done. It cannot be easier and literally takes less than two seconds to set up. Put this guy on your registry for sure!

 1. PACK AND PLAY

4moms High Chair

Sticking with this brand, I also highly recommend the 4Mom’s high chair. Riley has this chair and he’s been using it ever since he could sit up. I can’t remember exactly what age that was, but it was early on and he still uses this high chair and will for quite some time. The reason I like it so much for younger children/infants is because the chair slightly leans back so it makes it more comfortable for your child and they’re really young. What I also love is that uses magnets not only to secure the tray to the chair, but there’s also magnets within the tray so that your child can’t push their bowl or fork off of the tray as easily as they normally can. It won’t work with just any bowl. 4Moms has a special bowl that I believe has either a magnet or metal somewhere in it that makes it stick to the magnetic tray. But any metal fork or spoon will work with it. I just really loved it and highly recommend it because you will use it for years.

 1. HIGH CHAIR | 2. LEARNING TOWER

Floor Foam Mat

Whatever you do – do not buy a play mat that comes in those jigsaw pieces that you put together. They will never stay together because your kids will rip them up and I feel like so much little pieces of dirt and debris gets in between them. I know this because we got one like that for Molly. And by the time she was mobile she was ripping it up and pieces were just all over the place. However, we got this foam mat for Riley. I can’t even tell you how many of you guys sent me messages asking for details on it. I don’t know if this is the exact brand we have, but I think it is. I just liked it because of the subtle gray and white pattern on one side. It is reversible and has a fun pattern on the other side. But you guys know me I like my white and neutral colors. Ha! It’s definitely pricier than the jigsaw foam mats, but I think it’s worth it. And once again if this is an item you can get somebody to get you off your registry, you’re golden. We still use this everyday, as I am sure you know from the many “birthday parties” on my stories.

 1. FOAM MAT

BONUS: Dress Pants

Ha, this definitely isn’t an item that was used from infancy to now, BUT I just got in this amazing pair of dress pants from Walmart. They seriously just arrived as I was writing this post, so I didn’t even take a photo yet. But they are seriously so comfortable, flattering, and affordable. They were seriously $20, which is incredible for a pair of dress pants! I highly recommend adding them to your order if you get any of these baby items. And if you don’t love them as much as I do, Walmart has the best return policy. It is so easy!

Let’s Help Each Other Out

I’m trying to think of more items that I used from infancy until now with Molly or Riley and I can’t quite think of anymore. There’s other items we’ve actually loved over the years and I’ve written tons of blog post about my favorite baby registry items that I definitely recommend checking out – I will link a few here, here, and here, but you can also search under Motherhood on the top toolbar, but I think these are the main ones that stick out to me today.

However, the whole point of this blog is for us to help each other so I would love to hear the items that you felt you got the most long-term use out of with your kiddos. I feel like hearing from me and hearing from all of you will really help moms out who are deciding whether or not an expensive item is worth purchasing or putting on the registry. Sometimes it’s not worth it if it’s something you use for a few months. But I think if it’s something you use over the years it’s definitely worth it if you can afford it or if you can convince someone to get it for you on your registry! So let’s share in the comments below and hopefully help some moms out there who are sitting home right now and trying to see the positive in all of this madness by setting up their registries!

The post My Top Picks For Infancy that Last Until They Are Toddlers appeared first on Ali Manno (Fedotowsky).