Now that Alder is eating solids, he of course loves all things Love Child Organics just like his big sister. The Teethie crackers are a favourite for this teething babe, he had six teeth when he was seven months and seems to be constantly working on more teeth! 

Love Child Organics also has an amazing cookbook, written by one of the co-founders of the brand, Leah Garrod-Cole. "It All Begins with Food", I can't recommend it enough! It has an amazing breakdown of starting solids with your babies, toddler snacks, family meals and more! I forgot how overwhelming it is starting to feed your baby solids, and this book helped me so much! These amazing Mango Coconut Muffins are from the book and are so delicious! 

Another thing I love about Love Child Organics is their love for spreading love! They have several non-profit partnerships, helping children with Nourishment and Basic Needs, Play, Literacy and Health. 

If you haven't tried their products before, I highly recommend them! I honestly can't say enough good things about them! Have you tried them before? 

<3 Kastles 

When I first heard about the local meal delivery company Cook.Eat.Repeat, I was so excited! I have been trying hard to shop local and small, so it's perfect!

As a busy Mama of two, some weeks just go above my head and meal planning goes out the window. Some days there is just not enough coffee to get this brain functioning, haha! Healthy and nutritious meal kits delivered to my door? Yes please!

I ordered the Fish Tacos and Power Bowl, and was impressed by both. All the ingredients were portioned out, the instructions were simple & straightforward and the recipes didn't take long to make. I also love how the garlic came already peeled! Anyone else hate peeling garlic? Haha!

Both recipes were so tasty, and Emery & the hubby loved them as well! I've also tried their Veggie Quinoa Burgers and the Shrimp Stuffed Squash, which were so yummy! 

One of the things I really enjoyed about Cook.Eat.Repeat, is that all of the meals are created & perfected by a Registered Dietitian. All of the meals are portion controlled and nutritionally balanced.  I love not having to worry about if the meal is balanced enough.

Another thing I loved about their service is that they work with local Alberta farmers and purveyors. They care about animal welfare and work hard to source their meal and animal products from Alberta farmers and producers who honour similar values. They also source their produce locally as much as they can, which depends on seasonality and availability.

Meal delivery times are on Mondays & Wednesdays, and you can ever choose if you want them delivered in the morning or evening. You have to order by Friday for the following week delivery. The Roasted Pepper Veg Balls with coconut mashed potatoes on next weeks menu look super tasty!

Let me know if you try it out! Happy cooking!

<3 Kastles 

If you have been reading my blog for awhile, you might know how obsessed my daughter is with Beauty & the Beast. We must have listened to that CD & read numerous versions of the book a million times by know. So it only made sense to throw her a Beauty and the Beast themed Birthday party. 

Emery was just so excited about her birthday party, it was so special to watch her take in the day. I was so happy to find this beautiful Belle inspired dress from Max & Maude. If you live in the Edmonton area, you need to go check out their boutique. It is my favourite baby/kids store, and I always go there to get Birthday presents. They carry so many of my favourite brands, including lots of awesome independent brands too!

I've been admiring doughnut walls for some time, so this was the best excuse to make one. Not to mention indulge in some delicious doughnuts. We just got a sheet of white pegboard from Home Depot and a couple of skinny wooden dowels. Make sure to check the dowels fit in the holes before hand. Our dowels were a little bit smaller than our holes. Aaron cut the pegboard in half, and cut the dowel into smaller pieces. We then hot glued the dowels into the holes on the pegboard. Make sure to plan out your spacing of the dowels beforehand. We just bought a couple of donuts to use as spacers for guessing. 

This little guy was so good at his sisters party! 

He's wearing a Von Bon Apparel shirt I got from Little White Sneakers, and I am wearing the Steffy Bell-Sleeve blouse from Anthropologie. 

The Rose Gold sign I made use a cute kit I got at HomeSense. It came with a ton of letters so you can make all sorts of words, and re-use them. I just picked a line from one of the songs in the movie.

These two just make my heart melt. 

I had to have a few healthy options to balance out the doughnuts right, haha?

A yogurt bar was easy & yummy. I just grabbed a couple tubs of yogurt, fruit, and granola from Costco. I also grabbed a pack of apple sauce squeeze packs which babies & toddlers always love.

For the party favours I found classic Disney books at the Dollar store and tied ribbon around them. Belle loves books & reading so I thought this was a fitting party favour.

Party Details:

Beauty & the Beast Felt Finger Puppets by Marys Daughter

Beauty & the Beast Felt Face Masks by Marys Daughter

Doughnuts from Doughnut Party

Rose Gold "Tale as Old as Time" sign from HomeSense

DIY Pegboard Donut Wall 

Classic Disney Books Party Favour from Dollarama

Yay Napkins by MeriMeri from HomeSense

Vintage Books 

Vintage Teapot and Teacup

Emery was so excited to have her own little box of pepperoni pizza to eat. She was also pretty jacked about the Organic juices they carry. Such a fun treat for her to have her own pizza and juice box! Aaron and I might have stolen the other two juice boxes from her, they were just too good! I think the organic lemon was my favourite.

Panago Pizza is made with fresh dough in store daily, and they also use 100% Canadian wheat and cheese. I love companies that support Canadian products! I also love that you can order other things with your pizza like salads (you can even create your own salads), wings, desserts and breads. 

You know what a good friend is, someone who brings over snacks for a playdate at your house because you are just a little too unorganized, haha. The other week my friend Erin came over with her son Henry for a play date. She brought all the goodies for Yogurt Bowls including her delicious Homemade Granola. 

I couldn't stop dreaming about her yummy Homemade Granola after she left, so I had to get the recipe from her. It's all I have been wanting to eat since.  I figure at least it's a somewhat healthy pregnancy craving, haha! 

Emery just had to get in on the action, and kept saying "Cheese" every time I took a photo, haha! She is such a little ham.

Homemade Granola Recipe

Ingredients:

-2-3 cups of nuts ( I used pecans, sliced almonds and whole almonds)

-1/2 cup shredded coconut unsweetened

-1/2 raw pumpkin seeds

-1/2 cup raw sunflower seeds

-roughly 10 chopped dates

-1/4 cup melted coconut oil

-3tsp vanilla extract

-3 tsp cinnamon

Directions:

Mix all the nuts, seeds, and dates together. Mix together the melted coconut oil, vanilla and cinnamon. Coat the nut/seed mixture with coconut oil mixture and spread on a pan. Cook it for 20 minutes at 320C, take it out and stir. Cook it for another 5-10 minutes or until nuts look toasty. 

Can someone explain to me how my little baby is 2 years old now?! 

I figured this year was probably going to be one of the last birthday party of hers where I can pick what the theme is. We all know it will be Paw Patrol and Princess Parties for years to come, haha!

She loves animals, so I decided to go with a "Pastel Animal" theme. I figured it was simple enough and you can't go wrong with pastels.

I have only pinned spray painted plastic animals on Pinterest a million times, so I figured it was time to actually try it out. I found most of the spray paint colors at Home Depot. Pastel Purple was harder to find and I actually ended up getting enamel spray from Michaels.

I suggest to do light coats to help the animals to dry faster & it prevents them from getting sticky.

I made homemade pastel play dough for the party favours. It was really easy and fairy inexpensive. We had leftover mason jars from our wedding favours that I used. I glued little plastic animals on the lids and then spray painted them. For the play dough I used this recipe. It was so easy, fast and it was fun to make pastel colors. 

Above Details:

Heather & Gem Party Shop Cake Topper

Target Cake Stand

DIY Pastel Animals

Ombre Cakes were another thing on my Pinterest to Do List. I am no baker by any means but I do love being creative. I just used a Betty Crocker white cake box mix, poured it into three different bowls. I then added red food colouring to each bowl, increasing the number of drops. For example the first bowl (which would be the first layer) had two drops, the second bowl would have four drops, etc. Those aren't the exact measurements, I just kind of eye balled it. It ended up being pretty subtle, so if you want it to be a bigger contrast I would add more drops. 

Above Details:
Duchess Provisions Cake Stand

Above Details:

Heather & Gem Party Shop Pink Confetti Balloon

I was having a hard time finding a Party Shop that carried Confetti Balloons and that wasn't too far away. I was so happy when Heather & Gem Party shop popped up on my Instagram feed. The confetti balloons added a fun element to the party, and the kids loved them! She also carries tons of other fun party supplies, including the cake topper. 

It was so fun putting this birthday party together for our sweet girl. I love how excited she was about everything, and seeing all her loved ones. She especially was stoked about everyone singing Happy Birthday to her, it was so sweet to watch! We are so blessed by this beautiful girl, and Emery is so blessed by all those who love her!

I hope you enjoyed this post. Let me know if you have any questions about anything!

<3 Kastles