Be still my heart!
Valentine’s Day is almost here y’all! Who else is getting pumped about all the hearts and candy? Nolan loves any excuse to celebrate, and ever since we walked into Target a few weeks ago and he saw the décor everywhere, the questions have come back-to-back! I love hearing the excitement he builds up about celebrating, and once I explained that he can give out Valentine’s to his friends, he’s been all about this holiday. When I was a kid I used to LOVE the chalky candy hearts with messages written on them, but I have since learned those little candies and others are packed with processed sugars and other yucky ingredients. Like Halloween, Easter, and Christmas, a sugar overload can be a problem on Love Day. Since this holiday is promoted with sweets, it’s hard to keep the toxic candy away from the little ones. For kids who react badly to sugar, chocolate, or dyes, this can mean trouble. It can also be tempting for those of us who have to avoid these things in our diet. A few years ago, I was battling a pretty intense sweet tooth while trying to detox from processed foods. I found the YumEarth brand of organic lollipops during a trip to my local Homegoods, and I’ve been a lover of their candy ever since. I keep their ginger chews in my purse for when a nausea wave hits. I also keep a few sweet treats for the kids to bribe them when I have a prenatal appointment or have to go run errands.
This post is a collaboration with YumEarth for their Valentine’s Day candy. The founders of YumEarth are two dads with young children who created this line of organic candy because they wanted to make sure the treats their kids get are filled with HONEST foods versus junk. I have a soft spot for family run businesses and this company stole my heart years ago! Now they make gummies, fruit snacks, licorices, lollipops and other treats that aren’t just organic but filled with vitamins and nutrients for your littles. All of their products skip the yucky food dyes and are colored with fruits, vegetables and roots – how cool is that? I cannot say that I have found another candy company that takes their ingredients as seriously as YumEarth! YumEarth organic pops not only have 100% Daily Vitamin C per serving, but they are also certified organic, have real fruit extracts, are kosher, and have no gluten, tree-nuts, peanuts, GMO’s, dairy, soy, or artificial colors/dyes.
Nolan really wanted to help put his Valentine’s together -aka he wanted to eat as much candy as he could while I put them together, ha! I decided to let him and Harper indulge in a sucker and gummies while I took a sucker and a packet of gummies and taped them together with pink washi tape so he can pass them out to his friends. He is so excited about giving out Valentine’s this year. He keeps asking me if we can go drop them off at their houses today! As a mom, it’s really important to me to take care of my body as well as our children’s. There are so many yucky ingredients hiding in the foods that most kids ingest every day, so researching and finding better options for our family has become a HUGE part of my life. I am so happy that during my healthy food journey that I came across the YumEarth candy brand so the kids don’t miss out on sweet treats!
Nolan and Harper just got their new shirts in from Swanky Shank so it only seemed fitting for them to try them on before our Valentine’s Day mini shoot next week. I LOVE holiday décor and there’s never a better excuse to dress them up in cute clothes than the holidays! Swanky Shank has become my go-to handmade shop for cute holiday shirts, the quality of their materials are so cute and I love how unique each design is.
