Love List – Birthday Gifts & From A Bookstore!

Every Wednesday I share the Love List – my favorite finds, recipes, reads, and little joys from around the web. This week’s Love List has a bit of a birthday theme! Three of my kids share the same birthday (still one of the wildest facts about our family), and finding gifts gets trickier every year. They already seem to have everything from the usual stores (looking at you Target), so this year I wandered through Barnes & Noble looking for something a little different… and wow, I forgot how good their kids’ section is! The toy aisle is full of unique finds you don’t see everywhere else, and I ended up finding gifts that felt really special. The kids also get to pick if they want something a little bigger (in addition to something smaller) and Freddie wanted a bigger gift (a hammock, I cannot wait to share with you below) – Ben is going to a Brewers game with 2 friends and Nick and Frankie is going to a play place with 2 friends. Here are their birthday gifts!

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• Friendship bracelet kit – so cute and girly, and she got some Unicorn Diaries.
• Ben is really into the Wings of Fire graphic novels, but he’s read all of them, so I was wayyyy excited when I found this Wings of Fire blanket for him (on Amazon).
• Ben’s other gift was this Magic Set – omg, he’s been putting on magic shows … a lot…lol, but it’s the cutest thing ever!
• Freddie got a Dog Man book and blanket, and this axolotl game.
• Their favorite dinner I make:
  • Frankie – bbq apple cheddar sliders
  • Ben – baked pasta with sausage
  • Freddie – mac n cheese pizza

• And since this is a Love List, I just have to share with you – I found the BEST SMELLING and cutest candle ever –  this one (and how cute is the name: Plot twist – smells like chills and thrills).
• But Freddie’s favorite has been his new hammock, and it’s been the sweetest surprise watching all the kids pile into it with books. Seeing them stretched out in the front yard reading together has been one of those simple summer moments I know I’ll remember. The hammock was also super affordable ($78 and it’s nice!!)