This post was sponsored by Unilever and Project Sunlight. Thank you for supporting the sponsors that so
generously help The Sweetest Occasion keep the party rockin’!
I became an aunt for the first time at seventeen years old. Several years and many nieces and nephews later, I can say without hesitation that I’m crazy about kids. (Oh, for the record by “many”, we have 13 nieces and nephews between B and I, not including his kids!) While I love socializing with friends and hosting parties, it’s actually spending time with all the kids in the backyard as they jump on the trampoline and we grown-ups cook dinner on the grill that makes me happiest. Seeing them have so much fun just being kids and exploring life and the world is seriously priceless in my book. Sure, there’s the occasional temper tantrum and loads of runny noses in the winter months and allergy season, but I’m so in love with all of those kids, I can’t even tell you.
[Two of the little men that compromise the aforementioned 13 nieces and nephews.]
It’s no secret that I always strive to be that awesome, crazy grown-up that every kid loves to have in their life. I throw off my shoes, I chase them around the yard, I get elbow-deep in egg dye come Easter, I happily pull out all the board games and play all the board game things for hours on end. I sing them songs in the tub, I help them pull up a chair so they can get messy in the kitchen helping me roll out pizza dough, and I wax poetic about all the life things and tell them how they should always chase their dreams, regardless of whether or not they’re 14 or 4. I guess all of that is to say that when Unilever reached out to me about being a part of Project Sunlight this summer, I didn’t hesitate for even a moment before jumping on board. I’m really passionate about kids and encouraging kids to become awesome and do awesome things so Unilever’s new The Way Kids See It video is seriously so touching to me. Little kids. Dreaming big dreams. Being awesome mini human beings. I’m in love.
I hope you’ll take a couple of minutes and watch the video above. This month in our house we’re going to be tackling as a family one of the Summer Sunlight Activities dreamed up by Project Sunlight. Created to encourage families to seek out simple and fun sustainable living initiatives, Project Sunlight is supporting kids and the adults in their life to create a better world for the next generation. For a long time we’ve been passionate about the importance of eating and shopping local. While it can be tough to eat local when you live in a colder climate, we take full advantage of our local farmer’s market as often as possible and try to plan our meals around the produce and foods we find there. The kids cart around the shopping totes and help us manage our shopping list where we’ll have already organized the ingredients we need for the week depending on whether we’re making a big pot of chili in the winter or our favorite grilled pizzas in the summer. To take it one step further, this summer we’re taking on Project Sunlight’s One Ingredient, Five Ways challenge. I’ll be sharing how we make that happen and the recipes we come up with in a couple of weeks, but in the meantime I’d love to have you join in the fun, too! Visit Project Sunlight, find the activity that speaks the most to you and chime in to let me know that you’re on board with! Let’s see how many acts of sunlight we can take on together this summer, shall we?
[Photos by Cyd Converse | Video by Project Sunlight.]
This post was sponsored by Unilever and Project Sunlight. All the enthusiasm is entirely my own. Read more about our editorial policies.