My Birthday and Our New Addition Lana

Sunday was my birthday and it was the best day with my family. To be totally honest, most years my birthday kind of gets overshadowed by the holidays. But not this year!

I started my morning off by sleeping in and then being delivered Starbucks and presents in bed. My Starbucks go to is usually a Skinny Vanilla Latte with Almond Milk but for my birthday I had a full fat Caramel Brulee Latte and it was delicious!

I loved all my gifts but am especially obsessed with my new Aerie leggings and sweatshirt! Every year Aerie puts out some version of an oversized camo sweatshirt and I got this years version. It is perfect! The camo print is kind of muted which makes it more feminine. It is perfectly oversized and has slits on the sides for total comfort. I want to live in this thing and I want it in every color.

The leggings are a total game changer and again, I want them in every color! First of all, they have pockets which I love. They are lined and keep you perfectly warm in the winter and I never had to pull them up! They're on sale right now and I'll link them at the end of this post.

My request for breakfast was waffles with bacon. I always do the bacon numbers on their birthdays so it was nice to have it done for me 😊

Another gift from my family was a cat stroller 😂 They know I'm a Crazy Cat Lady! My big boy cat Loki likes to lounge in it but was not a happy camper when I actually took him outside in it. And Lulu really wants no part of it at all lol. We're going to keep practicing. 

We had a family style dinner at P.F. Changs and shared some of our favorites. Tempura Calamari and Vegetables, Tempura Green Beans, Lo Mein, Mongolian Beef, Sesame Chicken, and Sea Bass. Everything was delicious and it was nice for us all to get out to eat together which doesn't happen often. Also, huge bonus was that Billy tried some new foods and liked them!!

We took home six cupcakes from Sublime and they were the best! My favorite cupcakes in all the land if you will lol. We went with their Vanilla Squared, Red Velvet, Peanut Butter Cup, Snickerdoodle, Cookies & Cream, and Nutty Vanilla.

Then came the biggest surprise...Brian had the idea that we would go over to Pet Smart and walk around and look at the pets. While I was looking at the kittens he says "Well it is your birthday. We can get one." I have seriously never been so surprised! My stomach actually hurt! 

My cat Kailan passed away in March 2018 and it was very hard on my daughter and I and I've thought about getting another since this spring. The kids have been asking for a kitty too. 

Unfortunately it was too late to process an adoption so we had to go home empty handed but I think that worked out for the best. I went to our local Pet Smart which partners with ACCT Philly for adoptions. We had adopted our dog Lady and our boy cat Loki from them previously. They are really dedicated to getting these animals off the streets and giving them homes without making the adoption process strenuous and super expensive. 

Long story short...After making two trips there and waiting for a drop off of kittens, we adopted a sweet, playful, spunky girl and named her Lana 😸

 

She is the sweetest and settling in already. Such a great surprise and the best gift! You can head to my Facebook or Instagram Page to see the video of the surprise because Lily caught it all!

Thank you to my family so much for making my birthday so incredibly special and showing me all the love on my day. I love them so much 💛

Aerie links....

https://www.ae.com/us/en/p/women/leggings/aerie-leggings/aerie-play-pocket-cuff-legging/0491_4511_073?menu=cat4840006

https://www.ae.com/us/en/p/women/hoodies-sweatshirts/aerie-hoodies-sweatshirts/aerie-oversized-desert-sweatshirt/0743_1569_329?menu=cat4840006

Prepping Breakfast With Billy

Spent so quality time with my little guy yesterday making these Breakfast Crescent Rolls for his breakfasts this week.

Started with a few simple ingredients, all from Aldi.

I cooked the sausages and scrambled eggs before hand so everything would be ready for him to easily put together. 

He loves to help in the kitchen! That is definitely a trick I use to get him to try new things 😊

First the eggs...

Then the sausages...

 

Then the cheese and roll them up...

We baked them for about 18 minutes at 350 degrees until they were golden brown.

One thing we have learned about Billy is that with anything and everything, we have to keep things new, fresh, and exciting! So maybe switching up his breakfasts will actually make him eat in the morning hahaha. 

So far this morning went well and he had an apple with one so we'll see how the rest of the week goes with them 😊

What are some of your favorite breakfasts you make for your kids? 

Holiday Giveaway

Head over to my Instagram page @momma_to_mom and check out this fun HOLIDAY GIVEAWAY I'm doing with Confessions Of A Budget Babe 🎁

Snickerdoodle Smoothie

This smoothie has been a life saver recently!

Life is busy and mornings are hectic so I was craving a delicious breakfast that I could make myself and take on the go. That thought brought me back to smoothies. 

With the holidays coming I wanted to make it fun and festive so here's what I did to create this delicious Snickerdoodle Smoothie that is so easy for me to make and take with me to run all my morning errands.

Always start with simple ingredients and I thought about what I was really craving...Vanilla and Cinnamon...Enter "Snickerdoodle" 😋

Unsweetened Almond Milk, Frozen Banana, Peanut Butter, Vanilla Greek Yogurt, Spinach, Vanilla Extract, Ground Cinnamon, and Ice.

To be totally honest, I really don't measure anything. I'm kind of on this journey to stop constantly measuring my food, choose wisely, eyeball it, and listen to my body. 

But I would guesstimate about 3/4C of Almond Milk, 1C Spinach, 1C Ice, 1 teaspoonish Peanut Butter, half a Frozen Banana, dash of vanilla extract, and LOTS of cinnamon.  

Throw that all in the blender and mix it up! 

Now here's the show stopper...

This Coconut Whipped Cream from Trader Joe's is so freaking good! Like I said, I wanted to make it fun and festive so I picked this up. Here's my tip...shake it up real good and put some in your cup FIRST! I do about a quarter cup. 

Pour your blended smoothie on top and it is magically delicious!

I've thought about topping with more cinnamon or even sprinkles but that's kind of extra right? Hahaha but is the holiday season, hmmmm...

Anyway, give it a try and I hope you like it as much as I do 💗

Thanksgiving Breads and Spreads

Switched it up this year and took some breads and spreads to our family Thanksgiving gathering.

(Wish I would have got a better picture of the finished product)

Keep reading below to see how I created this board.

Started my planning around these two breads from Trader Joe's. Roasted Tomato and Parmesan Focaccia and Cranberry, Raisin & Pecan Batard.

Brainstormed with my brother a little about spreads for the focaccia and he suggested a goat cheese spread. I couldn't find a store bought one so I decided to make my own. I followed this recipe from Green Valley Kitchen and skipped the red pepper flakes.

I also found this Roasted Garlic and Herb Butter Spread at Trader Joe's so I decided to pick that up to as another option.

For the Batard I found a Honey Pecan Cream Cheese so I grabbed that and picked up some things to make my own honey butter. Recipe for the honey butter is from Money Saving Mom. Super easy to make and only took me a couple minutes.

I also made these cute little toothpick flags myself. I just used some toothpicks and a brown paper bag.

I really love how this turned out. Easy to transport and assemble on site and much better than bringing a bag of chips and dip.

I hope you all had a great Thanksgiving with loved ones.