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Easy Memorial Day Cherry Pie Bites

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When it came time for a Mother’s Day celebration I had ONE request — cherry pie! It turns out that bakeries are hard to come by when you’re in lockdown. We couldn’t find one anywhere! And I had very few items on-hand.

But I did have cinnamon rolls! Queue the cherry pie baking!

I remembered seeing somewhere that someone had made pies using a can of cinnamon rolls. I thought, sure, why not? It’s basically combining two of my favorite foods — pie and cinnamon rolls. What a delicious combination, right?!

mini pies

Cinnamon rolls are just something we always have on hand with three kids under 7. They are our special ‘weekend breakfast’ treat. It’s easier than going out for donuts, and all three kids gobble them up! And these were no exception!

muffin tin

With all of the bakeries running a minimal staff this weekend, I figured this is another great opportunity to try this recipe! I tried ordering an apple pie from my favorite local bakery, but they were sold out of pre-orders. So Cherry Pie Cinnamon Roll Bites it is!

cherry pie

Check out the full recipe for all of the details.

Yield: 8

Cherry Pie Cinnamon Roll Bites

mini pies

Quick + Easy Bite-Sized Cherry Pie

Prep Time 8 minutes
Cook Time 15 minutes
Total Time 23 minutes

Ingredients

  • 1 can of refrigerated cinnamon rolls
  • Cherry Pie Filling

Instructions

  1. Spray a regular-sized muffin tin with your choice of oil (avocado, vegetable, coconut).
  2. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.
  3. Open can of refrigerated cinnamon roll dough. Take each individual roll, and flatten it out with the palm of your hand.
  4. Press into muffin tin.
    muffin tin
  5. Add one tablespoon of cherry pie filling to each of the 8 cinnamon roll cups.
  6. Bake for 15 minutes or until cooked through.
  7. Once cool, drizzle icing from cinnamon rolls on top of cherry pies.
  8. ENJOY!

And tell me — what’s your go-to “in a pinch” recipe?!

PIN ME - Cherry Pie Cinnamon Roll Bites

Remy Bea’s Pink, Blue, + Gold Birthday Party

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Remy Bea celebrated her 3rd birthday in January. Last year, for her second birthday, I planned an elaborate party. But January is a rough month in general. And between flu season and weather, I feel like I can never count on anything to fall into place, let alone everything that needs to for a party. Alas, it had to be cancelled.

So this year I felt like I really needed to make sure she had a great birthday party. And that’s why I planned a delayed birthday party for March!

Her one request from her Mimi was a Barbie cake. I don’t know what happened, but this child turned 3 and she decided she was a million percent girly. Well, a Barbie cake she received!

Her theme? Well, technically she didn’t have a “theme,” but she had a color scheme! And that color scheme was baby blues, pinks, gold, and GLITTER — so much glitter and sparkle!

The day of her party we were lucky to have so many of the people who love her present! Cousins, friends, grandparents, aunts, and uncles — they were all ready to celebrate our special little lady.

I debated the food for forever. I usually keep the food “on theme” but I was coming up blank for a kid who either wants to eat everything or wants to eat absolutely nothing but yogurt. Well, we went with a simple route — Philly Cheesesteak Sliders on Hawaiian Rolls (thank you, Instant Pot!), Remy’s favorite veggies (carrots + cucumbers) with dip, chips (obviously a toddler staple), and salad (oddly enough, also a Remy fave)

Her Mimi (my mom) made her two cakes — her requested Barbie cake and a blue ombré round cake with pink candies in the center. The ombré was a surprise from Mimi to Remy and she loved it!

After everyone snacked and chatted, we headed down to the gymnastics center for some tumbling. All of the kids — young and old — had so much fun.

By the end of the day, we were all completely worn out. But it was entirely worth it to see the joy in Remy’s eyes as we all celebrated her big day!

 

Cake: Made by Mimi
Decorations: Party City
Plates/Flatware: Target
Location: Riverfront YMCA

Holiday Brunch Lemon Mimosas with Discount Drug Mart

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This post is sponsored by Discount Drug Mart but the content and opinions expressed here are my own.

I can’t believe we’re rounding out the last part of 2018. I mean, I look back at all that has happened in this last year and I’m truly amazed at how quickly 2018 flew by. But I’m beyond excited to begin celebrating and reflecting on all that 2018 has brought to our family and friends.

There have been new jobs, new homes, big contracts, and new babies in our family this year — so there is much to celebrate!

To kick off the holiday celebrations, we hosted a pre-Thanksgiving brunch with my Mom and Dad, who just happen to be celebrating the purchase of their new home!

I picked up all of the fixings for amazing brunch cocktails at our local Discount Drug Mart. They offer a wide selection of beer and wine at state minimum pricing, which is great for ease of convenience and my budget!

For this special occasion, I picked up Truly Spiked & Sparkling Water, White Claw Hard Seltzer, Cook’s Brut, and Martini & Rossi Asti — a little bit of something for everyone’s taste! In addition to these items, I picked up what I needed for our brunch menu. Discount Drug Mart really does save you the runaround!

The real showstopper of our brunch was the featured cocktail — what I like to call Mint Lem-mosas.

Here’s what you need to make them:

1 bottle of Martini & Rossi’s Asti
12 ounces of lemonade concentrate, frozen
1/2 cup of vodka
a handful of fresh ground mint leaves
Optional: sugar rim garnish

Mix liquid ingredients in a pitcher. Pour into individual flutes. Add ground mint leaves.

These delectable cocktails will truly make any holiday brunch or dinner party!

We laughed, we sipped, and we celebrated the beginning of what is certain to be a delightful holiday season — one filled with laughs, smiles, friends, and family.

I’ll admit it — we had been slacking on hosting much of anything since we started having babies. There was always something keeping us from hosting, but if these last few hard years have taught us anything, it’s that time waits for no one, so celebrate every day now.

For great deals on all the mentioned items at Discount Drug Mart, click HERE to find a store location near you!

#holidayparty #entertaining #entertainingathome #hardseltzer #champagnecocktail #DiscountDrugMart


 

Celebrating Kids Birthdays with Snapology

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With my current baby just turning two, I have been thinking about all of the ways we can celebrate this little lady. Thankfully, I decided not to squeeze in a birthday party before the end of the month and opted to just wait until the middle of February. (Mom win and she’ll never know, right?!)

One of the options I’ve looked into is hosting a kids birthday party at Snapology in Kent. Snapology is a fun and educational kids franchise that with LEGO themed parties of all sorts!

The idea of sitting back and letting someone else do all of the work while I just play hostess and help Remy Bea build is really the key to a successful kids party. And with themes ranging from Ninjago to Minecraft to LEGO Friends, there’s an option for every birthday girl or boy!

People across the country have been raving about these Snapology birthday parties. And I, for one, cannot wait to plan Remy Bea’s Frozen-themed party! And something tells me Ari is going to love it, too! 😉

One thing that is for CERTAIN is that there will be cake and laughs and fun! Oh — and one happy little two year old girl.


If you could host a Snapology Birthday Party, what theme would your child want?! 

 

 

Plan The Perfect Birthday Party // Minions !

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When I planned Ari’s third birthday party, I scoured the web for inspiration. He was dead set on having a Minions party. Admittedly, Minions isn’t my favorite movie. But who’s to argue with a (nearly) three year old?? Not I, friends!

In my quest for party inspiration, Ari rewatched Despicable Me, Despicable Me 2, and Minions about a hundred times each (only a slight exaggeration). Turns out? There are a lot of different food-related Minions options!

Here are some examples from the first movie, Despicable Me:

  • Cotton Candy (from the amusement park scene)
  • Giant lollipops (as ‘unicorn horns’)
  • Cheetos (the caterpillar that never turned into a butterfly
  • Cookies (cookie robots!)
  • Lemonade (anti-gravity serum)

And even more food-spiration from Despicable Me 2:

  • Chips + Salsa (El Macho inspired)
  • Bananas (or banana runts)
  • Jelly (jelly sandwiches)
  • Cupcakes (from Bake My Day cupcake shop in the movie)

Throw in just a couple of crafts/games for kids, inspired by the movies, of course:

  • Make macaroni rockets by gluing elbow macaroni onto paper!
  • Use squirt guns as “freeze rays” during free play.
  • Use popsicle sticks, yellow + blue washable markers, and googly-eyes to make little minion ‘puppets.’

And don’t forget about posting the “Party Rules”!

Seriously, the party was such a hit! And I have to say, the endless food options made this party SO easy to throw together at the last minute! Of course, the last tidbit of party-planning wisdom I’ll share is this: Relax and have fun. Sure, we remember the details; but our children just remember the fun.

PS. The Minions have totally grown on me a bit… 😛 Just don’t tell anyone.

 

 

 

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Pinterest Fun, Plans Gone Awry, + a (Long) Overdue Haircut // A Weekend Wrap Up

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You know those weekends that just restore your soul? Well, I had one of those weekends, friends. It also just so happened to be one of those weekends where I had “X-Y-and-Z” planned…. but all of it got nixed off the to-do list and we just improvised.

Friday we had plans to go to the Great Lakes Science Center and finally utilize our passes. But it was snowing and absolutely frigid, so, even though Chad had taken the day off from work, we decided to just hang around the house with the kids and relax. They still had a blast. [PS. Do you know what kind of fun a 4-year old will have just walking around in Best Buy??]

The chill day came in handy because I had exciting plans for the evening! A little “Moms Night Out,” if you will! My friend Emily had invited me to go to Pin It, which is a Pinterest/craft-making event, with her!

I was so excited to manifest some of my creative energy with Pinterest projects that had already been planned and prepped by someone other than myself! Ha!

But first? Food. Because these delicious macarons and appetizers weren’t going to eat themselves! And after finishing off these delicious snacks, we headed to our first Pin It station — a watercolor mug!

And after the mug we made an “Embrace Messy Hair” planter. I was going to actually use this as a planter, but my mom suggested I use it to store Remy Bea’s bows and headbands. GENIUS! And so it is!

We rounded out the evening with an all-natural headache salve. And, when all was said and done? I realized just how easy these crafts were to do at home! More to come, friends!

Saturday morning, Mimi (who arrived from Kentucky the night before) and I took Ari to the monthly Home Depot workshop.

Unlike January’s workshop, this one wasn’t too complicated for anyone under the age of 40. I kid (but not really. because Februarys’ build was IMPossible). But honestly, if you’ve never been to one of these workshops I absolutely recommend them. They are so fun — and free!

From there I sent Mimi, Chad and the kids to karate while I went to get my haircut for the first time in a few years. YEARS, friends. Years!

 

 

I ended up at Apotheclaire a little early so I stopped next door at Sweet Mary’s Bakery for a morning snack and coffee! And, if you’re local, you *must* stop in to both of these places! Sweet Mary’s Bakery is A-MAZING, and Apotheclaire is so incredibly eco-friendly and local-focused.

I went in to my hair appointment knowing that I wanted my hair cut off, but not a pixie cut like before; I also knew that I wanted something specific, but couldn’t exactly put it into words (or pictures); soooo big pressure to my stylist. Ha! But I told her what I wanted and she delivered ONE THOUSAND PERCENT! Helloooooo, asymmetrical long bob!

I walked around the rest of my day with a little sass in my step, for sure! It’s a good thing we had a family party to attend so that I had somewhere to be with all of that sass!

PS. The only picture I have from this party was of Remy eating ALL OF THE WORLD (as per usual). But seriously. Where does this child (and her tapeworm) put all of this food!?

Saturday night Ari had his first sleepover at Grandma Vicki and Grandma Rosie’s house (my aunts’ house), so we got off the hook and just had to deal with one tired kid! And by the time we got home Remy was totally ready for bed (no naps will do that to a kid!).

After Remy fell asleep, Mimi and I snuck out to the second official Northside Market! It was later than I’d hoped, but we made it! It was great running into Kevin of Studio KMR and Rachel from IWearJewelRay. It was such a quick trip before we headed home, but it was so worth it. I love running into my creative friends, even if just briefly!

And Sunday? Sunday wasn’t all that bad, friends. It had the makings of a busy day — more talk of perhaps going to the Science Center after we picked Ari up from his sleepover. But once we met up with him we realized that taking a sleep deprived child to a busy museum? Not going to be that much fun. So instead we went to lunch and to Trader Joe’s. Because? #MomLife.

Oh, but I did manage to score 4 pairs of shoes for $70 (after tax!!) from Stride Rite in Legacy Village. So, if you’re local to Northeast Ohio, head over there, like, now. Because they’re going out of business and these prices are THE BOMB.

It was honestly the perfect way to round out the weekend. Just regular Mom Life at it’s best.

A huge thank you to everyone who was in any way involved in this weekend. Whether or not I saw you, texted you, or even if you just sent positive vibes my way, thank you. I will always be forever grateful for my tribe. They make weekends like this possible! ♥ ♥ ♥ Cheers to many more weekends like this!

xoxo