My favorite hobby, photography.  Some beautiful flowers from a local garden.

Make your own Breakfast Sandwiches

My husband and I love McDonald's breakfast sandwiches, but I hate paying for them and I hate how greasy they are.  So I made my own and froze them so now they're available when we want them.

Ingredients:

English Muffins
Small Ham Steaks
Cheese (i used American)
Eggs
Onion

Directions:

Scramble eggs and onion and cook.
Place cheese on English muffin, add ham and egg.
Wrap in tin foil and place in freezer bags.

What to Pack in your Hospital Bags!

I searched google and pinterest, trying to find the best list of what to pack for when I had the baby. I found several good ones and combined them to make the best list for me. So here's what I packed in my bag, baby's bag and a bag for my husband. 

My bag:

Comfy clothes - sweatpants, t-shirts, socks, nightgown, underwear, comfortable bra (sports bra)
Toiletries - deodorant, brush, hair ties, make-up, toothbrush, sample bottles of shampoo, conditioner, and body wash. (most hospitals will supply the pads you need after birth)
Phone, camera and chargers. (I also brought my tablet so I could read)
Earplugs and ear buds. Hospitals can be noisy!
Snacks and drinks (cafeterias aren't always open)
Change for vending machines
Chapstick

Baby's bag:

Clothes (I brought 3 outfits and 2 nightgowns, plus the special outfit I got for her to come home in)
Hats and scratch mittens
Pacifier (if your using them)
Baby Blanket (hospital does provide this, but I wanted her own)
Also, depending on the time of year - coat, mittens

Hospital will provide : diapers, wipes, formula, bottles.  You only need to bring these things if your dead set on using a certain brand. Otherwise use what they offer and just switch to yours when you get home. 

Daddy's bag:

Change of clothes
Phone & charger
Deodorant & toothbrush
Book or magazines

I also brought a boppy pillow to make feeding a bit easier.  ☺

Weekly Meal Prep

So with the start of a new year, my goal is to lose a little weight and eat healthier. So in order to keep myself on track, I decided to start doing weekly Meal prep. When you have a baby, you tend to grab whatever is quick and easy, which are not always the healthiest choices.  By doing meal prep on Sundays, I have a weeks worth of breakfast, lunches and salads for dinners.

This week I made strawberry /banana smoothies for breakfast.
. . . .  RECIPE. . . .  -  3 bananas, 2 cups of strawberry /banana yogurt, milk.

For lunch I made Chicken with Zucchini, onions and peppers for delicious chicken wraps.

I made salads to go with dinner all week.  And 1 Greek cucumber salad.
. . . . RECIPE. . . .  -  cucumbers, tomatoes, onion, olive oil, feta cheese.

DIY Coasters

Every year for Christmas I struggle with what to get for my parents and Grandparents.  They all have everything and are seriously hard to shop for.  So I enlist the help of Pinterest and search for DIY gifts.  I like to make gifts for people anyway, because I feel that a homemade gift means more than buying something from a store.  Since we had Aria, making gifts became so much easier. Grandparents and Great-Grandparents love to get stuff with her sweet little face on it!

So this year I made each of them a set of coasters. Super cute and very inexpensive to make. I bought 8 ceramic tiles in Home Depot.  I printed 8 different pictures of Aria on my home printer. I mod-podged the pictures onto the tiles and put 2 layers of mod podge on top as well to seal them.  Total cost for all 8 coasters - 8.00

They came out great!  I will be making a set for our house as well.

Crock Pot Tortellini

1 bag of Frozen tortellini
1 bag of Frozen spinach
4 cups of chicken or vegetable broth
2 Cans of diced tomatoes
2 packages of cream cheese, cut into chunks

Put all ingredients in Crockpot. Cook on low for 5 hours. 

Stuffed Zucchini

Ingredients :

1 large Zucchini, cut in half
Onion, chopped
2 Italian sausages, cooked and cut into chunks
Pasta sauce
Shredded cheddar cheese

Cut Zucchini in half. Hollow out the center of each half.
Cook sausages and cut into chunks

Add a layer of sauce to each Zucchini half.
Add sausage
Add onion on top, then more sauce then shredded cheese.

Bake for 20 minutes.