Esther Pisano

Showing posts with label Lifestyle. Show all posts

Low Sugar Frozen Yogurt Drops

This post is sponsored by Happy Family Yogurt but the content and opinions expressed here are my own.

My kids LOVE yogurt and I am very thankful for that because it is a great source of probiotics and calcium. I always feel better when they reach for a healthier option! However, I am pretty picky about the dairy I choose to give my little ones. I try to grab organic options without any added hormones, and the less sugar the better! When I spotted the Happy Tot Yogurt pouches at Walmart I was super impressed!! They are non GMO, organic, low in sugar without any added artificial sugars, and whole milk packed with vitamin D. Plus, anything that sneaks in some veggies as well is a win win in my mom book!

The pouches are so great for Siena because she can eat them easily without making a big mess and if she doesn't finish it I just stick the lid on it, and back in the fridge it goes! Big brother loves them too!

Noah is always asking for a treat after dinner, but we don't typically allow sugary treats in the evening because it makes my kids go bonkers...can you relate?? We usually do a small treat after lunch time so they have plenty of time to burn it off ;)

Well I decided to try out making some frozen yogurt drops for the kids for a special after dinner treat! It is getting hot here in Arizona so these are perfect! I definitely won some "cool mom" points with this one ;) They LOVED them and were so excited I whipped them up something special. Hearing "thank you, mommy!" never gets old!

The yogurt pouch I used made the whole tray and is only 70 calories with 4 g of sugar! I figured a chocolate chip wouldn't hurt since they're so low in sugar.

All I did was squeeze the yogurt out of the pouch onto parchment paper. Then I added a chocolate chip and a few sprinkles for color! In the freezer they went!

Do your kids like yogurt? I highly recommend heading to Walmart for Happy Tot Yogurt and snagging some pouches! Earn $1 off with ibotta here!

Snacking Smart with Gerber

If you have toddlers then you know that snacking options need to always be readily available. I think I hear the word "nack!" (snack) from Siena 100 times a day. haha. I just read that most toddlers get 25-30% of their calories each day from snacks, which I can totally believe to be true! Since my kids snack often we try really hard to keep the snack options healthy. It can be tricky to navigate what is best when we are constantly bombarded by the not so healthy options.

One tip is to look at the ingredients on the packaged foods and make sure you can pronounce what is in it. I look for snacks that don't have any of the "bad" stuff in it like artificial colors or flavors. I need peace of mind when it comes to what I feed my kids because we already have enough to worry about, am I right??

For the house we like to offer fruit, yogurt, apple sauce, cheese etc first, but when on the go or outside it's definitely easier to grab a something that doesn't need to stay cold. We love to Grab a can of Gerber snacks!

Gerber snacks have been one of the first snack foods I'd introduce to my kids. You can always find some Puffs in my diaper bag once my babe is of age. Gerber snacks are easy to hold and melt in their mouth, so I am never nervous about choking. They meet all my standards as far as ingredients and having whole grains and real fruit. I never have to worry when my kids eat Gerber snacks! We like to go to Target to stock up and if they're hungry we aren't afraid to pop one open right there! I know I'll be using Gerber with this next baby too.

Although Siena is the main one to enjoy the Gerber snacks these days (she's 18 months old), Noah is 3 and still loves to eat them too! The weather has been so great here in Arizona that we have been taking our snacks outside to enjoy. Siena is starting to count and loves to count the puffs!
Disclaimer: She is ALWAYS supervised when eating!

Mamas, if you have a baby aged 8-24 months and love Gerber as much as we do then snack yourself some coupons here!

Get through the Holidays with the help of Walmart

The Holiday season is my favorite!! It's a time of hustle and bussle but in the best way!! I love hosting and having guests at my house!

This past week was Thanksgiving and my sister and her family came to town. It was seriously the BEST! I am so bummed they are gone now and my house is so much quieter. The time went way too quickly with all the things we did to stay busy. The excitement of thanksgiving and cooking all the food, playing outside, going to see Christmas lights in Salt Lake...it was all so much fun!

I was so thankful to have my household running smoothly the whole time they were here. I am famous for usually running out of important guest necessities like paper towel, tissues or even toilet paper (the absolute worst)! My family is from Arizona so they aren't used to cooler weather. It resulted in plenty of runny little noses. Thankfully I had the amazingly soft Kleenex tissues for their noses as well as their new hand towels for the bathroom! A nice luxury for guests and Noah loves drying his hands with these!

You can't have enough TP for your guests!!

Walmart made it SO easy for me to prepare for guests. I have a store right up the road from my house so I was able to head there within in plenty of time before my family's arrival to stock up on all the necessities! I grabbed some Viva paper towels because they are SO soft, Kleenex tissues, hand towels and of course toilet paper!

The Holiday print on Viva paper towels is so cute!! Anything Christmas I am ALL over!!

If you don't have a Walmart close by you can use their convenient FREE 2 day shipping! It makes preparing for guests so much easier when you know you don't have to make a special trip to the store! I'll definitely be taking advantage of that in the future!!

What do you do to make your Holiday Hustle a little easier?

Smile Fearlessly with Smile Brilliant- An At Home Whitening Kit

Thank you to Smile Brilliant for sponsoring this post! As always, all opinions are my own.

Let's face it...motherhood has done a number on my teeth. I drink SO much coffee. Like so much. But it's also necessary for daily survival haha. So of course my teeth are not as white as I would like them. I can get pretty self conscious over it. I mean they're not terrible, but more times than not I go without makeup so when all you're wearing is your smile (I mean of course I have clothes on ha) I don't want to worry about the color of my teeth.

The last time I had my teeth professionally whitened was before my wedding in 2012. They got super white but OMG it was SO painful! I had what they called "zingers" for almost a day afterwards. This was after I had the whitening done at the dentist with the light. The at home trays and gel they gave me worked well but was also hard on my sensitive teeth, but it definitely got the job done! I was very confident in how white they were for my wedding, but I don't think I could go through that again. So that was 5 years ago. In between I have used drug store grade whitening kits here and there and tooth pastes that are supposed to help the color of your teeth. I was just recently feeling like my teeth needed a good whitening when Smile Brilliant reached out to me to try their system! Such perfect timing.

They sent me a kit to create the molds that would be my whitening trays that fit my teeth perfectly. I love that! They are arrive so quickly as well, which is a huge plus. When I used the drug store style kits they slipped around and you couldn't really talk while wearing them.

These trays are so great. I can go about my day however I need to while I whiten. I didn't even have a silly lisp so I could still read to the kids or chat with my hubby.

They recommend you whiten 45 minutes to an hour at a time but I have fairly sensitive teeth. For some reason one bottom front tooth would sometimes hurt from whitening that long. Thankfully they include a "desensitizing" gel that you can wear after you whiten that helps so much with the sensitivity! I personally would whiten for 30-45 minutes at a time and would sometimes skip a day. This helped my sensitive tooth a ton! I also didn't have any irritation post whitening, which was so nice. I know in the past I would sometimes have issues with hot or cold food or drinks post whitening. My biggest piece of advice is to always chat with them via email! They are quick to respond and can help you alter your routine in anyway.

Overall, I love my results and think it's so worth it!! I love that I can continue to "touch up" my teeth every few weeks with a whitening session for 45 minutes. They include 3 whitening tubes and I got through 2 before sharing my "after" results. I can continue my survival coffee drinking and not worry about my teeth. YASSS. I just leave the storage case in my makeup bag and kill two bird with one stone.

The next time you are looking to whiten your teeth, especially if you have sensitive teeth definitely give Smile Brilliant a try!!

My before and after results with Smile Brilliant:

GIVEAWAY details!

Head over to this link to enter for the chance to win your own teeth whitening kit! If you don't want to wait for the giveaway you can use this code: estherpisano15 for $15 off any kit!!
If you do enter and don't win you will still receive a special, additional discount, so it's totally worth it to enter. Open for two weeks for the US, Canada, Australia and the UK.
Good luck, friends!!
How Much Is Teeth Whitening

Noah & Siena's Shared Birthday Party

Thank you so much to Oriental Trading who sponsored this post! All opinions are always my own.

This year's birthday snuck up on me so much faster than they have in years past. When we lived in Italy I was so over prepared since it took so long to get things shipped that I kind of took advantage of faster shipping this year! ;)

Noah and Siena's birthday's are only a week apart so I know it makes the most sense to have a party for both of them, at least for now. Noah is at the age that he has a full blown opinion of what he loves so when he chose dinosaurs I knew that he would be set on it for months in advance...which he was. I debated on also doing dinosaurs for Siena but the truth is, this is one of the only birthdays that I get to choose her theme for her and my mama heart just didn't see dinosaurs as her first birthday theme. I decided to just make it work having two themes for them and it worked out just fine!! The party was mostly for Noah since it was all his friends who came. It was so fun giving Siena her own special area filled with floral decorations.

We are so lucky to have made so many great friends here in Utah to invite and celebrate these sweet babies!! It can be hard living away from family when special occasions arise but now that we are driving distance from most of our family it makes it so much easier! My parents drove out to celebrate both of the kid's birthdays and to be here for the party. My aunt and uncle also made a special appearance from Colorado to celebrate these babes. They are SO loved by so many!!

I set up the party by pushing our dining table back against the wall and splitting the decor in half. I gave Siena her own little area with her beautiful high chair garland that I am still obsessed with!! If we ever have another little girl I want to basically use all of the decorations in her room haha. The table was used for the sweet cakes and cup cakes I had made by a local lady here. She did a great job!!

The rest is all DINOS! Balloons, garlands, special Dino food and games. He was thrilled!! It's so funny how hard we are on ourselves as parents. The day of the party was bit stressful and I was still getting decor and food up when people were starting to arrive. Kind of a nightmare!! haha but the first friend who walked in to my unfinished party exclaimed, "WOW! This is SO awesome!" and I totally felt like I did a great job :) so next time you're planning a party don't be too hard on yourself because your kids and their friends will think it's amazing ;)