Katie Holmes on Parenting Suri: I Want to Be Just Like My Own Mom

When it comes to raising daughter Suri, Katie Holmes looks to her own mom, Kathleen, for parenting cues.

“She’s just so kind and has such a pure heart; she really leads with those two qualities, so I try to do the same,” Holmes, 37, told PEOPLE at the Sept. 8 opening of the restaurant Avra Madison in New York City.

“She’s just so kind and very generous, so I try my best to embody that and pass that on to my own daughter,” Holmes says.

The night before the restaurant launch – which the actress-director hosted – Holmes took her mother as her date to the re-opening of the Cartier Mansion in New York, an outing that doubled as a birthday celebration for Kathleen.

“It’s always a blessing to be able to have time with my mom – especially time in the city with her,” Holmes says. “We always have a good time.”

The mother-daughter duo always have a good time with Suri, now 10, too.

In July, Kathleen accompanied her daughter and granddaughter to Finding Neverland on Broadway, where they posed with the musical’s cast backstage after the show.

More recently, over the weekend, Holmes posted some sweet shots on Instagram of her family at a more intimate surprise birthday party thrown for her mother, captioning the family photos with gratitude-filled hashtags, from “#blessed” to “#love.”

As for how Holmes and Suri enjoy their time at home? The Kennedys After Camelot star says they spend time in the kitchen making her go-to: “Chocolate chip cookies!”