Kentucky Derby Day

It's almost May which makes me think back to last year's Kentucky Derby Day with my girls. So much FUN!! They didn't quite get the whole betting on horses, obviously, but they totally understood making fancy hats and "mop" horses!! They raced around riding their horses which were respectfully named, "Lucy Charmer" (Braylan's Horse) and "Penelope Hope" (Sullivan's Horse). Maybe this year we will make Jocelyn a horse!! It was super easy to form the mop heads into horse heads with rubber bands and braided "ears", and the girls accessorized their horses with puff balls, feather boas, and sequence. (I helped with the hot glue gun) We had lemonade in a sparkling glass and even made a trail mix, since that's what the horses wanted to eat!! ALL our festive accessories from the mops to the glasses came from the Dollar Tree. Even our hats were from the dollar store and decorated with dollar store flowers and fake birds!! Almost a year later and we still have our hats and of course our horses!! I wonder who will win this year's Derby, Lucy or Penelope? Or a newcomer horse, Jocelyn is in the race this year!

Recycled Art, Happy Earth Day!

We celebrated Earth Day this past weekend!! Unfortunately, Sullivan and I are extremely allergic to the pollen this time of year. Because of our allergies, we are not able to go out and plant flowers, bushes or trees just yet! So to celebrate Earth Day the girls made Spring Trees made from recycled materials! We used a cardboard box to paint on, egg cartons to make leaves, and a little imagination to make a Spring scene!! This turned out so adorable!! The girls loved arranging the egg cartons into leaf patterns on their trees!! They are so proud of their creations, that they are both determined to decorate their play house with their art!! It's been kind of rainy, but as soon as it clears we will display our art outside!

Let's Go to the Zoo!!

Braylan had her first grade Zoo field trip and she had a wonderful time with her friends!! It was a rainy day, but we made the best of it and pressed on seeing all sorts of animals!! Our most lasting impression animals were the flamingos, the giraffes, and the snakes...so many big snakes!! In honor of our Zoo day, that evening for dinner I made "Snake Dogs" and we made cupcakes into the shape of a giraffe. The "Snake Dogs" were simply hot dogs with crescent rolls wrapped around them in a snake-like form. I used raisins for the eyes and pepperoni for the tongues! The girls loved them! The cupcakes were tasty and fun to arrange!! Zoo day was a hit!!

The Land Before Time Movie Night

The Land Before Time is a classic! I remember watching this movie when I was Braylan's age. Tonight my heart was so happy to have the memories of seeing it when I was young and now making the memories while watching it with my girls. We made an afternoon of movie night while enjoying being outside on this gorgeous day!! The girls were archaeologists complete with straw hats and water bottles ("bone discoverers" work hard and get thirsty!!) We had a Dino bone dig with a homemade "dig" recipe. I want to thank Sullivan's Pre-K teacher, Ms. Judy, for giving us the recipe for the Dino dig.

To make your "dig" you mix 4 cups of sand with 3/4 to 1 cup of white, Elmer's glue. After it is all mixed up, you may add chicken bones that you have saved (they had been boiled and cleaned), you can add dollar store dinosaur figurines, jewels, rocks, whatever you want your children to dig out! We let our mixture sit for 8 hours and it was perfect consistency. It hardens quickly, you want the sand block to be firm, but not too hard that your little ones can't get out their treasures. My girls loved finding all the bones and jewels. We didn't leave out little Jocelyn! We put regular sand in her sand box and let her dig around the plastic dinosaurs. (and of course she too had a hat!) And look at this cutie "helping" me make this Dino dig this morning!!

While I whipped up dinner, the girls continued to be explorers looking for wildlife (well our subdivision "wildlife") and checking on their bones and new found treasures. Dinner was simple. I popped some Dino nuggets in the oven and put them on wooden skewers just to give dinner a different look. Raw veggies were the side dishes because that is what herbivores eat!! YUM!! The girls enjoyed the movie as they ate! For dessert, my master baker, Sullivan, insisted she make cookies today while Sissy was at school. the T-Rex cookies were a fun touch!! We wrapped up our night with a glow in the dark, Dino egg hunt. I had some Easter eggs left over and found some glow sticks to stick in each egg. The girls anxiously awaited the darkness and they were off hunting the glowing eggs! The combination of a gorgeous afternoon, being able to share a childhood favorite movie with my girls, and all the fun activities made for a fantastic fun movie Friday!! And I can honestly say that other than the glue and the sand, ALL of my accessories that made this movie night so fun came from The Dollar Tree, my favorite store!!!

"Be Our Guest" Beauty and the Beast Movie Night

Beauty and the Beast has always been my favorite princess movie! I can remember being young and in awe of how beautifully animated Belle was! To say that I am excited about the "real life" movie being out in theaters is an understatement. So in honor of the movie's opening weekend, I threw together a Beauty and the Beast movie night for my girls. All the accessories, the red platter, the chalkboard sign, the flowers, and the yellow table cloth ALL came from Target (dollar bin)!! I just threw in the tea pot and my everyday red dishes. The idea for the food came from our Princess Cookbook which my daughter, Sullivan helped prepare. That girl LOVES to be in the kitchen making magic! The girls had a simple but magical night watching the animated Belle light up the screen!! They were ready fro their big date with daddy to see the new Beauty and the Beast movie the next day! That is the "beauty" of having a themed night for my girls, it does not take much effort at all to make an otherwise regular evening SPECIAL! A place setting, a movie being played, and a teapot always does the trick!

Homemade Bath Paints

I used to make homemade bath paints for my oldest little girl all the time. She couldn't take a bath without needing paint!! I realized that I haven't made any homemade bath paints for my youngest little girl, Joss. So I dug out my Everything Toddler Book to remind myself how to make the bath paints!! I LOVE The Everything Toddler Book!! It has so many activities for toddler and big kids alike!! The bath paint recipe is 2 TBSP of liquid bath soap, 1 TBSP of cornstarch, and a few drops of any color food coloring. And like magic, you have a safe paint that will keep your little one happy and creating in the bath tub!! And the best part is, the more they paint themselves, the cleaner they are!! Joss truly enjoyed her "messy" bath time!! And she is squeaky clean!!

Mulan Movie Night

"I want to learn how to use chopsticks Momma!"! That is all it took for me to dive into a Mulan themed movie night!!! I made the girls turkey roll ups. By using the veggie tortillas (I like the green colored ones) I cute the tortilla into a square shape, placed a few slices of think cut turkey on the tortilla and topped with shredded mozzarella cheese, and rolled it up. I used a little cream cheese to "seal" the tortilla. Next I cut the tortilla into bite sized rolls. Add a little shredded carrots, some pretzel sticks, and I threw in a few pepperonis just for fun! Place a little bowl of ranch sauce to dip it in and there you have it, a kid friendly chopstick meal! The turkey roll ups for a great success!!

For our main dish we made was "Fa Family Lo Mein" from The Disney Princess Cookbook. This cookbook is awesome and jammed packed with TONS of themed dishes to make any movie night perfect!! Coincidentally, it has popped up on my recommended Amazon buys several times!! (oh how we love Amazon Prime!) It was cooked noodles, fresh red bell pepper, chopped broccoli, and sirloin tips. YUMMY!!! For our desert, I wrapped Swedish Fish on top of a strawberry flavored breakfast bar with a fruit roll up! A tasty dessert sushi roll!! The girls enjoyed eating and watching Mulan!