Dress Up Box Ideas for Girls

This year for M1 birthday we got her a dress up trunk! We found so many fun things 

Here are a few ideas for you:

Princess dresses

Old bridesmaids dresses

Chef/Cook

Dress up Shoes

Wigs

Mens old ties

Costume Jewelry

Cape

Firefighter

Princess Crown

Fairy Wings

Doctor/Lab Coat/ Old Scrubs

Cowboy boots /hat

Stick ponies

Where did we find all of this:

My own Mommy Closet

Goodwill

Once Upon a Child (used kids clothing store - found bridesmaid dresses for $9-12, dress up shoes, mens ties)

Salvation Army

Amazon Prime

Target $1 bins

Michaels

Toys R Us - fire fighter costume

Most of the clothes came from used clothing stores - old womens dresses, kids dresses, shoes

Then we found costume jewelry, butterfly wings, princess crowns, wigs and those things at Target!

Hope this helps you create your own dress up bin!

The New Zoo in Winter

So we had a really surprisingly fun outing at the New Zoo in Green Bay, WI

We were on a little mini family vacation and decided we wanted to see how the animals were up to in the wintertime! We have previously been to the New Zoo a few time in summertime and I would highly recommend it! 

We have seen the Milwaukee Zoo, Sea World - Florida, Chicago Zoo, Cincinnati Zoo and a few others and we really love the New Zoo in Green Bay! It is smaller by far and you can easily spend a whole day here or you can spend a few hours and see the majority of it. We like get up early in the morning drive to green bay and then stop at the zoo and spend a few hours learning and visiting the animals! It gives the kids a few hours out of the car and gives them something to look forward to in an otherwise "kid boring" shopping trip....!

Anyways we have never been to the zoo in the winter! It is very much fun! It was a little snowy but there are some indoor exhibits where you can go and warm up, the animals were more interested in us then I believe i have ever seen zoo animal. I am just guessing here but since the zoo is not that busy I suppose they were enjoying a little entertainment watching us watch them. 

M1 was most excited for.... The Peacocks!?? When we asked her what she wanted to see the most that is what she said so we spent a lot of time playing I spy a peacock! They find a lot of interesting hiding places in the winter!

Feeding teh goats in the petting zoo is always a big highlight and they both thought it was hilarious! So much fun to hear there little screeches of laughter when the goats would reach and push each other around for the food!

Probably my most favorite part is the giraffes. They have a nice indoor space where you can touch, pet, and feed them! There is a very kind zoo (volunteer? or employee?) there who is full of interesting facts and information about the giraffes! You can watch them interact with each other and play with some giraffe toys!

Overall its a lot of fun to see the animals playing in the snow from geese to buffalo to giraffes to the playful otter there are a lot of fun exhibits even in the winter! So if you're passing through Green Bay, WI I would definitely recommend stopping by the New Zoo it is just a few miles north of the city and a lot of fun!

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Dolphin Birthday Party

M1 wanted dolphins this year! So for birthday number 4 we had dolphins. I believe this all started at her last birthday when we spent the day at Sea World then she decided that for her next party she was going to celebrate with dolphins!

So here is our planning:

MENU 

(see recipes below)

Pepperoncini Shredded Beef Sandwiches

Cheese Platter

Home Made Mac and Cheese

Fruite Platters

Veggie Platter

Goldfish Crackers

Sea Glass Candy

Favorite Family Homemade Punch

Blue Jello with Gummy Fish

A Dark Chocolate Fish

Green Licorice (sea weed)

and Cake of course

Our Dolphin Cake 

Made from the Cake Boss's Recipe for Chocolate Cake 

and Chocolate Frosting (Now to be very clear I DO NOT like cake AT ALL! I typically don't even try it but I tested this one out and OH MY! DELICIOUS is all I can say!)

The Cake recipe is linked above but to make note I did swap out the hot water for HOT COFFEE! Definitely was worth the change, no overwhelming coffee taste very subtle but not enough that the kids even noticed!

Covered in fondant and Airhead candy for decorations

Pearl dust 

gel frosting for water

Dolphins were made from fondant and covered in pearl dust

Gold fish Crackers

Sea Glass Candy

2 cups sugar

2/3 c light corn syrup

food coloring

flavoring

12 Tbsp water

Coat a METAL or SILICONE pan well with butter or crisco. Mix sugar corn syrup and water in large sauce pan heat and STIR CONSTANTLY until sugar is dissolved. Once dissolved put in candy thermometer and STOP stirring! Let it bubble and heat until about 250 degrees. Then you can add in your food coloring. It will mix itself in with the bubbling. At 300degrees remove from heat!!! And add about 1-2 tsp flavoring. STIR I used peppermint cause thats what I had on hand. 

Now pour in GREASED pan. and Let harden. Once completely hardened and cooled hit with rubber mallet to break up. Mix with a little powdered sugar to prevent it from sticking together, and VOILA! DELICIOUS BEAUTIFUL SEA GLASS CANDY

Blue Jello with Gummy Fish

DOLPHIN PARTY GAMES AND ACTIVITIES

Posterboard Coloring Wall

Seashell Hunt

Dolphin Hoop Game

Some Other Games

(These were some other ideas that we didn't include)

Swimming Musical Chairs (swim on your belly around the chairs)

Dolphin follow the Leader

Sharks and Dolphins (aka Cops and Robbers)

We put up a large posterboard under our kitchen breakfast bar. We drew a simple under water scene and gave the kids stickers, coloring pages, markers, crayons, and foam stickers and let there imagination run wild! The finished picture is beautiful - they made boats and dolphins and sharks and rainbows and mermaids and even a submarine. The coloring pages they cut out and glued onto the paper!

This is before they really started coloring the finished project is beautiful!

M2 was dressed up in her new Doc McStuffins Dress up outfit over her pretty party dress!

For the dolphin hoop game the kids had a stuffed dolphin or whale in there favor bags. They threw the dolphin into the moving hoop. If you made it you go back in line if you miss you sit out! Pretty straight forward but lots of fun!

They also did a seashell hunt, before the party I hid seashells all over our family room area and they hunted them down. (As an after thought it would have been a good idea to give them some kind of bag to collect them in.... :(

Dolphin Party Favors

Everyone got a towel with there name monogrammed - I love useable favors

Stuffed Dolphin Toy

Mini Bubble Gum Machine

Sea Creature Wall Sticking Toy (from the dollar store)

Then Little kids got a dolphin sticker book

And Big kids got National Geographic Dolphin Book

     

The Party was a lot of fun and a huge hit with M1!

I really enjoy planning parties for my kids. I am so thankful for the time I get to spend with them decorating and baking before hand! They are my little helpers! They love to be involved every step of the way! They helped to roll fondant, stir frosting, make cake, hand streamers, rip tape, eat frosting, eat frosting, eat frosting, Haha!

Such a great time for learning and playing together!

Monkey 1 and Monkey 2 both worked hard to clean up the house and do there chores the day before, and M1 kept telling me that I was making "HER" clean house dirty...! LOL

I am thankful for the friends and family that were able to attend the party! It was a memorable day!

Behold, children are a heritage from the Lord,

The fruit of the womb is a reward.

 

Like arrows in the hand of a warrior,

So are the children of one’s youth.

 

Happy is the man who has his quiver full of them;

They shall not be ashamed,

But shall speak with their enemies in the gate.

Psalm 127:3-5

Recipes

Pepperoncini Shredded Beef

2-3 lb beef roast (top sirloin is the best I think)

1 jar Pepperoncini Peppers

1 Can Beef Broth

Italian Seasoning

Put beef peppers broth and seasoning in crockpot and cook for 6-8 hours until done, Take out and shred. Put back in liquid and serve with cheese slices and rolls!

Homemade Mac and Cheese

1 box Shells or Elbow Macaroni Pasta

2 cups Shredded Cheddar

1 cup Velveeta

3 Eggs

1 cup whole milk

Salt and Pepper

1/3 cup Sour Cream

1/2 c butter

Cook noodles. Meanwhile mix other ingredients in crockpot. Add cooked noodles stir and cook for 2-3 hours. 

Favorite Family Homemade Punch

1 Container Cranberry Juice

1/2 Container Orange Juice

2 large cans Pineapple juice

1 large Sprite

We usually make a frozen ring to keep the bowl cold I line oranges, raspberries, pineapple lemons etc in a bundt pan. Fill with orange juice and freeze!