Happy Birthday Amelia!!!

Happy 4th Birthday to my amazing Amelia Grace! It's hard to believe that it's been just 4 years since I held this precious baby in my arms for the first time...oh how she has changed my world forever! I love you soooo much my Mia-bug!

Amelia's Annual Birthday Questions

1. What is your favorite color? Pink 
2. What is your favorite toy? Picnic Play Food & Doc McStuffins Doctor Kit 
3. What is your favorite fruit & Vegetable? Pineapple & Broccoli
4. What is your favorite tv show? Doc McStuffins & My Little Pony
5. What is your favorite thing to eat for lunch? Bento Lunches
6. What is your favorite outfit? Pajamas
7. What is your favorite game? Princess Cupcake Game & Hopscotch
8. What is your favorite snack? Oreos & Milk
9. What is your favorite animal? Doggies (Dolce and Gabby)
10. What is your favorite song? ‘Time for your check-up’
11. What is your favorite book? Disney Princess Bedtime Stories
12. Who is your best friend? Ali & Mommy
13. What is your favorite cereal? Rice Krispies with mini chocolate chips and craisins
14. What is your favorite thing to do outside? Dig in the dirt & go to the Park
15. What is your favorite drink? Ovaltine
16. What is your favorite holiday? Christmas
17. What do you like to take to bed with you at night? Mommy =)
18. What is your favorite thing to eat for breakfast? Rice Krispies with mini chocolate chips and craisins
19. What do you want for dinner on your birthday? Arby’s at the Park 
20. What do you want to be when you grow up? A Babysitter or Pilot

Other fun things about Mia:

*Loves to Wrestle with Daddy

*Loves to help Mommy Cook & Bake

*LOVES doing Tot School Activities

*Loves to Swim

*Loves to go to Gymnastics

*Devours S'mores

*Likes to be a Farmer Girl at Ahmmy's and Papa's house

*Likes playing Doctor with Ev

What's For Lunch!?

• Pink Butterfly Spaghetti (Yes, I dyed the pasta pink just for Mia =)
• French Bread with Cheddar Cheese 'MIA IS 4' cut-outs  
• Pink Butterfly Cups filled with Cantaloupe & Cherries 
• Broccoli and Carrots 
• Grape and Blueberry Party Guests wearing smiles and party hats =)
• Dessert....Mini Chocolate Cupcake with number 4 on top!

Birthday Bash: Wednesday

Birthday Eve!!!

What's For Lunch!?

• Turkey Sandwich Cupcake topped with a Cherry Tomato, MIA picks, a Cheddar Cheese #4, Mozzarella Cheese frosting and sprinkles. 
• Jello Jiggler Present with a Cheese Tag addresses to Mia
• Red & Green Bell Peppers and Broccoli with a present pick
• Veggie Straws with a party hat pick
• Strawberries and Blueberries with a cake pick 
• Dessert...a mini Chocolate Cupcake! 

**Birthday Learning Activities to be posted.....

Birthday Bash: Tuesday

Oh to be a kid again 

One of my new favorite learning activities! Reading & Spelling with Scrabble pieces! Great for letter identification and sounding out words...it's a fav of Mia's, too!!!

Never too early to start Tot School 

What's for Lunch!?

• Birthday Cake Quesadilla with Sour Cream in a pink heart-shaped cup
• Celery with Peanutbutter topped with Mini M&Ms
• Raspberry Yogurt and the #4 written in sprinkles
• Lastly, BIRTHDAY spelled out with Blueberries, Cherries, Grapes, Watermelon and Cantaloupe!

Birthday Bash: Monday

Muffin Tin Monday

• Ham Sandwich wrapped and tied with a bow
• Garden Salad with Balloons
• Watermelon & Cantaloup #4's
• Potato Chips (a Mia request)
• 4 Cheese Candles 
• And of course a Strawberry Short-Cupcake for dessert!

***Will be posting pictures of birthday learning activities! 

Fun Food Over The Weekend!

This weekend we had some food fun! Amelia just loves to cook with her Mommy!!!

Sunday Family Dinner...A Twist on Traditional Cupcakes: Honey Mustard Meatloaf Cupcakes frosted with Mashed Potatoes and Sprinkled with Green & Red Bell Peppers. Dessert...Strawberry Short-Cupcakes  Yum!!! 

Monsters University!

Happy Birthday from Mike Wazowski! Amelia is so excited to go to the new Monsters Inc movie (Monsters University) with her uncle Tim for her birthday that we had to do this lunch  Here's what's for lunch: a dancing Mike Wazowski Spinach Sandwhich wearing a party hat and holding the 'Happy Birthday Mia!' Banner made from candy letters and fruit leather...Mia only got to eat her name  Both Sully, who is hanging out in the pudding, and Mike are singing Happy Birthday to Amelia so we have a ton of music notes scattered all over the plate: Fresh Cherries, Grapes and Blueberries with music note picks, Red & Green Bell Peppers cut in to music notes, and a Jello Jiggler Music note. And it wouldn't be college without the MU Pennant Flags made from Watermelon and Cheddar Cheese. And last of all....Monsters University Fruit Snacks because Mia just had to have them  

And this is the whole reason why I do lunches for Miss Mia!

Birthday Bash: Lunchable #4

Did anyone else love Lunchables growing up!? Here is a homemade (and healthier) alternative... Since we are also focusing on Mia's upcoming 4th Birthday I thought I combine the two ideas. So today is all about the number 4! 

• There is enough bread, ham and cheese for Amelia to make four number 4 sandwiches all on her own.
• There are 4 Strawberries with 4 heart Grapes in the center
• 4 Cucumber & String Cheese Balloons
• Goldfish Crackers
• A number 4 Jello Jiggler! 

Amelia loved being able to assemble her own Bento Sandwiches so much that we'll have to do this lunch again! The options are limitless with this...all you need is any cookie cutter and there you have a super simple but awesome themed lunch that kids love 

Birthday Bash: If You Give A Pig A Party

'If You Give A Pig A Party'! 

I noticed that our cupcake activities were heavy on the math so I decided we'd do more language and art with our pig and balloon activities  So this is what we have: 

If You Give A Pig A Party Learning Activities:

• Do-a-Dot art to make the pig's Polk-a-dot dress
• Practice Writing her favorite things on the balloon cut-outs to make the cover of the book (this is my favorite...we'll be able to look back and remember what Mia liked when she turned 4!)
• Balloon Sizing
• Water Balloon Toss
• Highligts Magazine with Balloons as the feature
• Pretend Cake to decorate
• Letter 'P' turned in to a pig with pink tissue paper, snout and tail
• Balloon Painting
• Reading the story with a Writing Extension-If you give a Pig a ......she'll want a........! Looking forward to what she comes up with 

The very messy art of Balloon Painting! Dolce is supervising!

What's For Lunch!?

'If You Give A Pig A Party' Lunch....So Amelia threw a wrench in my original plan when she requested a grilled cheese so I had to change things around =)This is what we ended up with: 

• Piggy Fruit Roll-Up wearing a Grilled Cheese Party Hat
• Fresh Peaches & Yogurt & Granola Parfait with sprinkles
• Carrots & Broccoli with Ranch Dip and Balloons to complete the party!

Birthday Bash: More Cupcakes!

More CUPCAKES! Amelia making observations about her cupcake using her 5 senses! (And yes, I let her eat a cupcake at 9 in the morning:) ) And then 'frosting' her giant cupcake with a pink paint & shaving cream combo!

What's For Lunch!?

Amelia was soo excited to unwrap today's lunch! I served up:

• A PB&J Present wrapped up and tied in a bow with String Cheese
• 4 Cucumber & Tomato Balloons
• Fresh Pineapple (Mia's fav) with a 'Happy Birthday' Pick
• Veggie Straws
• 4 Heart Strawberries 
• And of course one of our Mini Cupcakes!

Mia showing off her giant shaving cream cupcake complete with sprinkles, a cherry and 4 candles. Man that is some wild hair...but what could be a better way to end a day full of cupcakes than going swimming!!!

Birthday Bash: If You Give A Cat A Cupcake

As we are gearing up for Miss Mia's 4th Birthday next week we will be doing all things birthday in tot school! We are going to start our activities surrounding the book, 'If You Give A Cat A Cupcake'.

 If You Give A Cat A Cupcake

Here's a list of our activities: 

• Cupcake Addition
• Art-"frosting" & decorating a giant cupcake with shaving cream, paper sprinkles and candles
• Cupcake Memory
• Cupcake Patterns
• 3 different counting and placing correct number of candles on cupcakes activities
• Cupcake Graphing
• Cut & Glue Shape Sprinkles on cupcake
• Playdoh Cupcakes with corresponding candles
• 2 different sets of cupcakes for pretend play
• We are going to bake mini cupcakes and make observations
• Color Recognition cupcakes
• ...and of course we are going to read the book and play a Reading Comprehension Game. Phew....as you can see we have a lot going on in the next couple days!!!!

What's For Lunch!?

If You Give A Cat A Cupcake Lunch: 

• CAT's Ham & Cheese Cupcake Sandwich topped with a Cherry Tomato
• Applesauce with Sprinkles
• Carrots & Broccoli with a Present Pick 
• Our Mini Cupcakes we baked this morning! (I tried out a new plate.... I'm thinking it's too large so tomorrow I'll use a smaller one)

Princess Fun: Beauty and The Beast

Beauty & The Beast

Beauty & The Beast Learning Activities:

• Belle, Prince Adam and Cogsworth Puzzles
• Label It worksheet
• Cogsworth Sizing
• Tea Party Play-Doh play set
• Which One is Different
• Practice Writing the letter B and number 5 & 10
• Identify the letter P
• Tracing
• Beginner's Reading Cards
• Counting with Pears 
• Decorate a Flower Pot

What's For Lunch!?

Our final princess day....Beauty & the Beast! You have to use your imagination with this lunch =)

• Yellow sparkle Belle Sandwich holding an Oreo Book with Twizzler Bookmark that says 'The End' (because Belle loves to read and this is the end of our princess bentos)
• Beast is suppose to be the bear cup with Grumpy Grapes holding an Apple Mirror
• Cheddar Cheese is cut out in the shape of Bells (get it....Belle =) 
• In the middle of the plate-a Raspberry Red Rose under its case 
• Amelia requested Peanut Butter Celery and I didn't know how to incorporate it so its just in a yellow heart cup. 
• And for dessert Belle's Yellow Rice Krispie Ball Gown.

Princess: The Princess and The Frog

The Princess & The Frog

The Princess & The Frog Lunch: 

• Prince Naveen Spinach Tortilla Frog Sandwich with Watermelon heart lips ready for a kiss =)  
• Tiana's Evening Wishing Star made from Cheddar Cheese
• 'PUCKER UP' cut out of Watermelon
• Kiwi Stars
• A Pudding Bayou with Princess Pearls and a suave Naveen frog pick lounging in the swamp  
• And another silly frog pick diving in to Stemmed Vegetables! 

Amelia had a great time kissing her sandwich and pretending it turned back in to Prince Naveen....oh the silliness!!!

Princess: Rapunzel

Rapunzel 

Rapunzel Learning Activities:

We had sooo much to do for this princess that it took us 2 days to get through it all (remember each page is double-sided!) So this is what is shown: 

• Rapunzel Dice Game
• Color By Number
• Greater Than, Less Than, Equal To Numbers
• Clap the Syllables
• Find the Shapes
• Letter R Coloring
• Rapunzel Maze
• Tracing
• Roll & Graph
• Beginning Sounds Cards
• Wanted Poster for Mia to draw a self-Portrait =)

What's For Lunch:

'Oh Rapunzel, Let down your hair!' Today's lunch:

• Spaghetti & Garlic Bread Rapunzel with Spaghetti Sauce in a heart cup
• From the movie Tangled there is the symbol of the golden sun so we have a Pineapple Sun
• Rapunzel's silly chameleon, Pascal, is camouflaged but peeking out from the Snap Pea Crisps. I made Pascal from a Starburst and an Airhead
• Dessert...an Oreo and M&M painting palette with a Cucumber & Carrot Paintbrush...Since Rapunzel spends all time in the tower painting!

Princess: Fairy Godmother

Fairy Godmother

Every little princess needs a Fairy Godmother! Today's lunch was super simple! 

• Peanut Butter & Jelly Fairy Godmother Sandwich  
• Applesauce with Magic Sparkle Sprinkles
• Make a WISH Cheese Cubes 
• Salad with a Fairy Godmother Cucumber & Carrot Wand (both Amelia's and my favorite....she gobbled it right up!!!)

Disney Princesses

Disney Princesses Learning Activities:

• Princess Counting Puzzle (2 kinds)
• Tracing Princess Names
• Princess Memory Match Game
• Practice Writing numbers 1, 4, 6 & letters A and J
• Color The Castle (identifying color words)
• Practice Cutting
• Which one is Different
• Princess Shapes
• Princess Shadow Match
• Marshmallow Magic Lamp
• Draw your own princess

Princess

Princesses!

Princesses Learning Activities:

• Princess Patterns
• Counting Frogs & Flies
• What Color is the Tiara? 
• Sight Word Practice
• I am God's Princess Tracing Sheet
• Princess Color Puzzles
• Identifying Numbers
• Beginner's Reading Cards 
• Color By Number
• Sizing Magic Wands
• Word Matching
• Roll & Graph

Muffin Tin Monday

Let's Get Ready For The Ball! 

• Royal Ball Gown Sandwich
• Cheese & Gem Tiara
• Yogurt with Pearl Sprinkles and Princess Sash with Fairy Wand
• Fresh Fruit & Veggies with Accessory Picks (purse, heels, lipstick, nail polish, hair bows, crown)
• And of course a Ruby Ring Pop for dessert  

The first thing Mia does is drop the tomato on the dress and cries out, "Oh No! My dress has a stain on it now!" I guess we are going to be late for the ball...

Pretty Princess Fun: Cinderella

Cinderella 

It's Cinderella today! So on top of our fun Cinderella themed learning activities I thought I could use an extra set of hands cleaning house...so I put this little Cinderella to work 

Cinderella Learning Activities:

• Decorate Cinderella's Glass Slipper
• Dress-Up Princesses 
• Princess Dominos 
• Practice Writing the letter C and number 3
• Cinderella's C Maze
• Which One is Different
• What Comes Next? 

What's For Lunch!?

Amelia's Midnight Clock Pizza

Cinderella's Feast! This is by far my favorite lunch!

• We made a Pepperoni & Pineapple Pizza Clock (made sure it was midnight =)
• Tomatoes with Glass Slipper Picks
• Carrot Hearts
• Cinderella's missing Slipper made out of White Cheddar Cheese
• Jaq & Gus-Gus Strawberry mice
• A Clementine disguised as Pumpkin Carriage
• A Cheery Jello Jiggler Slipper with blue Cinderella Slipper Sprinkles (b/c all girls need more than 1 pair of heels and who can resist red pumps!?) 
• And for dessert...Fairy Godmother's Wand made from cake and sprinkles! 
• Oh and of course we couldn't forget the Lucifer and Bruno which are the cat & dog picks! Phew! That was fun!!!

Pretty Princess Fun: Sleeping Beauty

 Sleeping Beauty

Sleeping Beauty Leanring Activties:  

• Sizing Maleficent Dragons
• Magnet Princess Dress-Up
• Princess Sticker Sorting
• Labeling 
• Build a 3D Castle
• Sleeping Beauty, Prince Phillip and Maleficent Puzzles
• Practice Writing Letters
• Same and Different Compare and Contrast
• Phone Number Memorizing
• Counting Cards with Gems

It's Sleeping Beauty today....and what little girl wouldn't have fun counting with diamonds & gems!

Same & Different Comparison 

What's For Lunch!?

Sleeping Beauty's Lunch: 

• Sleeping Princess Aurora Egg Salad Sandwich with Cheese 'Zzz' 
• Fruit & Veggies accompanied by the 3 Fairies (Flora, Fauna & Merryweather) and topped with Golden Crown Sprinkles. 
• And lastly, Maleficent's Evil Castle where Prince Phillip was held which is made from Apple Fruit Leather....a dragon would have been better but I am not that talented! And of course, Mia asked why I forgot to make Prince Phillip =)

Pretty Princess Fun: Snow White

Snow White

Snow White Learning Activities:

• Snow White Sizing
• Apple Dot Page (M&M's)
• 'The Way I Feel' book with feelings discussion and Identifying and Coloring the 7 Dwarfs
• Capital & Lowercase P Sorting
• Practice Writing the letter S & number 7
• Counting with Apples 

Making Dwarf Apple Pies with my Little Snow White! For the next 2 weeks we are doing a Princess Theme! Today is dedicated to Snow White....and since Snow White was the ultimate homemaker, I thought it would be fun to bake as 1 of our activities...and what better than apple pies (especially mini ones just for The 7 Dwarfs). Amelia told me, "It's a good thing we got these apples from the store and not from the Evil Queen because after we eat the pies they will make us sleepy and have to take a nap!" I just love this little girl 

What's For Lunch!?

Snow White's Lunch: 

• A Bushel of Grilled Cheese Sandwiches shaped like Apples
• Apple Slices inset with Watermelon cut in to the shape of an apple
• 7 Cheese Dwarfs going to mine for gold which is the Creamed Corn in an apple shaped cup (I know the dwarfs mined for diamonds but I had to add veggies in somewhere ) 
• And for dessert...Dwarf Apple Pie with Icecream topped Apple Sprinkles!