Category: 07 July

Preschool Ariel Photoshoot

My granddaughter is 3 years old and loves to dress up as a princess. This month we chose Ariel from Disney’s The Little Mermaid  because I think of the ocean for summer. Also, her fins are teal like the July ocean.

Princess Ariel is an spirited, curious, confident, driven, and fierce 16 year old girl from Atlantica. Her sidekick is Flounder the tropical angel fish.

Ariel quote: “Have you ever seen anything so wonderful in your entire life?”

Isaiah 46:4 states, “Even to your old age I am he; and even to hoar hairs will I carry you: I have made, and I will bear; even I will carry, and will deliver you.”

We went to play at a local beach for the day. We brought some seashells and a fork to play with in the sand. She also brought her Flounder Plush. She wore an Ariel swimsuit that was given to her last year. I put her hair into a pony tail with a big red bow to match Ariel’s red hair.

Her are some more of my toddler and preschool photoshoots:

You might also enjoy some of my other The Little Mermaid posts:

Ocean Theme School Lunches

We had a fun ocean themed lunch at school for our “Anchored” week at school. Each day we found creative ways to incorporate all of the food groups. We also had to keep the calories and sodium counts down to meet the state requirements for serving food to the school children.

We used clear plastic cups for the pudding, jello, and the banana cup. We also offered milk everyday even though it is not pictured.

Monday

Ham & Cheese Sea Monster Sandwich
Goldfish Crackers
Broccoli Ocean Sprouts
Coral Reef Fruit Cocktail
Shark Pudding (Gummy Sharks)

Tuesday

Fish Shape Nuggets
Barnacle Baked Beans
Sea Dragon Punch
Blueberry Bubbles
Teddy Graham Beach Jello (Umbrella Toothpick)

Wednesday

Peg Leg Chicken
Sea Shell Pasta Salad
Green Sea Beans
Dolphin Banana in Grapes
Mermaids Delight Ice Cream (Mermaid Sprinkles)

Thursday

Hot Dog Octopus on Seaweed Spaghetti
Crab Leg Carrot Sticks
Sea Cucumber Slices
Green Sea Turtle Apple

(We added the hotdog bun to get enough whole grain. And we added a banana, because we had extras left from yesterday.)

Friday

Sand Dollar Pancakes
Sea Foam Scrambled Eggs
Treasure Tater Tots
Poseidon’s Red Pepper Sticks
Orange Boats

You might enjoy some of my other party posts:

Toddler Moana Photoshoot

My granddaughter is now 2 years old. She is growing up to be such a beauty and getting her own sense of humor.

I love when baby Princess Moana keeps wandering toward the water… she is so cute!

She wore a  Moana toddler dress with a necklace and pigtails.

We went to a local beach lake today. She loves her  stuffed Pua and takes it with her everywhere. I also brought some sea shells and palm leaves for her to hold.

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11 Month Old Ariel Baby Photos

I chose Disney’s The Little Mermaid  for the July princess because we could take pictures at the beach for future Ariel Photos too. We got a chance to visit the Pacific Ocean this month, so it worked out great.

She wore her baby princess Ariel dress with her pearl earrings. I put her hair a red bow and she went barefooted today.

We went to Seattle and visited the ocean one day so I could take her pictures. I brought a fork and some  sea shells for props that she could play with.

I used my EOS 2000D Canon Rebel Camera to take her princess photos.

Baby Princess Ariel

Psalm 107:29 “He made the storm be still, and the waves of the sea were hushed.”

Baby Toes!

You might enjoy some of her other Princess Photoshoots:

Or some of her other Baby Photoshoots:

Independence Day Foods

Our family LOVES lighting fireworks in the backyard. Occasionally, we also have fun foods too. This year I tried some new recipes for taco dip, and fruit desserts.

Patriotic Taco Dip

Ingredients:

  • Tortilla Chips
  • Grape or Cherry Tomatoes
  • 2 cans Refried Beans
  • Black Olives
  • 1 1/2 cups Guacamole
  • 2 cups white Shredded Cheese
  • 8 oz. Cream Cheese
  • 16 oz. Sour Cream
  • Taco Seasoning Packet

Directions:

  1. Place refried beans on the bottom of a 9×13 baking dish.
  2. Place the guacamole on the beans.
  3. Mix the cream cheese, sour cream, and taco seasoning. Then place it in the dish.
  4. Place the shredded cheese on the top.
  5. Next place the olives in the top left corner like the blue field of the American flag.
  6. Last place the tomatoes in stripes on the cheese to look like a flag.

Berry Angel Food Cake

Ingredients:

  • 2 Angel Food cake mix
  • Blue and Red Berries
  • Cool Whip

Directions:

  1. Bake the angel food cake according to the directions for 3 baking pans and let it cool.
  2. Wash and slice the berries, we used strawberries, blackberries, and blueberries.
  3. Spread some of the cream on one of the cakes and add a few berries.
  4. Place another cake on top of the berries and spread some more cream and berries on that cake too.
  5. Then place the last cake on the top and spread some more cream.
  6. Last place the berries in randomly or in a fancy pattern if you want!

Captain America Fruit Platter

Ingredients:

  • Cherries
  • Marshmallows
  • Strawberries
  • Blueberries
  • 1 package Cream Cheese
  • 1 jar Marshmallow Cream
  • Large Round Platter
  • Small Star Dish

Directions:

  1. Mix the cream cheese and marshmallow cream and place it in the star dish.
  2. Place blueberries around the star.
  3. Place a circle of marshmallows around the blueberries.
  4. Place a circle of strawberries around the marshmallows.
  5. Place another circle of marshmallows around the strawberries.
  6. Last place a circle of cherries around the marshmallows.

4th of July Tie Dye

My youngest son and I tried to tie dye some 4th of July shirts for our family.

Materials:

  • Tie Dye
  • Paper Plates
  • Rubber Bands
  • Plastic Bags
  • Something White to Dye
  • Bucket of Water
  • Plastic Gloves
  • Paper Towels

Directions:

  1. Place the shirt in the water and squeeze out all of the water.
  2. Twist or tie the shirt with the rubber bands.
  3. Put on gloves and pour different colored dye onto the shirt.
  4. Place the shirt in the plastic bag and keep it there for 2 hours.
  5. Rinse it out in the sink before washing alone for the first time.

Independence Day Fruit Pizza

Ingredients :

  • Crescent Roll Dough
  • Cream Cheese 8 oz.
  • Marshmallow Cream 1 can
  • Banana’s, Strawberries, Blueberries

Directions:

  1. I spread the Crescent Roll dough on a rectangle baking pan.
  2. Then I baked it according to the directions on the can.
  3. Mix together the Cream Cheese and the Marshmallow Cream to spread on the Crescent Roll.
  4. Slice the fruit and place it on the pizza in the shape of the American flag.

Independence Day Party -12

For the 4th of July we grilled and had some fireworks.  It’s been really hot this summer with record highs of over 100 degrees so we just had smaller fireworks this year. We grilled hot dogs and corn on the cob then we had watermelon and chips too.  The boys love fireworks and have been looking forward to today for a while now.

I filled the kiddy pool with water balloons and had a little water balloon battle.

The boys liked the tanks and the parachutes this year.

The smoke bombs were a favorite for the kids and adults. We stuck a green smoke bomb down one snake hole and some of the smoke came out of another snake whole next to it.

Sparklers and fountains are my favorite!

Happy 4th! 🙂

Here are some more Independence Day Party ideas.

First Vegetable Garden

I love gardening! We got to plant a cute little vegetable garden this year. It was such a great learning experience for J as well, he loved it too!

Planting

We planted in early May!

Lettuce Harvest

Our garden is doing great this Summer. Our lettuce is ready in June.

Tomato Harvest

It’s July and our tomatoes are gigantic!

Cantaloupe Harvest

August harvest is cantaloupe… J’s favorite!

Watermelon Harvest

Our watermelons took the longest… but here in September they are finally ready!

We loved having a garden this summer!

Independence Day Party

We decided to have an Independence Day party.  We had family over for grilling and fireworks. J had so much fun celebrating the 4th of July with us. It was his first time experiencing firework.  We were glad to finally have fireworks here, we used to do bigger fireworks when we lived in MT, so this was fun!

We grilled hot dogs and corn.  We also had watermelon wedges.

We played badminton  while it was still light out, then we tried it with smoke bombs after dark.

Sparklers and smoke bombs were a favorite for the kids.