H's Frozen Party

Yay for March, do you know why I (Eva) love this month so much? I get to plan my kids' birthday parties! This year H wanted a Frozen party. I had plenty of inspiration from all this cold and snowy weather we had these last few months. We invited all her girlfriends from school this year.
Take a peek into our version of Frozen!

Decorations
My Christmas decorations came in very handy. We chose the blue and white color theme.
Found free Elsa & Anna papercrafts online.

Party favors
I designed personalize tags for the bags.

We made a bag of Olaf hugs, wrapped packs of Model Magic to build a snowman.

Filled a champagne flute with these pretty pearlized blue gum balls. And I found these perfect crowns at Joanns. It was so cute how all the girls wore them throughout the party.

Cake
Luckily I was able to find this Disney Frozen character gift set with Elsa, Anna and Olaf. I grabbed it as soon as I saw it since anything Frozen fly off the shelves.
I used white pearlized gum balls for snowballs and iced sugar cones to create snow covered trees.
This is by far my favorite cake I made.

Made some cupcake toppers, everyone wanted Elsa!

Activities
Frozen craft: Elsa, Anna & Kristoff
I came up with a simple design so it was easy enough for the kids to do it on their own but still have it recognizable. I'll post a more detailed post for this DIY Frozen craft next week.

"Marshmallow Attack" Game
I drew Marshmallow on cardboard and backed it up against a box and made the snowballs out of fleece. The kids had fun throwing snowballs... just like Anna. "It's not nice to throw people!" (Ok Frozen fans what part of the movie was this from?)

Another successful party, phew... now onto our next one! Have a great weekend!
Do you love Frozen too? What's your favorite song?
Eva

Happy Birthday N!

N has been asking every day this month "Is it my birthday yet?" Well now I can finally say YES!!!

Wishing my lil charmer a VERY HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!!
We love you so much!

One of his signature poses

I cannot believe he is 4?! and starting Pre-K in September! My baby is not a baby anymore... sniff sniff. Today we are going out for a small birthday treat of his choice and celebrating this weekend with his friends so it's a busy week for me.

Can you guess what his birthday theme will be?
Eva

Happy Birthday H!

Six years ago today I became a mom to a beautiful girl. I was just cradling you in my arms and meeting you for the first time and in a blink of an eye you are now in school and being more and more independent. What a joy and blessing to see your child(ren) grow up!

Today we brought in some treats to share with her classmates. H's teacher told me there are 14 March birthdays in that class alone. H wanted to bring something different since she's had enough cupcakes this month.  Haha I don't blame her, I love cake but there comes a point when it becomes "too much".

Fruit on a lollipop stick

Happy happy 6th birthday to the sweetest girl I know! 
We love you so much, XOXO Mommy.

A little peek into next week's post :)

What's your favorite thing about being a mom or dad?
Eva

Disney World Series Part 4: Recap

Read on CNN last Monday, just as we were starting our Disney series here at Bumble of Joy, that Disney World was raising their ticket prices again. In the comments section, there were some people that said that it just isn't worth going there since it is so expensive.

Well, what do I think?

I think they do an AMAZING job creating a magical experience for their visitors, especially young children! And most people will be buying multi-day passes when they visit which are much more affordable. Of course, I'm not saying that I would be bringing my kids there every year. But it is definitely a trip that is worth saving up for and letting the kids experience at least once in their life.

I still remember E3's face during our first parade there and she saw her favorite character, Minnie Mouse. She was just in awe and had a mega-watt smile on her face!

My husband, John, wondered if the kids were a little too young to go there. Would all that money be wasted, since they might not even remember the whole experience?

Personally, I think it was totally worth it. Little kids are less jaded and can fully experience the "magic" of the place. They are just so in awe of all the wonderful details and all the characters. And even though my 3 oldest knew that the characters were just people in costumes, it did not dampen the experience one bit. It actually made them a little less scary.

What sets Disney World apart from many other places? Their amazing customer service!

For example, when we met Mickey, E2 and E3 were actually a bit timid. And even though there was a long line of people waiting, Mickey actually took the time to try and get the girls to warm up to him and made sure we got a pretty good picture together. Even after the pictures were taken, he spent a bit more time trying to engage them so they would have a good experience.

 And when we went on the Pirates of the Caribbean, I actually dropped my lens cap in the boat during the ride. I tried looking for it frantically at the end of the ride but it was stuck in this dark corner under the seats that it must of took at least 15 minutes to locate. Did we get rushed by the employees? Nope! The nice young lady working there was very patient and even offered me a flashlight to help with my search.

So I will leave you with some pictures from our trip and my final piece of advice--it is a place that I think every young child should get to experience at least once and try to go when they are young because it will truly be a magical time!

How H & E1 spent much of the trip.

What are your thoughts on Disney World? Share some of your experiences, we would love to hear from you!

Zi

Disney World Series Part 3D: Epcot Review

On our last park day we spent half the day back at Animal Kingdom. While Zi's family headed back to revisit Hollywood Studios, we wanted to check out Epcot.

Unfortunately we didn't have enough time to really enjoy all of what Epcot has to offer.  Plus it being the coldest night didn't help either and when I say cold we actually wore our heavy winter coats! So in this post we won't have "favorites" with the exception of this being my husband's favorite kingdom. But nonetheless here are a couple highlights. Our first stop was a ride that I knew H&N would enjoy.

The Seas with Nemo & Friends
This was the shortest and fastest line ever during our stay at Disney, we literally speed walk through to the end. But I'm sure the weather factor has a lot to do with this.
We sat in a clamobile and went on an undersea adventure with the cast from "Finding Nemo". The best thing about this ride is at the end they dropped you off inside a huge aquarium. The kids loved seeing the manatee, a live "Nemo & Dory", and scuba divers swimming with the fish. We spent a good hour or two there.

World Showcase
I must say Epcot at night is really beautiful with all the lights from each of the countries. With some imagination, atmosphere and landmarks you could begin to believe you were there. (Ex: the Eifel Tower in France) We stopped in Japan for dinner, nothing like a hot bowl of udon to warm you up!
I thought it was neat that all the employees are actually from the countries. You could see which city they lived in on their name tags. We even did a little shopping after dinner at Mitsukoshi. A very cool Japanese store with something for everyone.

China

Mexico

Canada

I wished I had more to share but this is definitely a kingdom where we want to go spend some more time and revisit. Next time we will be sure to stay and watch the Illuminations: Reflections of Earth Show.

Have you been to Epcot? What are your favorites?
Eva

Disney World Series Part 3C: Hollywood Studios Review

Our first stop was Toy Story Midway Mania. It was a long wait and unfortunately the fast passes were all gone. As you may be able to see in the photo the wait was 105 minutes, I think it increased as we stood in line. We gambled to see if the kids could wait it out... we were about two thirds into the line when N said "Mommy I need to go to the bathroom." (Note we did all go before we got in line) And soon all followed suit and we missed out on this ride. I must say the kids were very well behaved given the length of time we were waiting, even I was getting antsy.

While there are rides in this park, most were not suitable for our kids age group. (2-5 years)
However there were plenty of shows to keep them entertained.

Favorite shows

Beauty & the Beast Live on Stage

Yet another amazing stage performance and a must see! Great for all ages. In fact, this was one of the shows that Zi's kids requested to see a second time.

Voyage of the Little Mermaid

We couldn't miss this one since Ariel is one of H's favorites. It was a short 15 minute show with highlights from the movie and some surprises in between. The only thing is I wished it was a little longer but still worthy to go watch.

Fantasmic!

If you plan on staying into the evening be sure to watch this show. This is when those glow sticks and snacks come in handy as we waited for it to begin. Amazing pyrotechnics and water projections throughout this 30 minute show. All the kids got so excited when they saw Mickey and the girls squealed in delight when they saw their favorite princesses. Just a warning to those who kids don't like loud noises, like my H. They might get startled and cover their ears at times but in the end they loved the show. N likes to call this the Mickey show.

What are you favorites in Hollywood Studios?
Eva & Zi