American Girl Wellie Wisher Haul!

We were very excited to hear about the all new line from American Girl, specifically designed for girls in the "inbetween" age range - that may be outgrowing wanting to play with baby dolls... but aren't quite ready for the full 18" world quite yet. American Girl recently released the new Wellie Wisher in June 2016 and we wanted to share what we thought about our first order!

Check out our HAUL here!

My girls are ages 4 and 6, and the younger one, Natalie, especially LOVES dolls - all dolls. I knew they would be a hit with her, but with my older daughter, Bella, I was interested to see how she took to the Wellie Wishers line because she's not typically my "doll girl". My girls had been introduced to the 18" dolls and world within the past year, because Bella had never really had an interest in playing with "baby type" dolls, however the 18" dolls and accessories did grab her interest. She liked playing with dolls that she could relate to and were in a stage "more like her".

The girls picked out Willa and Ashlyn for their first two Wellie Wisher dolls, we also ordered two accessory sets, the Nature Explorer set and Berry Sweet Snack Set - along with the Garden Party table and Play stage. As a parent, I was most nervous about ordering the stage because I wasn't sure how much use it would get, but I DID like that it was very different from anything else we had for our dolls.

The stage turned out to be a great accessory for us, and is getting a lot of use. My older daughter loves to sing and perform, so I've seen a lot of creativity with her doll putting on shows on the stage!

My younger daughter who loves all things dolls, of course loved everything instantly - but especially took to the table and berry sweet snack set. Those were good options for her and general play!

We also ordered the wellie boots and socks (that were on backorder at the time of receiving our order), the girls are looking forward to being able to interchange the socks. Also, I would highly recommend sizing up on the boots especially if you're on a size line - my younger daughter wears a size 9 and we ordered her the 10/11 boot that has a good fit and my older daughter wears a size 13 typically, we ordered her a size 1/2 which also fits well.

Also, it should be noted that the girls were quite familiar with the 18" American Girl dolls prior to seeing this line and enjoy playing with those as well - although admittedly the size scale sometimes seems a bit harder for them to maneuver with the 18" dolls. However, they haven't forgone playing with their 18" dolls and accessories since we got the Wellie Wishers. Lea and her accessories are still getting a lot of play time at our house even after receiving the Wellie Wishers, along with their two Truly Me dolls and modern accessories.

Want to see what the girls thought about Lea's accessories? Check out this video on their channel!

All in all, American Girl items get a LOT of play time at our house and have been great for the girls to use their imaginations! I think the Wellie Wisher line is great for their age group and I look forward to adding more Wellie Wisher items and dolls into our collection soon. We still will continue to use our 18" doll items, but I think we will slow down a bit on adding the bigger sized items for a while and I'm happy that we have another option for size appropriate play!

Alphabet Preschool Letter Crafts - A to Z!

One of my most popular posts on my old blog, Mom's Got a Brand New Bag, continues to be about our Alphabet Preschool Letter Crafts, A through Z! This post still gets views daily and monthly - and also happens to be about some of my favorite preschool credits I've ever done with the girls! I wanted to re-share these great crafts and post here on Being Mommy with Style, since that is the YouTube channel we had all of our activity blogs on. (I had not yet stated this blog, with the same name as my channel!) I am getting ready to start these letter activities all over again with my younger daughter, Natalie - so it was timely to re-share these great letter ideas!

For the first 26 weeks of our original run of Preschool at Home, we had a new theme and letter each week! I tried to tie in the theme with the concept behind the letter, although some weeks it was easier than others! 

I thought it worked perfectly and it was a great way to reinforce the letter of the week, as well as an additional way to talk about things that started that letter. Some of Bella's favorites were the 'I is for Ice Cream' craft, 'L is for Lion', 'T is for Tree', and 'X is for Xylophone'! I helped with the cutting and some marker work for details, she was in charge of glueing the letters down to the page, picking out background paper colors, and arranging everything together. By the end of the first 26 weeks, she had become a pro at putting the letters together!

Here's a closer look at each of the letters!

A is for Alligator

B is for Bear

C is for Cat

D is for Dog

E is for Elephant

F is for Fox

G is for Giraffe

H is for Horse

I is for Ice Cream

J is for Jaguar

K is for Kangaroo

L is for Lion

M is for Mouse

N is for Nest

O is for Owl

P is for Parrot

Q is for Quail

R is for Rabbit

S is for Snail

T is for Tree

U is for Umbrella

V is for Vase

W is for Watermelon

X is for Xylophone

Y is for Yak

Z is for Zebra!

I also did a video showing all of the letters up close as well!

Check out more about our Preschool at Home project on this playlist!

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLiFP1-yFEAlmxVyrjXuf8SYDK-HIZtJC-

Princess DIY #DisneySide Party Crafts!

I'm excited to finally be able to share our princess craft tutorial video with you! And don't forget to check out the link at the end to see our #DisneySide video on the Disney Parks YouTube Channel!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H8x_RidyaTg

These crafts are super simple to make and perfect for ANY princess party!

We made Ariel and Rapunzel themed sets, and you can chose colors to match any princess theme! The crowns are made out of pipe cleaners (if you have boys attending the party - they can join in on the fun too! Use pipe cleaners to make crowns, scepters, or swords.) - and the princess skirts are now sew made out of craft headbands and strands of tulle!

To start out, cut out alternating color pieces of tulle to fill up each hole around the bottom of the headband. Make sure the length is DOUBLE the length that you want the skirt to be! Push the center through the hole on the skirt, and then loop the fabric through to secure it. Do that the entire length around the headband... and voila! An adorable and easy to make princess skirt! Perfect for an inexpensive party favor or to use as dress up at your princess party!

For the crowns, select pipe cleaners and make a "halo" to fit around the child's head. Then attach pipe cleaners of varying lengths to decorate the tiara as desired. All of the four year olds at the party could do this one on their own!

Check out our #DisneySide Princess Party HERE:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TyX2gUZn-s4

And for more #DisneySide fun, check out my visit to Walt Disney World as a part of the All Star Creators Conference in January 2015!

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLiFP1-yFEAlkjb9bZJcetP2wMikc1mEKF

* Thanks to Disney for inviting me to the 2015 All Star Creators Conference at Walt Disney World! Videos in this post were done in collaboration with Disney. I received complimentary air transportation, park tickets, and hotel accommodations to attend the All Star Creator's Conference. All opinions are my own.

Princess & Pals Disney Side @Home Celebration!

We hosted 21 preschoolers at our house last Saturday for a Disney Side @Home Celebration and it was a blast!! All of the children that attended had a fantastic time showing their Disney Side, and we had lots of opportunities for the preschoolers and their siblings to take part in Disney fun!

At the party, we had a number of different craft stations set up to keep the kids entertained and give them some crafts to take home with them! The first craft was in the "Rapunzel area" (otherwise known as… our family room!) - where the kids could make their own lanterns and flags to take home!

In the princess room (playroom!), there as a "decorate a foam cupcake" station - where we had foam cupcakes, jewels, and heart stickers set up to make cupcakes fit for a princess. And also a make your own pipe cleaner tiara station as well! (DIY tutorial will be coming shortly on beingmommywithstyle!)

There were also a number of coloring stations available, Disney matching games, "Pin the Smile on Mickey", and of course… lots of dress-up opportunities and TOYS!

The kids also had a great time decorating REAL cupcakes too!

One of my favorite areas was the photo prop area, where the kids could take photos in front of princess banners and interact with the photo props. The preschoolers actually really loved incorporating the photo props into their play without even worrying about taking photos!

My girls had a wonderful time hosting their friends and I hope we created an event that they will all not soon forget! The best part was seeing all of the attendees show their Disney Side! Even the adults took part in the fun - from Disneybounding to dressing up in full costume!

Also in attendance was another blogger, Jessica Babbles, that enjoys sewing her own Disney costumes!

Her blog is 'Jessica Babbles' and you can find her great tutorials at: https://jessicababbles.wordpress.com

Check out my video blog of our "Princess & Pals" Disney Side @Home Celebration!

And our unboxing HERE:

** FTC Disclaimer: I received a party pack from Disney and Mom Select to host a #DisneySide @Home Celebration party at our home! We provided additional party items and food on our own to have a wonderful Disney Side time! All opinions are my own.