A "Wild" Zhu Zhu Party

Thanks to Mom Select and Zhu Zhu Pets for the inspiration for what my now-4-year-old daughter has breathlessly deemed "the best birthday party ever"!

We were selected to host a party featuring the new Wild Bunch Zhu Zhu Pets. These 4 critters are aptly named: ZuZu (a hedgehog), Sweetie (a pink bunny), Rocco (a raccoon) and Stinker (of course, a skunk) and were the hit of the party- for the kids and adults.

We played a couple of games- including racing pets using only noses to start- and guide- them.

The second game pitted the bunnies and raccoons against the skunks and hedgehogs in a type of hide & seek. You'll have to take my word that it was fun because my Flip Video decided to tape everything in brilliant fuzziness.

What the kids enjoyed most, though, was the fact that we moved our Zhu Zhu tracks outside! The Wild Bunch were enjoying the beautiful Iowa day- and everyone got to take home a Zhu Zhu pet!

Of course no birthday party is complete without cakes. And the Zhu Zhu's inspired me... I created two, as we were celebrating 2 birthdays. I used this Zhu Zhu Birthday Cake post as my template for the bunny and the hedgehog.

I began with a Wilton 3D Egg Pan (we have a local library that has cake pans to check out), two cake mixes and a plain buttercream frosting recipe.

Bake cakes according to directions and cool completely. After the cakes are completely cooled, cut one to create a flat surface so your Zhu Zhu doesn't roll away.

Add food coloring to your frosting to match your Zhu Zhu pet (I used melted chocolate for the hedgehog) and frost each cake with a thin layer. This is called the "crumb layer" Which simply means it catches all the crumbs. It doesn't have to be neat. You will refrigerate this for about 30 minutes.

Bunny Crumb Layer

Hedgehog Crumb Layer

Next you will frost your cakes. For the bunny I frosted entirely in pink and then texturized by touching my frosting knife flat on the frosting and pulling up. This made it look "fuzzy".

I made the hedgehog's fur by adding shredded coconut to the tan/chocolate frosting to build the fullness it needed without having an insane amount of frosting.

I used white decorator frosting for the bunny's cheeks as it is much more firm than buttercream. I just kind of "blobbed" it on the front and maneuvered it around until I had the effect I wanted.

I used Jelly Belly's for the noses, brown M&Ms for the eyes, large pink marshmallows cut apart for the bunny ears and a round gummy candy, cut in half, for the hedgehog ears.

The finished cakes were fun, very easy to make and the hit of the party!

Disclosure: The Zhu Zhu Pets were provided by Mom Select. I was not compensated for this post.

Where Milk Comes From: Our Visit to Wolf Creek Dairy

Caelan meets a cute calf

In early August I was lucky enough to take my daughters to tour a working dairy. I grew up a “country girl’; my grandparents owned a dairy and my family raised hogs. And while my girls still get to visit my grandparent’s farm they no longer milk cows- and they never had an operation like Wolf Creek Dairy in Dundas, MN.

Wolf Creek Dairy is owned by Paul and Barb Liebenstein. They, with their daughters and about a dozen employees, care for and milk 400 head of cows around the clock. Barb took us around the farm, patiently answered my daughters' questions and showed us every aspect of the dairy.

Our first stop was the grassy plot covered in miniature barns – friendly, adorable calves. In a nearby barn a new calf had been born not long before we arrived; we got to see her stand on wobbly legs for the first time and pet her still- wet coat.

The new calf stands for the first time

Wolf Creek Dairy has two large, open barns; one for pregnant cows and one for the cows being milked. Each barn is equipped with bedding, large fans and sprinklers for hot days, and rotating brushes for a relaxing body massage. The cows even have a nutritionist – something I wish I had! – to ensure they have a well balanced diet.

I was kind of surprised that the cows didn’t roam a field until Barb told me something I didn’t know: cows lay down an average of 14 hours per day. That’s a lot of down time! And since the barns are cleaned 3 times daily and protected from sun, wind, rain and snow it’s a pretty posh life the cows lead.

This cow is getting her hooves trimmed- it brings a new meaning to "cow tipping"

The milking barn was unlike any I had seen. Sure, I had seen automatic milking equipment, but it has been 30 years. The cows file into the milking area and, not unlike an amusement park ride, a safety gate slowly lowers to keep them from moving too much during milking. The milking room is on two levels so the milking machines can be placed easily on their udders without back strain. The entire process, from entry to exit, takes 7 minutes for the group of cows, as opposed to 30 minutes, per cow, by hand.

State of the art milking barn

Milk is pumped into holding tanks, picked up by a tanker truck and hauled to Land O’ Lakes, the dairy’s milk processor where it is packaged and distributed.

Our tour concluded with fresh baked cookies and, of course, milk in the Liebenstein’s inviting kitchen.

Milk and cookies

Our thanks to Midwest Dairy for arranging this tour for us. We had a great time and learned a lot. And the girls loved the hats!

My little cows moo-ing