Read Across America Week-Dr. Seuss Fun!

This week is Read Across America Week.  I think it is such a fun week to celebrate.  The National Education Association’s Read Across America Day and Dr. Seuss’ Birthday are on March 2.  Around here the school’s participate in Dr. Seuss week.  At my children’s school they have picked different activities to do each day that go along with different Dr. Seuss books.

Monday-Wear green for Green Eggs and Ham and Yertle the Turtle

Tuesday-Wear silly socks and 2 different shoes for the Foot Book and Fox in Socks

Wednesday-Carry books (Dr. Seuss) with you at all times

Thursday-Wear Red and a hat for The Cat in the Hat

Friday-Pajama Day to celebrate Dr. Seuss’ Sleep Book.

(We’re doing these activities at home, too!)

 

Here are a ton of other ideas to help you celebrate this week:

Green Eggs and Ham

Check out this post of mine to see how to make these 2 different kinds of green eggs.

 

Seussville is a fantastic site that can help you celebrate!  This site is a lot of fun.  It has information on Dr. Seuss, videos, games and activities, characters, news, and pages for educators and parents!  I love that you can sort through things based on activities or by book.  That way you can match the activities to the books you have!  Go here to download the 2011 NEA’s Read Across America activity booklet.

 

Check out PBS kids for The Cat in the Hat games, printables, videos and more.  Lots of wonderful interactive fun!

 

There is a super-cute blog that is called ObSeussed.  Her blog bio says “I’m ObSEUSSed with bringing children's books and characters to life through kid crafts and family fun.”  Make sure to check out the fantastic tabs across the top of her blog.  The first is Seuss Links where she has a linky party of fun Seuss ideas.  The next one is Seuss Central where she has amazing links to all things Dr. Seuss.  Then, she’s got Seuss Style which has links to decorating Dr. Seuss style.  Next up are Seuss Celebrations; which are party and treat ideas.

 

She just had a fantastic idea to go with the book Hop on Pop!  You will love it!

 

I’d love to see how everyone else celebrates Dr. Seuss this way!  Leave a link here and I’ll be sure to check them out myself and post them here!

 

Rebecca

Top 10 Reasons For This Party Theme

10.  Because this world is so fascinating.

9.  Science experiments are fun.

8.  Everybody needs a wand.

7.  Testing family members’ trivia abilities is funny.

6.  Toddlers, Children, and adults all enjoy it.

5.  I’ve always wanted my own Dragon Snot.

4.  There are books to read to get you excited about the theme.

3.  Then there are movies to add to the excitement.

2.  I’ve always wondered what Acid Pops & Butter Beer taste like.

1.  A cute little boy asks for it (and you jump on it the second he says it because you have been dying to throw this kind of party!!)

 

So, can you guess what kind of party my Son just had?

 

Rebecca

Please Bear With Me

Goodness, I'm so sorry for the lack of posts.  However, we have been fighting a nasty flu around here!  I think we are all on the mend and I will be back in full force soon.  Just one child stayed home sick from school today! Though I hate seeing my children sick, I have to admit that I am enjoying the extra snuggles and time with them.

 We just celebrated a great birthday and I can't wait to share the details with everyone!  (Too bad that party was the start of the sickies for us and the Birthday Boy had a temp of 103!).

Love,
Rebecca

Celebrate The Boy Month-My Top 10 Boy Parties

Lego soap for the Lego party!
Dana from MADE and  Rae from Made by Rae are having their second year of

Celebrating the Boy Month!  I thought I would join in with my own boy posts.  All of my siblings have 2 boys and no girls (except Erika has just started her family and so only has one boy…yet)!  So, this topic is very near and dear to my heart!  I love gathering boy ideas together to share with one another, since they are so much harder to find than girl things!

I thought I’d start with our Great Boy Birthday Parties.  We have rocked the Boy Birthday parties! (with one more coming SOON!).  There are so many details and tutorials in each of these party posts.  Make sure to scroll through the whole post for TONS of amazing ideas.

My Really Fun Lego Party

My Batman Party

Katrina’s Lego Secret Agents Party Part One

Katrina’s Lego Secret Agents Party Part Two

Anjeanette’s Indiana Jones Party

Anjeanette’s Super Hero Party (scroll down to get to it)

Katrina’s Lego Indiana Jones Party

My Dinosaur Party

Katrina’s Scooby Doo Safari Party

Katrina’s World Explorer Party

Check here for TONS more Boy fun including things to make for and with Boys!!

Rebecca

Thanks to Dana and Rae for such a great idea!

Happy Valentine’s Day!!

Happy Valentine’s Day everyone!  Today I am busy baking and making to celebrate with my loved ones!  What are your plans?

 

Right now I’m off to breakfast with my Mom and Grandma (how nice is that!?).

 

I hope you all have a fantastic day as well.

 

If Valentine’s Day has snuck up on you, or you just need a few last minute ideas be sure to look along my left side bar for lots of ideas, or click here for a TON of Valentine’s posts!

 

Rebecca

Nana Strikes Again-Lovely Lip Coasters!

The amazing Nana strikes again!  Look what fun Lip Coasters she just left at my house!  Actually she made a set of these for each of her children’s families!  That is a lot of work! 

 

While you are enjoying these beauties be sure to check out some of the other fun posts that show Nana’s amazing crafts and ideas!

They are made out of that counted plastic canvas and yarn.  She also backed these with red felt.  These lips are so cute and perfect for this month!  Love them!

 

Thanks, Nana!

 

Rebecca

Healthy Heartfelt Lunch and Snack

Let’s be honest.  We all receive those heart shaped chocolate boxes for Valentines Day.  If you are a crafter, you know you think about saving it.  Now you actually have something you can do with these!

This was lunch for my kids (and will be again on Valentine’s Day).  There are so many healthy red foods out there!  Here is what went into the above lunch:

Babybel Cheese with heart cut out

Cherries

Red Grapes

Cherry Tomatoes

Red Apples

Strawberries cut into hearts

Dessert:  Red Chocolate Covered Heart Shaped Bananas

                   Heart Shaped Brownies with Red Chocolate on top

Other Ideas:

Red Peppers

Raspberries

Watermellon

Pink Grapefruit

Guava

Beets

Pink Meats

Raviolis (or pasta) cooked in red food coloring

Cranberries (dried would work too)

Here is my children’s after school snack (notice my cute heart shaped cups):

Red Grapes

Cherry Tomatoes

Red Applesauce (It’s actually Homemade Red Hots Applesauce!)

 

Every day I’m serving up my children’s afterschool snacks in a different heart shaped container like this one (yes, I may have saved too many of these containers with no idea of what I was going to do with them).  Even if the foods weren’t red or pink this still gives it a little something extra fun!  In the divided containers you can also put things like chips and dip, regular fruit and veggies, crackers, pretzels, goldfish, raisins, etc!  I love this idea.

 

There are so many easy ways to make sweets for Valentine’s Treats.  Heart shape anything makes it super cute, add red food coloring, or dip it in red chocolate.  I’ve done plenty of those things this February.  However, I think these healthy meals and snack are just as fun (well almost)!

 

Rebecca

Valentine Chips and Salsa

Every day for February I like to try and make our foods Valentine-y.  This is an absolute favorite of my children’s now!

Heart Shaped Salsa and Chips. 

I actually made 2 versions.  This is the first version.  
Salsa (really it’s more of a pico de gallo):
Diced Tomatoes                                     Fresh Cilantro
Diced Onion                                            Lemon Juice
Fresh Minced Garlic
  This is my favorite, go-to salsa to make.  However, I’ve been changing it up with a bit of a Texas Caviar twist to it by adding canned black beans, canned black eyed peas, corn, splash of red wine vinegar, and a little olive oil.  I’m trying to get more beans into our diet and this is a perfect way!  Over time I am also going to start adding red and green peppers (which my kids do not like).

This boy melts my heart!  Look at those adorable fingers, complete with bitten nails and dirty (stained from paint) fingers!  He downs these chips because they are so tasty!

Chips:  I use heart cookie cutters to cut different size hearts out of tortillas.  Then, I oil them and sprinkle salt on them (on both sides) and bake in the oven @350 for 5 minutes or until golden brown (on a large cookie sheet).  Make as big of a batch as you can because they wont last!

I used this salsa in burritos, too!  I just added roasted chicken and avocados.  Oh, heaven!  OK, who am I kidding, I put this in everything; a soup, on bread, and even straight up.  So yummy.

I put this in my children’s lunch with a dessert chips and salsa!  I saw this sweet fruit salsa with cinnamon chips on Our Best Bites and have been meaning to make it ever since I saw it.  It was worth the wait because it is tasty!
Fruit Salsa:
Kiwi                                    Strawberries
Blueberries                     Blackberries
Peaches                           Pears     
Raspberries                   Apples
Honey                             Granulated Sugar
Lime Juice
Dice up your fruit (you can use anything you want but these are my children’s favorite fruits) into small pieces.      Pour some honey and sprinkle a little granulated sugar on top and mix well (I keep this light because I paired it with highly cinnamon sugared chips).  I like to refrigerate this for a bit before serving.

Chips:  Cut out heart shapes out of tortillas, as with above chips. Brush melted butter onto heart shaped torillas and then sprinkle with cinnamon sugar (again on both sides).  Pop in the oven @350 for 5 minutes (or until golden brown).
These cinnamon sugar chips with the fruit salsa are heaven!!

I made three batches of these because the first batch went into lunches and didn’t get photographed (early morning=bad light and no extra time).  The second two batches just disappeared before I could take pictures!   But yum, we enjoyed them!

Rebecca
PS The other day my Son got a taste of something that was very yummy.  Quick as can be he said, “Oh that tastes like HEAVEN!”.  So, yup, I do realize that I say things are heaven…a lot.   But really, I think that description is pretty accurate for a lot of things.  Even that little boy of my is heaven.  I’ve only nibbled….

Confessions for Super Bowl

I have a confession to make.  In my family we do not celebrate the Super Bowl by following the game.  We are having a Super Bowl Party at my Mom’s house but it is more about the food, the commercials, the half time show, and being together!  Although if you ask my daughter, she loves Super Bowl Sunday because of the Puppy Bowl.  We will probably play games during the game even.  I actually love sports.  But I’d rather be playing  them than watching them! 

 

Check out our post from a few years ago for Super Bowl Sunday fun.  I show how to make those football calzones.

We also show how to make your own pompons to cheer on your favorite team! 

 

Rebecca

 

PS  This year my daughter is going to her own party.  This is a first for us….choosing friends over family.  It’s ok, I’ll be strong.

Happy Chinese New Year!

Today is the Chinese New Year.  This year is the year of the Rabbit.

I love celebrating different country’s or family’s traditions.  It is a fun way to learn about other people, countries, and cultures.  Chinese New Year is fun to me because of the symbolism.

 

First of all prior to the first day of the Chinese New Year, many families clean their homes from top to bottom.  This is to get rid of any bad luck from the last year.  I love this idea!  Along with this you could buy new clothes or cut your hair, which symbolize a fresh start!

 

More symbolism:

Meals with 8 or 9 dishes-lucky numbers

Dumplings-Look like golden nuggets

Oranges-Round shape symbolizes completeness and wholeness

Long Noodles-Long life

I hung up the Chinese lanterns that we made, this morning.  Then, my children will each get an orange and a fortune cookie as a snack after school.  We will also be ordering out Chinese food for dinner.

 

There are so many more fun parts to this holiday.  What I do, I have just gathered from information on the internet.  I’d love to know what other people do that celebrate this with their families.

 

Rebecca

Spring, here we come! (Oh how I love you, Punxsutawney Phil!)

                                                                          Punxsutawney Phil sees no shadow, predicts early spring

Prophetic groundhog has seen his shadow 98 times, hasn't seen it 16 times since 1887

Aren’t these Groundhog day activities cute?  Here you are matching the animal to it’s shadow!  I love that idea and my kids are having fun with it!

They are part of a whole packet for Groundhog Day.  I just downloaded them for free a few days ago.  I always assume the person who makes these things has their name and information on the packet.  This was not the case this time.  I would really love to give the person who made these the credit, but I can’t figure it out!  Does anyone know where these came from?  I’m going to search some more for a bit, because I think you guys would love the stuff on this cute blog and I’d love to pass the linky love along!

Rebecca

PS  I am also quite thankful for a computer that gets overworked, between my blogging, homework, and crafting on it!  It was not seeing my memory cards this morning and about put me into a panic! I download pictures daily!  Makes me appreciate how much abuse this thing gets and yet it keeps on ticking!

PSS More info on the blogger I got these activities from, I believe she had a preschool/or Kindergarten blog!

February First Idea

This morning my kids awoke to Pink, Heart Shaped Pancakes.  I always try to start the month off with a theme.  February’s theme is easy-Valentine’s Day! 

They will also come home to some valentine snacks every day until Valentine’s Day.  Today they will also find their Valentine’s pillowcases on their beds, when they get home from school.  Check back through my archives to find great ideas for celebrating every day until Valentine’s Day!  And keep checking back here as I share what I am doing this year with my kids!

Happy February everyone!

Rebecca