Poetry Time with Gabriel

Part of Gabriel's school work has been to memorize poetry. So, fix a cup of coffee, sit back and enjoy some poetry recited by Gabriel!!



Kites and Flowers

For our art project this week we did a fun art/craft! Home-made paper bag kites! The kids had a blast with them and so I am going to do a how-to post.

Materials:

paper lunch bag

yarn

streamers

markers or crayons

tape or hole reinforcers

Step 1: Cut the bottom off of the lunch bag so that you have a sleeve (opening on top and bottom)

Step 2: Let the kiddos decorate the bag with crayons or markers:

Selah had me draw a butterfly on one side and a ladybug on the other, then she colored it in.

Gabe colored the entire bag and then drew Jedi Knights on it. He is very into Star Wars these days.

Step 3: Glue 3 streamers to the bottom inside of the bag (2ft-ish in length)

Step 4: On the top sides (where the bag folds in) place a piece of tape to strengthen the bag. Punch a hole through the tape and bag and loop a 18 inch piece of yarn through each hole. (Or you can just punch a hole in each side and then reinforce both sides of the hole with reinforcers).

Step 5: Take a much longer piece of yarn and tie it through each loop meeting them in the middle. We then added a short stick to roll up the extra yarn.

Here is our finished project:

Selah pretty much ran around in circles dragging her kite behind her. She looked like a mad woman but had so much fun!

Gabe actually caught wind quite a few times and had a blast flying his kite! 

And now - totally off topic - I thought I would do a little bragging on my hubby! Other than our kite flying session, Monday was a horrible day for me. Mig is teething and was clingy, grumpy and at times just plain mean! He didn't take much of a nap and tore the house up from top to bottom. I seriously felt like curling up in a corner and crying. It was just "one of those days".  My sweet husband sent me beautiful flowers the next day and let me know how much he appreciates what I do everyday for our family. SO SWEET!!

YEP - I'm a lucky girl!

Papa Serna Visits

We had a fun visit with Byron's dad (AKA Papa Serna) last weekend! We had a little St. Patrick's Day celebration while he was here with Irish Soda Bread sandwiches, Rainbow Sprite (Sprite poured over ice colored with food coloring) and Rainbow cupcakes. I had planned to make Shepherd's Pie, but had an eye appointment that morning and didn't quite get to it, but our lunch was still fun!

When we told the kids that Papa was going to be visiting they were very excited, but then Selah got kind of quiet and said, "But how will we get him upstairs to see my room?" (Everyone who comes over HAS to see her room). With the help of technology we got Papa "upstairs"! Byron face-timed my iPhone with the iPad and I he got a virtual tour!!

We spent a few hours talking, laughing and eating. It was a great visit!!

Papa came bearing gifts for everyone! He got Selah this outfit which she had to put on right away!

Enjoying Company

This past weekend we enjoyed an overnight visit from Jonathan, Jacob, JT and Byron's sister, Nicol. Jeremiah went to Disney World with the Belton High School Marching 100. 

We had a great time with the boys! They were introduced to Leonard the Lizard: 

We played board games:

 We were entertained by Mig:

And just had fun hanging out:

And spending time together!

Happy Birthday, Dr. Seuss!!

March 2nd is the anniversary of Dr. Seuss's birthday! He would have been 108 years old this year. March 2nd is also National Read Across America Day! It is a day where school age children are encouraged to celebrate reading. We had a fun time celebrating! We read Dr. Seuss books all week long and on Friday made a Dr. Seuss "All About Me" book. We also make CUTE Cat in the Hat treats!! 

That evening we headed over to our local library to attend their Dr. Seuss Birthday party! There was a story time, a craft and cake!

After the party we went to IHOP to try out the Lorax Breakfast! The kids wore the hats they made at the library and were so cute!!

Here is Selah's Green Eggs and Ham (which she loved) and Gabe and Mig had the Truffala Chip pancakes.

We also had fun with the free Lorax App!

The grand finale for our celebration was seeing the Lorax movie in 3D!! It was ADORABLE!

What a fun time!!!

1 Timothy 4:12

As part of our circle time each morning, the kids and I recite a memory verse. We start a new memory verse each month. Recently, a sweet friend of mine suggested looking up "Seeds Family Worship". I did and LOVE their videos! We have memorized 2 verses using Seeds and are working on number 3. The videos are colorful and fun with scripture set to catchy tunes. They kids sing these songs all day long and I love that they are hiding the Word in thier hearts at such a young age. Here is a video of the verse we memorized for February. Selah recites it and then Gabe sings it.