Valentine’s Weekend 2015 Plus 32 Weeks Prego Pics February 22, 2015

In this post: Our Valentine’s get away and The Vow date night, Miriam’s 1st birthday, a Valentine’s hunt, diy scratch offs, and date night bags for kids.

Hello dear ones! Valentine’s weekend started off with a bang. My best friend Hannah’s little girl Miriam, turned one. She had a little party with family and a couple friends. Look at this delicious cake from Publix.

Miriam had her first taste of cake and wasn’t sure if she liked it.

We finished our Valentine’s countdowns. Remember the heart chain and kisses countdown found here:
https://amberdover.wordpress.com/2015/02/02/2015-valentines-decor-and-countdown/
I also gave Michael and Chris Valentine jokes every other day.

Valentine jokes
http://www.kristendukephotography.com/free-printable-valentines-day-lunch-jokes/

I used these Valentine’s printables from the Dating Divas to set up a hunt for Michael. I found goodies at the Dollar Tree and hid them around his room.

Valentine’s Hunt
http://www.thedatingdivas.com/holidays/valentines-day/valentines-search-and-find/

I found this chalkboard coffee cup at Michael’s Craft Store, for Chris. Michael made this diy scratch off valentine for me with Chris’ help.

DIY Valentines Scratch Offs
http://www.yellowblissroad.com/the-ultimate-valentines-day-printable-pack-plus-a-coordinating-free-printable/

My mom and step dad kept Michael on Valentine’s. I sent this date night bag with Michael to open once we were on our date. It included the games “Don’t Eat Pete” and “Valentine’s Monster Bingo”. Links below. I was told they had lots of fun :).
Kid’s Date Night Bag
http://www.thedatingdivas.com/family-fun/kid-date-night-envelope/

Don’t Eat Pete game
The printable is included in the date night bag link above.

Valentine’s Monster Bingo
http://www.yellowblissroad.com/the-ultimate-valentines-day-printable-pack-plus-a-coordinating-free-printable/

Several weeks before, Chris and I had a date night at home. We did these couple quizes and interviews from the Dating Diva’s. It reminded me of Chris’ likes and dislikes. I used the info to plan our Valentine’s date night.
Couples’ Interviews & Quiz

http://www.thedatingdivas.com/just-the-two-of-us/couples-date-night-quiz-and-interview-printable-kit/

We reserved a hotel room with a hot tub. I decorated the room with Valentine’s decor from the Dollar Tree. I put the romantic candle holder I had made, on the tub. Remember it from this post:
https://amberdover.wordpress.com/2015/02/10/personalized-romantic-candle-holder/
It went great with “The Vow” theme.

We arrived at the Olive Garden real early for dinner. The line was crazy, and we got on the waiting list. We were told it’d be an hour and a half wait. So we decided to go to the store across the parking lot while we waited. Bad idea. The restaurant pager messed up and kicked us off the waiting list. We found this out an hour later when we went back to Olive Garden. They tried to get us back in the system but couldn’t. We were told the wait would be longer, so we decided to just order online. We were told that would only take 20 minutes. Well, the pick up wait was over an hour. We were starved at this point so we got Mcdonalds to hold us over and went back to the hotel to start our movie.

When Chris went to pick up our food he had to wait in line for over 20 minutes. It was close to 9 pm when we finally ate supper.

We had planned on doing these mad libs and vow printables from The Dating Divas. It didn’t happen though. We both had headaches by the time we got our food. We did however watch The Vow which is a very inspiring movie.
Love Mad Libs
http://www.thedatingdivas.com/holidays/valentines-day/madly-in-love-mad-libs/

The Vow Date Night
http://www.thedatingdivas.com/theme-scene/the-vow-date/

We did try to do the chocolate tasting printables. We were both so sick at this point. This could’ve been a great date night but things just didn’t work out. Next year I don’t think we will make plans on the actual day of Valentine’s. Traffic was horrific and the hotel was filled with ummm…other people’s intimate sounds. I really didn’t want to hear all that. Thankfully the movie blocked the sounds out.

Chocolate Tasting

http://www.thedatingdivas.com/romantic-rendezvous/chocolate-tasting/

Well, if I’m going to have a bad night I’d rather have it with my hubby than all by myself. At least I had good company for Valentine’s :). This was supposed to be our last big bash together before Leeland is born. Oh well…

I almost want to try this date again on another night. I really want a do over! I hope you’re inspired anyways and maybe you’ll have better luck with your date if you use these ideas. I would recommend going out the weekend before or after Valentine’s but not of!

God bless & remember the High King lives! ~Amber Dover

Date Night ideas:

Our Date Nights:

PS: Here are some extra pics for you :).

The guys painted my bedroom door with chalk paint. It was a lovely gift.

Here are my 32 weeks prego. pics.

Valentine’s Party 2015 & Crafts February 21, 2015

In this post: Crafts, treats, and our homeschool group’s Valentine’s party. Also a character lapbook on responsibility, and conversation heart science.

Hello dear ones! Last week I said that chocolate is a must for Valentine’s, and I shared our chocolate study. Well, there is another candy must for Valentine’s: conversation hearts.

Link to chocolate study:
https://amberdover.wordpress.com/2015/02/09/charlie-and-the-chocolate-factory-study/

Conversation hearts were a big part of our preparations for the homeschool group’s Valentine’s party. Here’s how:

• “Love never fails” Valentines

I found the printables here: http://www.notconsumed.com/2014/01/27/7-free-scripture-valentine-printables/
Then we just poured conversation hearts into sandwich bags and stapled the printables to the top.

• Mini Conversation Hearts Cupcakes

I used a box cake mix and a mini cupcake pan to make 40 something cupcakes. I put a candy on top of each. This was simple and tasty.

• Conversation Hearts Science

We did a little experiment with the candies. We put candies in bleach, water, and in vinegar. The bleach completely dissolved and removed the color from the candy. The vinegar and water both turned the color of the candy.

We did this responsibility lapbook for our character lesson. You can find it here:
http://www.currclick.com/product/25988/Biblical-Responsibility-Lapbook

We did a quick study on St. Valentine’s and Michael colored this scripture page.

Here are the links:
http://flamecreativekids.blogspot.co.uk/2013/01/prayers-to-colour-in.html

http://www.freehomeschooldeals.com/history-of-st-valentines-day-unit-study-and-free-printables-prek-5th-grades/
Michael made this guitar valentine for his dad.

Lastly, Chris and Michael put together this Minecraft Valentine’s mailbox while we were at the party.

We had a ton of good food at the Valentine’s party.

My friend Hannah made “Cupid punch”.

My buddy Erin stamped the kids’ hands and faces. Olivia and Everly were covered in hearts.

Well, God bless & remember the High King lives! ~Amber Dover

PS: Check out the study on God’s love from a couple of weeks ago:
https://amberdover.wordpress.com/2015/02/03/i-stand-amazed-study-snowflake-fun/

Birthdays, Blessed Moments, and Baby Updates February 11, 2015

Hello dear ones! Well, it’s been busy around the Dover household. On Feb. 9th I turned the big 30. The week before my Mom had her birthday. Though we’ve had one scare, this miracle pregnancy is going well. I’m about 32 weeks pregnant…so 5 to 8 weeks to go. Anywho, here’s a glimpse into my world, outside of crafting.

Leeland will be here before you know it. We thought he was coming early at 29 weeks. I spent seven hours in the hospital with contractions. Thankfully all is well. So when I got home I really kicked up the nesting. I washed Leeland’s clothes and cloth diapers.

Here I am at 28 weeks.

And then 31 weeks.

My labor and delivery dress came in the mail!

Last year, Mom and I had a big birthday slumber party together. The link is here:
https://amberdover.wordpress.com/2014/02/16/hilarious-birthday-celebrations-with-mom/
It was crazy with costumes and karaoke. This year we kept it simple and I took her out to eat. Then we came back home for cake and Band Hero. We just got Band Hero, so we’re having fun with it.

The next weekend we celebrated my 30th birthday. Michael made supper Saturday night with a lil bit of guidance.

Sunday we had a small celebration at Sweet Frog with my closest friends.

It’s hard to believe I’ve been alive three decades!

My gal pals

My mom and stepdad

The guys watching the kids play outside.

The sweetest bunch of kids. Michael wore his nice suit for me.

On Monday (my actual birthday), my hubby woke me up with breakfast and roses. Three roses to represent him and our two boys.

Michael made me a heart card.

My Mom visited with french fries and balloons. She knows me well :). For the most part it was an uneventful day. I was dealing with pregnancy ickiness and we had school as usual. I’m not sure I feel 30 yet.

Well, here are other happenings…

Chris and Chester enjoying the recliner.

Annabelle gets a bath.

Tessa gets a shave. This took Chris hours.

Chris and Michael working on a kit.

In other news, Michael has lost two teeth…one by light saber. Michael’s buddy Liam did the honors lol. We’re waiting on one more tooth to come out. The count down to baby time is on. We’re looking forward to Valentine’s, my baby shower, and an early birthday for Michael. The baby is due a day after Michael’s birthday (April 12th)…so we are celebrating in March, Lord willing. Chris is still job hunting and we’re hoping to get good news from a recent interview. His last semester of college is keeping him busy but we’re still sticking close as a family. It’ll be nice when we can get settled.

Well, thanks for reading! God bless & remember the High King lives! ~Amber Dover

Personalized Romantic Candle Holder February 10, 2015

Hello dear ones! A good while back I made this candle holder out of plaster of paris. It sat in my office for a long time. I finally decided to paint it for Valentine’s to go along with my date night plans.

I rented “The Vow” for me and Chris’ Valentine’s excursion. I was inspired by the Dating Diva’s Vow date night. Lord willing, I’ll share more on that after Valentine’s. I used paint, sharpies, and stamps to make my design. The roses are just silk roses from the Dollar Tree. I added them when I was making the candle holder. I personalized this by putting our names and our wedding date. It says “I vow to love you always”.

I found small red and white candles. This will add a romantic personal touch to our date night.

God bless & remember the High King lives! ~Amber Dover

PS: Here are some date ideas for Valentine’s!

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory Study February 9, 2015

In this post: Fun activities for the book Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.

Hello dear ones! February is not only the month of love. It is the month of chocolate, because what other food goes best with love? So Michael read Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. By the way, here’s our “readbox” that I made at the beginning of the year. I keep forgetting to show you.

Michael read the book in a lil over a night. I was surprised. He was just so into it.

Candy Bar Measurements ~ So we did this math project but really it was just an excuse to eat chocolate. I’ll be honest. Michael already knows how to use a ruler well.

Measuring the candy

Then the best part…eating the candy.

Chocolate Study Lapbook

Michael did this quick lapbook on chocolate from: http://www.currclick.com/product/32954/All-Chocolate-A-Fun-Study

We watched the newest movie, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. This one is my favorite. I like to quote it :).

Lastly, we made this Charlie and the Chocolate Factory diorama.

Michael colored and cut out book characters. We got them at this site: http://www.activityvillage.co.uk/charlie-and-the-chocolate-factory-colouring-page

We used snow paint tinted brown, for the chocolate waterfall. Michael painted the grass green and a blue sky. Then we added green Easter grass on top. We used toilet paper rolls to make the bridge over the chocolate river.

We hotglued jelly beans for rocks along the river. I glued suckers together to make trees.

Then we made a banner with the name of the book.

I can’t tell you how much I love this diorama. It took some time but was worth it.

That’s our study. Here’s a pic of Michael doing school in his favorite spot.

God bless & remember the High King lives! ~Amber Dover

Groundhog Study 2015

In this post: A Lapbook, snack, and craft for Groundhog’s Day.

Hello dear ones! Do you celebrate Groundhog’s Day? If so, what traditions do you have? I’d love to hear about it in the comments. My mom’s birthday is on Groundhog’s Day, so we usually just focus on that. This year I wanted to do more though. It was super simple to throw this study together. Here’s how we learned.

Groundhog Survey

The night before, my hubby got online and asked Facebook friends to share their opinions. Would the groundhog see his shadow or not? We also asked family. Then Michael and I tallied the results on this nifty chart (pictured below). On Groundhog’s day we shared the results and also what three top groundhogs did or didn’t see.

The link for this printable: http://acupcakefortheteacher.blogspot.com/2012/01/freebies-for-groundhog-day.html

We watched two videos on Groundhog’s Day, a sweet cartoon and a funny lesson on the day. You can find them on my Pinterest here:

On Groundhog’s Day itself, I made these cute groundhog pudding cups pinspired by: http://we-made-that.com/groundhog-day-dessert/ . I just bought pudding already made. I’m simple like that.

Next, Michael did this quick lapbook on groundhogs from: http://www.currclick.com/product/77171/Groundhog–Speedy-Lapbook

Lastly, we did this groundhog craft pinspired by: http://almostunschoolers.blogspot.com/2012/02/groundhog-day-craft.html

We used a larger groundhog and we made ours into a square flipbook. I used a brad to move our groundhog from one page to the next. We favor an early spring around here :).

That’s it for our study. I hope you were inspired. Here are other homeschool happenings…

Lego zipline~ my sister found this idea on a blog and shared it. Michael was eager to make his own version.

Michael’s Budget and Pay Day

At the beginning of the school year, I had this great idea to make homeschool like a real job. I bought tickets and made them into school “money”. I put up behavior charts. Good behavior & work ethic mean’t regular pay and sometimes a raise in salary. Bad behavior and work ethic mean’t loss of pay and demotions, plus drawing from the consequence jar. At the end of each month, Michael gets paid. He first puts money aside for tithes and savings. Then he pays a few bills (rent, snack fee, cleaning fee). Whatever is left he can then spend on rewards. Each set of rewards costs a certain amount. Small rewards like sleeping in or picking a movie cost 100 school bucks. Bigger rewards like a day off of school or a special field trip cost about 600 school bucks.

So this was great except I got pregnant, morning sickness hit, and all these plans fell to the wayside. Well, finally we got back on track and Michael was able to earn pay for the month of January. I helped him write up a budget. He chose what organization he wanted me to donate to for his tithes and offerings. He paid “bills” and put aside money for savings. Lastly, he went to my store and purchased his rewards. He chose “pick a movie” and “choose a family activity”. He had money left over so he put it into savings.

This has been a great incentive to keep Michael on track with his school work. Thanks to my sister Jenn for the idea to use tickets for the fake money. She was a public school teacher for awhile and it’s nice to pick her brain.

Well, God bless & remember the High King lives! ~Amber Dover

I Stand Amazed Study & Snowflake Fun February 3, 2015

In this post: I Stand Amazed lapbook with link, God’s love Valentine’s wreathe, and snowflake fun with our homeschool group.

Hello dear ones! Last week, Michael and I did a three day study on the hymn “I Stand Amazed”, from the Not Consumed blog. Each day we listened to the song and sang it together. The study comes with a biography of the author, question pages, and copywork. We put ours into a lapbook. Michael read verses about God’s love. This study is perfect for Valentine’s!

I Stand Amazed study:
http://www.notconsumed.com/2014/01/14/stand-amazed-hymn-study-gods-love-free-printable/#_a5y_p=1180918

We used the heart printables and verses to make a wreathe. Here’s Michael writing out his favorite “love” verses.

Our God’s Love Valentine’s Wreathe

We used construction paper, a paper plate, and paper doilies.

Snowflake Fun at our Homeschool group

My buddy Hannah hosted a fabulous lesson at our group last week. The children saw pictures of all kinds of snowflakes, did a science project, ate treats, and were read to.

The Decor

Hannah reading about Snowflake Bentley. Fun facts: Snowflake Bentley was homeschooled, and he was born on Feb. 9th. I was also born on Feb. 9th :).

Michael putting his snowflake molecules together. The kids used marshmallows and toothpicks.

Well, God bless & remember the High King lives! ~Amber Dover

Wolf Study

In this post: Wolf study with book, craft, and lapbook.

Hello dear ones! Last week Michael read “White Fang” and we did a wolf study. Here’s how we did it. Michael completed this All Wolves lapbook. I’m including a link so you can purchase your own. I’m really enjoying the lapbooks by Homeschool Bits. They are super easy to put together and can be done in a day.

Wolf lapbook:
http://www.currclick.com/product/32433/All-Wolves-A-Fun-Study

Then we made a howling wolf picture using sticks, and a wolf silhouette.

I was pinspired by this driftwood artwork and decided to use it for our wolf:
http://www.creativeinchicago.com/2013/07/driftwood-seahorse-tutorial.html

We pasted the silhouette on top of yellow and blue construction paper.

Michael gathered sticks and then broke them into pieces to fit into a tracing of the silhouette.

Then I modge podged the sticks onto the wolf silhouette on the main paper. You can still see the glue in this picture, but eventually it dried clear and shiny. Michael added glitter to the blue, for stars.

We are planning on watching the White Fang movie once it arrives from Netflix. Well, I hope you were inspired. God bless & remember the High King lives! ~Amber Dover

2015 Valentine’s Decor and Countdown February 2, 2015

In this post: Pinspired Valentine decor, Valentine’s countdowns, and links to past Valentine’s crafts.

Hello dear ones! The countdown has begun. Soon it will be Valentine’s. I have plenty to share with you today as our family celebrates the month of love. Some of the decor you have seen before and I’ll share links to older posts. First, I want to share my latest craft endeavors. Most of them are pinspired (inspired by Pinterest). Here we go :).

Conversation Hearts Family Banner
Pinspired by http://www.cupcakediariesblog.com/2012/02/valentines-day-decor.html

Heart Tree with hugs and kisses
Pinspired by http://www.moneyhipmamas.com/2014/01/cute-and-cheap-diy-valentines-day.html

How do I love thee countdown (for Michael from me and the hubby)
Pinspired by: http://jonesdesigncompany.com/celebrate/how-do-i-love-thee-a-fun-diy-with-free-printable/

Kiss Me Countdown (for Chris)
Pinspired by:http://eighteen25.blogspot.com/2013/01/kiss-me-countdown.html

Valentine’s Cross (a last minute craft ideas of my own)

Now here are some oldies. You may remember this Valentine’s banner from the Dating Diva’s inspired date night last year.

Date Night ideas:

https://amberdover.wordpress.com/2014/02/25/valentines-2014-inspired-by-the-dating-divas/

https://amberdover.wordpress.com/2013/02/18/my-family-rocks-sunday-date-night-ideas-valentines-goodness/

Valentine’s Luminary:

https://amberdover.wordpress.com/2013/02/19/crafty-mondayfrance-country-study-valentines-snow-day/

Valentine’s in Paris inspired by That Artist Woman:

https://amberdover.wordpress.com/2013/02/11/crafty-monday-gods-love-hearts-galore-plus-mardi-gras-celebration/

Conversation Hearts Centerpiece:

Check out the link below to see what this looked like in it’s glory days lol.
https://amberdover.wordpress.com/2013/02/10/my-family-rocks-sunday-valentine-decor-triple-birthday-celebration-making-old-dolls-new/

Medieval Felt playset:

https://amberdover.wordpress.com/2012/02/21/crafty-monday-valentines-showcase/

I’ve got tons of free Valentine’s printables on my Pinterest:

We have more V-day crafts to come in the future so check back.
God bless & remember the High King lives! ~Amber Dover