Minions Movie Night July 31, 2015

Hello dear ones! A couple weeks ago my family and I went to see the Minions movie. This is how we had fun. Also, I’ll review the movie. Please come hang out :).

I drew a minion on our chalkboard door to get everyone excited.

 

I bought a Minions coloring book for a dollar. I also found sugar cookies and fruit snacks that are Minion themed. I found the Minion bead kit at Michael’s Craft Store.

 

Chris and Michael made a Minion bookmark.

 

Michael drew a Minion based on a tutorial.

Here are toilet paper roll Minions.

Now my review:

My family and I really loved the Despicable Me movies. Underneath the craziness they were about family and love. They gave me a warm fuzzy feeling. But Minions was a disappointment. There were way too many innuendos. The plot was flat. The Minions couldn’t fill Gru’s shoes as main characters. They are hilarious for shorts, but in my opinion they can’t carry a whole movie. The best part of the movie for me, was the end…when Gru showed up. In conclusion, although there are spots of funny, the smut and lack of a decent plot and strong characters, ruined it for me. This felt way more adult than childlike.

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

You can find more ideas here:

James and the Giant Peach Study July 7, 2015

Hello dear ones! Michael did a study of the book James and the Giant Peach. Join me for a peachy craft and some Southern peach cobbler.

 

 

Michael and I made this sun catcher using contact paper. I drew a peach and he filled it in with orange tissue paper and silhouettes from James and the Giant Peach. He made clouds from cotton balls. The birds are hanging strings.

 

Michael also watched the movie. Now, here’s a recipe that we didn’t get a chance to make.

Southern Peach Cobbler

From the Odum Community Cookbook

by Jeanette Bass

Ingredients:

1 cup sugar

1 cup self-rising flour

1 stick butter

1 can peaches (sliced with juice)

3/4 cup of milk

Melt butter in baking dish. Add sugar, milk, and peaches, mix well. Add flour and mix until well blended. Bake in 350 degree oven until top is golden brown. Serve with or without whipped cream; you can also sprinkle with cinnamon and sugar.

 

 

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

St. Patty’s Day 2015 March 28, 2015

In this post: St. Patty’s food, scavenger hunt, decor, lapbook, and craft. 

Hello dear ones! Here’s how we celebrated Saint Patrick’s day this year.

• As you can see from above, we brought out our usual St. Patty’s decor. I let Michael set things up because I felt like I was going into labor that day (false alarm). You can see our family leprechaun and trap. We had Lucky Charms ready for breakfast, a book about St. Patty’s story, and this year an indepth St. Patrick’s Day lapbook.

You can find the lapbook here:http://www.currclick.com/product/1055/Saint-Patricks-Day-Lapbook

It has Catholic principles in it. We are not Catholic but we had an interesting conversation about praying to saints etc and what a Biblical saint is compared to the process of becoming a Catholic saint. As protestants, we don’t believe in praying to saints or talking to them at all. Also, we believe all Christians are saints and in the process of being sanctified. Anywho, the lapbook had great info about Ireland and we even learned some Gaelic. We talked about the symbols of St. Patty’s and how it’s celebrated in different places.

Even the dogs got festive! Here’s Annabelle :).

 

• Michael made this rainbow chain with a pot of gold at the end.

 

• That morning, Michael had a St. Patty’s placemat with activities on it. I got this free printable from: http://www.thedatingdivas.com/holidays/st-patricks-day/top-of-the-morning-to-you-printable-placemats/

 

• Chris and Michael did this St. Patty’s Scavenger hunt that I got from The Dating Divas. I set up clues around the house. Each clue bag had an activity that had to be completed before they could move on to the next clue. They were simple but fun. Examples: Don’t Eat Pete (leprechaun version with Skittles), figure out your leprechaun name, and find all the gold pieces.

Scavenger hunt printables here: http://www.thedatingdivas.com/holidays/st-patricks-day/st-pattys-scavenger-hunt/

 

• Lastly, we ate our traditional Irish foods: Irish stew (beef instead of lamb) and Irish Soda Bread. Chris made the stew while Michael and I baked the bread. This has to be my favorite bread.

Recipes here: http://pocketchangegourmet.com/irish-soda-bread-recipe/

http://allrecipes.com/recipe/irish-lamb-stew/detail.aspx

And I leave you with my 36 weeks pics (I’m actually about 38 weeks prego now. We’re praying that the baby comes soon though because he’s already bigger than Michael was at birth).

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

St. Patty’s on Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/doverette/st-patrick-s-day/

St. Patty’s past on my blog:

Trinity lesson/craft & big party with tons of Irish recipes~

Crafty Monday: St. Patrick’s Day Celebration with the Homeschool Group

String maze, Shamrock punch, & peg dolls~

Happy St. Patrick’s Day!

Leprechaun trap & t-shirt art~

Crafty Monday: Prepping for St. Patty’s & Easter & Brazil Country Study

St. Patty’s decor~

St. Patty’s Day 2014

Leprechaun hunt~

My Family Rocks! Sunday:Dates with our Son, Hunting for Leprechauns, & Pet Parade

Michael’s Spiderman Pajama Party

Hello dear ones! My oldest son Michael celebrated his 9th birthday early a couple weekends back. He had a Spiderman pajama party. We kept it simple since I’m pregnant. Michael’s actual birthday (April 11th) is a day before Leeland’s due date so we wanted to make sure he was celebrated. Here’s how we did it:

I haven’t been in a store in awhile. This pregnancy has been rough on me. So I ordered most of the party supplies from Party City. A few things I had left over from other parties…like crepe paper from the Dollar Tree and balloons from Valentines’.

The set up

• Spiderman posters and balloons~ We got a cheap helium pump from Walmart.

 

• A personalized birthday banner with Michael’s picture on it.

 

• We didn’t have room for all the birthday banners so we taped some to a project board (from the Dollar Tree). Project boards are great for decorating, especially when you have limited hanging space. We put red balloons on the chairs, and Chris hung red crepe paper from the ceiling.I made a web with white crepe paper in the middle of the board. Chris drew and cut out a black spider for the web.

 

• I didn’t get pictures of all the favors (sorry). You can see the favor bags though. Since we only invited Michael’s two best guy buddies I decided to buy nice favors. They each got a Spiderman mask, Spiderman mini basketball hoop with ball, Spiderman blow outs, Spiderman ring pops, and Spiderman bottles.

 

• I used white crepe paper to make a web on Michael’s door. Then I filled it with red and white balloons. He had such fun with it that he made his own webs all that day. I kept running into them :).

 

• I baked a simple box cake with white sprinkled frosting. I also made three small bundt cakes so the kids would each have their own. We had Spiderman candles. I had leftover cookie letters and I used them to spell out “Michael”. The bundt cakes were kind of a disaster but the kids didn’t care. The kids had pizza and individual cups of icecream also. We had Spiderman plates and napkins.

 

The Plan

• We had a pajama party instead of a sleepover because Michael’s buddies are younger than him. Also I didn’t want to go into labor with kids at the house!
• We kept it simple. The kids ate first and we had the birthday cake.

 

• Then we opened presents. I let the kids take out their masks from the favor bags.

 

• We got Michael “Big Hero 6” for his present. The boys stretched out and watched the movie.

 

• This kept them busy for a good while, but the movie ended an hour earlier than time for parents to come. So I took toys to the living room. Kids these days get bored very quick…Anywho, so then I had the boys draw super heroes. By the time their moms came at 9:30 we were playing “Duck, Duck, Goose” and “Michael says”.

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

Lent Crafts part 2: Egg Study March 21, 2015

In this post: Egg lapbook, crafts, & treat. A unique resurrection diorama. Plus Lent decor and books.

Hello dear ones! I hope you are well. We’re enjoying the spring weather and waiting for our littlest to be born. A couple weeks ago, Michael and I did an egg study. It was a great way to gear up for Easter. Here’s how we did it.

• Egg lapbook~ I used this egg study to make a lapbook: http://www.currclick.com/product/35574/Eggs–Two-Day-Study-Series

 

• We made egg treats. Our treat is a lil different from what I saw on Pinterest. You take oval crackers and put peanut butter in them. Then you dip them in white chocolate. I didn’t feel like dealing with the mess of chocolate, so we just used frosting with sprinkles. We couldn’t cover the whole cracker so they don’t exactly look like eggs. Still, the treats were yummy :). Nana helped too.

 

• We made a stained glass egg and cross craft. I drew a pattern on black construction paper. Michael cut it out and stuck it to contact paper. Then Michael tore bits of colorful tissue paper and filled in the gaps.

 

• Lastly, Michael and I put together this resurrection egg diorama. Michael mainly colored the Jesus and cut him out. We had two coloring pages. We shrunk the one for the diorama. Then Michael colored the big page for his dad. I finished the diorama. My inspiration came from a beautiful painting I saw on Pinterest. Links below & details on how we did this.

Coloring page link here: http://biblefunfactory.com/146/easter-coloring-sheet/

Painting inspiration here: http://fineartamerica.com/featured/i-am-the-resurrection-john-lautermilch.html

I found these plastic egg containers at the Dollar Tree. I used one half to make the diorama. I glued gems to the bottom to keep the egg upright. I modge podged colorful tissue paper for the sky. I used sparkly white tissue paper for the clouds. I wanted a 3d effect so I bunched it up.

 

I took the Jesus that Michael colored and glued him to a craft stick. I hot glued the stick to the gems and I added purple tissue paper for his robe.

I wanted to make Jesus look like he was in the clouds, so I used more of the sparkly white tissue paper to cover the craft stick. Chris actually helped some too. He punched out tissue paper butterflies. I glued them all around Jesus, since butterflies make me think of new life.

Lastly, I punched out white paper flowers and cut yellow stems. I rolled them up to make lilies and glued them to the rocks along with felt leaves. Then I punched out the word “resurrection” using my hole punch. I glued it to a white tissue paper banner and glued that to the top of the egg. This has to be my favorite Easter craft we’ve ever made. I like that it’s pretty original too. I had inspiration but the creation is our own.

The diorama looks brilliant when the sun shines.

Other Lent happenings:

I love the season of Lent and counting down to Easter. For our family it is a time of remembering the resurrection and taking a good look at forgiveness and grace. We have fun with decorations, special books, and crafts.

Here are the Easter books we are reading this year. I’m particulary enjoying the author R.C. Sproul. This is our first year reading his books.

We have a fun time decorating. Many of these crafts you may remember from Easters past.

The Lord’s Supper & Jesus praying in the garden

Resurrection set and new life tree (eggs and butterflies)
We actually lost the Jesus that goes to the set, but now that we have the diorama it makes it complete.

We decorate with the usual springy things: eggs, bunnies, chicks, lambs, flowers, and butterflies…whatever makes us think of new life and the resurrection. In the pic below you can see the stained glass chapel we made awhile back.

Our Easter village has grown.

Here’s the stuffed Velveteen rabbit that I made last year for our study on chocolate bunnies. Some decor is just for fun though a majority of it revolves around the resurrection of Jesus.

Many of the crafts hanging up on our armoire are from years past. We’ve got the Peep bunny chain, a Holy week chart, and a tomb craft.

We bring out old lapbooks…

We have our Lenten devotions at supper time. You can see some pom pom bunnies and resurrection eggs that we made. Usually we hang the eggs on a tree but I didn’t find one this year. Instead I have them in a bunny dish that I won at a party.

Well, I hope you have a blessed Lent and Easter! God bless & remember the High King lives! ~Amber Dover

Easters and Lent past:

Easter Sunday

Easter Week & Jesus, Our Passover Lamb Easter Drama

The Importance of Easter

https://amberdover.wordpress.com/2013/04/01/crafty-monday-passover-the-lords-supper-and-the-resurrection/

https://amberdover.wordpress.com/2013/03/25/crafty-monday-charlottes-web-party-gearing-up-for-easter/

https://amberdover.wordpress.com/2013/04/07/my-family-rocks-sunday-chinese-date-night-easter-passover-celebrations/

https://amberdover.wordpress.com/2012/04/03/a-late-crafty-monday-resurrection-garden-coffee-filter-easter-eggs-mini-pies/

More Easter fun 🙂

Extra crafts for you 🙂 (Easter)

Crafty Monday: Preparing for Easter & celebrating the Resurrection

The Craft Bug

Recent posts:

Ash Wednesday 2015

Lent Crafts Part One 2015

Purim 2015 March 10, 2015

In this post: Crafts, treats, and Purim celebrations.

Hello dear ones! This is how we celebrated Purim this year:

• A Queen Esther craft~ I found this template for a Queen Esther puppet but our brown bag got thrown away. So instead we pasted it onto a paper plate and made it a centerpiece.
• Decor~ We brought out the Haman and Esther shakers from years ago, the Haman ears cookie crafts, and a lovely vase of flowers with ornaments on it (a peacock, dragonfly, and butterfly).

Link:https://amberdover.wordpress.com/2013/02/25/crafty-monday-dinosaurs-purim/

• Peacock drawing~ Michael and I made this Purim sign using a peacock tutorial. Peacocks were special to the Persians. They believed peacocks were guardians of royalty. King Xerxes was the king of Persia.

Link:http://luntiks.com/topics/kids-drawing-painting/74.html

 

• Baking Haman Ears or Hats~ This is a beloved tradition of ours. This year we used raspberry jelly in part of the cookies and Nuttella in the others.

• Watching “One Night with the King”~ an embellished version of the Biblical story of Esther. It’s based on a fictional book.

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

Purim pinspiration: https://www.pinterest.com/doverette/purim/

 

Dr. Seuss Day 2015

In this post: Dr. Seuss crafts, eats, and a lapbook.

Hello dear ones! Here’s how we celebrated Dr. Seuss’ birthday this year:

• We read all the Dr. Seuss books we own. Here’s Nana reading Green Eggs and Ham.

• A lapbook with Dr. Seuss’ biography, a Meet the Artist questionnaire, and a cartoon tutorial.

Links: http://readyteacher.com/learn-to-draw-dr-seuss-characters/

http://makingartfun.com/htm/f-maf-art-library/theodor-seuss-geisel-biography.htm

 

• “My Favorite Dr. Seuss Book” birthday cake writing assignment~  I was inspired by this blog:  http://meanmygang.blogspot.com/2012/02/dr-seuss-birthday-cake-craft.html   but I  found the cake printables elsewhere online. Michael colored three layers, put them together, and then added construction paper candles. I printed out the assignment with a nice font.

• Cat in the Hat hat~ I got the idea from this blog:

http://joyfullyweary.blogspot.com/2011/11/easy-seussian-hats.html?spref=pi

 

• Dr. Seuss decor~  I found the Dr. Seuss plates at Target last year. I found the quotes online. The truffela tree and Dr. Seuss sign are from our Dr. Seuss celebration 2 years ago: https://amberdover.wordpress.com/2013/03/10/my-family-rocks-sunday-dr-seuss-birthday/

 

• A movie~ Horton Hears a Who.

 

• Green scrambled eggs and ham with grits~ for supper.

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

PS: Here’s a regular pic from a school day. Michael drawing a city on his trampoline.

 

More Seuss inspiration:

Mardi Gras 2015 March 1, 2015

In this post: Mardi Gras treats, crafts, parade fun, and a lapbook.

Hello dear ones! We celebrated Mardi Gras as a family for the second time. We’ve come up with our own traditions, like decorating a float for our family parade. Anywho, this is how we did Mardi Gras.

• We began with a Mardi Gras lapbook and several videos on Mardi Gras’ history. I’ll include a link at the end.

 

• Michael made a jester mask.

• Michael and I watched The Hunchback of Notre Dame because it has the Festival of Fools in it. It’s not the same holiday but the style is similar. I also like the lessons on sin and grace in the movie. Rio and The Princess and the Frog are also good for this time.

• We had a small feast for supper. We had ham which is a rare treat. We don’t give up anything during Lent, but it was a nod to the history of Fat Tuesday and how people ate all their meat before fasting during Lent. I found the centerpiece at the Dollar Tree.

 

• We made a King cake using cinnamon rolls. We put it in the oven while we had our parade.

Here’s Chris braiding his part.

 

Into the oven!

 

• Michael and I made a parade float out of Leeland’s wagon. We used tissue paper and masks. Then we filled it with beads, moon pies, and coins. Teddy played the king/jester and rode in the float.

 

• I turned up the jazz music and we had a parade. Michael and I took turns throwing things. We put on masks and beads.

 

• Lastly, we decorated and enjoyed our King cake! Mmmmm….we just used the icing that came with the cinnamon rolls and sprinkled it. I couldn’t find purple sprinkles so I used glaze.

You can find the lapbook, videos, and other ideas here:

Mardi Gras on Pinterest

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

Mardi Gras past

Mardi Gras & Dr. Seuss’ Birthday

Crafty Monday: God’s Love & Hearts Galore! Plus Mardi Gras Celebration…

Another good Disney film to watch for Mardi Gras is The Princess and the Frog. Here are some ideas to give you that New Orleans’ flavor:

Crafty Monday: Disney Countdown~Pinocchio & The Princess and the Frog

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:

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

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:

I Stand Amazed Study & Snowflake Fun

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