December 22

Yes yes,  November will be rehashed but first… lets share some Christmas 2015 cheer! Our parties with friends and family have always meant the world to us and with the bulk of our friends (who are family) up north we were ALL excited about the opportunity to have a Christmas celebration with friends closer to home.

This was our first celebration of the year and our first PRESENTS of the year! But first, the making of the gingerbread houses. We went with a process Renee learned about through Nathan’s kindergarten class where you use a school milk carton (thank you Mrs. Speltz for saving those for us!) and graham crackers instead of the basic gingerbread pieces. Much better structure! Each of the kids had their own to decorate with a combination of bought sweets and Halloween candy. Talk about creativity!

And then, once the kids declared themselves done the adults took over and made one a piece.

Supper was delicious pulled pork and assorted nibbles. I think we ALL ate more than our fill.

Look at that masterful pour by Chris

And then… presents! I got to give out the first of my handcrafted pieces personally. All were well received. I am especially pleased with how the Pikachu turned out for Renee… Ken tried a new process to us called Felting. Lots of jabbing and loose wool and the possibilities… well things are going to be even more interesting craft wise around here! You can find the Pikachu pattern I used HERE. This deviantArt artist is AMAZING! 

NOMS

Pikachu!

All of the kids were really happy with their presents, although I think Trinity with her toy bow and arrows was the most pumped.

Of course we had to take a group picture! What a crowd!

I do have to show off my special gift. Renee knows me so well! LABELS for my crochet projects! I am dying to make an afghan or blanket and sew one on! Sadly I ran out of found yarn on a blanket I was making so have to remake it before I will have one done but they are so cute! And my favourite colour – BLUE!

There is something spectacular about a friends who are family Christmas isn’t there!

Of course Mystro pictures as well!

So I did cover what the girls and I did on Independence Day BUT Karen and Cory had their camera too so I figured why not add a recap with some more amazing pictures of new friends and their family! You can see my original HERE.

The girls loved that this pool was just like the one we had last year! (you can ALMOST see my American tank top)

The girls loved that this pool was just like the one we had last year! (you can ALMOST see my American tank top)

Mrs. Speltz (red) the hostess

AMAZING BBQ chicken legs and hot dogs!

Trinity and Anna

All the girls… Anna, Trinity, Echo, Tabitha and Julia

I love little Julia in this one

There were cows to visit that no one photographed and Karen certainly won over Trinity with the kitty visit!! What an amazing day to look back at. Thank you Karen for sharing your pictures!!

March 2nd marks the birth of the author Dr. Seuss… this is our second year celebrating that day. Last year we lucked out with a library program, but this year I was on my own for the most part. So we did what we do best… searched the internet, picked friends and family’s brains and of course requested books and movies from the library! Like with Chinese New Year and the Platypus I am collecting all my links, books, etc into one entry for easy searching! So here goes!

Day 1: The Lorax

• We were most interested in the colouring pages but HERE is a page with multiple resources directed to focus specifically on the Lorax.
• We had the maze for Trinity and Emanuel focused on recycling HERE.
• Our other very important exercise was to write a letter to Mother Nature telling her how we would preserve her… each of the kids wrote a letter (Emanuel and Trinity had me write it for them). We talked about options and the importance of simply CARING! It was a fun and helpful conversation for us all. You can find the letter HERE.
• A Lorax themed Word Search HERE.
• In fact, Activity Village has a whole section devoted just to the book The Lorax with how to draws and everything. We just wanted to keep it somewhat briefer than their content. HERE is the link for that.

Day 2: Green Eggs and Ham

• Colouring page straight out of the book HERE.
• Word search for the bigger kids (though not overly difficult) HERE.
• A simpler word search for your younger child HERE.
• A themed tic tac toe board HERE.

Day 3: The Cat in the Hat and One Fish Two Fish Red Fish Blue Fish

• Simple math for the little ones HERE.
• Dot to Dot of the Cat himself HERE.
• Crafty handprint Thing 1 and Thing 2 HERE.
• Hat Craft Template HERE.
• Make your own Cat in the Hat hat. We are using ours as a table centrepiece HERE.
• In fact you can pick your own colouring page from the list HERE. Mostly Cat in the Hat.
• Come up with a word that starts with a letter in the title Cat In The Hat HERE.
• Rhyming fun with a list of words HERE. (One Fish Two Fish… theme)
• Our chosen One Fish Two Fish colouring page HERE. I love the ones that are right out of the book.
• An exercise in opposites HERE.

Tv and Movies

• The Cat and the Hat Knows A Lot About That thanks to PBS kids. They have the show on pretty much all week AND the website with games HERE. You can watch whole episodes there.
• The Lorax the movie (2012). I love the ending to this one, it shows that there ARE people who care.
• The Grinch Who Stole Christmas. We got the newer movie. Not exactly by the book but with additional back history on the Grinch that was rather unique. A little scary for Trinity but the boys loved it.
• Horton Hears a Who! (2008)
• Horton Hears a Who! Tv Special (1970)
• Dr. Seuss On the Loose… Green Eggs and Ham and Other Stories (1973)

General Crafts

• Well, with a party in the making for the 2nd what more can we ask for than some simple decorations! Well since we didn’t have any blue cardstock we made a white and red paper chain and combined it with a blue table cloth! RED WHITE AND BLUE are the colours for Dr. Seuss after all!
• Dr. Seuss themed crafts and activities HERE.
• 14 Dr. Seuss Craft and Treat Ideas HERE.
• A Cat In The Hat inspired food HERE.

Additional books, Echo friendly

• Dr. Seuss’s Wet Pet, Dry Pet, Your Pet, My Pet! (based on and inspired by One Fish Two Fish Red Fish Blue Fish)
• Hop on Pop
• The Foot Book (Zander read this to Emanuel as part of his daily reading challenge), while this comes in board book form, ours was a hardcover.
• Dr. Seuss’s ABC (Though Echo didn’t enjoy this one as much as Trinity and Emanuel did!)
• Fox in Socks (I read this tongue twister gem while everyone laughed at me)

Family Crafts has a page with all the links separated by book. I did not do all the books listed and actually only had Echo listen to Hop on Pop instead of doing any sort of work sheet. You can find their link HERE. Many of the above links are off this page, I figured I would share as we used and as we found.

If you are interested in planning a full out birthday party here is a great link with the food ideas, games, crafts, etc to go to. I got a lot of the ideas for our party HERE. Or check out this general Pinterest Dr. Seuss party themed page HERE.

Want to make something to represent the Cat in the Hat’s hat? We didn’t have skewers so I laid them out in a pattern on the plate… worked well! Instructions HERE. We did not use grapes.

Want some food labels? HERE is the link specific to those.

Our extra reading! Happy Birthday Dr. Seuss