TWO DAYS LEFT TO WIN!!

You have two days left to enter our giveaway to win a $25.00 Gift Certificate to our store http://www.glitterfulfeltstories.com/

The giveaway closes at 12 midnight PST on April 30th! So make sure and enter today!!

Entry Link:

http://www.feltstories.com/2009/03/win-2500-glitterful-felt-stories-gift.html

GLITTERFUL FELT STORIES FIRST MAJOR SPONSORSHIP!!

We are so excited to have been chosen as a sponsor at one of our local elementary schools! As many of you know we love to donate our felt stories to our local schools and libraries! Our passion is to encourage literacy.....not to make a profit!

We donate lots of stories to some of the teachers at Don Juan Elementary. In return they posted our company banner up at their school and placed our logo on the school shirts of their 1700 children!! We were so excited to see us...Glitterful Felt Stories....on a shirt!! Everywhere I went in Orange County today I saw children with our logo on their backs!! This is the coolest moment in our company's history!!

We want to extend an extra thank you to Don Juan Elementary. If a Don Juan Elementary parent makes a purchase, we will donate one story to the teacher of their choice. You can specify a certain teacher or just let us know preschool or kindergarten!

Thank you for your support!

Glitterful Felt Stories Loves Don Juan Avila Elementary

Ella in front of our sign!
Andrew and I wearing our shirts

Look....That's us on the right!!

HOW WE CELEBRATED EARTH DAY ~ CLEANING UP OUR LOCAL BEACH!

Living only 3 miles from the beach, we tend to spend almost all our free time there. Unfortunately, there is always so much trash left behind on the beaches!

To celebrate Earth Day we wanted to help take care of our favorite natural resource! The kids were so excited and spent almost two hours running around the beach looking for trash! It was a wonderful opportunity to teach them how to take care of our earth!

Happy Earth Day!!

Let's get started!

Yuck! A Band-Aid!


Ella so proud of what she did!


Even Tyler was excited to clean our Earth!

HAPPY EARTH DAY!!

Happy Earth Day!! Spend today enjoying our wonderful beautiful planet!! Here are some pictures of my family enjoying our local treasure this past weekend! The kids and I are going to our beach to pick-up trash this afternoon! It is important to help keep our beautiful beaches clean!

The Tide Pools
Ella Dancing in the water

Mommy chasing Tyler

Andrew and Ella at Goff Cove

PINECONE BIRD FEEDERS

With Earth Day coming this week, we thought it would be wonderful to help take care of our birds! We are going to be making Pine cone Bird Feeders!! They are super fun to make and the birds really enjoy them!!

Supplies needed:

• Pine Cones
• String
• Bird Seed
• Peanut Butter

Directions:

• Have your children go on a nature hunt looking for pine cones!
• Using Popsicle sticks have the children cover the pine cone with peanut butter
• pour the bird seed into a bowl
• Let the children dip the peanut butter covered pine cone into the bird seed
• Tie a sting to the top of the feeder
• Hang on your favorite tree!!

~Enjoy!!

OUR 11TH WEDDING ANNIVERSARY!!

Eleven years ago today...my wonderful husband and I got married!!

April 19, 1998

YOU TUBE BEST SLAM DUNK CONTEST!!

Andrew loves Basketball and he loves to watch YouTube videos. He would rather watch people's videos and laugh at all the funny videos people post than watch TV. He was super excited when YouTube announced that they were looking for the best slam dunker!! He spent hours having me make videos for him to enter.

We need some people to please rate his videos and leave comments!!

The more ratings the better!!

Why are there two? I accidentally submitted both and I don't know which one they are going to judge!!

Thanks for your support!!

WILL I EVER WIN A BLOG CONTEST?? BLOGGER ON A MISSION TO WIN!

Ok! So I am on a blogging mission! There are so many blogging contests going. I have entered so many and not ever won one?!!? I am going to enter a bunch of contests this weekend and see if I can win just one!! I am going to be updating a list of all the contests I entered here and we will see if I win any!! My goal is to enter 50 blog contests!!

So....go ahead enter along with me!!

Will it happen?? Can I ever win a blog contest??

If I happen to win one...I will be doing a big blog posting to feature it!!

Have a contest running you want me to enter....leave a link in the comments below!!

WORDLESS WEDNESDAY

Andrew's 1st love letter! I found this in his bed this morning! He must of written it last night in his bed in the dark!! It is the cutest thing I have ever read in my life!!

Translation:

Dear Skyler,

Do you like me

a. a little

b. some

c. a lot

d. none at all

I like you Andrew Ps. Don't show this to anyone!

BUY A TICKET TO DISNEY'S MOVIE EARTH ~ THEY'LL PLANT A TREE IN YOUR HONOR!!

We cannot wait to go see the new Disney movie Earth! It opens on April 22nd in theatre's worldwide!! If you purchase a ticket to see the movie during opening week, they will plant a tree in your honor!!

Disney also has wonderful free educational materials on their website!

Free Education Activity Guide
This 8-page activity guide can be used to teach students about the science and geography themes presented in the new Disneynature earth film

http://a.dolimg.com/media/en-US/disneynature/earth/medias/downloads/Earth_Activity_Guide-Web.pdf

Educator's Guide
This 58 page Educator's guide presents comprehensive curriculum ideas for teachers to incorporate additional elements from Earth into students lesson plans
http://a.dolimg.com/media/en-US/disneynature/earth/medias/downloads/BV-Earth_Ed-Guide_Online-Fnl.pdf

~I cannot wait to take my kids to see this movie and do these wonderful activities with them!

HAPPY EASTER!!

We Hope you and your family have a wonderful Easter!!

~ Love, The Barone Family & Glitterful Felt Stories!!

$10.00 COUPON FOR ORIENTAL TRADING

Planning a child's birthday party? This is my favorite shopping store for party supplies!! Save $10.00 on your next purchase with Oriental Trading!! The coupon is good on any order of $30.00 or more now through April 30, 2009! Use the key code BUNNY. www.orientaltrading.com

HOW TO MAKE YOUR OWN RESURRECTION EGGS!!

Most Children are excited to associate the Easter Bunny, candy, and eggs to the Easter holiday; but let's pray that they might learn the real reason for Easter. To help your family begin some traditions that help keep Jesus and His resurrection in the center of your celebration include some resurrection eggs in your egg hunt!

These are a dozen plastic eggs in a carton filled with items that help tell the true Easter story. You can use these as part of your Easter celebration by hiding them on Easter Sunday and open them in order as you talk about the first Easter for a family devotional time. You can purchase them at a Christian Book Distributors (cbd.com), or you can do what I like to do and make them yourself!!

1. Gray fleece or a tiny donkey to represent the donkey borrowed by Jesus' disciples in Jerusalem on the first Palm Sunday. (Matthew 21:2-5)
2. Palm branch or a doll's coat to represent the reaction of the crowd in Jerusalem. (Matthew 26: 8-11)
3. Three silver coins or 20 dimes to represent Judas' payment for his betrayal. (Matthew 26: 14-15)
4. A strip of terry cloth fabric to represent the towel Jesus wore as he washed the disciples' feet. (John 13: 4-11)
5. A miniature cup or a broken piece of matzo to represent the Last Supper. (Matthew 26: 17-29)
6. A rooster figure or feather to represent Peter's denials. (Luke 22:61)
7. A leather strip to represent when Jesus was beaten. (John 19:1)
8. Thorns or piece of rose bush to represent the crown of thorns Jesus wore. (Matthew 27:29)
9. A cross or two sticks to represent the cross Jesus carried and was crucified on (John 19: 16-22)
10. Three nails to represent how Jesus was nailed to the cross (John 19:16-22)
11. Gauze or strips of muslin to represent Jesus' grave clothes. (Matthew 27:57-61)
12. Empty egg to represent the empty tomb. (Matthew 28:5-8)

Together your family can decorate an egg carton to hold your Resurrection Egg set!

We also love to follow-up with our favorite Easter book that goes along perfect with the resurrection eggs: Benjamin Box by Melody Carlson

THE KIDS HAVING FUN DOING OUR EASTER SCIENCE EXPERIMNET ~ BLOWING OUT EGGS

This is one of the funnest science experiments we have done in a long time!! We blew out Eggs!

Directions:

• With a fine needle poke a small hole on one side of the egg
• Post a little larger hole on the bottom on the egg
• Have fun blowing the egg out
• Clean the egg with hot water
• Paint and decorate an egg that can last a lifetime!!

Andrew Blowing out the egg
Ella's turn!

Wanting to do it again!

Super cute picture!

Using a needle to poke a hole in the egg!

HOW TO MAKE RESURRECTION BISCUITS ~ TEACH CHILDREN ABOUT JESUS' RESURRECTION

I make these yummy Resurrection Biscuits with my kids every year! It is a wonderful way to help them understand about the Resurrection of Jesus. ~Have Fun!!

Resurrection Biscuits represent Christ's empty tomb. The marshmallow disappears while baking, leaving a hollow pastry shell.

Supplies:

• 1 can refrigerated biscuits


• Large Marshmallows


• Spray margarine


• 1/3 cup sugar


• 1 Tbl. cinnamon
  

Directions:

Press each biscuit into a flat circle. Place a marshmallow in the center of the circle, place another biscuit over the top and pinch the two dough pieces together all around the marshmallow. Spray the biscuits with margarine. Combine sugar and cinnamon. Sprinkle the rolls with the mixture. Place the biscuits on a baking sheet. Bake at 350 degrees fro 12-15 minutes.

While the biscuits bake, tell the Easter story. Then pray, thanking Jesus for taking our place on the cross. Enjoy your biscuits in celebration of the hollow tomb, just like the biscuits!!

ANDREW, ELLA AND TYLER COLORING EASTER EGGS!!

Andrew, Ella and Tyler had a blast coloring Easter Eggs this year! Here are the pictures of them do their favorite Easter activity!! ~Enjoy!!

EASTER EGG PLANT GARDEN ~ SUPER FUN EASTER CRAFT!!

We just finished making this super fun Easter craft. We are going to give these as gifts for Easter!

Easter Egg Shell Gardens!!

Materials Needed:

• Eggs
• Wooden Popsicle Sticks
• Sharp Knife
• Glue Gun
• Paints and Brushes
• Grass Seeds and Dirt

Instructions:

1. Mom or Dad can carefully cut off the top of the egg with a sharp knife. I did this on a kitchen towel.
2. Rinse out the egg and make sure it is very clean
3. Cut the wooden Popsicle sticks in half.
4. Glue the sticks together sideways then glue the clean egg shell half on top
5. Let the kids use their imagination to paint and decorate their egg gardens
6. Put lots of grass seeds inside and top with dirt!
   

Andrew painting his egg shell garden

Tyler painting his egg shell garden

The finished product!!

TYLER'S DOG BITE!

My Poor Precious baby got a dog bite on Tuesday evening from a local neighborhood dog. We cleaned it up well, but come morning it was severely swollen and infected. Because Tyler suffers from a life threatening disease (Neutropenia: does not produce white blood cells to fight off infections) it has been a very serious matter in our household that past couple of days. Due to Tyler's disease his body cannot handle being vaccinated, so after we got the OK from his hematology doctors they were able to give him a tetanus shot. He is also on a very strong dosage of antibiotics...making my precious baby feel very yucky. He is healing well...but please keep him in your prayers!!

~Shelby

Please don't bite me again doggy!
Tyler and Andrew spending the entire day at the doctor's office together

Enjoying his lollipop after his blood labs!

OUR HIGH SCHOOL MUSICAL DANCE MAT WINNER!!

We are so excited to announce the winner of our High School Musical Dance Mat Giveaway!!

The winner is:

The Hutson Family (One Bored Mommy) said...
Both of my daughters would love this. My five year old is obsessed with high school musical everything. Her entire bedroom is decorated in high school musical gear. Thanks for such a great giveaway!

Thank you to everyone who entered!! Make sure and enter our current giveaway to win a $25.00 gift certificate at our store! www.GlitterfulFeltStories.com

http://www.feltstories.com/2009/03/win-2500-glitterful-felt-stories-gift.html

A REAL HUMMINGBIRD NEST!!

When we went over to the kids Grandparents house for our weekly "family dinner with Papa and Nana", we were so excited to see our first hummingbird nest! It is on a very fragile vine right in front of Papa and Nana's front door. When you open the door, she flies away....but quickly comes back to rest on her eggs! Andrew and Ella names her "nana-bird" What a wonderful treat that we wanted to share with you! ~Enjoy!!

Mama Hummingbird on her nest!

Not wanting to get too close to her!

Her delicate nest after she flew away!

SPRING BREAK DAY 2 ~ LAGUNA BEACH CALIFORNIA

Our Second day of Spring Break was spent at our favorite place that we are so lucky to live only 5 minutes from.....Laguna Beach! It was the most beautiful day, and the kids had so much fun!

Tyler playing in his mini beach pool!

Ella buried Andrew Alive!!

Daddy and Andrew

Tyler having a blast!

Daddy and Tyler!

Andrew chasing after his board