A few of our favorite books

In honor of National Library week I wanted to share with you some of our favorite books.  My oldest daughter, who is now eighteen, loved Shel Silverstein poetry books when she was young.  She still occasionally checks them out from the library.  My Seventeen year-old's favorite childhood book was Goodnight Moon.  He wore out several copies, because we had to read them so much. My Nine year-old loved the book The First of Octember, by Dr. Suess.  We had to hide it for awhile because he had huge dreams of building a play set in our backyard that was modeled after the book.  My five year-old's favorite book is The Story about Ping, by Marjorie Flack.

Happy National Library Week!

National Library Week

Bee Intentional

April 8, 2012

Did you know that April 8th - 15th is National Library week?  The library is one of my favorite places.  It is a fun and inexpensive place to go, that is provided you get your books and movies back before they are over due.

We have learned so many neat things at the library, not only from the books, but also from the activities they offer.  My children have taken classes on balloon animals, origami, insects, and much more all at our local library.  This week I will be featuring books and some activities that we have experienced at our local library.

Rice Crispy Cross: Jelly Bean Prayer

Bee Intentional

 April 2, 2012

The Easter Egg hunt was so much fun.  My nine year old found so many eggs that it filled the basket and he was putting the overflow in his pockets. He even found a price egg.  My five year old found many eggs too, but his basket was bigger so they all fit fine.  He was very happy to get the candy his older brother who just go braces could not eat!  No pictures because unfortunately I left both my camera and phone at home :(


We later had a lot of fun making cross rice crispy treats.

The boys are going to give these to their friends at church.  We made them by pressing rice crispy treat mixture in a cross cookie cutter. Then we presses jelly beans in the cross.  Finally we put them in a bag and attached the Jelly Bean Prayer.

Jelly Bean Prayer

Red is for the blood He gave
Green is for the grass he made
Yellow is for the sun so bright
Orange is for the edge of night
Black is for the sins we made

White is for the grace he gave
Purple is for His hours of sorrow
Pink is for our new tomorrow.

Written By: Charlene Dickerson 1997

More Easter Crafts

Bee Intentional

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April 7, 2012


I had a few more hand and footprint Easter crafts I wanted to post.  I Hope to post some Easter snack ideas later. I am taking my boys to an Easter egg hunt this morning and looking forward to other adventures the day holds for us.  Bee intentional......and make every moment count!

I love to make pot holders with my children's hand and feet prints to help celebrate holidays.  You can buy two pot holders at the dollar tree for just $1.00.  I love this Easter chic I made with Benjamin.  I had made a bunny with my seventeen year old when he was four.....I hope I can find it!

These Easter lilies made from tracing Benjamin's hand on white paper impressed me a little more than it did him!  He thought it was a girl craft.  We made a vase out of a baby food jar, put Easter grass inside. I then put the poem on the outside of the jar!  This could be used for mothers day too!

I found these craft ideas from this wonderful site! http://funhandprintart.blogspot.com/

Elijah made the flower for a school art project.  Benjamin made the Bunny, and we had to use his hand!

Intentionally make time for God

Bee Intentional

April 6, 2012

I was in a Bible study recently and we were talking about the importance of spending time daily with God and Scripture memory. Many of the women admitted to struggling with carving out time for this important discipline, but yet I noticed we all have time to be on facebook and update our twitter accounts.  What if we were intentional about giving God our first fruits?

My nine year old just enrolled in the national Bible Bee.  He is very excited about scripture memory and learning more about God's word.  I am looking forward to seeing how he grows spiritually through this experience.

My nine year old was reading the Bible with his five year old brother.  He was explaining that if you could not find the book of the Bible you are looking for, you just need to look in the Table of Continents.  My five year old asked me later, "Why does the map have seven continents, but the Bible has a lot?"

Easter hand print craft - Donkey T-shirt

Bee Intentional

April 4, 2012

Little hands and feet have always fascinated me, but it was not until I had my first child that I really marveled at them.  Seeing my daughter's precious hands and feet for the first time made my heart flutter.  I counted each tiny finger and each chubby toe, and held them gently in my hand as if trying to preserve that moment forever.

I still love hands and feet.  I often preserve memories of holidays by making hand and feet crafts with my children. My youngest son and I made this Easter craft with both his hand and feet.  It was quite messy and a lot of fun!

 His finished t-shirt turned our great!  I got this idea from http://catholicicing.com/2012/03/palm-sunday-craft-for-kids/ They have many other great Easter crafts there as well.  Happy Crafting!

Dollar Tree Craft: Easter Egg Wreath

Bee Intentional

April 4, 2012

I love the dollar tree.  I can often go there and find amazing items to craft with.  I made this Easter wreath for under $5.

Eggs: Left over from past easter egg hunt
Easter Grass: $1.00 (dollar tree)
Straw Wreath: $1.00 (dollar tree)
Ribbon: From craft box
TOTAL: $2.00

 Elijah though it was a crown.  He could not wait to get it on his head.

You can make this in three easy steps:
1.  Hot glue easter grass around wreath
2.  Hot glue eggs on top of grass aroung wreath
3.  Add bow and hanger

Easter Traditions

Bee Intentional

April 2, 2012

I love Palm Sunday.  Yesterday the halls of our church were filled with children cheerfully waving Palm branches.  It always brings a smile to my face.  The celebration carried over to our home.  When we got home my nine year old wanted to reenact the bible story that he has just heard a few hours earlier.  He assigned us each a part to play and we were soon a family of inspiring thespians.  My husband was to play the donkey. My nine year old played Jesus. My seventeen and five year old had the parts of Peter and John, and my nineteen year old daughter was to play the Jerusalem crowd.  I was the narrator.  Things seemed to be  going quite well until my five year old had a major melt down because Peter was not allowed to ride with Jesus on the donkey.  Other than that we had a wonderful time of reading the Bible and playing together.

One of my favorite Easter traditions is Resurrection eggs.  I was given a set of these years ago when I was an assistant to the children's director at a church in Oklahoma.  My children have had great fun with these eggs over the years.  It is a miracle we still have all the pieces! 

Last Easter we discovered these wonder Easter lapbooks from Scripture Adventure.  Here is a link to this lapbook  http://scriptureadventures.com/easterlapbook

Dandelion Bouquets

Bee Intentional

April 1, 2012

Bubbles, four leaf clovers and dandelion bouquets make for a wonderful Sunday afternoon!  I kind of dread my youngest child growing up, because it will mean the end of a beautiful smile behind a bouquet of dandelions.  That dreaded day when someone tells him that the flower he so sweetly and eagerly picks for me every spring in reality is just a weed.  Until that day happens I will happily put them in a vase and display them on my table with pride, because to me they are the most beautiful flower in the world!

 After about fifteen minutes of looking for a four leaf clover my youngest son triumphantly shouted he found one.  When I rushed to his side to see his treasure, he erupted in giggles and declared "April Fools."