Hullabaloo Stories Design Blog

When it comes to a mother’s love, it is an endless love. A love that is very difficult to describe. This year, I was inspired by my love for my children to make them each their own book about the 10 things I love most about them. Of course, there are so many more than 10 things I love about each of them, but I was able to find a way to narrow it down.

While typically Mother’s Day is all about giving something to your mom, I also like to celebrate the two beautiful little lives who made me a mommy.

I cannot wait for them to see these books, I feel like its just a little piece of the love story I share with my children.

To celebrate all the mommy’s out there that inspire me every day, Hullabaloo Stories is partnering with the amazing Ana from Bluebird Kisses to give away one of these little treasures to one lucky mommy. Check out the give away here. Make sure you like Bluebird Kisses Facebook fan page and comment on the post about our give away to enter. You get an extra entry for commenting here…so let’s hear it…what do you love most about your little one?

In addition, to celebrate Mother’s Day, we are offering free shipping in our Etsy Store (we do have gift certificates!) use the code AMOTHERSLOVE until April 30th.*

Happy Mother’s Day to to all the amazing mommies out there.

*Orders submitted and processed (meaning we receive all your photos) by April 30th will be shipped in time for Mother’s Day.

Happy St. Patrick’s Day friends. I hope your day is touched by a bit of Irish luck today. St. Patrick’s Day is a really fun holiday with children because you get to dress up, be silly and there are so many projects you can do with them, like Leprechaun traps, rainbow waffles and dye everything green! You can also go on scavenger hunts to find rainbow items in your house or look for clovers, Leprechaun’s and so much more. Being Irish myself, this holiday is a great day to talk to my kids about their Irish heritage. I wanted to share a few St. Patrick’s Day things in this post.

First for even more ideas check out the collection I have started on my St. Patrick’s Day Pinterest Board

Next, I made these printables so long ago that I nearly forgot to post them. So check out all the separate files here in our 4Shared Folder.

The last thing I want to share is our project, I got this idea from this Pin and then somewhat made it my own. Instead of using old book pages, I used Irish proverbs, which the pages I used are in the printables folder. Then, I added a couple of blank green pages, printed some small shamrocks, and topped each page off with a little doily from Martha Stewart’s Craft line. Similar to these Martha Stewart Crafts Tags Die-Cut Lace). They turned out really cute. Then, I simply added them onto a ribbon to hang. They should last our family several years.
The other craft we made was something really fun for my daughter. I pre-printed a shamrock on some card stock and then put the glue all over the page, then let her place all the little flowers all over the page. She did a great job and it was a nice evening project that didn’t get us too messy.

Here is the dried flowers we got at our local craft “project” store

So there it is….our projects for a lucky day! Happy St. Patrick’s Day and may the luck of the Irish be with you today!!!

We are so excited to announce our two winners…our kids wanted to help in the process of picking the winners…so we wrote everyone’s names on a piece of cardstock and then put them in a basket for each of the kids to pick one…

Ainsleigh chose Tyra…congratulations Tyra, you will be receiving a copy of Oh, the Places You’ll Go!

Now for our second winner, chosen by Nolan…congratulations Kathi, you will also be receiving a copy of Oh, the Places You’ll Go!

Thank you everyone for sharing our blog this past week and celebrating Read Across America and Dr. Seuss’ birthday with us.

Click here to get your copy of
Oh the Places You’ll Go
on Amazon.com

Happy Birthday Dr. Seuss!

We had such a fun day today. This morning, I took my daughter to a friend’s Kindergarten class to deliver a set of laminated Dr. Seuss bookmarks for each of her students to celebrate Read Across America week. We stayed for about an hour and read two books (There’s a Wocket in My Pocket! and Fox in Socks). We also worked on two rhyming worksheets and visited with all the kids in the class.

Our daughter was so excited about getting to go to "big kids" school she didn’t want to leave when it came time to go. The bookmarks thrilled the students and they had such a fun day. I think the poster all my teachers had in their rooms must be true “All I really need to know, I learned in Kindergarten”, because Kindergarten is so cool.

When we got home, we read a few more books with our son so he could share in the awesomeness that is Dr. Seuss.

A fun post for today…it’s “Leap Day” so let’s leap into reading for this year. Inspired by Dr. Seuss’ quotes, check out our printable bookmarks in fun Dr. Seuss patterns. Click on the link below to see all the books marks we have created (the quote should be printed on the backside to create a two-sided bookmark and, if possible, we recommend you laminate the bookmarks)

» Click here «
Download these bookmarks in celebration of Read Across America Week

Check back on Friday for a fun post after we deliver these bookmarks to one lucky local elementary school with a lot of ideas about how to encourage a love for reading in your children.

Source: 30 Dr. Seuss Quotes to Live By

It’s time for a Dr. Seuss themed giveaway! Oh, the Places You’ll Go! is a classic book by Dr. Seuss and recently I saw a “pin” on Pinterest about this book and it made me think. We had to do something with this for Read Across America week.

So here is the idea. Get a copy of the book “Oh, the Places You’ll Go!” and each year, at the end of the school year, have your child’s teacher write them a little note inside the book (think of how someone signs a high school yearbook). This activity would take place every year, K-12. On the day of your child’s high school graduation, give it to them as one of their gifts. It will also add some nostalgia to the occasion reading through some of the comments made by past teachers.

Sounds pretty simple right…well we want to make it even simpler by having your very own copy shipped directly to your house!

Hullabaloo Stories is giving away TWO copies of Dr. Seuss’ book Oh, the Places You’ll Go!

How to qualify for the giveaway is really easy.

1. Go to our Facebook page and “Like” our page.
2. Tell us how you have shared this post in the comments below, here, on the Hullabloo Stories blog.
   • Some examples include a post on your own Facebook account as a status update, a blog post on a blog that you own/contribute to or comment on another blog, providing a link back to this post, a "pin" on Pinterest, or even a post on a forum; and
   • If possible, please provide the link of the location where you shared this blog post with others in your comment below.
3. A winner will be chosen at random on Sunday, March 4, 2012 at 12:00 PM PST and we will post the winners name/user name on both Facebook on the Hullabaloo Stories Fan Page wall and here on the Hullabaloo Stories blog as a comment on this blog post by 6:00 PM on that same day, Sunday, March 4, 2012.

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Good luck and thanks for helping to spread the word about this giveaway.

Use modern technology to engage your children in reading? Yes you read that right. Reading with your child can incorporate modern technology, these varied formats can help to engage them in the process of reading and help them to understand the idea of the book.

Since we are celebrating Read Across America and Dr. Seuss’ birthday lets look at the world of Dr. Seuss and all the ways to read his books. Besides the traditional hardcover books there are so many ways to engage your children in the world of Dr. Seuss.

This is the first in a series of blog posts about various formats of multimedia.

Today we will look at movies, in recent years there have been several Dr. Seuss books made into movies (Dr. Seuss’ The Cat In The Hat and Dr. Seuss’ How the Grinch Stole Christmas), the most recent movie was Dr. Seuss’ Horton Hears a Who and this Friday The Lorax is being released nationwide. This movie is based on the story The Lorax , a story largely about ecological awareness, even though it was written in the early 1970′s the message still rings true today and is an important message of taking care of our environment. The story is engaging and as always, Dr. Seuss’ books are entertaining and imaginative. The movie will likely be just as entertaining, especially considering the cast of stars lending their voices to Dr. Seuss’ characters.

Taking young children to the movie theater can be really fun, but also overwhelming if they do not have a concept of the story before seeing it. One strategy to help your children understand a movie is to sit down with them and read the story. But instead of simply reading cover to cover, ask them questions. Have them predict what is going on based on the pictures and pick out what ideas seem important to them. This will give your children confidence in their own reading (pre-reading) skills and some ownership in the story.

Once the movie is over you can continue to engage them in the story by re-reading the book and asking some of those same questions you asked them before, have them discuss what they learned, create a project, a drawing or some other way for them to show you what they have learned with the story. With a story that has a message like The Lorax does you can have your child take action, check out these coloring pages we made for our kids, the Read Across America site has some ideas for doing just that. Several associated sites are offering various activities for parents and teachers to share with children, including online games. These techniques of pre and post reading can be used for any book, reading the same book or going over the same story several times can be very helpful for children to learn how to read and what the process of reading includes. For some more tips, check out this great blog post here on I Can Teach My Child

Below are some coloring book pages (in full color) click on the link above to download the coloring book pages.

Disclaimer: The Lorax and other Dr. Seuss books are copyrighted by Random House, Inc. Dr. Seuss properties ™ & © 1937-2011. These books are available at Amazon.com and many other booksellers. The purpose of this post is to encourage parental/child interaction with these literary works and pre-reading skills and not to seek gain in the form profit by mentioning them here.

Hullabaloo Stories is celebrating Read Across America as well, with a week long set of posts that focus on children’s books, literacy strategies and some free printables. We will culminate the week with a fun give away.

This coming Friday (March 2, 2012) is Read Across America day, sponsored by the National Education Association This day not only celebrates reading but the birthday of Theodore S. Geisel (aka Dr. Suess). Across the country, thousands of schools, libraries, and community centers participate by bringing together kids, teens, and books, and you can too!

Check out tons of great activities, printables and lesson plan ideas here on Suessville

and for now…take a moment to read a book to your child…let us know in the comments below, what is your favorite book to read to your child?

I found these little tin mail boxes for our kids and wanted to leave them little notes in the weeks before Valentine’s Day. About a week before Valentine’s Day I will be starting a new job and will likely be leaving the house before they even wake up, so these will be a nice little way for them to wake up each morning. We have two children, one girl and one boy, so I wanted to make a mixture of boyish and girly love notes. I also plan to laminate these little notes before I put them in their boxes, with one child teething its best to protect these little notes so they at least last through the day.

below you will find 28 love notes that you can also use for your children. I have seen some other great ideas for home made Valentine’s Day cards your child can give their classmates or friends and also 14 days of love notes for your spouse. I will link to all those great ideas on the bottom of this post as well as my Pinterest Valentine’s Day Board. Feel free to right click on each file or click here to download them.

If you would like any or all of the Love Notes posted below, simply right click on the picture you want, save it and print it. All of these were made to be 2″x3″ to fit perfectly into their little mail boxes, you could also make little felt envelopes for the back of their dining room chairs or play table chairs, as seen at PBKids or here on the Crafting Chics Blog

Some other fantastic blog posts from great Mama Bloggers:

• Mommy by day; Crafter by Night posts 14 great ideas for your spouse, a super cute way to show your spouse a little love this time of year.
• Mud Pie Studio posts about 101 Valentine’s Day Ideas, this is a fantastic collection of various ideas from all over the net.
• Kristen Duke Photography has 10 lunch box jokes for Valentine’s Day, even though my kids aren’t in school right now I think I will print these for my husband to leave in their mail boxes since the love notes are really from me. So cute.
• Sprik Space posts 15 free Valentine’s Day printables, these are great for decorating your house, classroom or even office.
• And last but not least my collection of Valentine’s Day ideas on Pinterest, I plan to continue adding to this so please be sure to bookmark it.

Happy Valentine’s Day!

In honor of Valentine’s Day, I wanted to share my absolute favorite books about the amazing love between parent and child. These are the books I love to read to my children.

This first book was a book I fell in love with when I was in 2nd grade, my teacher even cried when she read it, back then I had no idea why but when I became a parent I understood why. I used to read this book to both of my kids when they were in my belly. I wanted them to come into this world knowing they were loved and would be forever.

Love You Forever by Robert Munsch

This book goes through a child’s life span and explains how a mother’s love know no limits, no matter how hard the day was, no matter how bad the temper tantrums were and no matter how much the house got messy or things got broken, at the end of the day, parents love their children unconditionally.

“Love you forever, like you for always” is my favorite quote of the book.

You Are My I Love You, by Maryann Cusimano Love

This book is pure poetry to me, the love between a parent and child is unique. This story goes through the ways parents love their children and children love their parents.

“I am your way home; you are my new path.” is my favorite quote from this book, as it describes new parenthood so well, a new path for the parent but homebase for the whole family.

I Love You Through and Through, by Bernadette Rossetti-Shustak

This book is not only about loving your child and everything about them but its a teaching book. While ready this book you can teach your child about emotions, body parts, and motions.

My favorite line is the last two pages of the book, “I love you through and through…yesterday, today and, tomorrow, too”. I tend to get a little teary when I read that line to my children.

I Love You More, by Laura Duksta

This is a fun book because it shows both sides of the love story of mother and child, the book itself has two stories in it, the author writes that its a “flip-side book…like love it never ends” I think that is my favorite, because like my favorite children’s book, Love You Forever, the love between parents and children never ends.

Inside the book the mother tries to explain her love for her child and on the flip side the child attempts to do the same thing in words that a child would use to explain things.

Guess How Much I Love You, by Sam McBratney

In this book the little bunny is trying to tell his dad how much he loves him but in return the daddy bunny expands on that to show the love he has for his child is limitless. A very cute story.

So there you go, my favorite books about loving your children. I love to read these books to my children and I hope that you will enjoy them as well.