Valentine's Day 2013

Here's a little recap of our Valentine's Day.

I attempted to convince my two oldest boys to make Valentines this year, enticing them with clever cards I have collected (thank you Pinterest). 

Mr. One was unconvinced that this was a good idea.  He had his heart set on Star Wars Lego Valentines, so off to Target we went.  He was all too excited to get started selecting and addressing them.  I didn't have to help him at all, he was so happy.

The only trouble with Mr. One's cards was that Mr. Three was really enamored with them.  He kept sneaking them out, clutching them to his little chest, pointing out all the characters.  He also tried to convince me they were for him, pointing out the letter in the beginning of his name on the box as some sort of marker that they were actually his.  I had to go and buy an extra box later so he could have some, too.

Mr. Two, my artsy little man, was eager to craft, and saw these robot cards and wanted to make them.  We changed it up a bit with supplies on hand (colored hole reinforcers halved for hands and feet, curling ribbon limbs and simplified bodies), but I think our version turned out quite cute.  I especially love the hand drawn smiles.  It was a lot of work, and we had to assemble them over several days (five year old boys don't have the longest of attention spans), but he was so excited to give them to his preschool friends.  After all that work, I was frankly happy Mr. One wanted to go the store-bought route!

I had grand ideas of making my own Star Wars-themed cards for my boys, but time ran out.  Love this.  I also found a funny poem (thanks Jenny!) "R4 is red, R2 is blue, if I were the force, I'd be with YOU!" I may try and do something and just surprise them with a love note later... 

Mr. One also had to create a Valentine carrier to take to school, so we came up with a giant Lego brick box.  Mike measured and cut, and problem-solved to turn the idea into reality.  Mr. One glued and colored.  I even found a Lego font that he created his name with, and that was a really fun touch.  It was a team effort, and I think it turned out great.  He loved it.

We did have our traditional "heart day" fancy dinner with the family.  I spread a real tablecloth and decorated with candlesticks, heart doilies and foam hearts, using the nice(r) dishes.  I made pizza nuggets, roughly shaped into a heart, red jello, salad, and an extra rich strawberry-studded chocolate torte (think giant chocolate strawberry cake pop).  We turned out the lights, played some "love"ly music, lit the candles and ate together.  It was so much fun, and my boys were so well behaved.  I think I may break out the fancy dinner items more often!  Anything to avoid the typical weird noises, wandering around the dining room with a forkful of food, and random silliness...

It was a good day for showing our family how much we love one another.  I will use any excuse for extra love at home.

Lots of Love

I've been busy crafting and cooking in the kitchen, getting ready for Valentines day.  Here's some snippets of our Heart Day plans.

A few decorating projects are finished.  I made some heart garlands inspired by ideas from the web,

one simple

and one a little more complicated.  I had a few more decorating projects that didn't get completed.  Maybe for next year...

I've been in the kitchen baking sugar cookies.  Normally, I use my favorite sour cream sugar cookie recipe, but I wanted to try something new.  Paradise Bakery sugar cookies sounded like just the thing, so I tried them out. 

They are yummy, but I would definitely use a different frosting.  It was a little weak to me.  I prefer cream cheese frosting myself.

We also had our favorite Cody pancakes for breakfast (pink of course for Valentine's Day). 

Don't you love Mr. Three's hair?

I found these Valentine web games for the boys to play while I cooked dinner.

On the menu:

Fettuccine Alfredo (with some red food coloring)
roasted asparagus (which the boys will probably not touch, but we'll give it a try)
bread sticks
raspberry jello
sugar cookies
hot chocolate

We set the table and lit candles to have a fancy dinner together.  We emphasized using extra fancy manners as well.  (One can only hope...)  They seemed to really like that, although we still had whining about eating asparagus and at least one child eating with their hands instead of the forks and spoons...

Excerpt from the table (can you relate?):

Mom:  "You can use your spoon to eat your jello."
Mr. Two:  "Oh, that would be good!" (Grabs the jello with his hands and plops it onto the spoon.)
Mom: (to Dad, under breath) "I give up."
Mr. Three:  (pats jello with hand and pokes it with fingers)

Ah, memories!

Here are the little gifts that I (and Mike) have been working on to give the little Mr.'s.

For Mr. One and Mr. Two

Boyville peg dolls (we had to add Batman to the mix).  My handsome husband did all the detail work.  He is a creative wonder!  It was a really fun project to work on together.

For Mr. Three

This basic apron (I added a pocket because every boy needs a pocket) for my newest little kitchen helper.

The Valentines here and here for all three, because they are super kids.

I also had so much fun thinking up little love notes and hiding them for my husband to find these past 14 days.  I think he enjoyed finding and reading them, too.

We had a day full of love and hope all of you did as well!  Happy Heart Day!

We Love Mail

For FHE this Monday, we talked about love and how we show love to our family.  We asked the boys to tell us the ways that we can show love, and here is our list:

say I love you
respect them (by obeying your parents, doing good things)
say you're sorry when you do something wrong
take care of them
give hugs and kisses
draw pictures or write notes
give gifts
help
teach them how to do something new
pray for them

Oh how this list makes my heart happy!

Then, we decorated little mailboxes from the Target Dollar Spot, so that we could send one another little love notes and surprises throughout February.

Mr. One got up extra early the next morning to make little love notes to put in everyone's mailbox:  little hand drawn and colored hearts in favorite colors. 

He was so excited to announce that the mailbox flags were up, so we needed to check the mail.

Here's hoping we can all spread a little more love around our home!

Valentines 2011

Our Valentine's Day was simple and sweet.

I filled lunch boxes and plates with heart pb and j's.  I snuck a little love note into Mr. One's lunchbox, so he knew his parents were thinking of him on heart day.

 Pictorial evidence that 10 month old boys make large messes with pb and j sandwiches.  Funny, in real life it was a lot messier than this picture would have you believe...

I took a cue from Carissa at 1+1+1=1 and let Mr. Two do some beading on heart picks from the Dollar Tree.  He loved this, and wanted to keep the beads on the sticks, so I put a rubber band on the end of the stick to keep the beads in place.  Now we have a magic wand/sword to play with.

My sister came over for dinner (no one wants to be alone on Valentine's Day, and we loved having her).  We made our own heart shaped pizzas for dinner (well, we tried our best to make them heart shaped...), with cheese for the boys and bbq chicken for the adults.  We added a salad and sliced strawberries that sort of look like hearts, too.  Our night ended with a trip to Sonic for a sweet treat together.

Simple and sweet!

Valentine Prep Weekend

Saturday was spent prepping for Valentine's Day.

Mr. One was busy at work making his school Valentines.  I printed Dana's heartbreaker valentines, and helped him assemble them, using hot glue instead of staples to put the hearts together.

Mr. Two had fun making (felt) pizza and playing with the Legos.  Mr. One had lots of Lego playing time after Valentines were done, too.

Mr. Three kept himself entertained with the paper scraps, a spice jar with beans inside (great noise maker), and the tupperware cabinet.

Handsome Husband installed my Valentine gift:  a lighted ceiling fan in our front room.  I love that man and his fix-it skills!  We're looking forward to a cooler room and lower electric bills come the hot months.

I managed to sneak in some time to make oreo truffles for our Sunday dinner after the kiddos went to bed.  Yum!

We're looking forward to some Valentine fun today.  Hope you all are feeling loved!

Oreo Truffles

1 package Oreo cookies, crushed into fine crumbs (I used my food processor)

1 8 oz. package cream cheese

almond bark or melting chocolate

Mix Oreo crumbs into softened cream cheese and roll into balls (I used approximately 1/2 tablespoon for each ball).  Refrigerate for at least 30 minutes until hardened.  Dip in heated melting chocolate, or almond bark and put back in refrigerator to set.  Drizzle with extra chocolate or sprinkles.  Makes about 60 truffles. (I halved the recipe to make 30)

Heart Math Game

I am in my third trimester.  I am tired and a bit grumpy.  I had so many grand plans for heart themed activities.

I had to sneak one last Valentine's Day learning activity in.  

At least we did one.

Here it is.

Valentine dice count

You will need:

2 dice
number board
conversation hearts

Directions:

To make the number board, cut a piece of construction paper in half, lengthwise so you have 2 long strips.  Glue or tape together to make a long board, then mark out 12 spaces.  Write the numbers 2 through 12(with a heart sticker "free space" in the middle) in each of the sections.

I am working on cooperation and turn taking with my boys, so we played this together.  Each one rolled a die.  We counted the dots together on both dice, then put a conversation heart on the corresponding number.  I had the boys take turns placing the candy heart on the game board.  If we rolled a number we already had covered, we rolled again until we got a new number.  They loved this simple game, and played well together.

Sharing Some Love from my Bookshelf

I know Valentine's Day is past, but you don't need a holiday to show your children how much you love them.  I have found and collected several books about love, and my boys never tire of hearing them.  Here are just a few of my favorites, perfect for Valentine's Day, or just a good bedtime story.

Koala Lou by Mem Fox

This is probably my favorite children's love book.  Koala Lou is a sweet koala with a mom who loves her very much, and expresses it often.  When more brothers and sisters come into their tree home, mother often doesn't tell her Koala Lou that she loves her, even though she certainly does.   Koala Lou decides to enter the Bush Olympics and win a gold medal in hopes of hearing her mother's I love you. Find out what happens at the games, and more importantly, after.  A reassuring and sweet tale of a mother's love.

Heartprints by P.K. Hallinan

This book is a wonderful illustration of simple things that children can do to leave heartprints throughout their day.  Heartprints are defined as "the impression left behind by a deliberate act of kindness."  This is a great book for teaching the value of kindness and caring.

Love is a Handful of Honey by Giles Andreae

Simple, rhyming text gives metaphors to describe the feeling of love throughout the day.  A perfect bedtime read.

Franklin Says I Love You by Paulette Bourgeois

It's Franklin's mother's birthday and he wants to show her that he loves her without an expensive gift. Unsure of what to do, Franklin asks his friends for ideas.  Find out what he does to show his mother that he loves her, and what she thinks is the best gift of all.

I Love You Because You're You by Liza Baker

A great rhyming verse to reassure little ones that parents love them, no matter what their mood.

Bear Hugs by Karma Wilson and Suzanne Watts

Silly and clever, this is a collection of animal love poems.  This one is fun for kids, but sophisticated enough for parents to enjoy as well.

A Book of Kisses by Dave Ross

A fun little collection of descriptions of different types of kisses used throughout the day and around the world.  From good morning kisses, butterfly kisses, I'm sorry kisses and bedtime kisses.  For extra fun, there is even a page with how to say kiss in several different languages.  There is also a companion book called A Book of Hugs.  I'm on the lookout for an inexpensive copy of that one.

Grab someone in your home who needs some extra love, and share one of these books with them. 

Love is reading to your children to let them know you care.

All images found on www.barnesandnoble.com

Valentine's Day: Sharing the LOVE

Did you get to spend some quality time with your loved one(s) this Valentine's Day?

Here's a little synopsis of what we did to celebrate.

Earlier in the week, we sent out Valentines in the mail to our out of state family.  We wanted to share the love with our family near and far.  I let the boys pick out whatever cards they wanted (we ended up with some pretty funny selections, especially with Mr. Two's randomness), we signed them and mailed them off, sealed with a kiss.

On Saturday, Mike and I actually hired a babysitter and went out to dinner. I know this doesn't sound like a big deal, but when you can count the number of times you have hired a babysitter and/or gone out to a real restaurant in the past year on one hand, well then, it becomes a big deal.  We went to Gecko Grill (love, love, love their food...) and enjoyed some quality time without children.  After dropping the sitter off and putting the kiddos to bed, we watched Julie and Julia and snuggled.  Hooray for date night!

Sunday started off with pink waffles and syrup (drat, I wish strawberries were in season...) and pink milk.  Both boys ate two waffles each!  I love my food coloring...

After church, we ate dinner at my parents' house.  We normally have a red dinner, with some sort of red pasta, red jello, etc.  This year, we went outside of the box and ate something different.  We still had the candlelit table and fancy dishes, but we did change up the menu.  We had crepes with beef and mushrooms and chicken in sauce for the non-red-meat-eaters (ahem, me), grilled asparagus, salad, and cranberry Sierra Mist (we had to have at least one red thing...).  Then for dessert:  classic cheesecake, sugar cookies, and extra cake pops.  Talk about sugar overload, but boy was it good!

Mr. One's gift

 

 Mr. Two's Gift

Mike and I picked out books for the boys for their little gift.

I gave Mike some chocolate-covered treats (cherries, coconut almonds and cashew clusters).

He gave me the Beatles album 1, and yes, he made the card (it says, "My 1 and Only").

Hoping all of you had a love-filled Valentine's Day!

Handmade Valentines, on a Budget

For Mr. One's preschool, we made our own Valentines for his classmates, as well as a treat for his teacher and classroom aide, on a budget, of course.

  I had seen this tutorial, and several variations, floating around the blogging world.  I thought this would be something easy and fun to put together, not to mention inexpensive.

I found the mini candy canes on 75 percent off clearance after Christmas, bought the baggies and lollipop sticks with half off coupons.  The Valentine pencils were from the Dollar Spot at Target.  The paper, stickers and ribbon were all supplies we had on hand.  I think the grand total for the whole project hovered around $4.00.  All the supplies for the teacher treats were already on hand.

I had Mr. One arrange the candy canes into a heart shape on parchment paper.  We baked them on 300 degrees for 5 minutes, then I quickly pinched the ends around the lollipop stick.  (Skip to My Lou has more detailed directions.)

I cut out heart shapes, punched a whole in the top and wrote "It's sweet to be your friend" on the front. My son signed the backs and decorated them with stickers.

A little suggestion for signing Valentines with a preschooler- just have your kiddos sign a few at a time, then move onto something else so they don't get frustrated.  I had my preschooler sign four, then decorate them with stickers, then sign four more, then decorate, until they were done.

We sandwiched the cooled and bagged suckers between the tag and pencil and tied it all off with curling ribbon.

For the teachers, we made Cake Pops (go to Bakerella for details).  I used a chocolate cake mix with cherry frosting, then covered them with semi-sweet Ghiradelli chocolate (you know, the giant bag of chips you can buy at Costco...).  They tasted just like a good chocolate covered cherry.  Yum!  It was a lot of work, but some good, messy fun with Mr. Two (who loves a good food mess, and wanted to do something fun with Mommy too...)  I put them in a red-lidded plastic container and tied it off with a tag, sucker and curling ribbon.

One fun variation on the candy cane suckers:

I crushed up some red and pink Jolly Ranchers and carefully sprinkled them into the inside of the candy cane heart before baking them.  The Jolly Ranchers melted inside and made a pink tinted window in the heart.  I tried to convince Mr. One that this would be fun to do for his classmates' suckers, but he was insistent on keeping them "plain." I wanted him to have ownership of this project, and I let him choose.

So I made some on my own, the "fancy" way to give to others...

I "Heart" Bead Crafts

Valentine's Day is one of the only holidays I can get away with encouraging my boys to use pink and purple beads to make something.

And I have a lot of "girl colored" beads (as Mr. One would call them)...

Here is a simple craft we worked on together for Valentine's Day.

You will need:

Valentine colored tri beads (we used pinks, purples and reds)
pipe cleaner (we used red)

Directions:

I had Mr. One sort our bead stash, pulling out the appropriate colors for our project and placing them on a large tray, then putting the other colors in an ice cube tray.

When we had a good pile of the beads we wanted, I had the boys string them onto the pipe cleaner, leaving approximately 1 inch of pipe cleaner exposed on both ends.

My four-year-old could do this independently.  I sat with my two-year-old and had him pick up the beads, one at a time, and we strung them together.  He actually got pretty good at lining up the little hole onto the end of the pipe cleaner and pushing it down.

After the beads were on, I bent the pipe cleaner into a heart shape, beginning and ending the heart at the far end of one of the top curves.  I then twisted the ends together and made a loop, twisting the ends again.  I liked the look of the hearts hanging at an angle.

Go get out your bead stash and have some fun!

I Love Books, Valentine's Day Edition

Oh how I love pulling out a "new" bunch of stories to read with my children.  Here are some of my favorite Valentine's Day picks.

Froggy's First Kiss by Jonathan London

Of course we have to list a Froggy book, and this one is adorable.  Froggy has a not-so-secret admirer.  A funnny look at "first loves."  Find out who will get Froggy's extra special Valentine.

Franklin's Valentines by Paulette Bourgeois

Poor Franklin drops his carefully made Valentines in the snow, and they are ruined.  Franklin thinks his Valentine's Day is ruined as well.  Find out how his classmates respond and what he does to show them how much he appreciates their friendship.

Mouse's First Valentine by Lauren Thompson

 Sweet and simple.  My kids love guessing what Mouse sees his sister pull out from around the house as she creates something special for Valentine's Day.

Little Mouse's Big Valentine by Thacher Hurd

Little Mouse creates a BIG Valentine, but has trouble giving it away, until he makes a new friend.  Together they work out a clever solution.
 

The Day it Rained Hearts by Felicia Bond

 

Cornelia Augusta comes outside one day to find it is raining hearts.  She gathers several, then goes to work creating some unique Valentines for each of her friends.  Such a creative book.  This story is the perfect springboard for making Valentines together.

Gather some loved ones and read a Valentine's Book or two.

*all images found on barnesandnoble.com*

Valentine Pillow

Love is in the air.  Here is one of my Valentine's projects from last year.  I found the idea for this pillow here (via Tip Junkie), then changed it a bit.

I used some white cotton fabric I had on hand for the pillow case and turned it into a slip cover instead of making it a complete pillow. I basically made a pillowcase and sewed in ribbon ties on the open end to tie the pillow closed.  (I'm sure Martha Stewart has a good tutorial for doing this in a more precise way.)  I used red thread and straight stitched two rows of stitching to frame out the pillow.  I used a combination of red and pink buttons I had on hand to make a more folk-art inspired heart (I didn't want it to be symmetrical).  It was a simple way to jazz up a boring old pillow, and I can recover the same pillow when Valentine's Day is over with something different.

*hop over to Blue Cricket Design to see other crafty projects*