that's a wrap

When we were invited to some friends house to dinner we offered to bring dessert.  I decided to combine a hostess gift with the dessert and brought an ice cream sundae bar! I made some homemade blueberry sauce and a crunchy pecan praline topping and tucked them in a cute bucket.  I also repackaged sprinkles, cones, and waffle cups, tucked in some whipped cream, and also brought two gallons of ice cream.  This dessert worked for the adults and the kids and it was an easy and fun dessert and gift to bring.  This would be a wonderful gift for a birthday too!

whale you be mine?

Every year for Valentine's Day we take the kids on a surprise family adventure.  We have gone to build a bear, a dinosaur museum, ice skating, and a butterfly conservatory.  This year our theme was "whale you be my Valentine."  For dessert on Valentine's Day we got them a whale shaped ice cream cake with that message on it and then they had to guess where we were going.  After a few questions they figured it out and a few days later we set out to the Mystic aquarium.  The kids had a blast! They touched sting rays, watched a sea lion show, and saw beluga whales.  For lunch we ventured into the town of Mystic and enjoyed pizza at the restaurant that is now famous from the movie "Mystic pizza."  This is a wonderful tradition that the kids look forward to every year. 

downton abbey valentine

 

 My parents LOVE the PBS series, Downton Abbey.  It is the highlight of their week!  So for Valentine's Day when trying to think of something special to give them I decided to make them a Downton Abbey, tea themed gift basket.  I made some heart shaped strawberry scones and shortbread cookies.  In the cookies I stamped the names of all of the couples, since most of the drama revolves around their relationships.  In the basket I also tucked in some strawberry jam, English tea and and some English roses. We are going to deliver it to them this afternoon.   

 I just got a delivery of the most beautiful tulips from my sweet husband!  Even after nine years of marriage it's still fun and exciting to receive flowers on Valentine's day!  I am going to spend the rest of the day with people I love and I hope that you get to do the same.  Happy Valentine's Day dear readers. 

you blow me away, valentine

The theme for my daughter's Valentine's this year was bubble gum!  She gave tubes of gumballs away to her friends.  Together we made a gumball necklace for her student teacher and a vase filled with gumballs and tulips for her teacher.  We are having a fun day so far which started with pink m&m pancakes served in bed!  It doesn't get much sweeter than that! 

i dig you, valentine

Since tomorrow is Valentine's Day I thought instead of doing "That's a wrap" I would share the Valentine's my son handed out to his preschool friends this morning.  I had seen many versions of these on the web and Pinterest, so when I saw white shovels at the party store I new just what to make.  I ordered the tags from Etsy and they sent me a file to print out.  These were so easy to make and I think they came out darling.  My son carried them to school in this red bucket. 

For my son's teachers I searched on Pinterest and when I saw this idea I knew it was perfect.  You can find the card (it's a free printable) here.  Then you just need to attach a gift card to a local coffee shop.  I got one to a place called Perk on Main that's nearby.  Perfect, right?  Stay tuned for my daughter's Valentine's soon.

tooth fairy

We had another momentous event this weekend.  My daughter finally lost her first tooth!  It happened so quickly.  We discovered her tooth was loose in the morning and an hour later it was out!  The first thing my daughter asked me was if she could have a small piece of candy to make sure that her sweet tooth hadn't fallen out like the character Pinkalicious in the book "Silverlicious!"  So funny. She was relieved to find out that she had not. If you have not read this book I highly suggest it.  It would be the perfect gift for the tooth fairy to bring as well. Since we were literally snowed in I had to use what we had on hand.  Luckily, I had purchased a cute little fairy doll to put her tooth in.  I also had grabbed a fairy size bottle of purple glitter at Michael's a while ago. I made a tiny label that read "fairy dust."  My daughter wanted to know the name of her tooth fairy so I found this website that generated a fairy name for me: Cherry Rainbowfrost.  She also got a gold dollar.  She was thrilled when she woke up the next morning.  I would love to hear about any fun tooth fairy traditions that you have.  Please share. 

blissful in a blizzard

 

 

 

"If Kisses were snowflakes, I'd send you a Blizzard!"

Well we had quite a snow storm here in Connecticut.  We were buried under three feet of snow!  During the storm we made a homemade pizza with pepperoni hearts.  We also roasted some heart shaped marshmallows over the fire to make s'mores for dessert.  We recycled some crayons into heart shapes and we snuggled up under blankets to watch "Charlie Brown's Valentine." When we woke up we couldn't believe the amount of snow that we got.  We were literally snowed in.  Luckily we had power and plenty of food and after a few days we were finally able to shovel and snow blow our way out of here.  Schools are still cancelled today, but we are trying to make the most of it. 

that's a wrap

This was a little gift I picked up for myself!  A lovely wreath made from felted hearts.  I snagged it at Target and think it looks perfect on our red front door!

And, this is a little gift I sent to some of our friends who recently moved far away.  I found all sorts of lip themed gifts: whistles, lollipops, a toothbrush, lip gloss, gummy lips, and this book.  I attached quotes about smiling to all of them.  These were some of my favorites:

"If you see a friend without a smile; give him one of yours."

""Smile- it's the second best thing you can do with your lips."

"You haven't lost your smile at all, it's right under your nose.  You just forgot it was there."

We hope that when they get it, it will make them smile.  :)

This would make a nice gift for a friend who is going through a tough time and needs reminders to smile, or as little gifts, maybe one a day, leading up to Valentine's Day.

In Connecticut we are preparing for a HUGE snowstorm that will be coming tomorrow.  I am planning to have a fun little pre-Valentine party with the kids.  We will have pizza with heart shaped pepperoni and valentine s'mores. I also grabbed a movie and will make some cupid corn (popcorn with valentine candy corn).  I hope that your weekend is full of love too!

emeraldalicious

We had such a busy and fun weekend.  Along with three different parties that we attended I was able to take my daughter to meet one of her favorite authors, Victoria Kann.  The bookstore is located in a small town in Connecticut. It is a wonderful neighborhood bookstore that holds fabulous events and this one didn't disappoint.  I love how the store has quotes on the wall and I thought the heart garland made from book pages was darling.

Ms. Kann's newest book; "Emeraldalicious."  

While Ms. Kann read the book aloud, one of her daughter's turned the pages.  She interacted beautifully with the children in the audience.

And afterward my daughter had her book signed.  Ms. Kann really took the time to speak to each child.  She was lovely and so gracious.  She had packets of seeds, bookmarks, stickers and a pencil for each guest which my daughter loved.  It was definitely a highlight of our weekend.  I hope that your weekend was also filled with good friends, food, fun and a few good books too.