valentines for friends

It's hard to believe that Valentine's Day is this Friday! The kids don't have school on Friday because it is a professional development day for the teachers and Thursday it looks like we are getting a major snowstorm here in Connecticut, so the kids school Valentine parties might be cancelled. Regardless, the children picked out the Valentines they wanted to share with their friends and I thought I would share them with you.  My daughter LOVES ice cream so when I saw these cards, I knew they would be perfect. We also found some valentine bubbles to attach to the outside of the card. My daughter used some washi tape to attach the bubbles to the card and I think they came out darling.

My son picked out a valentine with gummy worms that we saw on Pinterest. I ordered tiny paint cans and found a printable from Bloom Designs. The heart tags are from the dollar section at Target. I love how they turned out too.

This morning my children surprised me with an early valentine, they brought me breakfast (cheerios & oj) in bed! They also made a sweet valentine card that said: "Happy Valentine's Day! You always make us happy!" What I love most is that they did this all by themselves, without any prompting or help. Best gift a mom could ever ask for.

love notes

I saw this idea on a blog a few years ago and decided this year we would give it a try. The idea is to write your kids love notes every day leading up to Valentine's Day. We started on Feb. 1, but you could start any day leading up to Valentine's Day. I already had these heart shaped notebooks so I put my children's initials on the covers and every night my husband and I take turns writing something we love about each child on a page inside. The children look forward to reading their message each morning and we have fun thinking about all the different ways we love them.

valentines day is for the birds

We woke up to a snow day! It was a pleasant surprise after a late evening watching the Super Bowl. It was unexpected so I don't have any specific plans for us today, but sometimes that is the best kind of day. When searching for ideas for a Valentines Day class party for the kids I was thinking it would be fun to make all kinds of different bird treats and then hang them on a tree at school. I LOVED this one. We decided to go with a different theme for the class party, but I thought it would be fun to make a bird treat with the kids today. All you need is some round cereal and string or pip cleaners. All three kids sat down and started stringing cereal, we even had a discussion about patterns, and the older two decided to make rainbow bird treats.

If you do use pip cleaners you will be able to easily bend them into the shape of a heart. We have two bushes outside the dining room windows where we often see little birds. We thought this was the perfect place to put our valentines treats for them.

 

 

I love how colorful the hearts are against the snowy branches and this has proved to provide a lot of entertainment for the children. They have spent nearly an hour sitting in front of the window waiting for a bird to come enjoy their treats!

 

We made chocolate chip pancakes with whipped cream for lunch and will go play in the snow a little later.
Check out some other fun snow activities that are easy and provide great entertainment for the kids. Or, take out the kids sleeping bags and pillows and pop some popcorn and snuggle up for a movie.
Whatever you do I hope you all enjoy a slow paced, snowy day wherever you are reading this from!
Come back later this week for some fun details from a "mad about Plaid" party we attended over the weekend.

 

that's a wrap

Today was the last day of school for my son.  I can't believe he is going to be in Kindergarten next year!  Sniff, sniff.  After two children and four straight years at this school it is hard to leave.  Luckily my youngest will be back in another year.  We decided to give the teachers a gift certificate for pizza.  I thought it would be nice to add some plate and napkins so that they wouldn't have to do any dishes, a gift unto itself.  I packaged it all inside of a pizza box.  The heart tag read "We love you to pizzas!"  I love how it turned out and it would really make a great gift for any occasion.  I have lots more to share this week, so please come back and visit soon!

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. 

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.

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!

it's beginning to look a lot like....

Valentine's Day around here.  I picked up these adorable place mats that have a little felt pocket on them for silverware, a napkin, or even a little love note!  We used them last night and the kids loved it.

 

I also changed out our hot cocoa station to look a little bit more like Valentine's day too.

  

Do you decorate for every holiday?  I had a friend comment on our house at Halloween and how she never thought to decorate for anything besides Christmas.  I thought it was funny since I seem to decorate for each and every holiday!!!

that's a wrap

This was a gift for a little girl who turned six right after Valentine's day.  We got her a graphic tee with a heart on it and a best friends necklace.  I wrapped it in some heart paper and attached an acrylic heat frame.  Since the frame was on the front of the gift I tied the ribbon on the side instead.  As I have mentioned in the past I like to attach something small to the outside of the package for fun!  This would be a perfect way to wrap a Valentine or anniversary gift too.

heart of the home

For my last Valentine post I wanted to share some pictures of the decorations around the house.  This is actually more for my sake so that I can remember what I did for next year!  Hope that you enjoy it too!

that's a wrap

For Valentine's day this year I did a "We Belong Together" theme for my husband.  I found this little board book called "We Belong Together" and a card that had a mug and marshmallow on it that read "We go well together" and my idea was born.  Last week he broke a mug that I had given him for Valentine's Day years ago- when we were just dating, so I bought him a new mug and made him some homemade Baily's flavored marshmallows.  They were very easy to make and so delicious!!!  You can find the recipe that I used here.

 The kids made him a gift too.  I found the idea on Pinterest, but you can read more about it here.  I basically just used the kids fingers to make some hearts and then framed it.  I am considering labeling them with the children's names, but it is easy to identify them by size and I like the clean look of it without.  The card read from "thumb" body who loves you.

The kids got all sorts of love bug themed gifts and found out that for our Valentine adventure this year we will be going to visit a butterfly conservatory.  We are going this weekend and can't wait!

spreading the love

There is a little girl in our town who has Leukemia.  I don't know her or her family, but I was asked by a mutual friend to make dinner for them and was happy to do so.  There is a wonderful organization called meal Train.  You can learn more about it here.  It is described as "the act of organizing meal giving around significant life events".  Anyway, in addition to our dinner I thought it would be nice to make a special dessert for them so I put together a little decorate your own cupcake kit.  I put some cupcakes in a pretty red and white polka dot box.  I added a container of frosting and a little plastic box filled with different sprinkles and plastic knives.

On another note, my daughter's kindergarten teacher lost her brother this summer.  For Valentine's day we collected some money to donate to the heart association in his name.  We will be giving it to her on Tuesday with a pair of woolly socks and a quote about how we hope that she will accept the donation "from the bottom of our hearts to the tips of our toes".

 I love that these small gestures are teaching my children about taking care of others and spreading the love this month.

that's a wrap

This is a little Valentine gift I put together for our favorite librarian.  We just love our local library, especially story time, and I thought valentine's day was the perfect time to show them!  I bought a mini red rose plant and color copied some of our favorite Valentine books.  I reduced them by 50% and had them laminated at our local office supply store and stuck them in the plant to make some blooming books.  This would also be a thoughtful gift for an avid reader or a teacher.  To make it even more special you could even include a gift certificate to a book store!

an enchanting lunch

My daughter has a play date today.  I wanted to make a special lunch for them and found my inspiration from some princess cookies that had a high heel and heart on them. We made some banana bread yesterday and I cut it into the shape of a high heel.  They had some pink yogurt with heart sprinkles and strawberries on the side.  They sipped pink lemonade with heart shaped ice cubes and had the cookies for dessert.  They are going to spend the rest of the afternoon making valentines and playing dress up!

you've got mail

My daughter spends every afternoon making Valentines for everyone in our family.  It is very sweet.  I thought it would be fun to set up a little basket with some supplies for her.  I put some Valentine stamps, stickers, paper, confetti, and heart shaped crayons, among other things, in a basket and let her use them for her cards.  I also found some tiny mailboxes so that she can deliver them too. She is doing a fantastic job of making us all feel loved! And, isn't that what Valentine's Day is really all about?