Party without Pictures

Hayden's class party was today. I am sad about the fact that I forgot my camera. I planned the party and had a huge bucket of stuff to remember with sticky notes all over it (reminding me of what to do) and so with all that stuff, I forgot my camera.

We played a few games, painted, and had cookies. Then it took 30 minutes for them to pass out Valentines to each other. THIRTY MINUTES!!!

Thanks to a few of my friends that have a few class parties under their belts, we had some great games!

1st Station: Heart Games. Each child was given 10 candy hearts, a straw and a cup. They played racing games to see who was the fastest. They had to stack the hearts and suck the candy hearts with a straw and put it in the cup. They LOVED this!

2nd Station: Bingo. There's this great website I found where you can print your own Bingo board, so that's what we used. Here's the site.

3rd Station: Valentine Pictureka. My brilliant friend, Nichole, made this game for a child's class and let me borrow it. She used stamps and pictures to make three 8 1/2 by 11 boards, which she laminated. Then she had individual cards with some of the pictures from the boards. I brought a 1 minute timer, and the kids had to find the picture on the board before the time ran out. So. Fun!

4th Station: Scratch and Sniff Painting. I was having a hard time finding a craft for these kids to do. That's weird for me, I know, but the budget for these parties is not much. Basically nothing. So, finally I decided on something simple and cost effective. I bought kool-aid in grape, lemon-lime, cherry, lemonade, blue-raspberry and orange. I put 2 TBS. water in a small cup and then added the kool-aid and stirred it with a paint brush. Each flavor smells different and has a different color. It's a real scratch and sniff that the kids made themselves! This activity deserves it's own post, really. We're going to have to do this again and take pictures.

So, that was the party in a nut shell. Very fun, easy and successful! My three favorite things.

All You Need Is Love

Valentines morning started EARLY! I was hoping to get to sleep until at least 7 AM, you know, like normal. Nope. Bright and early 6:15AM, excited children (all three) hopped out of bed to peek in their mailbox for their final gift. They found two yummy caramel apples and a nice little note from the Love Bugs. Their tired eyes and excited smiles were enough to get me out of bed and start the day.

The kids DID NOT want pancakes for breakfast. They wanted caramel apples, of course! So, since it's Valentines day, I caved. Chocolate for breakfast always seems like a great idea, right!?



Our romantic (?) Valentines dinner consisted of everyone's favorite Sunday meal: Honey glazed ham, twice baked potatoes, some vegetables and pink juice; all served by candle light. Maya helped me with the centerpiece of candy hearts and paper hearts, and then I had her go downstairs with Hayden until dinner was ready.

When they came up stairs in the dark house to see the candles on the table, they were so excited! Hayden, for some reason, thought that the candles reminded him of Halloween. He wanted to tell scary stories and play "No Bears Are Out Tonight". He also said that the candles were the best idea ever and that he'll have to remember that for when he's older and married. That made me smile.

Then we went around the table and said what we loved about each other. It was sweet and we all felt loved. Especially me.

To be honest, I was a grouch when Eric got home from work at 5pm. After struggling with kids during Sacrament meeting, wanting to bear my testimony but not being able to, and then doing singing time for jr, sr, and nursery left me tired and needing a break, which the kids were not allowing. He came home at the peak of my frustration. Poor man. But...he still loves me! And that's what is awesome about love. To love someone, you also need to forgive and boy does he forgive me more than necessary. It wasn't a great start to our Valentines evening, but it ended well! And left me feeling thankful and loved, like I said.

All You Need Is Love

Valentines from the Past:

We made these cute cupcakes from (where else?) Family Fun in 2007.
They turned out so well, but you can't tell because I am horrible at taking pictures!
Trust me, though, they were cute.

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In 2008 and 2009, we had a special heart shaped breakfast.
Cinnamon french toast cut out in a heart shape with cookie cutters.
Pink Heart Shaped (sort of...) pancakes.
Both were awesome!

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One of my best Valentines ever in 2002, right after Eric and I started dating.
He brought me a dozen fire and ice roses (my fav!) and tied to each rose was written something that he loves about me. I still have all the little tags, even.

Then he wrote me the sweetest, most funny poem in the whole world.
I love that guy.
Here are some pictures of us from that Valentines day long ago...

I still love him.
Just a whole lot more.

Delivered!

We got our "Loveland" Valentine in the mail yesterday!
They put a cute stamp on the left of the envelope and a very darling postmark on the top right.
I sent them out a week ago, so plan on that when you're sending out your Valentines.
I just love it.

More To Do...

Here are some things I want to get done in the next 4 days before Valentines Day:

*Make THESE cookies (Saturday night...while kids are in bed)
*Put some Valentines together for Hayden's class -- I'm thinking THESE!
*Make THESE bean bag chairs for the kid's Valentines gift (Might have to be an Easter gift...)

Looking for more *easy* Valentine ideas? Let me point you in the right direction:

*Family Fun's Valentines Archives*

Have I mentioned how much I LOVE their ideas?!

What are you working on?

Our Valentines

As a teenager, I worked at a copy and print store after school. I loved seeing what people would bring in to copy, and often I would ask for a copy for myself. I got my wonderful chore chart system, organization sheets, and many other things that I love, including the Valentines that we are making this year.

I hope that the sweet lady who copied these off at the store 10 years ago doesn't mind that I'm sharing this! I seriously love this valentine, though. It's perfect for boys or girls and doesn't cost much to make.

Here's the template: (if you would like me to send you a copy by email, leave me your email address in the comment section)

We just copied these off on different colors of paper. Then cut them out. Fold the "holster" on the dotted line and glue around just the sides together so you can still put the gun in the holster. Glue a stick of gum to the barrel of the gun, then stick the gun inside the holster.

Here's a picture of my kids assembling the valentines. It's the only picture I took! I should have taken one of the finished product. If you look closely you can get an idea of what they'll look like. We like to mix up the colors and put a blue gun in an orange holster, etc.

Valentines day is getting close! Are you ready?

"Eat your Heart Out"

If you don't receive the Family Fun magazine, you are missing out! When it arrives in the mail, I devour it all month. It is full of fun ideas to do with children and they are simple, for the most part! Even their online ideas are amazing.

We tried the "Eat Your Heart Out" jello hearts for Family Home Evening. I didn't have time for the top layer, and it really needs the top layer for look and taste. They were a crowd pleaser, though, regardless of the way they looked.

Maya even matches with her striped shirt!

What We've Been Up To

Around 1pm, once I get the baby down for a nap and get the other two watching TV occupied, it's my hour of free time. Yesterday after an exhausting playgroup at my house and me in a foul mood, I decided it was time for me to have something sweet. I had deprived myself too long and wanted, (no, needed!) to give in to something!

One problem...at that moment we had nothing sweet in the house. For some reason, Christmas memories at my Grandma's flooded my mind and all I could think was *DIVINITY! I haven't had it in years. So, I pulled out my trusty recipe book and went to work. Only while I was working, I realized that this was a strange candy to make in February, so I made the divinity pink and added sprinkles.

I took a bite. Then another. Hmmm. Was I missing something? They taste like marshmallows with a more addicting texture. Not that great.

So I ate two more. And I felt really good about that decision.

But don't worry, folks. I'm back on the dieting band wagon again. Just a small hour of weakness, which I feel was totally necessary.

We called the divinity "Pink Snowballs". Maya and Crew were fans of the stuff, but not Hayden so much. (All he likes at the moment is pizza or spaghetti)

They look so fun and cute. Especially in the homemade take out box I got from Shabby Princess.

Apparently the Love Bugs like them, too, because this one that Hayden left in the mailbox was completely gone this morning!

We've also been busy with a rather successful impromptu art project and Valentine mailing.

With kids, there are two things you must always have in your house. Construction paper and glue. Oh, and googly eyes. So, those three things and you can get little imaginations going. Mine really gets going with the googly eyes. I pulled out the three items mentioned above during a very hectic playgroup and let my imagination run wild. Here's what we did:

I cut out a heart for each child using a color of their choice. They glued on two large googly eyes. Then I cut out strips of orange for the legs and yellow paper for the arms and had them fold the strips of paper back and forth to make the paper crinkly. Then I cut out smaller hearts in blue for the feet, and pink hearts for the hands. Red mouths, heart noses, and Voila! Heart monsters!

My kids have already requested to make these again today! Success!

*Here's the divinity recipe:

Divinity
Ingredients:
*4 cups sugar
*1 cup light corn syrup
*3/4 cup water
*1/8 tsp. salt
*3 egg whites
*1 tsp. vanilla
*1/2 cup chopped nuts, optional

In a medium saucepan over low heat, combine sugar, corn syrup, water and salt. Stir until the sugar is dissolved. Cook on high heat, without stirring, to hard ball stage. (I just do the cold water trick. Drop a small spoonful of mixture in a glass of cold water. It will form a hard ball in the water, when ready) Now is the time to add food coloring if you want to.

While the mixture is cooking, beat egg whites until stiff peaks form. Continue beating the egg whites while pouring a thin stream of the mixture. Add vanilla. Beat until mixture holds its shape and becomes slightly dull. (it took about 5 minutes) Stir in nuts, if desired. Then spoon onto waxed paper. Let cool and harden a bit.

S.W.A.K.

There's a little known secret (at least I've never met anyone else that knows) about how to send Valentines out in the cutest way ever. This is perfect for you to mail out your love notes to family and friends!

Here's what you do:
*Seal your Valentines in an envelope
*Address and stamp each as you normally would
*Place all your addressed and stamped envelopes in a larger envelope and seal.
*Address and stamp the large envelope to a "Love" themed city. We have only ever tried Loveland, CO.
*Here is Loveland's Postmaster address:

Postmaster

Valentine Re-mailing

446 E. 29th St.

Loveland, CO 80538

Or you can look up other cities such as: Valentine, Nebraska; Romance, Arkansas; or Loveville, Maryland. Just address them the same way:

Postmaster

(Town Name) Valentine Re-mailing

City, State, ZIP Code

The Post Office will then send out your Valentines with a special Valentine postmark! (Deadline for this is February 11th or the 14th if you're sending them to Loveland, CO)

That's what we're doing today. Packaging up some Valentines for family and friends that live far away to let them know how much they mean to us. And we'll have one sent back to us--because I want to see the postmark!

I just "Plane" love you!

When I was in the first grade, I experienced my first Valentines class party. I don't remember much about it, but I do remember getting one of these little airplanes from a boy in my class. I thought this was the coolest thing I had ever seen! An airplane made out of candy=best idea ever.

Here are instructions for you to make your own:
You will need:
*rubber bands
*lifesavers
*smarties
*Sticks of gum

1st: String the rubber band between two lifesavers. 2nd: Balance the smarties in the middle of the life savers.

3rd: Wrap the rubber band around a stick of gum. 4th: Add a message!

The kids loved this! Little hands need some help to make them, though. It's a lot of balancing with both hands!

One thing that kind of bothers me is that the lifesavers have to be unwrapped. I tried poking a hole in the plastic to wrap to string the rubber band through, but that didn't work very well. I think the best way would just be to use a glue gun to put it together. Can you think of a better idea? Leave a comment if you can!

Gearing Up for LOVE day!

There's a lot of excitement going on around our house! Last year's Valentines holiday was celebrated with a visit from "The Love Bugs" (click HERE to see that story) and we are hoping that this year is no exception.

Yesterday the kids decorated a love bug box from the directions found in the February 2010 issue of Family Fun. Here's how we made it:

You will need:
*An empty kleenex box
*Red wrapping paper or other paper to wrap the box in
*2 pipe cleaners
*2 large googly eyes
*White felt
Wrap the kleenex box as you would wrap a present. Make sure you remember which side the hole on the top is. Cut through the wrapping paper to the hole in the top of the box. Tape around the edges of the paper and hole.

Curl the pipe cleaner, attach googly eyes with hot glue. Make two holes in the top of your box (I just used a pen and poked it through) to stick the pipe cleaner eyes through the holes.

Cut out white teeth from your felt and glue gun it to the inside of the box. Add a heart nose, and you're done!
Here are the kids getting ready to do the project. Maya and Hayden thought it was fun to wind the pipe cleaners around their fingers to curl it. (And Maya thought it made a good mustache)

Hayden is a little concerned that the love bugs might be a little frightened to visit this box. He thinks it might be too scary for them. I told him we'd put both this box and our mailbox from last year out and then the bugs can choose.

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We also LOVED this project from the blog Make and Takes! (click HERE to see the project)
Maya was so excited after we made these cards, that she got her valentines all ready to deliver. Each card got a plastic bag and the bags were filled with items from our pantry!
Stale pretzels, yum!

Like I said, we're gearing up for Valentines day over here!
More ideas to follow...