I will be the first to admit, I'm a sucker for hearts, love and all other cheesy Valentine's decorations. It wasn't always this way...I remember not really liking Valentine's Day, feeling it was kind of a made up holiday that put a lot of pressure on people to buy the perfect gift or give the perfect card. The day has definitely taken on a new meaning since we've had kids. It's less about the romantic dinner out and more about fun little things that we can do to show our enormous love for Carter and Kennedy.
I had a lot of fun thinking of special little things to do during the month.
We started out on February 1st, with these cute little mailboxes...
one for each, sitting on the entry way table.
My plan had been to put little gifts and love notes in them each night and then the kids would have something fun to open in the morning. Unfortunately, after the first couple of days, the gifts were greeted with expectation instead of appreciation. Also, it was really hard to find fun, small things for Carter. Girls are easy - lip gloss, jewelry for dress up, stickers, etc. I confess that the presents didn't always fit in the mailboxes.
I think next year I will stick to writing little notes only ~ more about the love and less about the "stuff".
I had found several different Valentine ideas on Pinterest and then had the kids choose which one they wanted to make for their classmates. Carter chose to give mini cereal boxes with a cute tag.
We set to work putting together 25 special treats!
He loved the glue gun.
We also had to decorate a box for Carter to bring into school for his Valentine's party.
I found some letter stickers and he picked out all blue for his name and then added some heart stickers too. He hot glued (again) some festive ribbon around the lid.
I thought it turned out great!
Here are the kids' finished Valentine's
I love the idea of making them instead of buying them at the store. They both seemed so excited about passing them out to their friends and really took ownership of putting them together.
Since Kennedy's class is so small, I thought it would be okay to make 2 Valentine's ~ this idea was just too cute to pass up. Wonder if any of her little friends ate them?
As they slept, I covered their doors in heart shaped love notes.
They love this tradition and Carter even asked a few times if I would be doing it again.
They love this tradition and Carter even asked a few times if I would be doing it again.
All of the hearts said different things:
"I love your laugh"
"I love the way you say girls"
"You are a great reader!"
"You have beautiful eyes"
"I love to watch you swim"
"I love to read with you"
I attempted to make homemade Nutella pop tarts for a special Valentine's Day breakfast. I found the recipe on Pinterest and they actually seemed rather simple. And they were. Kind of. They would have been simple on a Saturday morning when we had nothing else to do. I having a special holiday mid-week really threw me off. It was a mad dash to get out of the door on time.
BUT, they were cute and tasted delicious!
be still my heart
my loves
I helped in Kennedy's classroom during her party and couldn't resist this cute little prop for a photo
hugs and kisses, indeed!
Lyla and Kennedy
Playing in the gym
A special bouncy house was put up as a treat for the kids ~ can you tell that Kennedy loved it?
darling little Valentines
sweet gumball class
Then it was off to Carter's class to help with his party
talk about sugar over load! I think each and every valentine came with some sort of candy plus they had ice cream sundaes for a special treat!
Kennedy was happy to have her friend, Ainsley there to play with ~ such cute girls!
oh my boy, getting so big but still so darn cute!
I love that sweet smile of yours, Carter!
controlled chaos
I was surprised that when we left the classroom was rather tidy and orderly. There was so much stuff at each desk - no on gives just little cards anymore.
We ended our day with a delicious dinner - although we were making a mad dash to finish up and get Kennedy to her swim lessons. None the less, it was so good, heart shaped crab cakes that everyone loved a great salad. I wish so much I could have enjoyed the nice bottle of wine that Kyle got me as a gift, but I had to work that night so I made do with water. We'll plan a special evening and enjoy it together.
How very blessed I am to have so much love in my life!
No comments:
Post a Comment