A Busy Saturday

Valentine's Day was today and it was a full day :)

In the morning I got to go to a baby shower for Megan Volk Ravert.

It was a good time, so fun to see so many friends from my time in Maryland!

I even won one of the games and was awarded a golden baby bottle trophy, ha ha.

Mike is really busy studying for the Bar Exam, but he still took me out for a little Valentine's lunch date. We also went to Craving's Cupcakes and he bought me a giant sugar cookie...so yummy. As we were leaving I noticed that in the center was a purple conversation heart that read Marry Me? We kind of laughed about that, and then he actually got down on one knee. Sweet :)

Tonight we went to the bowling alley for my nephew Holden's 17th birthday party.

Marcy and Norm put together a perfect party for him!

We all got to wear ninja turtle masks and eat pizza and cake to celebrate with Holden.

He loved the ninja turtle card I made for him.

Sure love this kid, he is truly a shining light to everyone around him!

I consider myself blessed to know him and super blessed to be his aunt :)

So, like I said, it was a busy day, but a really good day!

School Valentines 2015

 Our cute, fun and easy valentines for this year. 

Thank you Pinterest for helping me again :)

Isaac and Anna (and Grace) enjoyed filling the partially stapled hearts with Skittles and m&ms.

Then I stapled them closed so their friends and teachers would have to tear them open.

Oh I had them write, from Isaac and from Anna on the back of each heart.

 Their Valentine boxes this year.

Anna wanted a piano one

and Isaac just wanted a picture of Infinity Blade on his...pretty easy!

I also helped with the Valentine party in 6th grade.

The kids all seemed to have a good time :)

Kind of strange to think that next year I'll only have one kid in elementary school,
one kid who will need valentines and a box...
yep, kind of strange, but also kind of nice too :)

Valentine's Day 2014

I saw this idea here and have wanted to try it for a couple of years, so this year I did!

True to form, I waited until the day before to make them, but what can I say...

I think they turned out super cute. My sister Marcy really liked them too and I told her they were pretty easy and offered to make some for my nephew Holden.

The Valentine's were a hit. Everyone seemed to like them. Marcy told me that Holden's teachers and peer tutors went crazy over them :)

Grace, Isaac and Anna each were supposed to make a box to collect their Valentines also.
Grace and Anna had fun decorating their boxes (it's a good thing I have a pretty good supply of shoe boxes)

I saw the idea for Isaac's box on my friend Frances's facebook page, she had made one for her daughter. Isaac loved the idea, so we did it. When I went in to his classroom later that day to help out, I found out that his teacher had made him turn his around because it kept freaking her out. She would look up at the kids and see Isaac's box staring at her, ha ha!

In the evening I went out to dinner at Tepanyaki with my parents, Greg and Blythe and Marcy and Norm. I was able to facetime Mike so we could have a Valentine's Day date :) Technology is pretty awesome!

I think my food was better than his though, he just had a protein shake since it was breakfast time for him.

I had delicious filet and scallops, yum!

There's something fishy about Valentine's Day

I was looking around for fun Valentine ideas

I found a lot of them!

The kids decided on the idea I saw here

I tried to print hers off and use it, but for some reason it didn't work right

...so I decided to create my own, based on her design,

which ended up being kind of fun :)

We had a good time making them and putting them together.
They signed the backs of the little fish bowls.

then we had to put the fish bowls and the fish in little treat bags

and put the twist ties on them

 the finished product

  I also came up with one that they could give to their teachers.

Flowers, Bum bread, and The Prime Street Grille

Some Valentine's Day stuff

©Flowers from Mike©

He knows that the iris is my favorite flower.

So pretty, thanks honey!

©Bum bread©

I tried to be a creative fun mom and make some heart shaped rolls for the kids. That way they could have Valentine sandwiches for dinner while Mike took me out.

I colored the dough pink and then tried to shape the rolls like hearts. They kept splitting and they looked pretty funny. The kids all thought they looked like bums! We had a good laugh over it.

Usually in our house "bum bread" is the end of the loaf, or the heel of the loaf. I'm not sure why we call it bum bread, other than I think I grew up calling it that. Anyway, now it took on a whole new meaning, ha ha!
...I think the fact that they were pink made it worse...just sayin!
Grace also laughed when I buttered them, she thought the shiny bums were funny!

I will say though that they tasted great J

©The Prime Street Grille©

We kept it pretty simple this year, no gifts (except the flowers of course.) Mike took me to dinner at a nice place here in town. He had been there once for a business dinner, but I had never been. He thought it would be a good place to go for our Valentines date. It even has purple on the walls. 

Anyway, the service was excellent and the food was delicious. I think we we definitely go back.

I had a filet (shocker) and Mike had stuffed rockfish.

For our dessert we had a strawberry crème brûlée...I guess I was too excited to eat it, so there is no picture of that. It was good, but I think I prefer the regular crème brûlée. 

It was a pretty good Valentine's Day. The younger kids had fun looking at the Valentines they got from school, and they said that they Angry Bird Valentines were a hit! They also enjoyed all the candy of course. 

Are Valentines for the birds?

Yesterday I lost my mind...no seriously, I think I must have, ha ha!

I have pretty much always, maybe even always, balked at the idea of homemade Valentines for the kids to take to school. Why? 

Too. Much. Work!

This year, like I said, I lost my mind when I saw an idea from my friend Audra (who saw the idea on Brassy Apple) I showed the idea to the kids and they loved it...so of course we had to do it.

Grace and Anna helped a lot in the assembly of our Valentines...I regret that I didn't get a picture of them working...I guess I was just so involved myself, we really had fun putting them together.

Anyway, they turned out great and the kids were so excited to take them to school. 

What do you think?
Pretty cute, huh?!

As for me, I was glad that we did it, but mad at myself for not planning better...I must confess that there were a few moments in the late hours of the night when I seriously questioned my sanity...and the number of children who needed Valentines.

I even looked forward with longing to the day when Anna will be the only one left in Elementary school and I will only have to make or buy 20-25 Valentines instead of 65!

Those thoughts were fleeting though, and I knew that I could do it again next year for these kids that I adore (but I have to not wait until the last minute!)

My Valentine

My Valentine gift was on special order (I'll let you figure out why!) and it came in yesterday. Mike was a little worried that he would get made fun of for giving me a kitchen appliance for Valentine's Day. I told him not to worry, I figure if it is something that is wanted then it doesn't matter what it is...besides anything that is purple....well you know it's a good gift for me! He also gave me a beautiful bouquet of purple tulips. I think I'll make some cookies today, but I will save some of the dough for Mike!