Heart Day 2014

Valentines are fun to do.  I get so sick of nasty candy though, plus the food dyes that are in some of them too.  I was trying to do non-sugar stuff.  I knew that my kids, and all the kids would get plenty at the school party.  Also I was trying to work with what I already had at home, so that I didn't have to make a 100-mile round trip to the store with 6 little people and spend money.  Plus, I prefer home done things way better.

Our Valentine's preparation started like this:

looking for 40 heart-ish shaped rocks.  Most of them were more triangle shaped.  There were a lot of them and it didn't take us very long to gather them all up.

I took pictures of the kids individually and them let them play with editing their picture on picmonkey.

Spencer did this one: 

Then I did this one because I wanted to see his face better and have the heart rocks on it:  

Kate wanted to give brownies.  It was the one sugary thing that we did this year.  I suggested she could write something about brownie points on hers, but the look of "what is that?" on her face told me that she didn't want to.  She did hers without any help.  I love the sparkles around her head.

Ezra's makes me laugh.  That face!  We popped like 5 batches of (organic) popcorn and put some in a sandwich bag for each person and taped his valentine on it.  He did his mostly himself.  I helped him a little with the speech bubbles. 

Jiles's has a spot for a magnet letter of the initial of each person we gave them to.  

with the letters attached (thanks for the stripes, printer):

Zoe's had a crayon hot glued on the top.   I took so many pictures of her trying to get one in focus.  She   was moving around so much.   Never did get a focused one.

 I did 850x1100 pixel collages on picmonkey to fit on 8.5" x 11" paper,

(This is what I do every year.)

and printed them.  My printer doesn't do the best job.  It's better printing them at the store, but I'd have to think ahead in that case.  I've only done it one year.  It's cheaper at home, anyway.

Ezra helped me paint the rocks.  Spencer had already gone to bed.   Jiles wanted desperately to paint that big one blue.

I like them.

At the school party: 

I was one of the room mothers.  Kate asked me not to bring a lick of sugar.  (Who's child is that?)  I made heart-shaped rolls and brought homemade grape jelly (which for sure has sugar in it) and fresh strawberries.  

Ezra's goody plate looks quite monochromatic.

Kate and her bestie:

The 5th grade:

One More

I forgot that Jiles needed Valentine's to hand out at the school party, too.  The party was at 1 today.  I grabbed this tablecloth and threw it over the couch at about five after 12.  Grabbed these letters that I had found at a used stuff store a couple of weeks ago (that one of my friends recently bought) and set Jiles right down amidst them all.   {What a cutie.}  We had all 32 of them ready to go by l2:25.  Valentine's made this year (okay, so every year for the last few years): 4 (my kids) x 32 (people at school including the bus driver, the volunteers, and the janitor) = 128 (plus some for grandma and grandpa and a few more).

Today was packed full.  I stayed up waaaay too late last night getting things ready (2 a.m.), woke up at 6:30, then morning rush, big 3 off to school, paint first coat of sealer on the green hutch sitting in my entryway while toddler eats cereal and infant sleeps, friend (other room mother) came over to help get treats finished for the sdhool, party, visiting teachers, clingy 2-year-old, party at school, quilt block for lady at church, homework/piano practice, dinner (started spaghetti...nope, out of time, so cold cereal), pinewood derby, carry sleepy kids to bed, Weston checks on calves outside in the dark.  Romantic or what?  Hahaha.  I love life.

Getting Ready for V Day

We've been getting ready for the big LOVE day around here.

This year's valentines look like this, but with candy attached and the names of the receivers on them:

Ezra wanted to mix it up a bit and do half of the one above and half of the one below.

Kate's sweet kisses:

And Spencer's:

(What are we going to do without Picnik?)

It was his idea to do the heart with his hands.  And of course all of the other embellishments.

He has 57 silly bands on his wrist, just in case you were wondering.

He's collecting them.  

Since yesterday when his friend gave him like 50.

 Oh whoops.  

That really doesn't have anything to do with Valentine's Day, but it is a 'what's happening' around here.

Hope that you all have a great day of

 LL       LL

LLLL    LLLL

OOO   OOO

VVVVV

VVV

V

(E)

baby's gender check (and a few more v-day stuffs mixed in)

A window from the old ranch house painted all lovey.  It looks as if Jiles's heart is faded/erased.  I didn't notice that before now.  The heart bottom center has a U, for unborn - I love that one, too.

I couldn't sleep on Tuesday night.  Well, barely anyway.  I was so anxious.  I couldn't wait to find out this baby's gender.  I even had a dream that I went to my appointment and upon leaving the building I said to myself, "I didn't get the ultrasound!"  Later in my dream I was in a baby clothes shop with my sister, Julie, and I said to her, "I just wish I knew what this baby was!"  And then she said, "I know what it is!  It's a girl!"  I jumped up and down, up and down with glee!  

That was my dream.

Cover's off the cake platter.  Chocolatey tempations.

I picked S&K up from school a few minutes early to head to town for my appointment.  They wanted to be there.  I wanted them there.  The same went for Weston, but he had to be at a bull sale.  He wanted me to change the appt,. and I would have, but I had already changed it once, plus I didn't want to wait any longer.  

On the way down the kids discussed whether it would be a boy or a girl and the advantages of both.  I was so happy I felt like my heart would burst and I couldn't stop smiling.  I don't think that I was ever so excited to find out the gender of one of our babies.  Will Kate finally have a sister and a long time roommate?  Or should we buy 2 sets of bunk beds? Plus a ton of other thoughts.

My mom met us down there (thanks Mom!), to be with us (and to help maintain jumpin' Jiles) since Weston couldn't.  

"I'll skip the chocolate and just eat the cinnamon hearts, thank you."

Finally the moment arose and we all waited for the midwife to announce the words.  

"May I some chocolate, pleeease?  I'm awfully cute."

"Well this baby just isn't going to let us see today.  He or she is sitting on the feet,"

announced she.

"Just a little bit of frosting will be great, thanks."

FOR REAL?? 

I wanted to cry.  I had gotten myself so excited, and anxious, really.

"Maybe if I got up and ran around or something..." I suggested.

"You can run around all you want, but I won't be here when you get back. I need to leave," she said.  "You'll just have to wait until your next appointment in 4 weeks."

Hmm.  

Now I really wanted to cry.  I felt like she was being inconsiderate of my feelings.  I wasn't fond of her at that moment.

"Umm, yep, I like chocolate."

So there you have it.  We'll have to wait a little longer.  It's okay, I can do it.

I can do it.

I am a patient person.

Mom A., aren't you glad that I took your pretty heart tablecloth off before unleashing the toddler into chocolate cupcake mayhem?

It's not like I don't have anything else to do while I wait.  

Like clean up chocolate or anything like that.

Signs of the V-Day.

It's looking a little like Valentine's Day around here. 

V Cards for school:

Even the preschoolers participate in the lovin' card exchange.

(Got the idea from her here from last year.)

Spencer did pretty much all of his.   I love it.

Kate did one with a bunch of stickers (computer stickers), like Spencer, but I saved the wrong one on my thumb drive to take to print.  She was so bummed when we got them back and her stickers weren't on her cards.  I felt so badly that I messed it up!

The sucker part is on the back of Jiles's.  It was Kate's idea to have the sucker sticking out of his mouth.  I think it is hilarious.

Valentine Advent/ Garland-ish Thing:

My sister-in-law and brother gave this to us for Christmas.  It comes all the way from Norway where they just moved from (they moved to Australia!).  It is supposed to be for Christmas, but I thought it would look great for Valentine's Day as well.  

I just hid days 15-25 behind the little Norwegian dude on the right and it's all good.

We put a note in each one for each person in our family.   We all have our own paper.  Mine are all purple, Kate's are green, etc.  So each day we get to read a nice thing from each family member. 

Some write cute things, like what Kate wrote for Weston in the picture below, and some draw very nice pictures, like the one the Ezra did.  It's fun to see what your going to read/see each day.

Random and Accidental Heart in the Shower Curtain:

It just so happened to make a heart shape when Weston flipped the shower curtain up and out of the way. 

I thought that it was cool.

And that is about the extent of Valentine's decor/prep around here.

However, I really wanted to do this:

I saw it here.

I wanted to do it with pictures of my family's faces, not of dear deer.  

I printed like 12 pictures for it, but then never finished (like 1000 other projects that I have started). 

Maybe I'll finish it tomorrow?

Maybe.

Or maybe I'll just wait until next year.

Or who says that hearts can only be for Valentine's Day?

Anyway,

hope ya all have a very

HaPPy 

vv         v v

vvvv      vvvv

vvvvv   vvvvv

vvvvvvvvvvv

vvvvvvvvvvv

vvvvvvvvv

vvvvvvv

vvvvv

vvv

v

DaY 

!

o,

and since it is vday i thought that i would share this relevant piece of factual information: 

yup.