Love Day 2014

 We condensed our Cupid gift tradition to just one night, the night before Valentine's Day.  This was everyone's box they made for it.

 Everyone got big chocolate suckers in their boxes, as well as a strawberry shortcake roll.  Boston LOVED his sucker and sat on his little chair enjoying the taste of chocolate.

"Where have you been all my life, you delectable morsel of deliciousness?"

 I had to take a picture of his cute piggies.  I will so totally, immensely miss these baby feet when he grows up.

 I always have to refer to how I did the shelf the year before.  I never got a sign in the red frame, but I like this year's shelf!

Irelynd was so cute.  For Activity Days, just before Valentine's Day, they made all these cute heart signs for everyone's door.  She put them on ours, her brother's, Boston's, and her sisters' doors (which happens to be hers as well).

 

 We didn't get to make Valentine's boxes this year for the kids' classes; they insisted on doing them in class.  I guess too many parents have complained that it's become a contest.  I really missed doing them with my kids, but oh well.  This was Brighton's cute dinosaur milk jug box.

I was supposed to fly to Mesa AZ with my mom on Valentine's Day, and stay the weekend, so there are no pictures of our usual Valentine's Day dinner.  Unfortunately, the flight was cancelled due to a part replacement not working (I officially hate Allegiant Airlines!), so we ended up not going.  I stayed at my mom's til late anyways, so I didn't get any pictures of the meal Scott made, but I heard it was great!

Kiss you all over

 Is it obvious that we just adore this little guy?

Love Day 2013

 This was our Love Day feast this year.  With a new baby, several of our yearly holiday traditions have gone a little askew, but we still tried to do them, even as a simplified version.  This year we had salad, Costco cheese ravioli in a pink alfredo sauce, and French bread.  We made these yummy chocolate dipped strawberries as plate favors.

 Boston's wide-eyed expression had us all laughing.  I think the flames from the candles had him mesmerized.

 Scott brought me home these gorgeous fire-and-ice roses.  Early in our marriage I told him I hated red roses; I think they are too cliche, and he's never forgotten it.  My favorite are these kind and pink ones.

 Plus he brought home bouquets for each of the girls, and big M&M's for both boys.  So thoughtful!:)

Our mailboxes got broken last year, so we made our own using the Costco milk boxes.  Not as cute, but we get extra credit for being green this year!  Brighton was infatuated with Cupid this year.  He wanted to know all about him; where he lived, what he looked like, if he really wears a diaper (just kidding, I just made that one up.)  He wrote a note to him asking if he was real, and where he gets all his Valentine's treats that he brings.  Unfortunately I forgot to mail it to Loveland, which is where Cupid lives.  He brought some yummy candies and some necklaces for the girls this year.

Betwixt you and I...please be my Valentine

This was Brighton's class Valentine this year.  I tried to just get him to attach the Twix to a pre-printed card and be done with it, but he insisted  on hand-writing all 19 of them.  It took him awhile, and I think he regretted his decision halfway through, but he did it!

Sugar Cookies

 Making sugar cookies is one of those iconic things to me.  I haven't done it yet with the twins, so we had to include it in our Valentine's line-up of activities.  Ok, so it happened the day after, but we did still enjoy our sugar fest!

 I love the look of pride on his face for frosting and decorating his own cookie, without any help from me.

 I'm not sure which got more frosting: the cookie or Wavery's mouth.

 Look how intent she is. 

Valentine's Day 2012

 Just a few highlights from the big Love Day.  Brighton's preschool party got to feed their Valentines into the mouth of this guy.  He was very excited for his first Valentines party, and proudly brought home all his Valentines to show me after school.

I found this garland on Pinterest and finally finished it...the night before Valentine's.  Oh well, I'll enjoy using it next year.  It was really easy to make out of leftover white and red felt, and Dollar Store pink pom poms.  The threading was the trickiest part, but still easy peasy.

 We had heart shaped pizzas, salad, and fondue for dinner/dessert.

This year I got fancy and cut the pepperoni into hearts.  They were cute.

Meet Mr and Mr and Mrs Heart

I had plans for so many cute crafts I've pinned on Pinterest, but this is the only one we got to before the holiday passed.  Why must these little ones grow up so fast!??

Valentine's Day 2011

This year, because we were moving and unpacking during much of February, I felt much like the Grinch when he says, "It came without ribbons! It came without tags!  It came without packages, boxes, or bags!"  I LOVE holidays, and it killed me that this one came and went without any fanfare.  I did make a Valentine's dinner on the actual day, but everybody was so cranky and yelling at everybody; it was HORRIBLE.  We put all the kids to bed and wondered, where's the love?  So, after unpacking all last week, I decided that I couldn't let the holiday pass us by without expressing my love for my kids and husband.  So we celebrated Love Day all week long.

This was Irelynd's Valentine's box for her class party.  She thought she was going to be extra loved when she picked this very LARGE box! 

Savannah celebrated her last Valentine's class party this year.  I'm so sad to think she's moving out of elementary school and in with the "big kids"!  No more holiday parties. 

She designed this cute mailbox for her Valentines, and Scott made it for her.  I was pretty impressed.

She had big design plans for it, but didn't get it done in time.  I thought it turned out so cute anyway!  I was lucky and got to help with Savannah's class party that day, which I LOVE to be involved with.  We played a game called Who's my Valentine?  I read love notes written by fictional males to their fictional loves, and they had to guess who wrote it, and to whom.  I thought it was fun, and interesting to see which ones they knew and which ones they didn't.  No one could get Superman's love interest, not even the boys.  Only Savannah got Edward and Bella without any extra clues.  I guess Mother and daughter think alike, huh?  Here's an example.  See if you can guess, and look for the answer at the end!

 Dear Valentine,

I have secretly admired you since we were kids and next-door neighbors. I have wanted to tell you so many times that you are more than just a friend, but I’m shy and kind of nerdy, and you are an outgoing redhead. Please be mine and we can “hang” out together.

Love,

__________?

PS, how do you feel about spiders?

 

We started our week with a heart and pink breakfast of heart-shaped French toast with pink butter and pink buttermilk syrup, lil smokies, pink milk, and fruit salad.

For dinner we had heart-shaped pizza, and I made these jello parfait cups that I saw online somewhere, but couldn't find the link again.  I painted a chocolate heart on a clear cup, then layered strawberry jello and whipped jello and cool whip mix.  I thought they were so cute!

We celebrated with some Martinelli's too, since we made it through the last 3 stressful months and no one died!  Amazing! 

For dessert, we had strawberry mousse-filled cream puffs.  The kids weren't a big fan of the cream puff part.

Celebrating a holiday late wasn't that bad an idea.  Everything was on clearance, like these light-up mailboxes from Walmart for only .87, plus a lot of the stuff I put in them.  Score!  I wish I could have recorded Waverly's reaction to her Tinkerbelle mailbox.  It was so funny.  I love how little things make little kids happy.  The kids put their mailboxes out to be filled every night.  I guess I must have mentioned that Cupid will come fill them, because Brighton kept wanting to know all about this little winged cherub.  Someone described him as a chubby fairy in a diaper; Brighton had this perplexed expression on his face, while he tried to imagine it, I suppose.  I won't do this overnight again though;  a few mornings, the little ones were up before 7am so they could claim their prizes.  But it was fun to see their anticipation every night.

These gum cards were only .25 on clearance. 

I found the idea for these heart-shaped boxes on http://rootsandwingsco.blogspot.com/.  They have lots of fun holiday ideas.  These boxes are made from toilet paper rolls.  They were too much work for kids though.  I'd suggest them for only adults, or someone that will appreciate the amount of work put into them, and will treasure them for the rest of their lives.  I filled them with candy. 

Another day I made rice crispy kisses, using cocoa marshmallows and cupcake Pebbles cereal.  They were very yummy!

The answer to the riddle is Spiderman and MJ (Mary Jane).  Nobody was able to get that one without hints, so if you got it, go get yourself a treat!