We Love to Love

 Valentine's Day is one of my favorite holidays.  I LOVE IT!  I think it might be because Christmas is so stressful and Valentine's is not, so I tend to go a little overboard.  On February 1st I made a little heart garland for the mantle out of paint swatches from home depot.  Unfortunately it only hung upside down because the top of the heart was heavier than the bottom.  So the only way that I could get it to work was to tape it right side up all the way along the mantle.   So it was a pinterest craft fail but I still tried to make it work.  

I wanted to do something fun for the boys so I copied this fun Valentine's Advent from pinterest.  This one was not a fail and the boys loved it.  Each day leading up to Valentine's they got to open a bag.  They were filled with a few treats and some random valentines toys/ junk that I found in the dollar section.  

I tried to make it "educational" (ha) by making Griffin point to the bag with the correct number on it. It was fun to see him spot the numbers  in a different way than just in a book.  

This toy about drove me out of my mind!  But the boys loved them!

These boys love straws... LOVE!  Mostly to blow bubbles, which I do NOT love!

 

So the little bags were a hit and it was something that they got to look forward to each day.  Griffin is good to let me take his picture because Luke won't hold still for anything.  Apparently Griff didn't want his picture taken this day...

So, moving on with this month, Griffin helped me make cupcakes and it was fun to have him help me from start to finish.  He liked watching them raise up in the oven, but of course he wouldn't eat one... weirdo!

My boys are obsessed with trains and so I decided to feed into that obsession... I made them each a valentine shirt.  While I was making them I thought, I'm the mom who sends her kid to school in a homemade shirt... this isn't good.  Luckily 3 year olds don't make fun yet.  

As you can see, he loved it! 

Here is Luke in his "Ding-ding" shirt.  That's what they call them, and we have one in our pool of toys that he carries around and says, "ding ding ding ding ding ding ding."  It's pretty adorable!  Again, this boy doesn't hold still!  This is the best one I got!

And then I forced them to sit next to each other for a picture that is blurry.  Oh well.  My life is a blur, so it's appropriate!

Since Christmas stresses me out we finally got pictures taken and sent out Valentine's rather than Christmas cards. I designed the card and have been dabbling a little bit with teaching myself photoshop.  

And again feeding the train obsession with homemade valentine's for Griffin's joyschool and neighborhood friends. Ralph Wigham would be proud of this...

And now, moving on to my Valentine and the love of my Life!  He is the best and I am lucky to have him!  He is always doing kind things for me and leaving me sweet notes.  Often when he drives my car, he will set it so that when I get in and drive the next time, our song will come on.  For Valentines, when I got in the car, he had made a whole CD with a wide variety of love songs.  From Disney to Lenny Kravitz to Justin Timberlake and Elvis... the list goes on.  It was awesome and so thoughtful!  

 

 That weekend he told me to "suit up" and took me on a surprise date.  He kept telling me we were just going to dinner... but we ran out of time and ended up eating Wendy's drive thru in the car on our way to Capital Theatre to see Ballet West's Cinderella!

It was so fun to dress up!  I loved the ballet and being spoiled by my sweet husband.  I don't deserve him and I am so thankful for him everyday!