That Man Does Make Me Swoon

If you are a close, personal friend or even a Facebook friend then you probably already know what an awesome, romantic fool I’m married to but if you’re not, let me tell you…HE ROCKS!

Do you remember the getting-my-car-stuck-in-the-mud-because-of-the-stupid-pool-cover fiasco of just a few weeks ago? Well, after months (and months and months) of nagging humble beseeching, my husband went outside on a cold, drizzly Valentine’s Day, hooked up an uber-masculine chain to the pool cover and hauled that sucker to the trash pickup point, and then came inside the house and lovingly proclaimed, “Happy Valentine’s Day”. He knows just how to make a girl go weak in the knees, doesn’t he?

The grandparents with the kiddos.

Now, even though that’s a true story I shouldn’t give him too much grief about it. After all, because it was a school night, we had already decided to stay in anyway, so I wasn’t expecting a night on the town. He has promised a date night soon and I intend to hold him to it.

Ren with her gift from John and me.

Our night consisted of a big pot of homemade vegetable beef soup shared with my parents, who came bearing gifts, and a pretty darn good, warm chocolate cake topped off with some vanilla bean ice-cream for dessert. I’ll get you that recipe tomorrow.

John-Heath reading the Valentines he received from classmates to Ma-Ma.

In hindsight, it was the best kind of Valentine’s Day, spent with those I love unconditionally and those who unconditionally love me.

Happy Valentine’s Day!

School kids everywhere will be passing out their Valentines to friends today.

There will be the cartoon cards…

the sport cards…

the princess cards…

the modes of transportation cards…

the awww, isn’t it cute? cards…

and even cards picturing food.

And in some corners of the world there may even be scary cards…

Ahhh, nothing says I love you in Hungarian quite like “Welcome to the devil’s playground”.

Here’s hoping my kid, and yours, will come home with a backpack full of Barbie, monster trucks, and asparagus!

Valentine Cards

Last year, we did store bought (gasp!) Toy Story valentine cards. This year, thanks to Pinterest and Google, John-Heath will be giving out photo Valentines to his classmates and family. I don’t remember where I first saw this but I have since seen it A LOT! I wish I were creative and could be the originator of such ideas, but I’m nothing if not a great imitator. Really, though, is this not just one of the cutest ideas you’ve ever seen? Simple and fast. Two of my favorite features of any idea.

I actually took the picture in our front yard yesterday after church while he was in his festive red sweater vest. It was cold so we had to act fast, no time for retakes. After a little editing on Picasa, I just saved it to a flash drive and developed it while shopping in Wal-Mart late yesterday afternoon. By the by, there are times I really hate Wal-Mart, but that’s another story and will have to wait its turn.

John-Heath’s class has been learning about letter writing lately and each student has his/her own little box in which mail can be delivered. So, on each envelope he wrote a friend’s name and box number. I hope he can read his own writing well enough to get the cards into their correct places tomorrow. I hate to say it but my son has horrible handwriting. He is a lefty (and this is a right-handed person’s world), plus he has little to no patience, which means he will not slow down long enough to write neatly. My only consolation is that most doctors also have horrible penmanship. Fingers crossed.

Candy-Filled Hearts

Happy Valentine's Day, gals (&/or guys)! I'm afraid to say this hasn't been the most celebrated v-day we've had, as Ren is sick with a bad case of the flu. It began Saturday morning with complaints of leg aches, and by that evening she was complaining that even her hair hurt. I knew then she had most likely been struck by the dreaded flu. I'm just hoping John-Heath doesn't get sick or my elderly parents (though they, my mom and dad, have had their shots).

Needless to say my little girl is miserable. She is achy all over, has a terrible sore throat, and can barely talk. Plus, her doctor said she was somewhat dehydrated. And, of course, this hits at the end of bball season so she will be missing the district games. You know how high-schoolers like to keep up with their social agenda. She doesn't play but she loves to go and cheer on the team from the stands. I always wished she had played more. She's 5'10. You'd think she could have been useful under the goal. Anyway, that's another story. She will also be missing school all week - according to her doc- and is worried she'll get behind. Plus, her principal announced at school today that this was his last day. He is having to step down due to some health issues. She hated that she wasn't there to see him on his final day. She really thinks a lot of both the administrators and the teachers at her school (well, most of them anyway. You know, she is a teen and there's always someone they don't fancy). Mr. Oldham, better known as Big O, was my principal and is pretty much an icon in our local schools. I know Ren is really going to miss him.

Well, enough of our affliction account. I wanted to show you what John-Heath and I made to use as gift sacks for Valentine's Day. I had seen the idea on the Martha Stewart site and thought it would be a nice way to deliver sweets to our sweets. For step by step instructions be sure to pay Martha a visit.

You can see below all the items needed to make these neat little heart shaped bags. Of course, a paper trimmer is not required. Scissors will work just fine. The hearts I made were created from paper ranging from 8" squares to 12" squares. The polka dotted one in the picture below was the smallest (at 8"). I also glued mine together a little.


We made these for John-Heath's teacher and her classroom assistants and for a few relatives.

The ones being sent to his school were each transported in a store-bought gift sack. If I had not put them in the sacks I can personally guarantee that NO candy would have made it to its recipient.

Each bag was filled with Hershey's kisses and hearts and a few of our homemade glass magnets.

XOXOXO, ya'll!

Linking up to...

Nest of Posies BIG Valentine's Party.

http://www.atthepicketfence.com/2012/01/welcome-to-inspiration-friday-no-49.html

DIY Glass Magnets Make Great Teacher Gifts

Did you know that teachers are some of the most highly skilled kleptomaniacs around? It's true. We are well know for our thievery - mostly of ideas and the occasional stapler from the lounge, that is. We are taught early on in our education courses that when we see a great idea we should use it!

Well, here is my attempt at another stolen idea. Michaels has these for sale and I have seen some blog posts on them, as well. In need of a quick, easy idea of something to make to give John-Heath's teachers for Valentine's Day I decided to try my hand at these glass magnets. Simple and cheap inexpensive. Two of my favorite words when crafting.

Supplies needed:

flat, glass marbles

(I found mine at the Dollar Tree. They were a larger size, which I thought would work out better)

glue (I used my Mod Podge)

Magnets (Mine came from Wal-Mart)

Decorative card stock or scrapbooking paper.

To make, simply cut out pieces of paper to the correct size needed and glue on the back of the glass marbles. When this dries, glue on a magnet. When this is dry take a paper towel and a little Windex to really make that marble shine. Voila! A quick, simple, and budget-friendly gift for anyone, especially teachers, teacher aides, grandparents, and/or anyone who likes to display papers on a fridge or filing cabinet.

You can see I messed up on the first one just a bit - cut the paper too small. Practice makes perfect, though. John-Heath loves it when we craft. He helped out by putting some of the magnets in place and by cutting a few pieces of paper into about a gazillion smaller pieces of paper.

Linking to some great parties.

Linking up to...

Nest of Posies Big Valentine's Party.

Inspiration Friday @ At the Picket Fence