The Valentine’s Dance

The PCP was a complete doll to be my date the club’s annual Young at Heart Valentine's Dance. 

When I came down the stairs, he presented me with a sweet pink corsage, thoughtfully chosen with a little help from his Daddy. 



We dined, danced and talked.  He opened the doors and used the very best manners, and I couldn’t have been prouder to have him on my arm.  He taught me Gangem Style and I taught him the Macarena.  I conned him into a few slow dances and he got me to play Simon Says.  You know, we were pretty much a match made in heaven :-)









And, at the end of the night, I got a very proper kiss on my cheek as we were recounting the night’s events to Honey.



When I thanked John for one of the best dates of my life, he replied “You’re welcome, Mommy.  But it wasn’t a REAL date.  It was more like a scrimmage date.”

I totally get what he means in his seven year old way of saying it.  And perhaps it was a “practice” date for him, but I assure you it was very real for me.  In fact, I look forward to many, many more “scrimmages” before sending him off for “real”  :-)
xoxo

The Q-U Wedding

We kicked off our Valentine’s Day at the wedding of (the letters) Q and U in the PCP’s classroom.  It was a darling and elaborate affair that is a much loved tradition in Mrs. B’s first grade class.  As the parents arrived, we were completely wowed by the pink and purple tulle explosion that surely must be what seven year old dreams are made of :-)

Every detail of the wedding was meticulously thought out, planned for, rehearsed and executed.  It was truly impressive!  The groomsmen dressed as quarterbacks, and the bridesmaids as queens.  The flower girl dropped quarters as she walked down the purple aisle and the “vowel family” was prominently represented in the front row.

 

I must admit that my heart went a bit aflutter as the PCP / the groom / the letter U made his merry way down the aisle. 

  

All of the students perfectly executed their lines.  The PCP proudly pronounced to his bride “I do promise to stand by you in cursive and in manuscript.”  A high five sealed the deal.

And the happy pair was all smiles!

 

Should you like to watch the whole shebang, be warned that Honey changed the orientation half way through so you just might have a crick in your neck by the end :-)

Afterwards, the students served their parents at a small reception.  There were probably forty guests, with each student having at least one parent in attendance.

We couldn’t have been prouder of this sweet child.  I had to purposefully restrain myself from envisioning this same scene twenty years from now.

    

Their hard work was evident and the morning was not one we’ll soon forget.  We truly could not have lucked out with a better, more dedicated teacher!!  This was beyond “above and beyond”!

xoxo

Happy Valentine's Day

Good morning! I just wanted to wish you all a Happy Valentine's Day! I had a little Valentines inspired photo shoot I wanted to do with the girls this weekend but they weren't feeling well so we didn't get to it. I did make Lillie stand still for two seconds with this delicious cupcake Jon brought home for the girls yesterday so I'd have something red to post this morning even if it is a little blurry. I didn't get one of Lola because face was already covered in her icing before I even got my camera out. =)

Anyway, I hope you all have a fabulous day. I'll be back tonight to introduce our first handwritten chalkboard download! 

Valentine’s Day Dinner

Since Honey and the PCP have baseball practice tonight and we have plans to dine on our fave Thai takeout late after the littles are asleep, we celebrated Valentine’s Day as a family over supper last night.



I made the heart ravioli with pink alfredo from Costco (something obvi went awry with my sauce…don’t judge) and a salad with heart cucumbers and cherry tomatoes. 





For dessert, I made little chocolate-strawberry hand pies, as well as a variation of the Dove heart chocolate cookies that’s also been making its way around the web.

For the Chocolate-Strawberry Hand Pies, roll out refrigerated pie crust, cut into desired shape, spread with nutella and then with strawberry preserves.  Top with a second heart and use a fork to crimp the edges.  Brush with an egg white wash and sprinkle with sugar.  Bake at 350 for about 12 minutes or until lightly browned.



For the heart cookies, I pulled the our favorite break and bake cookies (Immaculate Baking Co.) out of the oven 2 minutes before they were done and gently pressed the dark chocolate hearts into the centers before returning to the oven to bake.



Happy Valentine’s Day, y’all!
xoxo

Happy Valentine’s Day !

 

 

Even on Valentine’s Day the flu isn’t gone yet ! But it is the first day I do feel a little better.

Thank you for all your lovely words of support !

 

I wish everyone of you a Happy Valentine’s Day !

xx

Greet

Happy Valentine’s Day !

    Even on Valentine’s Day the flu isn’t gone yet ! But it is the first day I do feel a little better. Thank you for all your lovely words of support !   I wish everyone of you a Happy Valentine’s Day ! xx Greet

For Love (and Money)

Tomorrow the littles will be thrilled to receive a box of chocolates AND money for Valentine’s Day! 

 
I found the little heart shaped chocolate boxes in the dollar spot at Target.  I raided Honey’s wallet (why DID he have so many $1 bills?!?!  :-) ) and coin cache and folded up a few bills and coins in the chocolate slots.  And then, because I am pretty sure I read somewhere that money is generally super germy and dirty, I cut little parchment squares to cover the money before putting the chocolates back in. 





All things considered, they rang up at about $5 a piece and I have no doubt it will make the littles’ day a little sweeter.
xoxo

PS. I’ll be shipping out an order of Disney Signature Books on Tuesday.  Order by Friday!!  After this, the next round will likely go out March 18.

See all of my Valentine's Day ideas, treats and printables here!!

Find me at: My Uncommon Slice of Suburbia, Savvy Southern Style, DIY by Design, Tatertots and Jello, A Stroll Through Life, French Country Cottage, No Minimalist Here, The36th Avenue, It's Overflowing, Shine on Fridays, DIY Show Off, House of Hepworth, 52 Mantels, I Heart Nap Time, The Frugal Girls,Six Sisters Stuff, One Project Closer, Jennifer Rizzo, Le Chateau des Fleurs, Common Ground, Liz Marie Blog, Not Just a Housewife

Heart Hot Chocolate

I whipped up a batch of these cool whip hearts last year and they were SO easy and such a success that I couldn’t not do them again this year! 



Thaw a tub of cool whip, mix in a few drops of red food coloring, spread in a parchment lined pan, refreeze and then use a cookie cutter to make hearts.  Add a little mix of pretzels, cheerios, peanuts and conversation hearts and you’ve got a sweet and easy afternoon snack!  See last year’s full how-to post here.

   
The PCP should be pretty excited when he gets home in a few!!
xoxo

See all of my Valentine's Day ideas, treats and printables here!!

Find me at: My Uncommon Slice of Suburbia, Savvy Southern Style, DIY by Design, Tatertots and Jello, A Stroll Through Life, French Country Cottage, No Minimalist Here, The36th Avenue, It's Overflowing, Shine on Fridays, DIY Show Off, House of Hepworth, 52 Mantels, I Heart Nap Time, The Frugal Girls,Six Sisters Stuff, One Project Closer, Jennifer Rizzo, Le Chateau des Fleurs, Common Ground, Liz Marie Blog, Not Just a Housewife

Valentine’s Hot Chocolate Basket + Stirring Spoons

Like last year, the PCP is giving his teacher a little hot chocolate gift basket for a Valentine’s treat.  It’s really easy and affordable to pull together and, let’s face it, who wouldn’t like to get a basket of hot chocolate with all the fixins?!?!

 

The red spoons, cups, napkins, marshmallows and basket are all from the Dollar Tree.  To make the little hot chocolate stirring spoons, melt a handful of chocolate candy melts in the microwave.  Spoon the melted chocolate into a zip top bag, snip one end and squirt into the spoons.  Use a knife to level, dot with sprinkles and chill until hardened.  Since I already had the candy melts, sprinkles and hot chocolate packets, the whole shebang cost me $6 for TWO baskets!

Last year’s basket was a little different, but equally as cheap and cute :-)  We have a few spoons left to try ourselves, and I can’t think of a better snack on yet another rainy day!  (Other than the chocolate raspberry cake pops at Starbucks, that is.  Daddy-O bought them for the littles yesterday and I can’t seem to get the ONE bite the baby deigned to share off my mind…)

xoxo

See all of my Valentine's Day ideas, treats and printables here!!

Find me at: My Uncommon Slice of Suburbia, Savvy Southern Style, DIY by Design, Tatertots and Jello, A Stroll Through Life, French Country Cottage, No Minimalist Here, The36th Avenue, It's Overflowing, Shine on Fridays, DIY Show Off, House of Hepworth, 52 Mantels, I Heart Nap Time, The Frugal Girls,Six Sisters Stuff, One Project Closer, Jennifer Rizzo, Le Chateau des Fleurs, Common Ground, Liz Marie Blog, Not Just a Housewife

Our Valentine's Decorating

I thought today I would show you the rest of the Valentine's decorating we did in our dining room and living room. I was thinking about doing a really soft pink accent color but couldn't find any fresh flowers that weren't bright pink at the places we went so I just ended up getting some white hyacinths and going with a very simple black and white color scheme. And to keep the girls happy I threw in some hearts and the love banner on our mantel that I had not been planning on using this year. I have to admit looking at them they kind of drove me crazy so even though I had the large heart, the heart petals on the table and the love banner on the mantel up for about a week I ended up removing those three things today and left everything else and I like it so much better...I wish I had time to retake pictures. I think it looks better now. I am not sure the girls agree, but hey, when you are 1 and 4 the more hearts the better =)

Over here I used more of my favorite striped straws from the TomKat Studio. This time in gray. And I made a simple canvas for about $4. Seeing how I already had the quote on the chalkboard I decided to have the canvas be more graphic and used the number 14, which has several significances for me, two of which are the fact that obviously Valentine's Day is on the 14th and that Jon's number in college was 14.

In this picture you can see the large tissue paper heart and some little cutout hearts sprinkled on the table runner which are both in honor of Lillie. =) I made the heart last year and wasn't a big fan of it but Lillie saw it when I was going through some from last year and begged me to put it up.

You can see how to make these little mini valentine's cakes in yesterday's tutorial. They have a fun little pink ombre surprise inside.

On each plate was a little cardstock cutout of the word love.

I decided seeing how I had a little nod to Jon in the 14 on the sideboard it would be nice to put a little something in honor of my little valentine's on the table so I added a photo of Lillie on one side and Lola on the other.

And then of course underneath each setting are these chalkboard style placemats that are available to download on our website.

In the corner I have one of our 12 by 20 je t'aime pillow covers.

And here is the love banner that I have since taken down... =)

And on the sofa we have our "Love is..." pillow cover set. We are sold out of them in white but have a handful left in the black ink print that are on sale.

I hope you all are having a lovely week!