Valentine’s 2015

My little lovies after church on the Sunday before Valentine’s…

AB headed to school that Friday for her Valentine party & their behavior reward dance…

I have a love/hate relationship with Pinterest. I feel like there are so many great ideas on there, but I also feel like I sometimes loose my own creativity through it. We all end up doing the same free printables and taking the same picture poses and having our kids’ teachers sign the same book at the end of the school year. I’m all for recreating what someone else has already done and borrowing an idea, but I also don’t want to become so dependent on scouting Pinterest for ideas that I loose the ability to have my own. I’ve probably thought WAY TOO INTO that. Ha… Anyway, this year, I told AB I’d take her to the party store and she could choose any of the bagged favors and we’d make it into a Valentine. It was hard for her to make her final choice, but she ended up going with the little click-cameras. They’re like tiny view-masters and had pictures of animals in them, perfect for both the boys and girls in her class. (& SUPER easy for me to come up with a cheesy Valentine message to go along with it). She signed them all and helped me stick the cameras on and then sealed the clear envelopes with a heart sticker… In the end they were our own idea, and turned out to be even easier than the ones we copied last year from Pinterest. A total win in my book. :)

I love that Valentine’s Day fell on the weekend this year. We woke up Saturday morning to a donut delivery from Pappy. (Actually, DW was on the way to Gainesville to get donuts and passed his Daddy who had already been there and was headed back with a dozen for us. Great minds think alike….and they’re two of the greatest.) :)

After breakfast, we gave the kids their little surprises from us. I’d found these cute little heart necklaces with their initials on them, threw in a Reese’s heart and some princess stickers and they deemed it the best Valentine’s Day ever. Stickers are the true way to their hearts. Tucker got some new pacis and a chew toy. Because the way to every 6 month old (& dog’s) heart is with a chew toy. :)

For the second year in a row, Beau & Kristy have been here on Valentine’s Day. They got to  my parents’ late Friday night and spent the day with Mom on Saturday. They all came over to our house on Saturday afternoon and we grilled and had a little Mickey Mouse themed Valentine party for the kids. It was a kick-off for our Disney trip the following day! I glued some paper Valentine’s I found at the Dollar Tree to the red pennant I already had… I grabbed some little red tins at the Dollar Tree and personalized them for the kids. Inside we stuffed a few Mickey surprises for the kids to take in the car on the trip to Disney World. Mom bought everyone shirts and I personalized them with Mickey/Minnie heads and our monograms. Pop & the Dads didn’t get one, but we did tell them they had to wear either a black or red polo so we’d all coordinate. The best part – they listened and obliged. :)

We had cupcakes and sang Happy Birthday to Caroline, too, who’s birthday was the following week.  After dinner, they all left and headed to the airport to pick up my Dad, who’ d been away all week for work.

Pappy & Nie-Nie stopped by earlier that afternoon and then Valentine’s night, Adam, Lauren & Parker all came down so we could do our little Valentine’s with them. Nen was on her Valentine A-Game this year and brought the cutest treats for everyone with the best cheesy sayings on them, and they were all signed with Parker’s little fingerprints. They were adorable. I was just glad Parker still loved Aunt Annie after our kissy-kiss pictures earlier that week…we laughed so hard doing these. I don’t know what was funnier- the boy’s faces or the fact that Lauren & I looked like clowns with that bright red lipstick on.   

SO much love and so much TO love around our house.

~amw~