Snack Duty | Valentine's Day

Should have posted this over a week ago, but, well, sickies in the house needed love and snuggles more than Valentines needed to be blogged.
Last year we had preschool snack duty once a month. A box of graham crackers, some fruit, and a gallon of water and all was well. If my day happened to fall near a holiday, I'd do something special; if not, crackers it was. This year we have been assigned snack week. A whole week of snacks a few times a year. No big deal. Our first week was Halloween week so for four days I did Halloween-related snacks (I take no credit for these ideas, though I'm pretty proud they actually turned out. Those spider webs were no easy feat.):

So after Halloween I thought I was in the clear. Except a couple of weeks ago Miss Denise informed me she had switched one of my no-big-deal weeks in May for Valentine's week because, well, "I just can't wait to see what you'll come up with!" seriously? That's what I get, I suppose. My only saving grace was the short week due to a holiday on Monday and the fact that Anderson doesn't attend on Friday. There was also a pre-planned pancake day to celebrate "P" week so I only had 2 actual days of "creative" snack duty. I still didn't need the pressure, however. It's not as if I don't already have a full time job. And another kid. And a problem with eating all of the treats that I make. But I did manage to pull a couple of heart-shaped things together for school, the t-ball team, and some friends:

(melon pops, cinnamon rolls, blueberry muffins, brownies, pink heart rice krispie treats)

Valentine's Day 2014

Here is to a day full of love, love, love. My heart is more content and more full than I could have ever imagined.

Spider Love

About two weeks ago I asked Anderson what kind of Valentines he wanted to give to his friends at school. The conversation went something like this:
    "What kind of Valentines do you want to hand out?"
    "Spiders."
    "Like Spiderman?"
    "No, just spiders."
I gave it a couple of days and asked again...
    "Mommmmmy. I already told you; I want spiders!"

So spiders it is. Perhaps the only non-result-wielding Valentine on Pinterest. Fortunately a spider is within my very narrow spectrum of artistic capabilities. Unfortunately, it is rather difficult to come up with something clever to say about spiders and friendship. I'm pretty sure Anderson has absolutely know idea what it means to be "inspiring".

These win for easiest design ever. And I think I may like them the best. And so does he. Arachnids for Valentine's Day, go figure.

The cutest black widow in town | homemade spider costume

If Anderson had it his way, he'd have been the same beetle that he's been for the last 2 Halloweens. Except it didn't fit. It barely fit last year, but that was good enough for him, so this year we needed something new. But not too new, because being a bug (insect? arachnid?) is just entirely too great. I started out making a tarantula, but realized that without the red belly, he would just look like a furry black blob. I have never made a costume, and had absolutely zero luck in finding a pattern at the fabric store or online so I had to just wing it. I'm so happy with this little costume I can hardly stand it. Even if he did refuse to let me tie up the leg pieces, resulting in floppy legs, I just can't help but think he's the cutest little arachnid around. And of course Beck got to be the beetle. Because bugs are the best!

Anderson turned 4 | Dinosaur Party

Anderson wanted a dinosaur party this year (so much easier than the monster truck, kitty cat, and rainbow theme he chose last year!). I searched around on-line to gather some ideas, but nothing quite fit the bill. Most everything I found was either too scary, too cartoony, or just plain ugly. There was, however, no shortage of over-the-top parties that included dinosaur bone excavations, real paleontologists, and lava-flowing volcano cakes. And while I sincerely hope that one day Anderson is lucky enough to attend such a party thrown by a clearly much more dedicated mother than I, all he got was a total down-home, homemade little party with actual party games for a few classmates on a Monday afternoon after school. It's all about keeping expectations low, right?

I kept it all very simple and kept the budget at around $30 total by using what I already had. Most importantly, I only focused on details that Anderson would care about and cut a number of things from my "maybe" list. Needless to say, the fossilized baby dinosaurs in homemade dirt eggs did not make the cut. Yet, miraculously, the dozen hand-made miniature dinosaur egg piñatas filled with plastic dinos and candy did manage to get finished. It's all about priorities, you know. These were so not necessary, but so cute. I would cover my kitchen floor in liquid starch all over again for those little paper-mache balls. I cut out a giant dinosaur for the mirror in the entry which came down only yesterday, nearly a month later, because, well, "I loooove him, mommy!!!" and I changed out the pictures in the frames to be more dino-friendly. Yep, still there. I also used a cardboard box I had lying around (leftover from the giant 50 I made for the anniversary party) and cut it into a flying pterodactyl which, by the way, was pretty spectacular (even if I did forget to give him an eyeball) and took a total of maybe 10 minutes to complete. I got the idea from the super cute party here. Because the party was at 2:00 I served only cake, dinosaur footprint cookies, and drinks.

I made a pin the arm on the T-Rex game and we also had a stegosaurus/triceratops hybrid piñata. I found some dinosaur cut-outs and, at the last minute, threw together a little craft table with whatever supplies I had in the closet. My boys have zero patience for such things, but apparently girls love crafts and anything with sequins. Other than that, the activities consisted of the boys running around in dinosaur tails (which I made as Christmas gifts for the boys following this tutorial) and wrestling each other to the ground.

It was a fun afternoon and I am so happy that I kept the party small by limiting it to only Anderson's classmates. With only about 12 kids total (including siblings) Anderson was able to play with everyone and have a genuinely good (and not overwhelming) time. It also allowed me time to just sit and get to know the moms of the kids in his class which I had never been able to do.

Party Success.

Baby Gift

Our newest niece was born back on February 1st, but due to so much sickness running through this house it was nearly three weeks before I finally got to meet her and love her up. Back in January I had made these little blankies for her and was so excited to finally be able to give them to her. That orange flannel blanket with giant ric rac just may be my favorite sewing project to date.

Into the box

I'm packing away this year's Valentines into everyone's memory boxes and had to smile at just how sweet something as cute as kids' thumbprints can be. Beck's little smudgy one is just so perfectly him.

inspiration via Pinterest, of course

Out-takes

Enjoying the out-takes from our little make-shift Valentine's photo session. Beck is not one for cooperating these days. I also realized I forgot to post the address labels from the finished product. They might just be my favorites yet (even if the colors here look off).

Happy Valentine's Day!

I love this day. And I love these two. So very, very much. Their Daddy isn't half bad, either.

p.s. It's crazy to me how much Beck has grown since last year's card!

Dino-mite Valentines

I'm not at all opposed to store-bought Valentines, but I am pretty sure I only have about a year or two before Anderson wants to ditch the homemade variety in favor of those with his favorite characters and catchy phrases. So until then I am all too happy to make them myself. With only 12 kids in his class it was easy to make not only little Valentines to pass out, but treat bags stuffed with pink heart-shaped rice krispie treats and chocolate chip cookies as well. What kid doesn't want a treat with their Valentine?

Because this is his first year in school, it was the first time he got to not only choose his design (as if there were any question it would be dinosaurs) and sign the back of each one (well, more like scribble, but it was very thoughtful, to be sure). I love that he was excited to participate. And I love that he came home with a bag full of little cards that we sat down and went through together. That was always the best feeling growing up- so much love!