February Photo a Day 14

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Lovey Dovey

I totally love Valentines Day.

In our house we make the day more about family than just about having a sweetheart (we celebrate the two of us every day) and the kids and I just love it.

I am preparing for tomorrow's annual fondue night:

Dinner: Cheddar/Gruyere Fondue

with french bread, smoked sausage, broccoli

Two dessert fondues: Milk chocolate and Dark chocolate

with bananas, strawberries, mandarin oranges, homemade brownie chunks, pink marshmallows, angel food cake, pretzels  

It's like four days' worth of food budget money.  But I LOVE it and it will be so fun.  Oh yeah, and we eat by candlelight and use the good china.  :)

Valentine's shelf

Here is my "mantle" shelf for the holiday.  The only new part is the jar I filled with glittery hearts from the dollar store.  Remember my heart garland from a couple years ago?  Still love it, even though three of the hearts have gone missing somewhere.

Take a look at more lovey-dovey mantles at Home Stories A to Z.



Do you decorate for Valentine's?

Valentine's Day goodness

It's time to start thinking about LOVE day and how you'll tell those around you how much you care about them.

Here are a million ideas:

75 FREE Valentines Printables

and

20 more Valentines Printables

Yarn wrapped letters

After seeing some cool yarn-wrapped LOVE art seen here, I decided to try it.  I knew I had wire.  I had a little red yarn and wasn't sure it it would be enough.  Well it took almost nothing to wrap this, so I would say even a very small ball of leftover yarn would do.

I just started bending and making the letters.  I just did the general shape to get my dimensions.  Then after I cut my word off the spool of wire I tweaked it to my liking.  I began with a glue dot to hold the end of the yarn.  I was just lazy and didn't want to heat up my glue gun for a couple drops of glue.  Every 3 inches or so I used another glue dot, just for security. 

It was fun.  Cost: $0.

For now I just stuck it in front of our family pic. 

Babies and Love!

What a week!

For most of the last 7 days I was either preparing for my sister to call me to help her through labor, helping her through labor, or recovering from helping her through labor.  Yeah, and I didn't get emotional at all.

We have a wonderful new niece in the family. What a joy she has been in her four days of life. I am so thankful to Jess for reminding me of those sweet spiritual highs that come with new life.


And tell me if this isn't the most special picture:

Jess and baby #2, just minutes old

It makes me cry.  It is the very definition of love.

We all love her:

When we weren't in baby mode, this is our last week:

1.  Bugs took first place in the Science Fair.  Yes, I'm serious.  And I literally did nothing.  He did a group project with two other friends, they did the experiments and wrote up their data, another mom cut out some lettering for the title and printed a few pictures.  Sa-weet!

2.  Strider and I attended the Northern Utah Marriage Coalition's annual marriage conference on Friday at Weber State.  We had such a wonderful time at the workshops and it was a fun way to strengthen our marriage and our resolve to keep our relationship our highest priority.  I highly recommend it (it is always the weekend before Valentine's Day). 

A couple we know well is splitting up and for the last few weeks it has been very difficult for us to process.  We have been married about the same time, have kids about the same ages - just seems to hit close to our hearts.  We really needed to hear the things we learned in these classes.  We already know we have a strong marriage but we also know we must be proactive in order to stay that way.

3.  The kids wrote out all their classroom valentines.  Didn't you love this part as a kid?  I sure did.

4.  Potter's school was selling roses last week as a fundraiser.  He got this one - from anonymous.  Hmmm.

5.  Bugs made an iPod Touch Valentine's Box.  All by himself.  The other kids' classes just use boring paper bags for valentine deliveries, but his class is having a contest.  What do you think?

 

Lots of love, everybody!

I'm off to make the angel food cake for our traditional family fondue night!



Spread the love

Last night for Family Home Evening our family made homemade valentines.  We were preparing for a trip to a local care center tonight to visit a man from church who lived in our neighborhood but is there now.

The kids worked so hard on their creative masterpieces.  All day today they asked when we were going.  They really wanted to deliver some Valentine cheer to him and to hopefully many others.

As we pulled into the parking lot I gave them a pep talk and a bit of an overview of this place and what it would be like when we went in.  I warned them of what the elderly can be like, of what sights and smells they may encounter.  I encouraged them to not be shy and to just be nice (they fought like cats and dogs ALL afternoon).

We walked in and found our neighbor.  After a bit of a visit there, the kids were chomping at the bit to start delivering. We left Strider talking with him and decided to walk around the halls and visit residents who could use a valentine and a smile.

I was in utter amazement at my children as I watched them serve these strangers - all these grandpas and grandmas of other grandchildren.  All these military vets and paralysis victims.  Those with Alzheimers and Parkinsons.  Their inhibitions were gone after a stop at the very first room and they went forward boldly ministering to the aged, the needy, the sick.  I fought back tears most of the night as we went from bed to bed offering up conversation and hugs and smiles for so many.

We talked to dozens of people and they were so very excited to be visited by loving children holding no prejudice or fears.  Some of them held and stared at the valentine like a treasure.  They said "Thank you, Thank you!" over and over. 

A nurses aide tapped me on the shoulder and said "You have made their night! This is the neatest thing! My baby is just an infant, but this is what I want to do with her when she's older".

One of the first men we gave one to was still in the hall in his wheelchair as we headed out an hour later.  But this time he was asleep and as we passed him he was clutching our valentine card in one hand and his medicine cup in the other.  I wish I had a picture.

I don't remember a family gathering so rewarding as this.  The kids were overheard saying "That was awesome!" ..."This is so fun" ..." She was really nice!" ..."That was so cool!"  As Strider and I left the building we felt as if we would just float away.  It was the greatest family night ever.  Honestly.  We might have brightened a few spirits but I'd have to argue that we were the ones who were uplifted the most tonight.

 
Take the chance to spread love this week - someone needs it!  Isn't that all anybody wants?  Just to feel loved.  You can touch another life (and bless your own) and it will cost nothing but your time. 

Valentine hair stuff

I love having two little girl heads of hair to do now, especially for holidays.  With Princess going back on track at school this week I wanted to make sure we had Valentine hair stuff at the ready.


I made a puffy heart first.  I cut a quick heart from paper to use as a template.  Then I cut out two heart shapes from felt and stuffed a little batting inside as I hand stitched the edges. 

Then I got matching ponytail holders and all the red/pink/white ribbon scraps I had.

I tied them onto ponytail holders in pairs in order so they were mirror images.  I thought they would look better on her head that way. 

Attach an alligator clip to the back of the heart. 

Time to model!

It's the only time of year my OCD will allow me to mix red and pink and I love it!  The girls look really cute.

Time:  about half an hour
Cost: $0


Linking to:

Not JUST a Housewife

Valentine crafts

I was browsing blogs yesterday and found this quick craft freebie that I couldn't pass up:


Twine heart

So I whipped one up before bed.

And I finally finished this project that was a major pain.

I started with a very old berry covered heart thing that had seen better days.  I tore the red junk off and was happy that it left very nice heart forms I could work with.

To update it I made individual rosettes from the fabric in this post  and this post.  Easy but painstaking.

So here it is. Way cuter and fresh!

Crafts of Love

Some v-day eye candy for you!

Tatertots and Jello

ByStephanieLynn

Sew Much Ado

SOOO many Valentines projects I love.

Quick heart wreath

I was sitting around this morning wishing I'd asked Strider to get out the LOVE decor last night.  So, what the heck, let's make a wreath. 

I've been drooling over this one for a full year now:  Idea Room Felt Heart


I've checked Joann's twice and they've been out of the heart form both times.  It's making me grumpy.  But I still needed something on the side door.




My sister in law Darcy had posted a pic on facebook of one she made from fabric and burlap.  I knew that burlap would be an easy way to do a wreath quickly. 

I opened up a wire hanger and make a primitive heart shape. Next (sorry, I forgot to take a pic before I started) I fed strips of burlap on accordion style.

Keep going - you'll need a good amount.  I think this is about half a yard. 

Are these positively the worst pics or what??

Grab pliers and twist the ends shut when you have enough burlap ruffles on there.  Smoosh the burlap around to cover the twist, and add a ribbon.

Easy and rustic!  Oh, and $0. 

Later today I'll try my hand at some fabric rosettes to dress up some more V-day decor.  And I'll send Strider down under to grab the garland and box of stuff from last year.

Linking to:

Today's Creative Blog