Valentine's Day

                                   As tradition, I made the kids heart shaped pancakes for breakfast.

The kids and I made all of their valentines.  

It was a lot of crafting - more than I'm used to.  But it was fun!

These were Brielle's- similar to one we did 2 years ago, only then it was square to save on cutting time.  We actually cut these out last year for Valentine's Day, but didn't finish them before our Disney World trip.  And we were gone there on Valentine's Day.  So all we had to do this year was put them together!

Cupid's Arrow Heart Valentine with Pixie Sticks

I used a regular hole punch for the pixie sticks, but the last time we did this we used a curvy slit crafting punch tool and I liked that it gave the stick more room to allow it to lay more flat.  I just couldn't find it this year.  Actually just found it yesterday...

This was Ashton's Valentine.  I got the idea from a fancier superhero valentine here, but for the sake of time, decided to cut my masks out a little less "curvy" and used hole punches for the eyes.  I used a hole punch slightly smaller than 1/2 inch for the stick hole- to get the cape high enough to be right at the base of the sucker.  I also used a heart shaped hole punch to cut out the printed statement on the cape.  It was a surprisingly fast and easy valentine!

Super Hero Valentine

I saw a gumball valentine on Pinterest, but not with a gumball machine.  Just a bag of gum with a printable statement.  I really wanted a machine so I googled it and found this free printable template.  I loved it!  Also very fast and easy- I folded and stapled each gumball bag shut, then hot glued them to the machine.  The machines were super easy to cut out.  Lainey didn't help much other than stealing gumballs here and there, but she watched and kept me company. :)

This is what the kids gave their teachers.  I saw the bear idea on Pinterest, here's the link.  I changed the statement and cut out what I printed with my 1 1/4 inch circle punch to hot glue onto the lid.

Lainey's preschool Valentine party.

That evening, Todd and I headed out on our date.  We arranged to have a babysitter and a fun Valentine's basket full of fun and goodies for the kids to have a Valentine's Party at home while we were gone.

The kids loved it.  So did the babysitter!  It had ingredients to make a heart shaped pizza, root beer floats, things to frost and decorate cookies, Love Potion #9 drinks (found here), Valentine Mad Libs (found here), a Valentine puzzle, and a personalized candy bar (here). 

This was Todd's card.  I almost didn't post it, but I really liked how it turned out!  It was cheesy and I blurred the front font... just because... but it was fun to make and he loved it.  I got this idea from a similar card on Pinterest that had a "scratch-off" tutorial only it said "Are you lucky in love?" (found here).

Scratch-off Valentine's Day Card

 

I thought of cropping the following pics of us together somehow - maybe rubbing elbows or something :) since we took these for fear of not getting a chance to get a Valentine's pic that night.  But then I'd be taller than Todd.  I have really bad luck asking waiters to take our picture- they are ALWAYS soooooo blurry.  My camera doesn't show the picture through the LCD so a lot of people apparently "guess" where to point the camera rather than looking properly through the view finder to aim and focus it.  So half the time a head is cut out or something too.  But in the end we did get one that worked, and several with our iPhones that we took of ourselves just in case!

Off we went to our dinner date.  Barbacoa's Restaurant has a Valentine's Special every year.  It fills up fast so booking is recommended at least a month in advance if not more to assure the time you want.  It's pretty much a two hour experience, the menu changes, and it comes with the flowers.  It was amazing food.  And fun to just relax and not feel rushed out of there.

See, this guy didn't do too bad taking this one...
could focus just a bit better, but it's better than most.

Oh, how I love my valentine!  Can't say it enough.  He looks so handsome in that picture.

Came home and started a romantic evening with chocolate covered strawberries 

and Kill Cliff (a CrossFit pre/post workout drink).

Hope everyone had a wonderful Valentine's Day!  

Had to throw this picture below in there because this is my new leather jacket that I LOOOOooooovvveee.  Not the best pic to see it, though, so I added the bright official store pic. below.  I found it in September at the Black and White store in Boise.  It was ridiculously expensive so I didn't buy it, though I was very temped.  I went home and started watching it online to see if it went on sale.  Drove me nuts that 3 months later it STILL said "New Item" with the full price as though it just came out!  It wasn't even Fall anymore!  In December, I asked for it for Christmas among other things and got the other things.  In January, I looked for it and it was sold out!  It never even went on sale or anything!  I was so sad. 

To explain, I don't fit leather jackets.  As in... at ALL.  I have long arms, broad shoulders, big traps, and a good amount of muscle.  I've NEVER fit leather jackets, but especially don't now.  And this one fit like a dream.  Plus I liked it.  Very rare combo.  So to pass it up was a real trial.  The morning after that tragic day when I saw the "sold out" sign on the web site, I woke up with the thought that I just knew it had to be somewhere still.  I called the main store and they said it was sold out completely from their inventory and had been on clearance in stores long enough that they doubted I'd ever find one.  But they gave me the link to the web page that had phone numbers for all of their stores and said I could call every little store across the country asking if they had one.  (Obviously being rude and sarcastic.)  So... I did.  After over 25 stores, I finally found my size and it was on clearance for a fraction of the original cost!  Made my day!  Hooray for lost opportunities to buy something when it cost more. :)

The jacket pic. from the store.  You can see the cute ruffles a little better.