Valentine Express

We have this book called The Valentine Express that we’ve had for years and years. It’s a cute story of bunny siblings that learn about Valentine’s Day in school and decide to make Valentine’s Day gifts for all of their neighbors. We read the story every year and often get inspiration for cards.

image

The Valentine Express

Today, after a late night at hockey, Eve spent the afternoon in her room making Valentine’s Day treats. She decided to make treats for each neighbor and came down once to have me help her count houses.

image

Meanwhile her new dog enjoyed a a delicious popcorn snack. :)

She finally finished around 5:3pm and wanted to head right out and deliver them. For some reason she wants to put them in mailboxes, not knock on doors. We’ll see what the neighbors think of that. She signed them all “from Cupid,” but I thought it wiser to have her name on them. :)

image

Two Valentine “trees” and a very serious face.

image

A sampling of her creations.

Seeing as it was 5:30pm, dark, and 2° outside, I talked her into waiting until morning to deliver the goods. She agreed, reluctantly.

She then had a mini-meltdown when she realized how messy her room was, hid herself under the coffee table with a book, missed dinner, and went to be in tears. Sweet tired girl. Hopefully an early bedtime will help her make it through the day tomorrow. <3

A drive to Syracuse

We drove to Syracuse yesterday.  Everyone else was heading to warmer weather for vacation, but not us!  This is what our vacation trip looked like…

image

Crazy winter icicles at a rest area on the thruway.

 

image

The Erie Canal, buried in snow!

 

image

Evening is when it really got fun. By the time we got to Syracuse it was total blizzard conditions! We were very happy to finally be off the road!

 

And then, once we got to the hotel, it looked more like this…

image

Hello Merlot.

 

image

The kids wanted to sit at their own table so we decided to have a Valentine’s Day dinner on our own. :) Very romantic! Syracuse v. Duke on the screen. It was a good game, but sadly SU lost.

 

image

Watching the end of the game. Alan was happy to be off the road and on the couch!

 

That’s how this family likes to spend Valentine’s Day and the first day of vacation!

Happy (almost) Valentine’s Day

We (I) went a little overboard with Valentine’s Day this year. We made Valentine’s Day Science Kits for each of their classmates. I saw a fun looking project on Pinterest (of course) and the kids thought it would be fun. It was, but a lot of work! And stress (first world problems stress) due to delayed USP shipment. Darn storms in Boston are screwing up deliveries to my house! Sheesh! Anyway, we got it all done this afternoon and the kids were super happy. They are both looking forward to their class parties tomorrow. Lex says in 4th grade you don’t have Valentine’s Day parties, but they do get an extra long snack time and kids are bringing in treats to share. Sounds like a party to me!

image

Putting together the science booklets.

 

image

The Valentine’s Day assembly line begins…

 

image

and goes on…

 

image

… and on!

We made 60 bags, for Lex’s class, Eve’s class, and my class. I decided not to give them to my students though because as I learned more about the Montessori Valentine’s Day celebration (or lack thereof) I decide these wouldn’t be very appropriate. Oh well. Maybe I can use them next year. :)

image

Happy kiddos, very pleased with their Valentine’s Day Science kits. I hope their friends enjoy them too.

 

image

Valentine’s Day White Chocolate Popcorn. Class party snack, because why not!?

Happy almost Valentine’s Day! This is about the extent of our celebration.

Snow

We got a bit of snow today, like 18″ or so! The district cancelled school, thereby extending next week’s vacation just a little bit longer. I was a little bummed because today is Valentine’s Day and we had a kindergarten party planned, but apparently the Superintendent didn’t take that into consideration! Geesh! Eve’s teacher bumped their party up a day, though Eve forgot and didn’t bring in her Valentine’s cards. So now we have mine for two classes (K and 5th), Lex’s, and Eve’s all in a big pile on the counter. Everyone will celebrate at school on the 24th. :)

valentines

I made little Valentine’s for my fifth graders. It’s silly, I know, and will be extra silly on the 24th.

kiddos

Happy Valentine’s Day to my little valentines.

We spent several hours outside in the snow. Poor Alan had to go to work, so we started by shoveling out the driveway. That took awhile!

snow

We have a lot of snow around here!

eve sitting

Eve plopped down and we nearly lost her! :)

house

Our little house in the snow.

snow bank

Mountain climbing!

sliding

Eve slid down the banister face first and couldn’t get up. She started crying that her chin was cold so Lex warmed it for her while they waited for me to come to her rescue and haul her back onto her feet!

porch

I told the kids to go on an expedition to find the swing set… they made it as far as the porch.

stuck

They got stuck in the snowbank! Lex is in up to his waist and Eve up to her armpits! Lex managed to get himself out, but Eve was so stuck I had to shovel her out. :)

happy eve

I don’t think she minded too much being stuck in the snow.

dug out

Here she is, partially shoveled out.

Happy Valentine’s Day! Happy winter vacation! Happy Family! We were doing our highs/lows this evening and the kids had nothing but highs to talk about. Lex barely managed a low (snow down his back) and Eve’s low was she was too tired. :) Everyone is looking forward to a visit from Mema and Grandpa Tom tomorrow! Let the fun continue!

Valentine’s Day Treats

We will be jettin’ out of here on Valentine’s Day, but that doesn’t mean we can’t celebrate anyway. The kids finished their class Valentine’s Day cards today. We are going to bring them in on Wednesday and their teachers have promised to distribute them. My guys are eager to return to a bunch of Valentine’s Day cards waiting for them after vacation. :)

This afternoon we made cookies.

chocolate

Someone’s had enough chocolate already!

kisses

They were giving each other silly kisses. I tried to get a picture, but instead got this weird shot. :)

sugar

Fun with sugar. Eve had the job of rolling the dough balls in sugar. It took much longer than necessary, but she enjoyed the sensory experience.

hearts

While Eve played in the sugar, Lex got the first shot at putting the hearts on the cookies. These are definitely fun to make! (that table in the background sums up my life! Messy, colorful, healthy, sweets, kids!)

yum

Cookies!

eve

Eve got a turn at the hearts too. I could NOT get a picture of her with a non-talking mouth! :)

I have been wanting to make these cookies for awhile now. Holding off until it’s actually close to the sweet holiday. They are peanut butter blossoms (with the unholiest of deliciousness – Jif peanut butter!) with Dove and Hershey hearts instead of the usual Kisses. So YUMMY! We will be delivering these to various friends over the next few days, while saving a few for ourselves, of course!

A Valentine’s Day Sneak Peek

Valentine’s Day is coming up (in four weeks!) and the kids are eager to get started with their cards. Last week I showed Lex several cool ideas on Pinterest (this, this, this, and this). He said, “Cool!!” I asked if he wanted to do one of them this year and he said, “No, let’s just make our own the way we do every year.” Ok then. So out came all the crafty reds and pinks. Our table has once again become a perpetual craft table. The kids also decided to use the rest of our Christmas candy canes on the cards. They are red and white after all!

card to me p1

Step across…

card to me p2

… to my heart. Isn’t he sweet!

He’s made many creative cards. I guess I only took pictures of the one for me. :) I’ll take a few more before they get delivered to friends and family.

tablet

E-card for Eve

eve

We’re having fun with a Valentine’s Day Mad Libs I picked up in the grocery store. :)

Today we made Valentine’s Day sandwich cookies, a la Martha Stewart! I haven’t had one yet, but the filling I licked off my fingers was delicious!

cookies

Sandwich cookies

A few days ago Eve spent a very long time building “Cupid.” At first I had no idea what she was talking about and it appeared as though she were randomly gluing and cutting. But when it all came together I finally was able to see her creation. It kept falling over so she smartly pulled a yogurt container out of the recycling bin and glued the whole thing onto it, thereby providing a solid plastic base. Smart girl!

cupid p1

Eve’s cupid

cupid p2

The other side of cupid. Here you can see the “bow” and the tip of the red “arrow” coming through.

cupid p3

Eve took several pictures, but she framed them all such that my 6am face was included!