My Valentine's

{I have severely slacked off on the photo challenge for this month. I'm thinking I might just have to take a whole bunch of pictures at once and post them all to get caught up in the next few days. More on that later.}

I think it is special that we have a day devoted entirely to those we love and hold dear. We give our kids extra hugs and kisses and make sure our spouses REALLY know how much we care. My family is so important to me and I hope they can always feel the love that I have for them. They make my life complete and even in the worst of times we can usually all share a laugh together. I feel so blessed to have this life.

These are my Valentines

Riley James

Kendle Ann

Morgan James

Cooper Channing

Kale Kruise

Quick and easy Valentine

While shopping at Target a week or so ago I grabbed a pair of their cute Valentine's socks they had in their dollar section. Kendle LOVES all different kinds of socks and I new she'd like some for Valentine's Day to add to her collection along with a few other surprises and goodies we got for each of the kids. Then coincidentally, the other day on pinterest I saw a card that said:

"I love you like Dobby loves socks." I knew I had found the perfect little quote for a valentine message to give to her.

{Now if you are a Harry Potter enthusiast you will know what that means, if not - this craft is probably not for you.}

I printed that out on a bit of paper and attached it with some curling party ribbon to the socks. I'm sure you could fancy this up more, I was just in a rush for time trying to get things done today.

If you have a child (or I suppose there are lots of adults like me who also love Harry Potter), I think this is a super sweet idea and very inexpensive. Kendle absolutely adores anything to do with Harry Potter and I'm pretty sure this will make her smile!

The Day After

I have to say, yesterday was one of my best Valentine's Days yet. Not because of fancy presents or a romantic dinner for two (although Riley did bring me roses), but I just thoroughly enjoyed being with my loved ones and seeing everyone trying their hardest to be nice to each other. The kids were all really well behaved most of the day. Riley out did himself on making dinner. He came home early to get it all going. Along with grilling the best savory pork tenderloin I've ever had {I mean really, the guy has serious skills on the grill}, he accompanied it with garlic mashed potatoes, caesar salad, and french bread. It was delicious and I think it would have been pretty hard to have gone out to eat and had something as equally yummy. I appreciated the effort he put into making it special for me and also doing all the cleaning up afterwards. Best present ever right there. We had a great time during dinner and lots of nice things were said all around. Yummy cupcakes for dessert and then I felt like somebody needed to roll me right into bed. It was such a pleasant and relaxing night that Riley and I nearly fell asleep while watching a movie after the kids were in bed. I love my kids and my husband so much, and I really felt overwhelmed by all the love they have for me. And that is what Valentine's Day is all about!

This morning though was another story.  I felt like I had a big party hangover from all the sweets and treats and fun that has been going on since the weekend, so a good workout was in order. I am glad to say I totally owned Jillian Michael's this morning. Oh yeah. Feeling good -- too bad Morgan brought home more candy from his preschool party today............I think we're good on sugar and sweets until at least Easter. :)

Valentine's 2011

Valentine's Day so far:

*Going to attempt to make these cupcakes.

*My kids waking me up waayyyyy too early (but I love them anyways)

*Riley mumbling a "happy Valentine's Day" as I rolled out of bed to get Kendle ready for school, but then redeemed himself by getting the babies up for me while I made breakfast.

*Kendle wanting to wear something extra "cute" today and tried on a few different outfits. Then she didn't even complain as I straightened her hair. (I would kill for her hair)

*Riley taking Kendle to school so she wouldn't have to squish all of her valentine's into her backpack. We made some little treat bags, and carrying 29 of them were quite heavy! She loves when dad takes her to school.

*Morgan watching the Wizard of Oz for the first time and sitting completely enthralled without budging, until it got to the part where they had to go through the scary forest to go after the witch.

*Looking at my big sign on my wall that says "There's No Place Like Home" and feeling today more than ever how much I love all five of my Valentine's.

*Having a little chocolate with my breakfast and not feeling one bit guilty about it.

*Planning an extra special dinner for my family.


Happy Valentine's Day!

The Kids

This has been a pretty low-key week. It feels like the calm before the storm. Riley will be taking off again for a double header in Seattle tomorrow and be gone until Sunday night, Kendle has another basketball game tomorrow, and it's Valentine's Day on Monday which means I better get in gear and help Kendle and Morgan get their valentine's done over the weekend and plan something fun for Monday. I also promised I'd make our annual batch of valentine's cookies Sunday afternoon and I will have to be praying for some serious will power to not eat like 20.

Kendle came skipping home from the bus yesterday afternoon, bringing home a huge pink poster she decorated at school that says I love you mom and dad. She wanted to hang it right on the back of the front door where everyone would see it. She is so funny sometimes, all it takes is a little craft project at school to have it be "the best day ever".
They made their Valentine's envelopes at school this year, which I have to say I was kind of relieved about. Fun for the kids, and fun for me to not have to sweep glitter up for a week. I think she enjoys school more than she lets on. She tries to act kind of nonchalant about it. She always gets 100% on her spelling tests plus the bonus words. I've never really had to study them with her, she just already knows most of them. I think they need to give them some harder words to challenge them a bit. I told her we should start doing some of our own spelling tests at home with harder words and she kind of just rolled her eyes at me. One of her goals she made at the beginning of the school year was to be 1st place for AR in her grade. A boy was ahead of her for a while and then she started checking out a lot harder books from the library and got ahead. She proposed an idea for a reward and struck up a deal with her dad and I if she finishes out in 1st place at the end of the year -- a very BIG reward I might add, not in monetary means or anything like that, but a compromise on an issue we've discussed before. She really wants to get her ears pierced and we've told her she has to wait until she's ten, but I think if she keeps up like she has been, we will be holding up our end of the bargain.

Basketball has actually been going better than I thought it would. Kendle has been loving it and continues to surprise us every game. She likes practicing and we really need to get a hoop. At their practice on Tuesday night their coach gave every girl a pair of hard plastic goggle type glasses with the lower half of each lens blacked out with duct tape. It is supposed to help them not look down when they dribble and practice looking straight ahead. I thought that was such a great idea. She has been wearing them around the house and outside while she practices dribbling up and down the street. Their practice got cancelled last night so Riley just took her down there anyways since they already had the gym reserved and practiced more with her. He said she made 40 baskets. In her game last Saturday she made two really good shots. The first one was off a rebound under the basket, but the second one was AMAZING. She took it down the court and got  farther outside and just swished it, nothing but net. Riley and I just looked at each other and were like - WHOAH, where did that come from!? She is getting better ball control and can steal the ball away from the other players almost 90% of the time. She also makes good passes and assisted a few other girls in scoring. It has been really fun to watch. This probably sounds way too much like I'm bragging, but really we are just genuinely shocked she has been picking it up so well. She had never even really dribbled a ball before this season, and if truth be told she can be kind of a spazz and a walking tornado sometimes. Ha! I think playing soccer has helped a lot though in knowing how to defend people and looking down the court for your team mates to score and such. I  have also seen the extra boost of confidence it has given her and I'm proud of the way she plays hard and tries to do her best (although last week we had to remind her not to stomp on another players toes, no matter how annoying or mean they are). When she is done with her games she is sweaty and tired and happy. I love it. I'm sad there are only a few games left!

Morgan doesn't like watching the basketball games so much. He'd rather be wrestling with his brothers or down hiding under the bleachers or eating ten packets of fruit snacks. He gets mad that he's not old enough to play yet and doesn't get to go to practice. He does occasionally let loose a big old "Go Kendle" every once in a while during her games (usually when the other team has just scored). He loves tractors and since his grandpa showed him these tractor videos on YouTube, that is all that he wants to watch. (They are soooo boring, but some are put to some kind of fun music). His favorite ones to watch are when the tractors are stuck in the mud. He loves his grandpa and tells me all of the time how when he grows up he's going to be Grandpa Tovey. For the last few days he has been coming up to me and telling me he wanted to go see "the miracles" and he was making tickets for the "miracles". I could not for the life of me figure out what he was saying. Finally he said something about sitting on the tractor at "the miracles" and it dawned on me he was talking about Country Mercantile! Mercantile, miracles -- is that not the cutest thing? I thought so. That is his favorite place to go. He loves to sit on the big red tractor and then go inside the store and pick out a treat. He has such a mechanical little mind and always wants to see how things work. He is still obsessed with all things Toy Story and asks me all the time who I like best, Woody or Buzz.  He is really excited for his little Valentine's Day party at preschool next week. Hopefully I can make it through helping him sign his name ten times without either of us losing our tempers.

What to say about Cooper and Kale today....hmmmm.....they are just the busiest babies I've ever seen. Cooper more than Kale I would have to say. He goes a mile a minute and you can see the wheels just constantly turning. The poor kid this week has bashed his head about fifty times, got a bloody lip, and so on. His poor little face just looks terrible. I was telling Riley last night that he never cries for long after he's fallen off of something or just hit his head because he's already plotting his next move. He's always climbing up on something or running and falling. Kale is more methodical and not so random. He has certain things he likes to try and do and get into over and over again. His m.o. is wearing you down. His current favorite is turning the computer off at least ten times a day and getting into the dishwasher. Kale also really likes to bring me things and show me things and likes to throw things in the garbage so I have to be pretty vigilant about checking every so often what's in there. He is the one though that is learning to pick up their dirty clothes and put them by the laundry room door. :) They are sweet little guys with the happiest faces and growing up in fast forward it seems. They both got another tooth recently as well. They love to go "bye, bye" and when they know we are leaving to go pick up Morgan from school they will go in their room and start bringing me random shoes. Cooper will stand on his tip toes and try and turn the front door knob. Kale even brought me the diaper bag the other day and I thought that was so smart he thought we needed to take some stuff with us. I got all the bottles packed away yesterday and it was kind of a bittersweet feeling. No more "babies" in our house. :(

Well I didn't really intend for this to turn into that long of an update but there it is. Now nap time and workout time is calling. Too bad the nap time is for the twins and not me!

I wuv you......

I'm wishing I had this print for Valentine's Day.

It's pretty much the cutest thing I've seen in a while.

Also, this one just melts my heart.

Can you believe next week it will be February? Time to go dig my red heart wreath out of storage and hang it on my door.  It will only clash with my Christmas lights that are still hanging up a little bit, but hopefully that will be remedied this afternoon.

Valentine's Day recap

We had a very low key Valentine's weekend this year. Kendle came home from school on Friday with her valentine box filled to the brim with cards and candy. I don't remember getting that much candy when I was in school. It's almost like Halloween. [I asked her if she was excited to get a valentine from anyone in particular and she said nope, just all her friends. I'm kind of relieved she's not boy crazy just yet.] We decided to get Panda Express for dinner and then we watched a movie and just relaxed. It is hard to stay up late and do anything anymore.

Saturday everyone pitched in and helped clean the house. I always think of the primary song, "Saturday is a special day it's the day we get ready for Sunday." I was able to go through all of Kendle and Morgan's clothes and weed out the ones they have grown out of and organize their dressers and closets. It was much needed and looks so much better now. And I don't know about anyone else, but I think one of the most romantic things a guy can do is help you clean! After the cleaning I got out some fun things to let the kids decorate some sugar cookies I had left un-frosted for them. I was surprised at how well Morgan did. He very carefully shook sprinkles on his cookie and placed a few other decorations very precisely. Their cookies looked great! They ate quite a few of them, but really I didn't mind because there were less there to tempt me.

Yesterday Morgan and the babies were so good at church and Kendle was a good helper. When we got home I received some valentine's from the kids and the babies went down for a nice long nap. Then Riley made me a delicious dinner of tomato/basil/garlic/ grilled chicken, baby red potatoes, grilled asparagus, strawberry spinach salad, and french bread. I helped with the salad a little bit, but other than that it was all him and he wouldn't allow me to do anything. It was so good! He even set the table and did all of the cleaning up. What a treat. (I could definitely get used to THAT on Sunday afternoons.) For dessert I made chocolate dipped strawberries and a heart shaped chocolate cake dusted with powdered sugar using this recipe. The cake was pretty good for being so low cal and low fat. I will definitely make it again.

Later that evening my parents drove up for a visit and brought us some treats. We visited and watched Penelope which is such a cute movie. My parents offered to take Kendle and Morgan home with them to spend the night since there is no school due to President's Day today. They are awesome. Riley is gone today to a soccer game for his girls club team, and with the older kids gone it will be a very quiet day which I will thoroughly enjoy. I am going to relax and catch up on some reading in between taking care of the twins.

So it was a very nice weekend and I'm so thankful for my family. I have the best Valentines.

Free Valentine Printables

If you are like me and have waited until the last minute to do Valentine's here are some useful links for a lot of cute ideas to print off at home. (use card stock if you have it)



Link #1



Link #2



Link #3


*I found a few more worth taking a look at:

Link #4

Link #5

Link #6

Kendle needs to have her cards to school by tomorrow for some reason, so that is what we will be working on tonight. I don't know which ones she is going to choose, but this one is my favorite:

Happy Valentine's Weekend!

Kendle's Valentine's party on Wednesday was really fun. The girls had a great time decorating cookies, making Valentine's, putting on a fashion show and just being plain silly.


















One funny moment was when all of the girls had to open the front door and yell "Hi Bridger!" (multiple times) to a little boy from their school who was playing hockey across the street with the neighbor boy. Yep, the talking about boys is already starting!

This year, Kendle's teacher asked them to make their Valentine holder at home. So we looked through lots of cute ideas and worked on finishing it up last night. Kendle was so excited to take her Valentine box and her Valentine's to school today. We used this template and a Kleenex box, and it turned out really cute. I even added a little glitter just for Kendle because she kept asking for some. For her Valentine cards we made some little bears out of craft foam that said "You're Beary Special" and stuck a chocolate heart to each one. Can you tell Kendle likes Teddy Bears? I hope she has fun in her class today.

We are excited to go to our Ward's Valentine Dinner tonight where we will be treated to a 4 course authentic Mexican dinner by some great ladies in our ward who I hear can really cook. Sounds yummy to me. It will be fun to have a chance to visit with people I don't normally get a chance to see on busy Sundays. My parents are coming up to babysit for us and the kids are quite excited about spending an evening with grandma and grandpa.

Tomorrow night we are opting to not go to a busy restaurant and get take out instead and then go to a movie we've been wanting to see. It should be fun and relaxing which is what I've been needing.

I hope everyone has a fun weekend with their sweethearts. Hurray for no school on Monday!

Yummies

What I love about February:

I am on sugar cookie overload - help I need an intervention! Why do sugar cookies have to be so darn addicting?

FHE Fun

Since February is the month that we think of hearts and love, we had kind of a themed Family Home Evening lesson and activity last night. I used this scripture chase activity and it was really fun. I had no idea that the word "heart" appears in over 1000 scriptures. We talked about why it's important to show love to others and be kind, starting with our own family. I had a small chocolate heart that I gave to everyone after we were done.

After that we did a quick little activity of making each person in our family a simple little mailbox/note holder:

We hung them up on our pantry door where we can see them all of the time. The purpose is to leave each other little notes (or treats ) when we see them doing something nice - or just because. Kendle was excited to see that she already had a little note waiting in hers this morning. We didn't have a lot of time to decorate these, but you could make them with hearts and other things for Valentine's Day if you wanted. It was super simple, just one piece of construction paper per person, a glue stick, a marker, and stickers or whatever else you might have on hand. It will be interesting to see who gets something in their mailbox next.

*Harry Potter party was fun, we munched on treats and popcorn and Kendle kept pointing out all of the things she remembered from the book. Her eyes got VERY big at the end of the movie when things start to get a little creepy, especially the part where Professor Quirrell takes off his turban and Voldemort's face is on the back of his head. I thought her eyes would pop out of her head. Riley and I were trying to not to laugh. We all had a good time, even Morgan got a kick out of some parts of the movie - he liked the music and the owls, oh yeah and about ten pieces of licorice!

Fun Valentine's Day Ideas

I have been having a crazy busy week so today I wanted to post some fun things. I've been seeing so many adorable Valentine's Day craft ideas out there - it is crazy how creative people are! I'm getting inspired to do something fun like these. I thought I'd share some of my favorite's:


*This MP3 Valentine is so cool:

Use a box of candy conversation hearts, some scrapbook paper, string, two mini peanut butter cups, and this printout. I think it's genius. You can find the full instructions at Family Fun. They also have a ton of more valentine's crafts you can print out here.

*Printable Cards:

I have seen so many cute FREE printable cards for the kids to use out there. I think these creative folks are pretty generous with their talents. Kendle would love these particular cards because one of her favorite Beatles songs is "All You Need is Love". So cute:

You can click here to download your free template. She also has a zebra and a sweetheart card template that are equally fun. Glue them to the front of a box of candy hearts and you have instant Valentine goodness. All these are found at Bunny Cakes.

*Candy Cane Hearts:

If you have leftover candy canes from Christmas (or if you're like me you have a whole box of mini candy canes leftover) this is a super great idea to get rid of some of those. You only need those little lollipop sticks to go with this.

Place candy canes on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Remember to leave enough room for the sticks. Bake at 300 degrees for ABOUT 5 minutes. All ovens are different so watch closely until you decide the right time for your oven. Bake until you just see the candy cane melt. Place a stick in the candy canes. Pinch candy canes around the stick. The candy canes and pan will be hot so be very careful.

Once completely cool you can wrap them up and you have cute treats! Thanks to Skip to My Lou for this cute idea.

*Flower Arrangement:

I thought this Valentine's Day flower arrangement from Martha Stewart was gorgeous! I love the addition of the red hots, I am a bit partial to the color red after all:

Also, these folding envelope hearts are just what I was looking for to use as invitations:

*Here's an idea I had:

Take an extra picture frame or buy an inexpensive one (a shadow box would be neat as well) and fill it with special keepsakes and mementos from your husband. I've saved letters that Riley wrote to me while we were dating, little cards that have come with flowers he's bought me, movie stubs, concert tickets, pictures - whatever might be special to the two of you. Arrange them in an attractive way in a frame and then display it in your home. Your kids would probably think it is neat to look at some of those things too and it could be a good reminder of all of the special times you've had.

*One year for Valentine's Day Riley and I stayed up really late the night before blowing up tons and tons of red and pink balloons that we put in Kendle's room while she was sleeping. When she woke up in the morning she was surrounded by balloons and a "Happy Valentine's Day" sign was on her door. She thought that was the coolest thing and was so surprised. She still talks about that one.

I love Valentine's Day - I think it is just one of the most fun holidays and a chance to make everyone in your family feel special.

Busy Month

I can't believe January is almost over. I love the Month of February because it seems like it goes by so fast and then it's March and we start feeling some spring weather. Although looking out my window today it looks like spring with the sun shining away.

Looking ahead at next month, here are some things that will be keeping us busy:

*February 3rd is Riley's birthday. We don't have any big plans, maybe just go out to dinner or something like that. I am really lame when it comes to having good birthday plans. Every year I say that I am going to plan far ahead of time something really cool, and then I never do. I think it is because I always think I have more time than I do, but February really sneaks up on you.

*February 14th is of course Valentine's Day. I got really spoiled last year, I think this year will be a bit more low-key. I don't know about anyone else, but I pretty much leave Valentine's Day up to my husband to plan. I told Kendle that she could have a little Valentine's Day party a few days before with a few friends from school and she is really excited about that. They can decorate cookies, make some Valentine's, and be silly girls.

*February 18th is my little sis's birthday. She's going to be 19 which is so crazy to me. She can't be turning 19 because that would mean that I am going to turn...................gasp.................29 this year! I still picture her running around with her little rug-rat neighborhood friends and getting into my makeup. Just kidding Tam. I will always remember what a cute little girl she was with her chubby cheeks and glossy, curly black hair. Oh wait, until she chopped it off and had to have it cut like a boy all because she wanted bangs. Ha! OK, I will stop razzing her now - but it is so fun.

*February 20th is my awesome sister-in-law Debbie's birthday. She is one cool chick and lots of fun to be around. As a girl in a family with lots of boys growing up, I always wanted more sisters. I'm so glad to have two fantastic sister-in-laws now that help balance out the testosterone in the family. A few great things about Debbie - She's a wonderful listener, great cook, and a great mom.

*February 24th is the Blue and Gold Banquet for scouts. I have no idea what that entails, I just know I'm helping plan it - so hopefully that all works out. I don't think they could have found another person less knowledgeable to be over scouts in primary. I'm definitely learning a lot.

*February 27th - March 1st we will be here. Our anniversary is on March 2nd, and since that is a Tuesday, we decided to go before that. I am really looking forward to a relaxing weekend away. We have not been back to Coeur d’Alene since our honeymoon almost seven years ago. It should be fun and since I'm ever the list maker, I've already mapped out some fun places to go-see-do.

So if next month I'm running around like a chicken with their head cut off you'll know the reasons why.

Riley did good

Yesterday was my best Valentine's Day yet!

This:

+ This:

+ This

+ a stop here

= one happy lady and a dang good time

It was so nice to reconnect and just spend quality time together. It really was a near perfect day. He is a good man for doing so many nice things for me and making sure I knew that I'm still his special Valentine.

Happy Valentine's Day

Part of me wants to say that Valentine's Day is highly overrated, but every year I get my hopes up that this will be the year that my hubby will actually plan something. He informed me last night that he's taking me somewhere this afternoon and it's a suprise. Hmm...................................
what could it be?


Wether you have big plans or not, tell your sweetie how much you love them and appreciate them.


HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY!

Romantic Movie Quotes

I love Valentine's Day. The thought of people all over the world celebrating the one's they love, makes me happy. In honor of such a sweet holiday, I decided to post some of my favorite movie quotes. And if you don't have any plans yet for Valentine's Day, consider renting one of these flicks:

A Beautiful Mind:"It's only in the mysterious equations of love that any logical reasons can be found. I am only here tonight because of you. You are all I am. You are all my reasons."

"Perhaps it is good to have a beautiful mind, but an even greater gift is to discover a beautiful heart."

The Village:"The world moves for love. It kneels before it in awe."

City of Angels: "I would rather have had one breath of her hair, one kiss from her mouth, one touch of her hand, than eternity without it."

"When they ask me what I liked best, I'll say it was you."

Hope Floats: "Dancing is just a conversation between two people. Talk to me."

Moulin Rouge: "The greatest thing you'll ever learn is just to love and be loved in return."

Big Fish: "Sometimes, the only way to catch an uncatchable woman is to offer her a wedding ring."

The Notebook: "The best love is the kind that awakens the soul and makes us reach for more, that plants a fire in our hearts and brings peace to our minds and that's what you've given me."

"I am nothing special; just a common man with common thoughts, and I've led a common life. There are no monuments dedicated to me, and my name will soon be forgotten. But in one respect I have succeeded as gloriously as anyone who's ever lived: I've loved another with all my heart and soul and to me, this has always been enough."

Sleepless In Seattle:"Well, it was a million tiny little things that, when you add them all up, they meant that we were supposed to be together.....and I knew it. I knew it the very first time I touched her. It was like coming home.....only to no home I'd ever known. I was just taking her hand to help her out of a car and I knew. It was like.....magic."

Notting Hill: "I am just a girl standing in front of a boy asking him to love her."

West Side Story: "Goodnight, goodnight, sleep well and when you dream, dream of me..."

The Last of the Mohicans:"You be strong, you survive....You stay alive, no matter what occurs! I will find you. No matter how long it takes, no matter how far, I will find you."

Sweet Home Alabama: "What do you want to marry me for, anyhow?"
"So I can kiss you anytime I want."