Happy Valentine's Day!

We had a sweet Valentine's Day weekend!  The boys and I day full of parties and school festivities on Friday.  We hosted the kid's friends for a Valentine's Day dinner.  We felt the love all weekend long!

Olive made the valentine's for my class.

The boys loved picking out and making their valentines.

I got a desk full of sweet valentines from my class!

I survived a long week at school + a day full of Valentine's Day fun!  I loved this darling candy heart headband from Walmart.  I don't like paying boutique prices for items I will only wear a few times a year so finding it at Walmart was perfect.

The boys in matching Cupid's Pizza shirts.

The kids LOVED going through all of their valentines from classmates.  They also got really sweet mail and packages from family.  Their great grandma sends them $2 bills for holidays.  They each have a nice little money collection growing. 

This cute valentine treat is giving me inspiration to make some treats of our own.

Love monster valentine bags.

Goodmorning, valentines!

The way to Olive's heart is with Jellycats.  This trend makes me smile because Jellycats were so popular when she was a baby and now they are making a comeback.

Chicken nuggest and his favorite candy.

Fugglers.  I'll never quite understand their appeal, but my boys LOVE them.

These individual Nutellas were one of my very favorite finds!  I bought each kid one with a bag of stick pretzels.  I hope these come out for all the holidays.

Kevin taught the boys the art of picking out beautiful grocery store flowers for the lady they love.  They worked together to find the perfect bouqet for me.

New valentine coffee cup from oneof my students.

Pumpkin's first valentine's day.  He wasn't sure what to think about all of the festivities.

Holiday treats just taste better.

I set a pretty table.  Remind me next year to iron everything the day before my party.  Good thing the kids didn't care.

Olive is a great party planner!  She did the invitation for her friends and helped me map out the whole event.

Kevin picked up heart pizzas for dinner.

Valentine's Day with a house full of extra kids!  We loved it!

We tried a new Jonny Pop - chocolate dipped strawberry!  They were delicious.

Pumpkin preferred to be out and about when the kids were quiet.

I love the messages on Jonny Pops!  I hope everyone felt extra loved this weekend!

Happy Friday!

 Happy Friday, friends!  I hope you've had a nice week.  It's been warm enough to finally melt almost all of our snow.  The sun was shining most days and it was a great week.  The best parts of the week were:

1. Nursery Rhyme Character Parade Day!  The kindergarten had the best time parading around the school as different nursery rhyme characters.  The families were so creative.  I was London Bridge and Leo was a gingerbread man.  It was so sweet to see the big kids lining the halls to cheer for the littlest kids in the building.  Thanks to my friend Sara C for this photo from the parade!

2. Peppa Pig.  I'm not quite sure who introduced Leo to Peppa Pig, but he's a big fan.  He watches the show and he's been collecting the play set pieces.  He speaks in a British accent or uses British phrases now.  A lamp got broken at our house this week and Leo say - Oh no, Mom!  Do you think we can mend it???"  Precious!

3. The kids have been on a reading kick!  I've been checking out books regularly for them at the library and we did some book shopping with Kevin's mom.  I walked in to see some late night reading happening in Olive's room.

4. I love when cats squeeze themselves into tiny containers.  Mr. Mittens was annoyed when I said he was too big for this basket.

5. If you like chewy candies that are a little bit sour, these are for you!  I found them at Dollar Tree.  They are dangerously delicious.  I will definitely be repurchasing both.

6. The kids put the cats in Purr-itos when it gets cold out.

7. Sundogs!  I love spotting a sun dog (stripe of rainbow) in the sky!

8. Olive used her crafting skills to make lots of blankets this month.  She delivered one to a friend on her birthday and made one for each of her great grandma's for Valentine's Day.  They both LOVED their new cozy blankets.  It was sweet to see Olive share her talents with others.

Olive + Grandma

Olive + Nana

9. Sundog #2 on the way home from work!

10. Always nosey.  That pink little nose doesn't miss anything.

11. Leo wants to be playing games 24/7.  This week was Guess Who and Blokus.  He says forget about the dishes and the laundry, let's just play.

12. Galentine's Day!  I met up with my besties for a litttle road trip dinner and dessert.  We each came with our favorite treats to gift to the group.  I brought two of my favorite candies and a variety box of my favorite homemade cookies.  They were a hit!

We got festive treats, lip gloss, hand sewn items and the yummiest snacks!

13. I baked for friends and teachers this week.  All of my favorite cookies in one spot.

14. We have Valentine's Day parties galore today!  I'm giving out these to my class.  I hope they love the little bears.

15. I am not a morning person at all.  So when my alarm goes off at 5:30, the only thing keeping me going is knowing that I'll get to hang out with these two for a bit while I get ready.  They hear my alarm and head to my bathroom.  Sweet brothers!

I hope you have a Happy Valentine's Day weekend!  See you back here next week!

Linking up with Momfessionals

3 Preteen Party Ideas

Did you wake up to snow at your house?  We did and are all home for a lovely snow day at home.  A surprise snow day is the best way to break up the week.

I have three really fun party ideas for you for your preteens.

1. Candy salad.

I have mentioned this before, but it's our favorite treat to make when the kids have friends over.  You can do this two different ways - have each person bring a couple of their favorite candies to share or provide all the candy for the kids.

I usually go with the second option and have my kids go to Dollar Tree and pick out 10+ different candies.  My kids LOVE picking out a fun mix of candies for their friends.  We went with a pink and red theme for our valentine candies.

Then at the party have each kid open the bags of candy and pour them in a big bowl.  The kids love mixing the candy and then we usually do two scoops of candy per kid in a ziploc bag.  The kids will eat and enjoy their candy all night long.  Sometimes we make popcorn and sometimes we write their names on the bags with sharpies.  It's always a big hit.

2. Play their goofy games.

They came up with the silliest things and I just played along for the laughs.  I sat with my back to them and they said Hi Mom.  I had to guess which girl was saying hello.  Then they dressed alike and I had to tell them apart only being able to see their backs.  Then they came up with hide and seek and volleyball games.

3. Favorite things party.

They each had to bring five of their favorite things to exchange.  

The rules were - they had to be about $1 each, bring five of the same things and then we supplied the gift bags to hold the gifts.  They came up with the cutest dollar assortment.  Hand lotions, candies, fun lip balms, straws, balloons, mini canvas art projects and more.  It was a really fun exchange that wasn't too expensive for anyone to participate.  Olive had the best time hunting around Dollar Tree for the perfect item for her friends.  She was between a claw clip and hand lotion.

Do you have any favorite activities to do with your teens??