Valentine Ideas

With Valentine's Day coming up I thought I'd share a few things I've found recently to add some fun touches of love to the day...

I recently found a site called The Dating Divas. This site is dedicated to ideas for dating your spouse. There are lots of fun ideas for dates and little gifts. This is definitely worth checking out. I'll admit that my husband and I need to work on this...we are fortunate in that we see each other a lot more than most couples because he works from home almost every day. But rarely do we set aside time to go out without the kids and really focus on each other.  Gotta work on this...



Here is a great Valentine's printable from Kristin at Simply Klassic Home. I love this one and used it last year on a table in my entryway.


We Love Being Moms posted 14 Days of Valentines for Kids...really cute little treats that would be fun to do for kids. 
 


Pinterest is full of cute ideas for Valentines for kids to hand out at school.  This is one of my favorites...

Source: batemanbuzz.blogspot.com via Jennifer (HomeMatters) on Pinterest



There won't be a special date night or anything for us on Valentine's Day. I'll be shuttling my daughter to and from dance class, there will be homework and a quick family dinner...just like any other Tuesday evening in our home. Date night will have to wait for another day.

But I'll be sure to have a few fun treats for the family to show my love :)

So, do you have anything special planned for Valentine's Day?

Making Christmas Memories

Making family memories is important to me.  I especially enjoy it at Christmas time, which has always been a favorite for me.  Although big exciting things can make for great memories, I think it tends to be the little things that stick with us. 

My daughter shared something with me the other day that just made me smile.  She said, "Mom, do you know what I really love to do sometimes during Christmas?  I love it when it's dark except for the Christmas tree lights and we snuggle up and watch a Christmas movie together.  I feel all happy and safe." 

See, it's the little things.


photo credit

So, this season we'll definitely have a few movie nights all snuggled together watching a Christmas classic.  Last year we introduced our kids to A Christmas Story.  That's definitely a classic and favorite in our home.

I'm also looking forward to riding around town looking at all the pretty Christmas lights, reading Christmas stories with the kids and baking cookies. 

What kinds of memory-making activities are you looking forward to?

Fun Birthday Card Treat

My kids and I had fun making Rob's birthday card the other day.  He loves candy, especially chocolate, so when I saw this cute idea I knew it would be perfect for him. 

I've seen different versions for birthdays, Mother's Day/Father's Day, Teacher Appreciation. 

It was a big hit...he LOVED it! 



The message reads...

Dad, We were going to give you a WHOPP ing 100 GRAND for your birthday but the money slipped through our BUTTERFINGERs.  We didn't have an EXTRA WHATCHAMACALLIT to sell and it wasn't PAYDAY.  We didn't think a pet KITKAT, a trip to New YORK, or an ORBIT around the MILKY WAY would be appropriate.  We do want to wish you MOUNDS of ALMOND JOY both NOW & LATER as  you eat this card.  We hope it doesn't make you ROLOver and get sick.  If it does we promise not to SNICKER.
Love your favorite AIRHEADS

*We couldn't find an individual package of Now & Later candy so we just wrote it in.

I'm joining Amanda's Weekend Bloggy Reading.  Stop by and see what everyone has been doing this week!

Tie Dye Day

The kids and I took advantage of a sale at A.C. Moore and bought all the supplies we needed for some tie-dye fun.  I've always loved tie-dye t-shirts but hadn't done it in years.  We had a great time!

 

It was hard to wait until the next day to see our creations.  A little pool time in the morning helped to distract! 

Here are all of the colorful creations after we unwrapped them.  So cool!

Oops...didn't pay attention to the dog.  She got a little too close to our wet shirts and now has a nice blue streak of fur!

We are loving our new summertime shirts!

I've added this post to Amanda's Weekend Bloggy Reading...

Feed Your Brain...

One way that I've been trying to keep my kids' brains active this summer is by keeping quick educational activities close at hand.

We have a Brain Basket with several kinds of flashcards, math bingo games, and more. I keep this near our kitchen table and many nights after dinner we pull out some of these to play with during kitchen clean-up. We started this during the school year last year as a way to help my daughter learn her multiplication tables and my son to work on sight words. We've tried to keep it up a little during the summer months.

Now, with the new school year a few weeks away, I will be on the lookout for new items to put in our Brain Basket to keep up with all of the new skills they will be learning.

Do you have any tips or ideas to keep your kids' brains active and ready for learning?

I've linked up with Back-To-School Tips at Southern Fried Dreams.