Over the Top Valentines

When I was a kid at school, we exchanged little folded cards with cartoon characters on them (like Care Bears, Strawberry Shortcake, Scooby Doo, GI Joe, Transformers... I can't remember what else was popular then).  Each had a little envelope.  If you were really lucky, you might have a couple envelopes with three or four conversation hearts.  Those were the jackpot.  Nowadays, the cards are still popular, with revised versions of many of the same characters, but almost every one has to come with a piece of candy or a sticker or tattoo--at least!  This year Sweetheart brought home a long tube of bubbles, a bouncy ball, and scratchboard art with his candy.  Belle had six packs of Fun-Dip and more Laffy Taffy than she got from Halloween.  This year, we went over the top with our valentines.  It even tops the woven paper heart pockets with a Tootsie Roll inside that we made last year.  Family Fun magazine gave me the idea to use a photo of your kid giving a giant lollipop, so I went with that idea and made these:

I took pictures of the kids holding a heart shaped cake pan and a cardboard tube, and then used my photo editing software to write on it and check the sizing.  I taped on our crayon hearts (see the last post) over the pans.  I got a bunch of lip glosses for really cheap at an after Christmas sale.  I used an X-Acto knife to cut around Belle's hands and arms and then tape in the lip gloss.   Then they wrote their names with a permanent marker at the top.  It was a fun project for us to do together, and we were all really happy with how they turned out.  It was a lot of effort for a valentine exchange, so I don't if we'll try to match it, but we enjoyed doing it together.  The price was probably a little higher than buying premade cards and candy, but I got a deal on the photo prints and lipgloss, and the crayons were free.

Beanbag Words

Last month in our issue of the Friend magazine, there was an article about a game to play where you toss a beanbag to people in a circle and take turn saying positive things about whomever you throw it to.  We played the game for Family Home Evening, but used Sweetheart's favorite stuffed horse, "Horsey."  It was good to get some positive words flowing in our family, and we could feel the Holy Spirit with us stronger.  Sweetheart wanted to play the game again another day just with me.  It is a great feeling to be given so many compliments by a tiny four year old boy.  He really is a sweetheart.

Our Gingerbread Ornaments

Here's a photo of our finished gingerbread people.  This picture is pretty busy--kinda like Where's Waldo.  See if you can spot the Grandma and Grandpa and the missionary.  There's also one in pajamas.

This Little Piggy

My little Buddy loves to play the piggy game.  Most people know the usual: "This little piggy went to market" wiggling the big toe, "This little piggy stayed home" for the next toe, "This little piggy had roast beef," so on, "This little piggy had none."  "And this piggy cried 'Wee wee wee!' all the way home" while you run your fingers up his leg and belly.  My kids have loved it since they were tiny and want me to do it again and again.  I got tired of saying the same thing over and over, so I started changing what the piggies would do.  "This little piggy went to a restaurant, this little piggy stayed in bed, this little piggy brushed his teeth, and this little piggy ate some spaghetti.  This little piggy cried 'Woo woo woo!" all the way to Grandma's house."  Now we take turns making up silly things for the pigs to do.  Those tiny fingers wiggling my toes are so cute.  My children love the attention and time I spend with them to play this game, and now it isn't so dull for me!