v day love and cookies

this year a and i decided to stitch a little love into each valentine. we added denium hearts to colorful paper....some for the boys and some for the girls.

a worked very hard on the lettering. somehow she has already gotten to the stage of embellishing her handwriting with little circles on the ends of her letters.

 

the next day we added candy cane hearts and heart bracelets to the cards.



of course, we also had to have some sweets to enjoy ourselves so, we made some peanut butter cookies with dove dark chocolate hearts in the middle.

 it is best to taste them when they are all chewy and melty.

this little guy has a thing for just the chocolate hearts! i {heart} my babes!

peanut butter cookies

1/2 cup butter or margarine
1/2 cup peanut butter
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla
1 1/2 cups flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
3/4 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
About 1/3 cup sugar for rolling
1 package Dove dark chocolate hearts
Cream butter, peanut butter, and sugars. Beat in eggs and vanilla. Stir in dry ingredients. Roll dough into 1" balls and roll in sugar if desired. Place on lightly greased cookie sheets. Bake at 350 for about 9 minutes. Remove from oven and immediately press a chocolate into the center. Let sit for about 3 minutes, then carefully remove to cooling racks to cool.

color me fancy

or not. a heart filled day all around makes one really look beyond outward appearances and to look throughly at enjoying the randomness that is your life

next year maybe even a little of this...

as seen on pinterest

10 things i ((love)) sunday

i heart valentine's day!! not for the jewelry or the candy or the flowers but for all the fun and creative ways to say 'i love you'. and, for all the crafts that involve pink and hearts!!!

1. take this super cool, easy, and educational game with hearts. maggie from smashed peas and carrots posted a great tutorial on Kids Create.

this game has so many options. the obvious matching game where you find pairs but you could also play a game where you mix both sets (numbers and colors) and then find pairs or take it one step farther and have them find 9 pink objects or draw 9 pink things.....

2. from purl bee, i found this tutorial for valentine heart barrettes. all the girls in ava's class are getting one (all 4 of them!)

3. i love these knotty legs baby leg warmers

4. revolutionary souls makes these tiny slippers .

5. strawberry and rosemary scones so very very yummy. i made ours without the glaze and instead sprinkled sugar on them before baking. pic from http://www.myteenytinykitchen.com/2010/02/strawberry-rosemary-scones.html

6. i am so smitten by these s'mittens by tippy toes knits!
 
7. hanging some art on the wall as an everyday reminder to love fully. falcor digital and silhouette blue

8. for hudson, i would love this bowtie from buttered toast.

9. for ava, i created a blooming hearts tee.

10. for my hubby and me, i would love some us time. life is moving too too fast and i am missing just being us.

sending you the sweetest of wishes for a happy valentine's day!

a breath of fresh air.

we survived! and, luckily i did not need to be admitted to the crazy shack...although...we are a little wacky at times.  topping the list of favorite games is to pretend we are pirates wearing dishrags on our heads. 

we also love to pretend that there are sharks in the living room and alligators and crocodiles in the swamps surrounding the couch cushions.

this little dude has found the perfect hiding place.

hudson has even learned to peddle a bike this winter. this is how they like to cruise the strip in the kitchen.

i love the outdoors so, even though being cooped up indefinitely sounds wonderful...who could stand it. we donned all our snow gear..(i swear next year, i will splurge and actually own a pair of snow pants for myself!!) we built ourselves one rad snow fort and found clumps of snow to throw. that is the one thing about wisconsin winters that i just don't get.....why, oh why, can't we have more snow-packing days. it is either bitter cold or soup.

we are slowly training the dog to mush! eventually, i may even have to buy myself a pair of snowshoes. those snowdrifts that we tried to tackle while pulling this load were ridiculously deep. we were going no where fast.

ava has found the coolest place to daydream.

rosy cheeks and all we are enjoying ourselves this winter: being creative and just listening to one another.

and, now that it is february, it is nice to do something with love or hearts everyday. my kids are great painters. they can whip out a masterpiece in no time and then when i turn around they have the whole thing covered with 10 more colors. so, so creative!  but, what do you do with all of these artworks....we stencilled hearts on to the sheets of dry painted paper and cut them out. then we stitched them all together on the sewing machine. a gorgeous garland celebrating all the colors of love.

sending love and warmth your way.

linking up with emily at chatting at the sky.