Love is the Air: Favorite Valentine's Day Traditions

Hello everyone,

I'm not even going to mention this latest blog-iatus (that's a blog- hiatus for those of you just tuning in) because it's become standard procedure for me nowadays.

Wait, did I just mention it?

I did, didn't I?

Any-whooo, I thought I'd take a moment to share a few favorite Valentine traditions that are simple and easy (and cheap!)

There are SO many cute ideas out there for Valentine's Day, but I've had to learn the lesson the hard way that I just can't do it all! When I try to do every little idea I see, I often end up "going to the party but missing the celebration," so to speak. In other words I become so focused on my doily table runner that I forget that the point of this holiday is to cherish the ones we love! Leslie wrote a great blog post about this subject the other day.

So, with that in mind, here are a few favorite, simple traditions that encourage togetherness.

1. 'Roses Are Red' Valentines:
A year or two ago, we started the tradition of making our own Valentines for each other (no store bought allowed!), and the rule is that the Valentine needs to follow the format of the poem "Roses are Red, Violets are Blue." I like to re-write the poem depending on what the kids are into that year.

Here are the Valentines I made the kids last year:

And here's the cute one Bennett made for me (with Daddy's help):

I've no idea what that crazy kid was talking about, but I like the way his mind works. Cake sandwiches? Yes sirree!

I also made one for the McPreacher of course, but it was a little scandalous so I'll just keep that to myself. Hehe.

2. Special Breakfast on Valentine's Day:

I LOVE breakfast, and in my book, any holiday is a good excuse to make a special breakfast! This is something I've been doing since McPreachy and I first got married. Even though this is kind of labor intensive, I LOVE cooking so it doesn't stress me out. Here are a few of the Pinteresting things I'd like to try for this years special breakfast:

Heart shaped Cinnamon Rolls

Strawberry/White Chocolate Cocoa

Heart-shaped Bacon

Convo Heart Bingo

And finally, our last little V-Day tradition...

3. Love Notes Jar

On our kitchen counter we have a jar where we can write little love notes to each other beginning the first o' the month. Then we read them during our Valentine's breakfast. Simple and sweet.

Here's the little bowl of love notes, waiting to be written on:

And here's a note that Mallory dictated for me to write for Bennett.

And yes, I know the pictures is sideways... I have issues.

Also, while we're at it, let's take a peek at a few of our simple Valentines decorations.

I think that about does it: Valentine's Day at our house in a nutshell... or any other shell that seems Valentinesy to you.

Either way, I love this holiday!

The First Day O' School. Or, The Beginning of the End

Is it melodramatic that I'm feeling like life is over because this is Bennett's last year before Kindergarten?

It may be, but I'm freaking out nonetheless.

It's the beginning of the end. The end of his toddler-hood, the end of being home all day every day, the end of his whole world being our family, the end of him thinking Mommy and Daddy are the coolest people in the world. Pretty soon he'll be moving away and marrying some girl from the University.

I object.

I often voice these objections to Benny-boy.

Me: "I don't WANT you to grow up. Please stop."

Bennett: "Moooom... it's OK! I'll still give you hugs and kisses, even when I'm big."

Sigh.

Do you see now why I refuse to accept him growing up?

Nonetheless, school started today, and I decided to get over my temper tantrum and make it a special day. After all, I do love a good reason to break out traditions!

Like the "Special breakfast on the First-Day-of-School" Tradition.

I made these apple cinnamon muffins. They were amazing (I made mini muffins instead of biggies, just FYI). I served Benny's up with some yogurt.

Along these lines, we also celebrated the "Bring-the-Teacher-an-Apple-on-the-First-Day-of-School" Tradition. Also known as "My-Mama-is-a-Kiss-Up" Tradition.

I packaged up 12 of our Apple mini-muffins in an egg carton. I found this cute idea on Pinterest. Benny was excited to give them to his teacher Miss Mary!

Moving on... to the "Picture-on-the-Front-Steps" Tradition. Our pics were a little sub-par this year. We were rushed, and we have two young children. Enough said.

Still we got a few semi-cute shots.

Getting a semi-decent picture...

When we got to school, it was all craziness and hustle and bustle, which is not Benny's favorite.
He likes it calm and quiet like his Daddy.

He said hello to sweet Miss Mary, who greeted each child outside the door with a big smile and hug. Love her already.

She oohed and aahed over the gift Bennett brought her, and I saw his little eyes twinkle with pride.

Inside the classroom, Bennett found a quiet corner where he played Dinosaurs and "Guys" (which basically means action-figures in Bennett-speak").

For the first 10 minutes or so, he kept asking me to stay, and then all of a sudden, he said very calmly, "Mama, can you please leave me here now? You can go."

So I kissed him (twice) and told him to be good (10 times) and drove away.

When pick-up time came, my buddy emerged from the classroom wearing a green Birthday Crown since he just had his birthday. He had a great first day of school and told me all about the special snack, the toys and the friends.

We then went and celebrated with our final tradition of the day... the "Special-Lunch-After-The First-Day-of-School" Tradition. This was one my Mom always did with me, and have fond memories of the first day of school!

He picked "Pandamania Express" :0), and we had a really nice lunch and playtime at the park afterwards.

After lunch he said, "What a beautiful day this was. I love this day."

Enough with the preciousness, kid. Can't you see your Mom is hanging on by a thread today? Sheesh.

Merry Christmas To You (Although It's Been Said Many Times, Many Ways)

Merry Christmas!

What a fun Christmas morning we had celebrating Jesus' birth! There were presents, traditions new and old, and merry-making a-plenty!

It seems that Bennett's Christmas presents every year have a theme. When he was 1 it was Thomas, when he was 2 it was Lightening McQueen, last year was dinosaurs and this year was all about Star Wars!

Mallie got her first doll house...

... and a princess bean bag chair.

Princesses need thrones after all.

And they need pretty fingernails too!

I know this Princess is certainly happy to have such a studly knight in shining hoodie (that's hooded sweatshirt for those of you who are no longer hip).

For breakfast we had sausage egg casserole and this DELICIOUS Christmas Coffeecake. I am definitely making this coffeecake a Christmas morning tradition. So festive and scrumptious!

I prepared the batter the night before, stuck it in the fridge and just popped it in the oven in the morning.

Here it is after we hacked into it.

During breakfast, we read through the Christmas story and reflected on the meaning behind Christmas.

Then we spent the rest of the morning playing, playing, playing with our new toys! And crying, crying, crying when nap time came.

Now everyone is fast asleep, and I'm drinking my third cup of coffee and reveling in the beauty and peace of this wonderful, chilly day.

Merry Christmas to all my wonderful friends and family! I hope your heart was touched by the miraculous truth of our Savior's birth.

Christmas: A Pictoral Guide

Like all of you, I have been busy, busy BUSY during this month o' Christmas. But it has been a good kind of busy... a joyous, merry, can't-find any one's shoes, don't have time to blog or do laundry, sticky-fingers from candy canes, hustle-and-bustle-kind-of-busy.

We've been baking up a storm, listening to Christmas music, learning about Jesus' birthday, picking out our tree, going to Christmas Pageants, decorating the house, driving around looking at Christmas lights, drinking cocoa, reading Christmas books, eating candy canes, singing "We Three Kings" a million times :-), sending out Christmas cards and loving this wonderful season. Here are a few pictures of the Christmas season so far...