My Favorite Pinterest Valentine Cards

I love helping Ava make Valentine's to pass out to her friends at school.  I think I may enjoy making them more than Ava.  I'm always looking for cute, nut-free ideas since Ava's preschool is nut-free.  I started looking on Pinterest to find some ideas for this year's Valentine's.  Here are my favorites:

Heart and Arrow

The arrow could be a fun pencil or straw or a glow stick.

Painted Butterfly

You could insert a pencil or a lollipop through the butterfly wings.

Bookmark

If you don't have a heart shaped stamp you could use stickers instead.

I Dig You

Muffin Cup Flowers

School of Fish

You Rule

You could also use the fun rulers with stencils or colored rulers.

Candy Lips

Starburst

You're a Hit

Bubbly

Bounce

You're Tops

Cracker

Glow Stick

Play Doh

Just Write

Lady Bug

This one is my favorite!  The head is a lollipop wrapped in tissue paper and I think Ava could help with a lot of it.

Happy Valentine's Day!

Dollar Crafts - Painting with Painters Tape

Over the Christmas holiday the girls were painting in our art room and I happened to have some painters tape laying around.  {Leftover from my attempts to decorate the walls in the art room - a project that is proving to take much longer than expected...}

I found some card stock (you'll want to use thick, heavy paper so that you don't tear the paper when you remove the painters tape) and created hearts using painters tape:

Then the girls went to work painting all over the paper (Please forgive me for always taking pictures of my kids in their PJ's and bedhead.  We don't get out much these days because of baby Clara so I don't find it to be important to be dressed up just to sit around the house all day.):

Then let the masterpiece dry with the painters tape in place:

Once the paint is dry, carefully remove the painters tape to reveal your heart:

The girls were amazed at how this turned out.  These would be cute to frame and hang in the art room or their bedrooms.

Happy 35th!

Today is my hubby's 35th birthday!  I hope he will forgive me for my lack of birthday planning.  I'm still getting used to life with 3 little ones.  I usually decorate the house and get a cake.  Not this year.  I have no balloons, no crepe paper, no cake, and no gifts (unless you count the boxers that I found 40% off at Gap this past weekend that I'm going to try to pass off as a gift).  Pretty pathetic.

Tim's parents came over on Saturday night and we celebrated the January birthdays at my mom and dad's house last night so his birthday was not forgotten entirely.  And it was spent with family which is what matters most.

His parents are coming over to watch the girls tonight so we can have a night out!  That really is the best gift EVER!  And even though it's not from me, I hope it makes his day special. It's our first night out since Clara was born.  Much needed and much appreciated.  Thank you Nana and Papa Reeves!!!

Chocolate Covered Peppermint Ritz

Happy New Year!  It's taken me a while to get back into my blogging routine, but I'm back now.  We had a nice, quiet Christmas this year.  With Clara still being so young, I was apprehensive about having her around lots of people so we cut back on some of our activities this year.  It was very relaxing.

Have you discovered the Limited Edition Fudge Covered Ritz?

They are one of my FAVORITE holiday treats.  I think I bought 6 boxes this year.  They're only offered at Christmastime so get them while the gettin's good!

I feel a little bit guilty enjoying all these Christmas treats when Sidney, my 2 year old, cannot eat any of it.  She loves Ritz so I decided to try to make her a dairy-free version of Fudge Covered Ritz.  

I used Baker's Semi-Sweet Baking Chocolate Square (Note: They are made on equipment that processes milk. I think next time I will use a different chocolate).  I also crushed some candy canes to sprinkle on top.

The easiest way to crush candy canes is to peel off the wrapper, cover the candy cane in a paper towel and hammer away.

I chopped up the chocolate squares and melted them in the microwave.  Then I dipped them in the chocolate using small tongs.  While holding the Ritz with the tongs, I used the back of a spoon to smooth out and remove the excess chocolate.  Then I placed them on a parchment paper covered baking sheet.  

If you want to add peppermint, do so before the chocolate dries.  I did some with peppermint and some without.

When you're done, pop them in the freezer to harden and they'll slide right off the parchment paper.  I stored mine in the fridge in Tupperware between pieces of parchment paper.

They don't taste exactly like Fudge Covered Ritz, but I really enjoyed them, especially the ones with peppermint.  Sidney, on the other hand, did not like them.  She asked if she could just have a Sociable cracker instead!  I swear, every time I go to the trouble of making a Sidney-friendly treat everyone enjoys it except Sidney.  Oh well!

Happy 2013!

Magic Reindeer Food

Last year we started the tradition of sprinkling Magic Reindeer Food on our front lawn on Christmas Eve to help Santa and his reindeer find our home.

Here are the supplies that you'll need:
- Brown lunch bag
- Brown paper for the reindeer antlers
- Red pom pom ball for Rudolph's nose (or make your own with a red marker)
- Googly eyes (or make your own with white paper and a black marker)
- Gift tag poem (click here for the free printable poem)

Our reindeer food that we include in the bag consists of:
- Uncooked oatmeal
- Sugar
- Glitter (I hate glitter but as long as it stays outside my home I'll tolerate it)
- Red and green candy sprinkles
- Snack bag (you could just put your reindeer food in the brown bag but I like to make sure that glitter does not escape so we put our food in a snack bag inside the brown bag)

And here's what our finished product looks like!

We put the reindeer food out by our "Cookies for Santa" plate and our Reindeer carrot plate so that we remember to sprinkle the food on Christmas Eve.  It's such a busy night and there's a good chance we'd forget otherwise.  

PS - When we visited Santa this year, he told the girls that reindeer like to eat the carrots from the side (not from the end, like a horse).  All these years and I never knew that.  We'll have to check our carrots this year and see if there are any bites out of the side ;)

Ho! Ho! Ho! Merry Christmas!

Dollar Crafts - Clothespin Reindeer

Another day, another Christmas craft.  I think I saw this one on Pinterest and was very excited that (a) it involved painting and (b) we had all the supplies at home.  

Here's what you need for one reindeer:
- 3 clothespins
- 1 short Popsicle stick
- Brown and black paint
- 2 small googly eyes (or you can make your own with white paper and a black marker)
- Small red pom pom ball (or you can make your own with red paper or red paint)
- Hot glue gun (or white glue will do)

Here are some instructions for making the reindeer, although it's pretty self explanatory:
1. Paint the clothespins and Popsicle stick brown.  Once dry, paint the ends of 2 of the clothespins (the ends that you pinch with your fingers) black for the reindeer hooves.
2. Glue the eyes on the remaining clothespin on the end that clamps.
3. Assemble the reindeer and then glue on the nose!

If you have a small jingle bell and some ribbon you could tie it around the reindeer's neck too.  You can also tie some ribbon around the neck to hang on your Christmas tree.