The {Big Easy} Thalgotts: Valentine's Day Recap

So, it's time to recap Valentine's Day happenings from this year. And that wasn't even that long ago, right?! For me, it feels like this is practically a current event compared to the way my blogging has been in recent months! So, this post is going to have a whole lot of randomness attached as it's just that...random Valentine events at our house!

So, for starters, here are the valentines for this year. I have seen this idea floating around the world wide web for the last few years and I've always wanted to do it. And have always forgot about it when the time came. So, this year, I happened to remember it a couple weeks before Valentine's Day and jumped on it. It was easy and super fun. The boys loved it and I loved that it involved them in the process so much. They gave them to friends in class, at church, and at playgroup, and even mailed some off to family in Idaho. They were so excited for everyone to get them and they would wake up and say "do you think Grandma got my valentine today?" or "maybe I could call Cash and see if he got my valentine". They loved hearing from those that got them. It was just FUN, all the way around!

And Tyler's only assignment for his class valentines was that he had to write his own name on all of them, so I left that space blank on the print and he did the rest. And what a fine job he did, if I must say!

February got the crafty bug in me and I just wanted to make everything in sight and I felt like I had so many ideas I wanted to do, if only I had the time to do them all! After seeing a few different things on blogs, I came up with this little wall hanging. Super easy with a printed out font and some heart punches and spray paint. I was loving the red/pink/teal combo this year (which is saying a lot for this girl who has always been a lover of black/red/white!).

Valentine's Day cannot come without lots of yummy treats, right?! So we had heart shaped layered brownies with raspberry frosting.

And never in my household will there be a Valentines Day without heart shaped sugar cookies. They taste better on Valentines Day, I swear it!

After Tyler's school party and Sam's playgroup party, the boys came home and sorted through their loot. And they both found green Fun Dips and went to town on them. Isn't the green mouth irresistible?!

I gave Tyler this Scooby Doo book for Valentine's Day this year...he loves Scooby Doo and he loves to read, so I figured it was a perfect combo and he'd be super excited. And boy, was I right!! It was so funny how something so simple could bring him so much happiness. :) He kept saying thank you over and over again and saying it was the best day ever and that he just loved it so much, etc, etc, etc. I'm all for $3 gifts that are better than anything else on the planet!!

But of course, the best Valentines were the ones made with little hands! The Smarties butterfly was darling and after Tyler received his new book, he holed himself up in his room and made each of us our very own valentine. I tell you, that boy is so sweet! He drew all the hearts and wrote our names on all of them and wrote a number on the front. I asked him what the numbers meant and he said that he wrote our age on all of them. :) So I will forever hold on to my "Mom29" valentine since I'm never turning 30, you know! And when Garrett walked in the door with a bag from Zales, Tyler said "Oh, Mom!!! I think Dad must've done good getting you diamonds!!" That boy pays way too close attention to commercials. But he was right, Dad did good!

More craftiness...I made an 'I Love You' banner to match my wall hanging and made some faux chenille heart pillows. I found the tutorial for the pillows HERE. And of course, I had to include Tyler's cute mailbox he made at school out of an empty kleenex box.

And since nothing says love like x's and o's, I made a burlap tic tac toe board. I was inspired by the one here, but changed it up quite a bit. I wanted mine to be portable so I could take it in our church bag. The one on the tutorial didn't seem very easy to take and go. So, I painted my board onto the burlap and then sewed it onto a piece of fabric (which happened to be some cloth napkins we got for our wedding almost 11 years ago and never used. I figured why not use them? I could have picked cuter fabric, but also loved using something that was just sitting around anyways). When I sewed it on to the fabric, I also sewed 2 snack sized ziploc bags into the edge to keep the x's and o's in as I figured they'd be lost in 5 minutes flat if I didn't have some way to store them. And to finish it off, I wanted some sort of enclosure, so I added that to the outside. I thought they turned out really fun and I made a few as gifts too. I hope they are being enjoyed by others as well!

It sure has been a big hit at our house and I love having it in my church bag for the boys (until they start fighting over who gets to be x's and who is o's, of course!!).