OUES Celebrates Valentines' Day

The Valentine parties at OUES were great this year!  Lots of candy, games, and crafts with lots of friends. 

The boxes were created in half the time as previous years, and they turned out perfect.  The boys' friends and teachers thought they were awesome.

The treats were a big hit with the friends, but the teachers were happy to see them go home.  Hahaha!  Score!

CHCS Valentine Party

Ridley had a sweet little Valentine party at Chapel Hill.  She was all smiles as she decorated her heart cookie and chatted with her friends.

One of her best buddies is Cade.  They have been in the same class for two years, and they get along really well.  He is a rough and tumble boy, and she is used to crazy boys.  

Ridley and I worked ahead of time to make these heart shaped crayons.  I don't know how many more years these will be our go to treat, but they were perfect for another year.  I enjoy the time that we spend together making these little treasures.  

When it came to posing for a picture, Ridley played shy.  She is a silly mess, and she looked adorable.

Valentine Photo Booth

The littles had a Valentine photo booth at their pre-school.  I giggled when I received the proofs.  The first one breaks my heart, because it is so obvious that Reed wasn't feeling it.

He somehow gets it together for a forced smile.

Ridley is playing coy or a little Dr. Evil with her pinkie in her mouth. 

These children crack me up!  Happy Valentines' Day!

CHCS Valentines

I dropped off two adorable little ones today with all their Valentine goodies.  Reed was the talk of the school with his dear stand box, and he was so proud.

Ridley was playing hard to get this morning.  She refused to smile and after several tries, I gave up.  She still looked precious in her heart dress.

In the afternoon, I joined Reed at his Valentine party. They had this large note pad that each student said what they love.  Our sweet Reed said mom and dad. My heart melts...

Sweet Reed getting all sugared up with an ice cream sundae full of toppings!

Look who is finally smiling!  Miss Riddles had a great party!

Valentine Crafting

It is serious Valentine prep time at our house.  Ryland and I finished home created valentine cards with melted Crayon hearts.  He was excited about the deer head stamp and camo paper.

The finished Crayon hearts packaged in camo.

The Valentine box ended up perfect!  It is a great dear stand.

Valentines

The boys spotted their Valentine treats, and they were begging to open the gifts.  I loved the oversized heart glasses.  So fun and silly!

Valentine Partying

It was time to celebrate LOVE!  All the cards and candies are stuffed and ready to give to all of the friends.  Ridley and Reed joined me in celebrating with Ryland's class.  It was total craziness, but all smiles.

The story of little love monsters were an inspiration for a craft.  Ryland's love monster turned out looking a bit like a devil.

Reed and Ridley posed for pictures and this is the best one I could get.  Those two!

Ryland and his buddy, Campbell, in their Valentine shirts.  Watch out ladies!

Valentine's Party at CHCS

Reed and his sweet friend, Mac, cheese it up after the party.  These two sweethearts are definitely going to be heartbreakers.

We had fun making crafts.

Ridley took over as the teacher, and all the children laughed.

Valentine Box

Directions for Valentines came home a week ago.  Fifteen cards that needed to be signed and addressed by Ryland.  He would also need a bag or box to collect cards.  We worked on the cards a few days in advance, and Ryland picked out a gift bag with colorful hearts.  He was all set, so I packed everything in his book bag.

Around 11PM, I crawled into bed, and I flipped through Facebook on my phone.  I saw all of these "Valentine boxes".  Completely over the top, Pinterest, Martha Stewart crafted boxes filled my news feed.  Immediately, I knew I could not send Ryland to school with his heart gift bag.  Back up and ready to craft.  I mod podged a head of Steve from Minecraft on a cereal box.  

The next morning, Ryland was so shocked.  His expression made my hours of work so worthwhile.  He loved it and was excited to show it off at school.

Valentine Parties

Today was all about Valentine parties with the boys.  Reed's class held a cookie decorating party.  There is nothing quite as funny as a bunch of two and three year olds with icing and sprinkles.  Reed smeared icing all over one cookie until he covered every bit of it.  He then added a bunch of sprinkles.  He refused to decorate his other cookie.  He said he didn't want to decorate that one, because that was the one he was going to eat.  Smart boy!

Ryland's class had ice cream sundaes, and he couldn't get enough chocolate syrup and M&Ms.  He ate every bit of it, and he soon had a massive sugar high.  The class attempted to play a game of Valentine bingo, but the attention spans were lacking. He loves anything sweet and would eat sugar by the spoonfuls.  

Happy Valentine's Day

Ryland and Reed are all about hugs and love today!

 

Art workshop

 

Our play group met at a Southlake art studio to create a masterpiece.  The workshop was Valentine themed and created the perfect gift for Dad.  The boys traced hearts and painted with watercolor and glitter paints.

 

The art studio had a beautiful view of a field with two horses and a very friendly dog relaxing by the door.  He was a huge hit with the kids, and as soon as they caught sight of him, the art wasn't as interesting for the boys.



Finished Valentines

It feels like we have been working on crayon hearts for a long time, but I am so glad we got an early start on them.  Ryland and Reed have adorable handmade treats for all their classmates.  Happy coloring with love!

 

Making hearts

I made the mistake of browsing Pintrest for Valentine treats for Ryland and Reed's class.  I found tons of adorable ideas, but we picked heart shaped crayons.  We found a pan at Ross that would work great, so we got an early start by giving it a try. 

It took a little while to get the paper off the crayons, but the first batch turned out really cute. The boys thought it was super cool that they could color with hearts. Only three more batches, before we can package them and call it complete. 

My Valentines

Before taking the boys to school today, I had to take a quick picture of my handsome boys in their Valentine shirts. Ryland wasn't feeling the love yet this morning, but Reed was ready to give a cheesy smile. It cracks me up how different their personalities are. I love them to pieces!

Valentine party

Instead of a normal play group Monday, we had our annual moms' league Valentine party. It was totally nuts with kids running and jumping around with full bellies of sugar cookies and iced doughnuts. Ryland was in and out of the bounce house, and Reed was on the move everywhere. I didn't think about the photo attire, but we went ahead and took a keepsake picture. I love that my precious sweethearts smiled and played along. We had a crazy, but fun, morning with our friends with lots of sugar.

Glasses or masks

We couldn't decide if this adorable eyewear were glasses or masks. They were just one of the many Valentine treats in the box from Nana. Ryland wore them on his head like Mommy's sunglasses for a while before...
John Chris got in on the fun. He put Reed's pair on and acted silly with Ryland. I love how Ryland has his on upside down. So funny!

Making Valentines

Ryland and I worked on his Valentine cards while Reed took a nice long nap. Ryland picked out cute foam robots, and I thought they would be a fun project for us. I was a little shocked when I laid all of the foam pieces out on the table. I quickly realized these robots were going to take some time. Ryand and I assembled and talked about who he was going to give them to. He named the kids in his class and Reed, and Cooper, and Daddy. It was a great to watch and listen to him. Some robots turned out a bit straighter than others, but they are still cute as a button.

After I snapped a picture of Ryland, he wanted the camera. He immediately turned the camera on me. He caught me counting and stacking the finished robots.

Valentine pictures

Ryland had some valentine pictures made, and they finally came in today. They could not be delivered in time because FedEx had major weather delays due to the snow last week. Sorry we are late, but it was worth the wait. The minute he saw the heart shaped box he had to sit in it, and the heart background quickly turned into a game. Slap the hearts!

(I know I am a total picture nut, but I want to capture every little moment.)

Happy Valentine's Day

We had the best Valentine's Day ever this year. I know it sounds lame, but we didn't do flowers, gifts, or a fancy dinner. We only exchanged cards and had grilled chicken for dinner. Very romantic!

John Chris and I picked out a card for Ryland. It was one of those sappy, tell me your feelings kind of card. We know it wasn't kid friendly. It didn't even have a bright cute picture on it; however, it did say just how we feel about him. One day it can read it and be moved.

The card did come with an awesome red envelope, and it was a hit.

After we finished dinner, we were all sitting in the floor playing when Ryland started walking between us. He has been holding our finger for stability for a while, but tonight he actually let go and walked by himself. It was only 4 steps, but we were elated.

I was pretty sure Cooper wouldn't appreciate a card, so I picked him up a new toy. I knew he loved it because he ran under the dining table to hide.