Valentines Day

Feeling The February Love

Somehow we are already well on our way into February and I do not even know where January went. It felt like winter was ending and we were starting to get excited for spring. I even unpacked all our spring clothes to launder and freshen up. Florals were definitely in the air! Then BAM! A massive dump of snow and back down to minus twenty. I almost felt like I should be digging all of the Christmas decorations out and setting up again for festive fun. Don’t worry – that did not happen! For now we are just weathering ‘the storm’ and trying to embrace the pretty white snow that has covered my yard yet again. So much for seeing grass last week. We do however have a sunny and beautiful weekend on our hands though and with any luck, it will melt away in a hurry. Though it may be pretty we are VERY over winter. Ready for sun-kissed noses and hardened summer feet from running around bare foot all day. Yes we still have to wait a bit for that but one can dream of warmer temps.

So where have the last few weeks gone exactly. Well we started sleep training our little guy so there was ten days of my life there where it all seemed to blend into one stressful mess. The sleep training wasn’t even the hard part. It was more the fact that we were simultaneously trying to get both kids into one room. A two-year old and a six month old don’t exactly make the best roommates right off the bat. Luckily my mom was headed out-of-town for ten days and we were able to use her suite. So one parent would sleep downstairs with Hallie while the other would sleep up with Jackson. This worked great for the kids but I for one was really missing sharing a bed with my husband! Bigger picture though, it was worth it. While Hallie was getting by sleeping in a playpen (my poor TALL girl), Jackson went from five wake ups and three weddings to one wake up and feeding. ONE! After tackling that, it was time to transition the roommate situation. Our first attempt was one big fail. It was like a symphony between the two of them who could cry the loudest and longest. We maybe last twenty minutes before giving up and splitting them up again. The next night though, we had no choice. Grandma had returned home and we needed to give her space back. Surprisingly, it didn’t go TOO bad. Each night gets better too. There are definitely challenges to sharing a room at these ages. If one cries the other one seems to wake. Hallie has also reverted to waking up a bit more. I have faith we will eventually get there though and they will not mind sharing a room at all. Hopefully everyone will sleep better too. It may not be perfect right now but its manageable. Next house though, separate rooms are a must!

On top of sleep training we have had a couple of colds, one more potty training attempt, six month immunizations for the little one, lots of giggles and snuggles, a handful of play dates, and everything in between. Jackson is now on solids and eats three meals a day. The kid likes to eat, should be no surprise there. Other than her getting into constant mischief and him trying to crawl, the days seem to just be flying by and with each day, those two team up on me a little more. Feeling outnumbered and loving almost every minute of it.

Valentines Day is on Tuesday and usually I am much more prepared! There are heart garlands hung and heart-shaped cookies everywhere. Oh and glitter. Lots of glitter. This year I seem to have dropped the ball a bit. I will see if I can get something done in time but you can bet your boots we will have heart-shaped pancakes morning of. We also are attending a Valentines Day lunch at a friends. Three or four mommas with double the amount of babies….perhaps it should be a liquid lunch! I am sure there will be plenty of photo ops among the chaos. Even if I am not ready for the holiday of love, Pinterest is and I would love to share some favourites with you. These Strawberry Funfetti Pancakes would be so much fun for the kiddos, not to mention tasty. I also LOVE these Heart Shaped Pizzas for a toddler snack idea. If you are into making homemade cards for your loved ones, like we are, there are some super cute and corny ideas in this link for Cards. I think this garland is the SWEETEST and would make a cute surprise to wake up to on Valentines morning. Nothing says Valentines Day like flowers; I love getting away from your standard roses and doing something a little outside the box. These wild flowers in mason jars would be perfect scattered around the house, kitchen or part of a tablescape. Don’t forget kid’s themed pjs are an absolute MUST for all holidays, like these heart ones from Carters. When it comes to Valentines Day, I could go on forever. Thank you Pinterest for sucking up two hours of my life today.

Hope you are all having a wonderful weekend and enjoying whatever crazy weather you might be having!

Untitled

Untitled

Advertisement

Valentines Day Fun

Valentines Day is this weekend! The holiday of looooooooove! I have always loved this holiday. Not that I have ever had an over-the-top, full of romance day…. Before I met my husband this day was definitely NOT one to look forward to. In fact, I would often make a cocktail date with other single girlfriends and get way too intoxicated on wine. But Henry and I have had a few good ones now for sure. For the life of me, I cannot remember last year’s Valentines Day. Hallie would have been four months old so perhaps I was still in sleep deprivation HELL and not able to recall all, or many for that matter, moments. It’s also very close to my birthday so perhaps it was overshadowed by that. Who knows?! One thing I do know that it was a day where we celebrated our commitment to each other in our marriage, something we try to remember to do as often as we possibly can! I would say daily but life gets in the way, let’s be honest. This year, we will be visiting family in Grand Forks for the weekend so we will be spending Valentines Day there. Won’t be a very romantic day between hubby and wife but I am determined to make it a great day for everyone, babies included. Hallie is still too young but she has noticed the abundance of hearts in our home, and even assisted in making Valentines this afternoon. Girlfriend definitely has a thing for arts & crafts, just like her momma! Now if she would just behave on our shopping excursions to Michaels…

Have you taken a look on Pinterest for Valentines related pins? So many cute ideas! This Reeces Pieces idea would be perfect for my husband as he LOVES those chocolates to bits and pieces (see what I did there?!). I am also LOVING this decor idea with the branches and tiny pink hearts. Bit late now and I do not have any spare branches on hand, believe it or not, but a next year craft for sure! Lastly, these hearts are just cute to boot. I don’t know what I would do with them (maybe assemble a garland over the fireplace?) but I think they would be super fun and easy to make. Aside from a few heart garlands and some festive bouquets, my house is on the minimalist side for V-Day decor. Shame on me, better luck next holiday! What sort of decor have you selected to celebrate the loooooove?

Though today was supposed to involve road trip prep and packing, Hallie and I spent most of the day cuddling, trying to get rid of our annoying colds. Hers more than mine unfortunately. FYI, when your child is not feeling well, maybe avoid giving them milk… It’s a real treat to have a curdled, cottage-cheese like liquid hurtled all over you as soon as you change out of the last shirt she spread her breakfast all over. So much for avoiding doing laundry before we leave! Poor kid… Despite that incident, she was mostly all smiles for the day. It’s amazing what Curious George can do. Between cuddles, I managed to get some serious baking and card making done. We made DELICIOUS strawberry shortcake cookies with chocolate chips (recipe here), home-cooked sweet potato for Hallie’s dinners this weekend, and cheese and chive scones with a melted butter glaze. YUM! They were intended for the drive up but I promise you they won’t last. As far as card making went, Hallie and I made Valentines for daddy! She contributed by ripping up pieces of pink paper for hers. It was so much fun! I think we have definitely started a new tradition of making our own Valentines versus buying them. Which also makes me curious about Valentines Day traditions. Do you have any that you repeat every year with your husband or family? I would love to start a few! Looks like I have something else to search for on Pinterest….. !!!!
Have a wonderfully romantic Valentines Day weekend everyone!

COOKIES!!
Untitled

Untitled

First time @ making scones…. Filing under easy and delicious!
Untitled

Valentines Day Card Making – courtesy of Pinterest ideas of course!
Untitled

Untitled

Untitled

Untitled