Big Bear

We spent this past weekend in Big Bear with  Besta, Amanda, Aunt Kim and Uncle Nils. There was pizza-making, Valentine exchange, movies, waffles with berries, a trip to the Moonridge Animal Park, cupcakes for Aunt Kim's birthday, Nora's first taste of snow and lots and lots of sledding.

 

We also spent last Valentine's Day in Big Bear.

Printable, Colorable Valentines

I wanted Sylvie to have a hand in helping to make her Valentines, but since we need a lot of them, one small part to color on each is perfect for her. Here are two I made for her, in case you need some colorable Valentines.
Robot Valentine

Octopus Valentine

Valentine's Prep (& Candy-free Valentine Round-up)

We love Valentine's Day around here. It is such a fun holiday for kids to celebrate friendship. Sylvie has been up to her elbows in doilies, stickers and glitter for several days now.
[Check out her Valentine-making last year too.]

And how exciting is a school party with a big mailbox stuffed full of Valentine's? When it comes to school Valentine's, we like to go with a sugar-free treat to hand out to friends. This year we made heart-shaped crayons. For some of our local friends we also made Valentine's play dough using our basic play dough recipe, tinting it pink, scenting it with vanilla and kneading in silver glitter.

If you are looking for some non-candy treats for Valentine's Day, here's some other ideas I have seen around.

Katie Brown's Round-up 
Bubbles 
Socks
Tattoos or stickers 
Jello Hearts 

Peanuts

Valentine Notebooks

Fruit

Printable Matching Game

Heart Fruit Roll-Ups

Sylvie's teacher gift this year (tag found here):

We do have some sugary treats for the holiday. Especially for my sweet-toothed husband, who will be finding this sweet treat hidden in his school bag tomorrow:

Valentine's in Big Bear!

Our godson Logan turned 4 last week and requested a sledding celebration in Big Bear. This weekend also happened to be Valentine's Day, a perfect day for feeling snowy and cozy. And, according to Thomas' mom, Big Bear has recently gotten the most snowfall since 1968. Check out the front of the cabin!We got up to the cabin Saturday afternoon, just in time for lunch and birthday cake.
Followed by snowman making...
and sledding.

Sunday morning we exchanged Valentines and made chocolate chip pancakes with raspberry jam.
And then headed out for more fun in the snow...
I think the birthday boy had fun!
My favorite part of the weekend was watching Sylvie and Logan play together. It's the first time I've heard her really have back-and-forth conversations with a friend. And conversations between a 2 and a 4 year-old are the cutest!
Happy Birthday, Logan, we love you!

Valentine's Day

We are getting ready to go up to the mountains for the weekend, so Sylvie and I had to get our Valentine's Day prep work done early. For crafty girls like Sylvie and I, V-Day is so much fun. [We also love Chinese New Year, which falls on the same day as Valentine's Day this year. We are going to concentrate on that one next week, I don't think anyone will mind.]

We have been cutting up some of Sylvie's recent paintings and turning them into heart garland for some great fine motor lacing practice...

For Sylvie's school friends, I had originally wanted to do these banana Valentines, but the day before we needed to have them ready it was pouring rain and I just wasn't going to head out in a thunderstorm to buy 5 bananas (we had only 3 overly ripe mushy ones at home). So Sylvie ended up coloring the Whale you be my Valentine? Valentine over at kaboose.com for each of her friends.
Ready to hand them out at school! These got handed out during circle time, with Sylvie getting to give one to each friend. Very special.
For grandparents, we made salt dough hearts that we baked in the oven. Sylvie painted them and gave them eyes (she is of the opinion that EVERYTHING needs eyes) and then we cut up one of those realtor magnets and glued the pieces to the back to make V-Day magnets.

I don't want to reveal too much and ruin the surprise of Sylvie's Valentine's card for Daddy. But I will say that it's a version of this and Sylvie is very excited about it (see above re Sylvie's love of wiggly eyes).

Happy Valentine's Day, everybody!

[Valentine's Day 2009]

Happy Valentine's Day!

We spent the morning exchanging our Valentines which is extra fun due to our strict "handmade only" Valentine policy. Sylvie and I used this template to make Daddy a "Nuts About You" chocolate bar with our pictures on it. It was a hit and, yes, there was chocolate consumed before 9 am. Then we spent the afternoon at Sylvie's friend Koa's Valentine's party down at the Bay. After several days of cold and rain, we were so thrilled to have a beautiful day to share with our friends.

Sylvie and Daddy caught (and threw back) a sea snail in their net. My 2 sweet Valentines...

A family portrait + our friend Aaron...

Sylvie and Mama...

Before his guests left, Koa gave a rose to each of his lady friends. And he's only (almost) 2! We are keeping an eye on this ladies man as well. Of course, Sylvie left the party with her one true Valentine, Daddy.

Now Sylvie is off to bed and next up is Thomas' annual Valentine's dinner. Since I am typically the default dinner cooker around here, every year on Valentine's Day Thomas goes all out cooking a fantastic Valentine's dinner feast. Tonight's menu is cornish game hens with stuffing, mashed potatoes and brussel sprouts, followed by brownies with ice cream. Yum.

Happy Valentine's Day Everybody. We hope you are spending it with somebody you love. xoxo