M.I.A. Valentine Decor

I sent the hubby to the basement to retrieve the Valentine decor and...there was Nothing!
OK...not quite nothing. But only a table cloth and some homemade stuff from the girls in years past. So now all I have is my pretty door wreath that I made! How could this be? Don't I have an assortment of cute pink and red hearts or a wreath for the door? Where are all the candles for the holiday dedicated to romance? Still nothing! ZIP! ZERO! ZILCH! NOPE! NADA!

Off to the computer I went and found a fabulous site...Skip to My Lou! Where has this site been hiding in my pursuit of craftiness?! I found this great Valentine banner that was so easy! She has great, simple ideas with FREE templates for her designs! You'll be seeing more "borrowed" ideas to come!

It was set up to make smaller banners but I enlarged each letter to be the size of a full sheet of paper. The smaller version would be great on the kiddos' bedroom doors!

I add glitter to them and strung them on some ribbon....DONE!

Perfect by the photos of the kids. I hope they'll be my Valentines!

A Proper Perch

So I fell in LOVE with this cookbook stand from Wisteria! Isn't it pretty?! I had to have it! I thought the cookbook I was given for Christmas need to be properly displayed in the kitchen and this was just the right way. What a great way to honor mom!


WRONG!

I am amazed at the fact that I think nothing through! I bought a black stand for my black cookbook! DUH! Well...maybe it's not a black stand but it's really dark. It actually looks much lighter in the picture. The cookbook just completely blends into its background.


Here it is with some other books...


Looks lovely open to a beautiful dessert...

Now what?! I'm considering painting it a glossy white. Or I could send it back. I need help!!

What would you do?

My First Award!

I've only been blogging for a short time but I SOOOO wanted an award! Thanks to MaryCatherine at Peaches and Posh for bestowing on me my first "major award"! {that is for all lovers of the movie A Christmas Story} Yeah!

It's the LUV Award! That's seems only appropriate with all the Valentine decor I'm seeing around blogland.


Here are the rules and such...official business I guess to keep the LUV going!

1. Put the logo on your blog or post. (You can highlight the photo and text of this post and copy/paste wherever you need to...start your highlight from the bottom up to get the photo)
2. Nominate at least 10 blogs which show GREAT ATTITUDE and/or GRATITUDE
3. Be sure to link to your nominees within your post.
4. Let them know that they have received this award by commenting on their blog.
5. Share the love and link to this post and to the person from whom you received the award.

To continue the LUV-fest I have to nominate 10 blogs! This proved to be MUCH harder than I thought. Why you ask...or not?! I read my favs everyday but rarely go beyond that list. I think I need to stop being such a snob and check others out. Some of these folks I have been following for months and others I just met this week.

1. Wendy at The Shabby Nest
2. Susie at Bienvenue...
3. Kimba at A Soft Place to Land
4. Jen at I Should Be Cleaning... (she's my friend that go me hooked on blogging)
5. Jena at Not So Shabby
6. Jen R. at Sanctuary Arts at Home
7. Songbirdtiff
8. Pretty Organized Palace
9. Kim at STLMommy
10. The Nester at Nesting Place

Things To Do On a Snowy Day

Have a snow day like much of the country? Here's how we filled ours!

1. Hot chocolate with marshmallows with breakfast!



2. Make sock puppets!

This was a "keep" gift from the birthday party. It was fun but the glue didn't work at all! Translation...I had to sew everything on! Translation...it looks like my kids sewed it on!!

3. Have hubby paint the half bath. It's off the newly painted kitchen so it gets a mini re-do too!

4. Play in the snow. DUH! Like you didn't know that was coming!

5. NAP! Wait...only the little man did that. I went to the store while the girls played Barbies.

6. Make a new chicken recipe. Super easy too!

Mexican Chicken Breast

1 package Taco Bell seasoning

4 chicken breasts

1 cup salsa

1/4 cup non-fat sour cream.

Put chicken and taco seasoning in plastic bag and shake to coat. Place in casserole dish and

bake 30 minutes at 375 degree oven. Top with salsa about 5 minutes before done. Serve

with sour cream.

That's it and the kids LOVED it!

7. Watch the movie Mamma Mia.

How do you fill your snow days?

Tie It Up

In my bloggy travels this week, I found this great wreath for Valentine's Day!

You can find this and other treasures by Lissa at Lissalaneous on Etsy or visit her gallery. She also has clipboards like the ones I created here and a ribbon topiary that is in my future. She has really creative things...go visit her!

I decided to try to make it myself. Off to Hobby Lobby I went...just as the sleet started on Monday night. What a girl won't do for a cute craft project!

This is how my turned out...

Not too shabby for a first attempt! I was too tired to take pictures while I was creating my masterpiece but I will share with you the supplies I used.

12 inch foam wreath

3 yards (should have bought 4) white, wide grosgrain ribbon to cover the wreath

hot glue to secure to ribbon

ribbons of multiple colors and widths (I cut them 10 inches for the thinner ribbons and 11+ inches for wide widths)

I wrapped the wreath with the grosgrain ribbon and secured it with hot glue. I just wanted to cover the foam. This step may not be necessary because the other ribbons covered it well. I cut the small ribbons and started tying...that's it! Easy peasy!!!!

How would I do it differently? I wish I had used a solid pink ribbon. Aside from that, I L.O.V.E. it!

I also bought small heart shaped wreaths to do for each of the kids' bedroom doors. I think I'll let the kids pick out the ribbons and the girls can help with the cutting. What a great snow day project!!

Spring...Please

The hubby bought me this hibiscus for mother's day last year. I don't do well with non-human living things. {Good thing I'm good with human living things...being a nurse and all!} Most (OK-all) of my plants die. This plant did not do great but it's still alive. Yeah! It has been very depressed since it was brought inside for the winter. There hasn't been a flower on it for months. It really has looked sickly despite being in a sunny window.

Then this morning, L shrieked when she saw this beautiful flower.


The plant wants so desperately to be outside that the flower has turned toward the window. :)

Then this come this evening...with more to come. I think the prediction is for 4-8 inches of it!

The hibiscus and I are BOTH ready for spring...PLEASE!

Cute Valentine project tomorrow!

A Mother's Mistake and Her Pride

Last year the girls wanted a bowling birthday party. It was the time that my mom was sick so the party never was planned. (Don't feel bad for them...they went to Disney instead!) So this year it had to be bowling!

When it came time to do the invites, I wanted all the girls in the class...14. Then we also have neighbors that are in the other kindergarten class...they were invited too. Throw in a few cousins and other close friends that couldn't be left out and you have 24 kids! Yes, you read right...24 little girls!

I pride myself on being a mom that doesn't overindulge her kids. So obviously, I lost my mind this time. I failed miserably at a twin mom dilemma! The problem came when L wanted a certain girl and O wanted another. I didn't have enough common sense to correct this problem. Next time (which won't be for a L.O.N.G. time), they will each get to pick a certain number and that's IT!

And so we bowled! And had a GREAT time!


Here is the aftermath of 22 guests buying for twins...

Don't they look happy?

We couldn't even open gifts at the party because it would take too long.

We just had Christmas overload 1 month ago. We just could not keep all these gifts. Before the girls started opening them at home, we had a talk about the generosity of others and ways to be generous in return. It was decided that there would be a "keep" and a "give" pile. The "give" pile is going to one of the area children's hospitals.

The girls were extremely generous with the items they were willing to give. There were no tears or pouting. There were no arguments over what to keep. The picture above was taken after the decision to share was made.

Here is just part of the give pile...

I couldn't be more proud! There are teachable moments all around us, we just have to open our hearts and minds to see them.