Leftovers?

Do you have left over candy canes from Christmas?

I didn't. At least not in the mini variety.

I had to search many an after-Christmas sale to find these. I finally found them at Walgreen's.

I wanted to try making these cute hearts that I'd seen all over the blog-o-sphere.

Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper. De-wrapper the candy canes. Put the candy canes together in twos and bake.

They melt into this cute little heart shape. (Sometimes I had to pinch the ends together to form the point.)

I also made these lollipops with cherry flavored candy canes. Think the pre-schoolers will like them for their Valentine's Day party?

Techy Valentines

Ok, last Valentine post... my kids and I made 75 of these Valentine candy cell phone's for their class mates.

I was told they were a hit and that the kids were talking and texting for the rest of the day.
Good thing the party was held at the end of school. :o)

The buttons were made from those "button candies" with the paper backing. Making 75 was a lot, but it actually went much faster than I anticipated. It was fun to make Valentines, instead of just purchasing and write names on all of them.

FHE

Last Monday, Taylee was in charge of the lesson for Family Home Evening. I usually like to help or assist my kids in planning and executing the lesson. This time, Taylee said she wanted to do it all on her own.

First, she talked about how Valentine's Day was coming up. She asked us what Valentine's Day meant to us. Some of the answers were; candy, cards, parties, etc. We eventually got around to love and service. Then we did a little activity she had planned. She had written down things for us to talk about or do, on little hearts. We each took turns drawing a heart out and doing what it said. Some of them were;
"Think of why you love somebody. Think of a family memory. Tell why you like Valentine's Day. Talk about somebody. Say the 11th Article of Faith. Why did Taylee do this lesson? Hug someone. Think of someone you love. Act like someone and let the rest try to guess. Think of a memory with Rylee. Think of a memory with mom and dad. What day is coming up? Happy Valentine's Day!"
The activity went over well. I felt the spirit as we expressed our love for one another and as we talked about each other and our good memories. One thing that I thought was so cute was that before we started the activity she reminded us that what we said HAD to be positive and nice. She also made it a point to write it on the activity envelope; "Remember only tell positive things about each other!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" (There were 19 exclamation points after the phrase.)

Next, we brainstormed different things we could do, as service, for our family members.

Then, she handed out little hearts that said, "Happy Valentine's Day!" and challenged us to do acts of service for our family, in the upcoming week. As we did our act of service, we were to leave our heart behind. Then we were to write our service down and put it in the nicely decorated box she had provided. She also let us know that we could do more than ONE service.

Last night, we opened the service box and read all the things we had done for each other. It was fun to see that we ALL participated and even did more than just ONE. Whew!

I'm so proud of Taylee. She did such a wonderful job with the lesson. Maybe I need to back off more often and just let things go.

Valentine Surprise

It's finally safe to post, now that Valentine's Day has passed...

A group of us got together and decided to create Valentines for our husbands. We were each supposed to do 7 Valentines, of 2 different types. That way we would have 14 different Valentines, 1 for each day leading up to Valentine's Day. After creating them, we got together for a little potluck brunch and exchanged our sweet sentiments.

Marianne was our idea originator and super hostess.
Jaime, Kim, Karen, Amber, Bethany and I participated too.

We had a yummy selection of brunch food;
sausage biscuits, quiche, muffins, sweet breads, croissants, fruit, juice and more.

All the Valentines turned out so cute and all so different. Here's what we each went home with:

Large paper fortune cookie with Hershey hugs/kisses inside.
"Your future will be filled with sweet hugs and kisses."









Car air freshener
"Every moment with you, is like a breath of fresh air!"











Hand warmer packet
"Within the touch of your hand lies the power to warm my heart."











BBQ Sauce
"Baby, your love is soooo.... Rich & Sassy."









Pen
"We're simply 'write' for each other!"









Ladybug card
"I'll keep bugging you 'til you say you'll be mine."











Chinese takeout box with "fortune cookie"
"It's my good fortune to have you Valentine!"










Bliss chocolates
"You bring me pure bliss."









Snickerdoodle cookies
"You are my snickerdoodle sweetheart."











M&Ms
"You melt my heart, just by holding my hand."












Can of nuts
"I'm nuts about U!"









Paper cell phone with candy buttons
"You really push my buttons Valentine!"







Crunch candy
"You always help out when I'm in a crunch, that's one of the reasons I love you a bunch."







Heart card
"My heart is yours, now and always!"

This was such a fun idea. I loved making my Valentines, getting together for brunch and most of all being able to leave a little sweet note for my husband, each day, on his pillow.
I hope he knows how much I love and appreciate him.
Happy Valentine's Day!