Valentine's Day 2014

Aunt Laura sent the kids valentine's in the mail:  "Happy Valentine's Day For "Crayon" Out Loud."

Family Night Valentines. We each made a heart for each member of the family. We wrote on the hearts, "I love ____ because____."

Man friendly Valentine's Day card #thanksdatingdivas

Sweet surprise #2 #vdayisforsurprises

Snack surprise for the kids! #vdayisforsurprises

Valentine's Day 2013

Happy Valentine's Day!
I made valentines for Sam and the kids and left them
on their chairs so they'd find them at breakfast time.
For a special treat, I whipped up some mini peanut butter cookie muffins
with a Hershey kiss and M&Ms inside.

Also, I made candied pretzels.

I love Sam and how he puts up with having the camera in his face.

And I sure do love my three kids!

Surprising Great Grandma Hallstrom on her 82nd birthday!#heartattackedherfrontdoor#hotcocoakit #newbook #birthday

More candy, please!

Brian's classmates all wrote one nice thing about him for Valentine's Day

HaPPy VaLeNTiNE's DaY!!!

Here's what our living room and the mirror in our dining room looked like on Valentine's Day.  Pretty festive, wouldn't ya say?  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Katie sported this outfit.  Her shirt says "Mommy's Love Bug."  I made her headband out of two pieces of ribbon and some velcro. Can you tell that teething is not fun for her?

In the morning, Tyler and I hung out in the kitchen.  We made chocolate cupcakes with vanilla frosting.  We poked a toothpick through a Ju Ju Heart candy and into the top of each cupcake.

I gave Sam and my kids heart attacks for Valentine's Day.  I didn't end up in the hospital either.  Confused?!  My version of a "heart attack" is cutting paper into heart shapes and taping a whole bunch of them on their bedroom doors.  My little boys appreciated the heart attack the most.  

Brian came come with a large statsh of Valentines and candy from his teachers and classmates.  He had a "super fun day at school 'cuz there was a party."

Sam surprised me that day.  He got off of work earlier than usual and came home with Quizno sandwiches and roses for me.  It was so nice to not have to cook dinner.  

Holidays are so much fun when you have a husband and kids to celebrate with you.

"Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil, but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails."   1 Corinthians 13:4

Happy Valentine's Day!

Happy Valentine's Day! 

This morning, my boys woke up to this on the back of their bedroom door: 

They were so excited that they got a "heart attack" from their Mommy and Daddy.  Then as they got to the kitchen, they were greeted with this scene: 

I had some extra cards that I made for Card Club and wrote out a nice love note to each of my boys.  Don't I have three good lookin' Valentines?!

Brian, Tyler, and I made french toast and orange juice for breakfast.  After breakfast, the boys went on a search for numbered hearts (Brian's learning his numbers) and they found some candy at the end of the search.  I made homemade chocolate chip truffles and these tasty pretzels: 

I promised Sam that I would make our traditional Valentine's treat, no bake cherry cheesecake.  My little boys insisted on helping.  The cheesecake didn't look beautiful but it made with love.  We had one of my favorite meals for dinner, balsamic pork and pasta along with some homemade bread. 

We hope all of you had a fun Valentine's Day too!  Isn't this the sweetest preschool project ever?!  In case you can't read it, the heart says, "I love you THIS much!"

Preschool Party

Brian's preschool class had a Valentine's Day party last week. Brian had so much fun getting his Scooby Doo valentines ready. He wanted to give all the boys the big valentines and the girls got the smaller ones. When Brian hopped off the bus that afternoon, he ran inside and showed me all of his loot:

He wasn't as excited about the valentines as he was about all the candy. Somehow, I forgot about getting candy from my classmates along with a valentine... WhOoPs! Hopefully, we'll remember to include candy next year.

While sharing the candy and going through Brian's valentines, I came across my favorite one:

After all the candy Brian ate that day, he sure was "High-Flying." I guess Spiderman is not only a superhero, but a mind reader as well. Haha :P

New Tradition

What did you do on Valentine's Day? I thought it would be fun for my family if we chose a few people to receive "heart attacks" from us. That doesn't sound very kind, does it?! Well these were not just any "heart attacks," they were extra special because they didn't hurt anyone. We delivered some of the "heart attacks" the night before Valentine's Day and some during the day on Valentine's Day. Anyway, Brian and I spent along time getting everything ready. We drew tons of hearts, wrote messages on them, and cut them out. Brian did a pretty good job using the scissors. Then we made the Cookie Dough Truffles and arranged them on a plate along with a Valentine's Day card. It was freezing on delivery night. Brian had so much fun sticking the hearts on the doors. But when we were decorating Grandma Hallstrom's door, Brian was too cold to help out. He just walked around in circles saying, "freeze, freeze, freeze." We had such a fun time as a family. This is definitely a new family tradition for us.



Cookie Dough Truffles

1/2 C. softened butter
3/4 C. brown sugar
2 C. flour
1 can sweetened condensed milk
1 tsp. vanilla
1/2 C. mini semi sweet chocolate chips
1 1/2 lbs. semi sweet chocolate chips (melted)

Cream butter and brown sugar until light and fluffy. Add flour, milk, vanilla. Stir in mini chocolate chips. It will be sticky. Chill dough in fridge overnight. Shape dough into 1/2 in. balls. Place in fridge 1-2 hours. Melt 1 1/2 lbs. chocolate chips. Roll balls in melted chocolate and place on waxed paper in fridge.



On Valentine's Day, it snowed on and off throughout the day. In the morning, Sam took Brian to his first Primary Activity. They called it a Pajama and Pancake Party. The kids got to go to church in their pajamas and enjoy a pancake breakfast with the bishopric and their Primary teachers. The kids got to play a few games as well. Sam gave me some red roses, which was very thoughtful. I wrote Sam a love note, made him a yummy dinner, and gave him is own bag of M&Ms. After dinner, Sam took Brian outside to build a snowman. Too bad the snow wasn't packing snow. This is the best snowman that they could come up with. Oh well, they still had fun and got to have hot chocolate afterwards. It was a fun day.

Tyler's First Date!

Hey, baby girls! This is Tyler again! I know you're all dying to hear about my Valentine's Day date with Clara. So here goes:

Before leaving on my date, I knew that I would need lots of money. So I broke open my piggy bank. I took all the money and put it in my wallet. I got dressed up and went to have a quick chat with Mommy.



Mommy warned me that Clara lived far away and she couldn't drive me all the way to Boise, Idaho. So I took matters into my own hands. Since I was trying my best to impress Clara, the Birthday Girl, I felt I should arrive in style. So, I flew up to the Boise, Idaho airport (in my private jet) where I met up with Clara and her family. Clara looked absolutely gorgeous and her family was very nice.

Mommy also warned me before my date that girls want to be treated like a lady at all times. Because I haven't been around girls much, I wasn't sure what it meant to "treat her like a lady." But I knew what a treat was... so I had lots of "treats" planned for Clara.

The first "treat" was a ride in a limo. Not just any limo... a pink limo. I heard that pink was her favorite color.


Having never been to Boise before, the lovely Clara thought it would be nice to show me around her hometown in the limo. She showed me lots of her favorite places. We got hungry and I told our chauffeur to take us to IHOP.


I was a gentleman and opened the doors for Clara and helped her to her seat. We enjoyed our meal there. I knew that her favorite meal was waffles and syrup, so we got waffles. The waitress said that they didn't serve waffles with syrup, but I "treated" her with something new to try... Belgian waffles.


They were very tasty. Clara and I each had a straw and ended up sipping our orange juice out of the same cup. It was fun and I think we both got the hang of using straws now. No more bottles or sippy cups for us! A little bit of whipped cream ended up on her nose. Clara put a little whipped cream on my nose so that we would match. I was beginning to think that Clara really liked me. I couldn't help but think to myself, if all continues to go well, this could be me in a few years:
Oh...that is one LUCKY BOY!

After our dinner, we hopped back in the limo. We decided to go on a walk at Julia Davis Park. We had a blast feeding the ducks.


After we ran out of crackers, the ducks followed us for a bit. They finally left as we reached the edge of the pond. I decided to make a big move. I was brave and held Clara's hand. She squeezed my hand, looked at me and smiled. Awww...that made me feel good.


When Clara was in the restroom to freshening up, I bought her another "treat" at a conveniently located flower stand:



I surprised Clara with the flowers and a big wet kiss:



WoWeE...the kiss was amazing! Our chauffeur took us back to Clara's place. We chatted for a few minutes about all the fun we had. I gave her a quick hug she went inside.

***Summary of the night:

My wallet may be empty


but my heart is full.

I AM IN LOVE!!!

Thanks for the fun date, Clara! You are a great gal and I can't wait to see you again!