Making and Decorating Valentine Boxes by Daveswife

 Holiday Crafts  No Responses »
Feb 032012
 

Day 2: Make & Decorate Valentine Boxes

When Alex woke up this morning, the first thing he did was come into the kitchen to check on the Valentine Countdown Calendar . . . to see if there was anything in the little heart marked #2.
 
 
 
We waited until after all their homework was completed and supper had been consumed before we started on the Valentine boxes.  I cheated a little and bought the boxes at the Dollar Tree.  I had initially considered decorating shoe boxes like I did as a child, but decided to use the ones at the dollar store instead. . . so much easier for this Valentine Fairy!  :)
 
 
 
Stickers came with the boxes . . . I bought some glitter glue sticks too . . .
 
 
 
 
 
 
The finished Valentine boxes were beautiful.  Zach said that his was like abstract art . . .
 
From left to right:  Alex’s Box, Zach’s Box, and Shane’s Box
 
Reverse side of Zach’s Box
 
Reverse side of Alex’s Box
 
Some beautiful stuff to this Momma . . .  A beautiful night of fun for . . .  me and the Ferrell boys!
 Posted by admin at 3:21 am

Valentine Breakfast with Daveswife

 Holiday Crafts, Recipes  No Responses »
Feb 022012
 

Valentine Kick-Off Breakfast — So Much Fun!

 
Last night, after the Ferrell boys had FINALLY gone to sleep . . . Dave and I decorated the breakfast area.
 

I need some red or pink placemats . . . and some red hots or conversation hearts for the candle centerpiece . . . and another chair . . .

But other than those little issues, I think the table was very Valentiny for the surprise Valentine breakfast.

Dave helped me hang the Valentine Countdown Calendar that I had made earlier in the day.   We draped it around the breakfast window . . . I need curtains for the breakfast window. . .

I raided my craft supplies and found some foam sheets in Valentine colors that I used to make the hearts for the calendar.

I cut out a large heart and a small heart . . . 14 of each . . . and hot glued the smaller heart on top of the larger heart.  I put the glue in a “V” shape at the bottom of the small heart and left the top of the small heart open to make a pocket.

I used my Cricut to cut out white vinyl numbers to stick on the hearts for countdown days.

And then I attached the hearts in numerical order with clothespins to the wired heart garland I got at the Dollar Tree.  This project cost me $1 to make since I had all the supplies already except for the wired heart garland.

I think the breakfast area looked really cute and Valentiny (is that a word?) when Dave & I were finished.  

This morning Dave and I got up a little earlier than normal to get everything ready for the boys’ surprise Valentine Kick-Off Breakfast. 

Dave made the heart-shaped bacon . . .

while I used a small heart-shaped cookie cutter to cut out the pats of butter . . .

Dave cooked the pancakes while I fixed the boys’ drinks.  I put red food coloring in their milk to dye it pink!  We used a heart-shaped cookie cutter to cut out the pancakes.

When Zach walked into the kitchen . . . he was soooo confused! 

What is going on ?!?

As you can see . . . He loved it!

Zach doesn’t like milk so I squirted red food coloring in his orange juice which made it a bright pink!  Totally freaked him out at first until I told him it was his normal OJ!

Alex was also thrilled with the surprise breakfast  . . .

Shane wasn’t very cooperative this morning . . . He wouldn’t let me get a picture of him!

 
Now isn’t he just precious . . . Ha!
 

I thought the breakfast turned out very cute . . . and I didn’t buy anything for it.  We already had the bacon, sausage, and pancake mix . . . and the Valentine plates and napkins too  . . .

Wonder what fun Valentine activity or treat is waiting for

                                me and the Ferrell boys tomorrow . . .

 Posted by admin at 2:10 am

Valentine’s Day – Countdown Calendar Kick-off by Daveswife

 Holiday Crafts, Uncategorized  No Responses »
Feb 012012
 

Be Mine — Valentine! Countdown to V-Day!

Tomorrow is February 1st . . . and the beginning of the Ferrell Boys’ Countdown to Valentine’s Day! And the best part about the Countdown to Valentine’s Day . . . the Ferrell boys have no clue that it’s going to happen!
 
Alex and last year’s V-Day
 
After the boys go to bed tonight, Dave and I are going to decorate the breakfast area of the kitchen with Valentine’s decor and hang the Countdown Calendar up somewhere (as yet undetermined). 
 
Zach and his class’ V-Day party
 
Tomorrow morning we are going to surprise the boys with a Valentine-themed breakfast of heart-shaped pancakes with syrup and sprinkles, heart-shaped butter pats, heart-shaped bacon (maybe) and pink Valentine milk. 
 
 
Every day from now until Valentine’s Day, I have an activity or surprise for all 3 boys planned.  Most of the activities are things we can do together. . . like play a game together or watch a movie together.  Some activities are Valentine themed activities like making valentine cookies or homemade valentines for their classmates.
 
Alex making Valentine cookies last year at church.
 
I’ve never done anything like this before for Valentine’s Day although we always give the boys a Valentine happy. 
 
Shane sorting through his V-day goodies from last year.
 
I hope this will be something fun for us to do as a family.  We all enjoyed – as a family – the Christmas activities of reading the Christmas books and all the mischief with Jeff the elf.
 
I’ll be posting some pictures as we countdown to the big day!  I would go ahead and post my plans for each day, but I’m not committing to any activity on any particular day yet.  I’ll probably decide the night before what activity we will be doing and put it in the calendar then.  ( The boys would cheat and look ahead anyway)  I’m keeping it flexible depending on our schedule.  I’ve got some easy activities planned for when we seem to be very busy and then some time-consuming activities for weekends when we have more time.I got my idea for doing the Countdown Calendar . . .
 
(picture from gallamorewest.com)
 
from this great BLOG:  GallamoreWest.  She has a lot of great ideas for Valentine’s Day.
So . . . Be Mine -  Valentine!  or at least . . .               Mine and the Ferrell Boys!
 Posted by admin at 3:38 am

Valentine’s Day Fun with Daveswife

 Holiday Crafts, Recipes  2 Responses »
Jan 192012
 

Valentine’s Day — Some Fun Ideas

I love to decorate for the holidays. . . . every holiday.  If I could have come up with something festive for MLK day, I would have decorated for it!  :D

With Valentine’s Day just a few weeks away, I’ve been saving several items concerning Valentine’s Day in my favorites folder.  That’s the way I “pin” things I see.  I have yet to master the “pinning” technique for pinterest.com, so I’ve just continued saving recipes and crafty items in my favorites’ folders like I always have.

Here are some of my favorites for Valentine’s Day :

You know how much I love to cook and when I saw this Chocolate Cherry Whoopie Pie recipe, I just knew I was going to have to make them for Valentine’s Day!

 

I’m not sure about using cherries in the filling . . . but who knows . . . maybe I’ll even give the cherries a try too!

And then I found a similar whoopie pie recipe called Heartbreakers using a red velvet cake mix that I might try instead . . .

 
(picture & recipe from asmallsnippet.blogspot.com)

She adapted her recipe from a whoopie pie recipe at www.bakerella.com/easy-and-easier-valentine-treats/ by making them heart-shaped instead of round.

Then at myblessedlife I found some heart-shaped rice krispie treats . . .

 
(picture & recipe at myblessedlife.net)

Aaahhhh!  I’m getting in the Valentine’s Day mood!   I also found a cute Valentine’s Day Countdown Calendar! at gallamorewest.blogspot.com :

 
(picture from gallamorewest.blogspot.com)

She has some great ideas for Valentine activities and treats for each of the 14 days leading up to Valentine’s Day.  Sounds like something fun for the Ferrell boys and me!  She even made the chalkboard too!  I’m so inspired!  I loved her ideas for the Valentine’s Day chex mix, the footprint cupid, cupcakes topped with heart brownies, the love shack houses made from graham crackers, and the heart-shaped breakfast.   I probably won’t do all of that, but I think the countdown calendar is definitely going to happen at the Ferrell homestead!

And lastly . . . a burlap Valentine’s Wreath  I saw at my blessed life. net. . . Oh my!  I so want to make this!  But I’m a little intimidated about the amount of time she said it took to make the wreath . . .  1.5 hours!

 
(picture from myblessedlife.net)

So I may have to make this “easy peasy” wreath I saw on 4tunate . net instead.

 
(picture from 4tunate.net)

It’s made with a wire hanger and strips of fabric tied on . . .  I couldn’t get the original website with the instructions for making this wreath to come up on my computer so I may just “wing it”.

I’ll let you know as I venture into making some of these Valentine’s Day projects.

Menu Planning Update:

So we are midway though the week and the menu planning has worked out great this week!

I made the Lemon Chicken Tuesday night. 

It got 3 out of 4 Ferrell thumbs up. 

Shane didn’t want to eat chicken, and I don’t think he would have liked the lemony taste of the chicken anyway.  It was pretty tangy with the lemon and Italian seasoning sprinkled on the chicken. 

Alex, surprisingly, did not like it.  He’s usually the one child I can count on loving my new dishes. . . Zach liked the chicken  . . . dipped in ketchup. 

If I make it again, I will cut back on the amount of lemon I use.  Also, I only used 1/2 stick of real butter.  It was very good and if I had used a whole stick of butter I believe the dish would have been greasy.  Dave & I both liked the Lemon Chicken.  However it may be a dish for grown ups more so than children.

Tuesday night  I went ahead and fixed the Chicken Tortilla Soup up to the point of cooking it.  I put the crockpot crock in the refrigerator where it stayed until lunch time on Wednesday and then I started the soup cooking on Low.

It is really good.  I loved it!  And it’s Weight Watcher friendly  which makes it wonderful!   One cup of soup is 3 points!

There is a drawback to this meal . . . soup is not a favorite meal for my boys unless it’s Alphabet soup . . .  so I stuck a frozen pizza in the oven as a standby for them.  Shane ate 4 pieces of pizza.  He loves pizza, spaghetti, and chicken nuggets.  I’ll be glad when he gets a more mature palette and will try new foods.  Nowadays, he looks at the dishes I make and says “that’s yucky.”

Here’s the Chicken Tortilla Soup recipe with my modifications. 

Crockpot Chicken Tortilla Soup

  • 3 chicken breasts, cooked and diced ( I didn’t use the 4 to 6 breasts recipe called for)
  • 2 (14.5 oz) cans of petite diced tomatoes
  • 1 (16 oz) can of mild enchilada sauce  (couldn’t find 14 oz can)
  • 1 medium onion, chopped
  • 1 can chopped green chilies
  • 1 tbsp minced garlic
  • 2 (14.5 oz) chicken broth (I added water to make it the 32 oz the recipe called for)
  • 1 tsp cumin
  • 1 tsp chili powder
  • salt & pepper to taste
  • 2/3rd (16 oz) pkg frozen corn (Couldn’t find a 10 oz bag)

Combine all ingredients in crockpot.  Stir.  Cover and cook on Low for 5 to 6 hours or on High for 2 to 3 hours.  It made almost 13 cups of soup for 3 points a cup.

I did not make the corn tortilla strips in the oven like the original recipe called for.  Instead, we ate the soup with tortilla chips, sour cream, and shredded cheese.

It was great!  Of the 3 Ferrells that tried the soup, this soup got

3 out of 3 Ferrell thumbs up!

I froze 5 cups of the soup for another day and saved some for tomorrow’s lunch.

Tonight, Thursday, we’re having Tacos and Mexican Rice.  I’m trying a new recipe for Mexican Rice so I’ll let you know how it turns out.  My boys love the Mexican rice that you get in the restaurants so I hope it tastes like that.

I hope I’ve inspired you to try some of the recipes I’ve found or some of the Valentine’s Day crafts I’m trying.

Have a great rest of the week now that we’re over the Hump!

Tina and the Ferrell Boys!

 Posted by admin at 8:02 pm
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