Valentine's Day Redemption

So, last year on Feb 13 I turned to Deenesh and said, "Tomorrow is Valentine's Day, are we supposed to do anything for Asher's class?!"

To which Deenesh replied something along the lines of "Tracy, they are 2 years old.  No, we don't need to do anything."

Yeah, and then guess who came home with oodles and oodles of Valentines?  Yeah, I think every single kid in the class gave a Valentine's.

And I'm also quite certain that all the parents spent that evening tsk tsking to themselves and saying things like "Poor Asher.  What kind of mother does he have?  What a failure."  Yes, I am sure that each and every one of them noticed that single missing Valentine and have been talking about it amongst themselves for the last 12 months.

Well, this year I will not fail my child!!

And to redeem myself, I can't just get store-bought Valentine's.  No, not that would not be enough.  Did I mention that one Mom made A-DORABLE heart shaped crayons of multiple colors?  I mean, c'mon.

So, supported by some fantastic bloggers who are far more creative than I, I was prepared this year!

Yeah.  Check it out!

 It took me a while to figure out the best way to do it - home printer?  Order from snapfish?  How to get the right size?

Ultimately, I used the collage 4 x 6 print at CVS with a red border (19 cents per 4 x 6).

So, once I cut them apart I had two 3 x 4 cards.  

I used a razor to make slits at his hands, and then inserted the lollipops.  

All in all, I think it was probably about the same time and price as the store-bought Valentines.  Time-wise, I had to make the slits, but I didn't individually address each Valentine.

A big thank you to the Valentine's geniuses by which I was inspired - click here to check them out.

http://www.filthwizardry.com/2011/02/giant-lolly-pop-valentines.html

http://24-7-365.blogspot.com/2009/02/lavish-me-with-praise.html

Seriously, I am so excited about these Valentines!

Wake up, little Daddy, Wake up!

Snow Videos

Kiera's first snow!  Asher was an excellent big brother.

Ice Dancing

Tara's Birthday was AWESOME!

I just hope that Tara enjoyed her birthday as much as we did!

Now, having Tara visit on her birthday clearly would have been the greatest way to celebrate it.  But, I must say, having SNOW visit was a close second!   (I say that the snow "visited" since it is already mostly gone).

 The snow started last night - big, thick, chunky, beautiful flakes - and when we woke up this morning there was a nice little coating on the ground.

And then, as if the snow wasn't enough, Kiera chose to today to pull herself up to a standing position in her crib, and to really start cruising around (also in her crib).

 And then.  Then!  She even started to make real progress on her forward crawl.

I know, awesome right?  I guess she wanted to show off for Tara's birthday.

Happy Birthday Tara!

 Happy Birthday to my utterly awesome and amazing big sister.  I hope you have a fantastic day and an even more wonderful year.

 

It's OK Daddy, I will fold this for you.  

January Review - Part V

I LOVE that they are holding hands. 

Asher always wants what his sister has.
In this case - having him imprisoned during meal time - awesome!

Is it wrong that I convinced Asher to let me build with his blocks
and just relegated him to knocking them down?

Asher perfects putting the Russian nesting dolls away. 

This was an utter gender moment.  Neither Deenesh nor I ever
had tinker toys (I think my brother had some).  A friend was getting
rid of their set so I grabbed it.  When I got it home, I looked at all the pieces
and had no clue what I should do with them.  Deenesh had much
better success.  I'll stick to the regular blocks.   

This has been one heck of a winter. 

Water beads!

Rolling in the dough!