More Valentines and Breakfast.

We finally finished this year's Valentines.
Shine wanted to take some to her class too.
So we tried to do something a little more sophisticated than the normal paper SpongeBob Valentines, considering her age.
So here's what we did...
Here are all of our supplies.
Take all this...

and this cutie pie....

Put these on a cookie sheet just like this..
(don't forget some parchment paper underneath the candy)
I added it after this picture.

Put them in a 300 degree oven for about 5 minutes.
You will see them turn a little flat. Then you will know it's time to get them out.
Let them cool for only about 1 min max.
Then get 4-inch sucker sticks and put them in the bottom.
You have to smoosh the two ends together onto the stick.
I used a couple butter knives so I didn't burn my fingers.
You have to work kind of fast because they harden pretty quick.

Don't think you're seeing things, I used two different candy canes.

Here they all are in one big pile. About 30.
That makes 90 Valentines this year between all the kids.
When Coco gets a little bigger we will be about 120 per year.
What are we a factory or something?
Stay focused!!!(self talk)

Here is a closeup! We placed each one in a cellophane bag and tied with ribbon.
She did not want a cute tag. Ouch! That hurt but ok, I had to choose my battles. At least she was still taking Valentine's at 15, right?

Well, that's the last of the Valentines for this year.

On to breakfast.
I decided since the kids all had school on Valentines Day,
I would make their special breakfast on Sunday instead.
Take a peek into our morning...
This is the table all set up. I didn't buy a thing.
Everything was in my house. I like those types of projects.

Well, here's the menu breakdown.
These are heart shaped egg scrambles with cheese.
Cresent rolls cut into heart shapes, with a little scrambled eggs and cheese stuffed inside, then cooked according to the package.

Chocolate Chip heart shaped pancakes. Completely from a mix.
No molds here, just took a medium sized spoon and formed half the heart and then scooped up some more batter and formed the other side.
After making a couple you will have it down to a science.
Trust me on this one folks!

These are cinnamon sugar hearts.
This is just the left over dough from the cresent rolls, cut out in a smaller heart shape, then rolled in cinnamon sugar. These were a big hit!

This is Strawberry Syrup. Which my family loves better than maple.
It's just some berries, strawberry jam and some strawberry ice cream syrup.
They all LOVED it! A little more naughty than my homemade strawberry syrup but it's a special sundae!!! :))

Then the real kicker for them all was Berry smoothies, or
Brooklin called them "LOVE POTION".

So don't throw me out the window b/c they were not organic.
Next time for sure!! Well, maybe.
Some berries, milk, strawberry syrup and strawberry ice cream.
Did you hear that static in the air?
I hope you didn't miss any ingredients!! :))))
Mix in a blender til smooth.
Top with a dollop of Cool Whip or whipped cream and some
Valentine sprinkles.
Wow! Did you hear that static again?
What is that? ;)))
Everyone got a big glass, glass. Even Brooklin.
She was very excited to have a big girl glass.
She said it was just like at Ashley's Bridal Luncheon.
This was the table setting.
Guess what the placemats are?
A pink piece of 8 1/2 x 11 cardstock. Told you it was all in my stash.

This was my hubby's place setting.
He doesn't eat chocolate chip pancakes, so I gave him his fav, blueberry pancakes.
He was most happy to have his own stash of pancakes.

This is what it looks like on the plate.
You can do a lot with a few heart shaped cookie cutters.

Yes, that is peanut butter on the pancake. We have eaten it like that since we were children. It's best with hot maple syrup over the top. Try it, you won't be sorry.
Trust me, I didn't get these hips at the mall.

On each place setting I put a little red heart with each person's name on it. On the other side, I wrote something special to them, just from mom.
Then as we sat at the table, they each read them aloud.
Sometimes it's hard to say those things about ourselves,
but it's good every now and then.
Then, each person said one thing they loved about each person at the table.
It was so fun to hear some of the things each of my family members shared.
They were so cute.
I think they all said they loved that mom was so creative and cooked good for them.
It was great for us all to share a little love for each other.

I must say one last thing. My kids and hubby were so appreciative of this special "Love" breakfast.
Kameron kept saying "Wow! Mom this is the best breakfast ever!!", he also said, "Mom, if the Next Food Network Star show was here they would see the breakfast and make you the "Next Food Network Star!" More than once,
Brooklin said "Mom, you are the bestest chef mommy ever!! I'm going to Valentine you on Valentines Day!"
Shine said, "Mom, you did a really good job on breakfast."
On and on they went!!
It really didn't take too much longer than a normal breakfast.
And the extra time it did take, was FAR worth it to see how happy this little fun food made my family. They were very impressed!!
We can spend so much time on trying to impress everyone else in the world and the most important ones are sitting right in front of us everyday. Those are the ones that really matter most because they will remember it the longest!!

This post was much longer than I anticipated. Sorry about that.
I hope you found something on here that you can use for the ones you love.
Don't let today go by without telling and more important showing the ones you love just exactly how much you love them.
A little love goes a LONG way!!

Happy Valentines Day!!
Til next Time with T!!

Valentine ideas.

Everyone ready for Valentines day? If not, here are a couple ideas for your kids Valentines at school. I love making their Valentines with them every year.
I look forward to it.

What do you get when you take all this....

And mix it with one of these(one of my cutie patooties)...

You end up with this...


A little scoop of love for Love Day.
With a note that says,
"I Dig You!"

Those were for Brooklin's class. When I look at them, they seem to fit her personality.
Super easy too. A little sand shovel, I picked up at an online party store for super cheap, clear cellophane bags, ribbon, cute tags, and of course candy.
I think the rest is self explanatory.
Brooklin loved sharing them with her class.
She was very proud of our hard work.

On to child # 2 Valentines.
Again, what do you get when you take all this....

A couple of these....
(we did Coco's hair to match big brothers, he's proud)

Then do this...

make these...

And Viola!!! You get this...

Then you wrap it in a cellophane bag with a cute tag and you're done!

These were for Kameron's class. All his classmates got an iLove iPod.
Kameron says these are his favorite Valentines we have ever made.
Here's how to make them...
Wrap a box of candy hearts in red cardstock, tape the white headphone string to 2 mini Reese's cups, wrap with foil, print a playlist and scroll wheel, make a cute "U Rock!" tag, put in cellophane with a ribbon and you're done.
Super cute!
Kameron did most of the work on his.
He did the earphones including foil, and taping to the box, and cut out all the scroll wheels and tags with a circle cutter and helped tie the tags on the bags.
It's good for the kids to help with these things. He realized how much work it is to make them and I think he appreciated them even more as he passed them out to his class(more on that in my next post).

So I hope the Valentine's I made with my children this year, help you to get yours done for your children.
Sometimes the hardest part is coming up with what you want to make.
I will be working on my 3rd child's this weekend. She will be sharing with her friends on Monday, the actual Valentine's Day.
I will post those later after we get them done.

Most of all, enjoy the time with your children.
It's so rewarding to see their smiling proud faces when they share with their friends.

Hope you have a great weekend.
Now go get all those Valentine's done.

Til next Time with T!!

Chocolate..latest color added to the color wheel.

Well...it's almost that time.
I love Valentine's Day. It's becoming one of my favorite holidays.
Ever think about the colors of Valentines day?
I mean after Christmas, the holiday with the most red, then we turn around and have another one with a ton of red too.
It's ok with me, I happen to love red.
And at least we can throw in pink, white and brown(chocolate).
Chocolate is a color you know. I heard they added it to the color wheel.

This picture shows what my work table has looked like for the past week.
We have been working on Valentines for the kids class parties.
We don't get to make for just one class of 30, oh no!!
Our total this year is about 75 Valentines.
I know you want to ask, so go ahead....
That is because I have 3 children that give them out.
In just a couple short years, our little Coco will put us well over 100 homemade Valentines. That's a lot of Valentine creations. And not one of them wanted the same one.
That sounds crazy for one house.
Kameron-30, Brooklin-31, Shine-15
I need to hire me an Alice, like the Brady Bunch had. Really, I do.
Now I really know why they had her, and I know why Carol always was so calm and happy to see Mike Brady when he came home from work.

Oh geeez!! What happened to my sweet Valentine post.
Ok focus!!
So in the next few days, I will be posting the kids
Valentines that we made this year.
We had a lot of fun, and they like them more this year than last,
especially Kameron. He says these are his favorite of all time.

Just wanted to post quick, been busy with all those Valentines.

Headed to the Peach Blossom tomorrow.
Kameron's class made it to the district finals.
He says they're really good this year.
So I will go to see for myself.

Hope you all have a great day.
Get those Valentine's done, you only have until Monday.
Or if you are us, our school parties are tomorrow.
So I am all done. Whew!!

Til next Time with T!!