Valentine Craftiness

Kate painted on bubble wrap and pressed card stock down on top of the painted bubble wrap.

The result was some pretty unique hearts.

 I folded a paper plate in half and cut out the center and a heart shape to create a fun hat for Kate.  Thank you, Pinterest!

 Both girls made contact paper placemats.

One morning, there was a 90 minute snow delay.  Reagan used that extra time to loop all of these Valentine papers together to create a pretty chain decoration.

Love was the theme of the story hour at Barrington Books last week.  The kids made love bouquets!

I love all of the love!

Lava Lamps

One of the Valentine's for our 14 Days of Love was "I lava you a lot" with directions for making lava lamps.  I thought this was a lot of fun, and all four kids enjoyed it.  

We followed the directions from Steve Spangler's website:

- fill a bottle 3/4 with vegetable oil

- top of the bottle with water

(I did the above two steps and wrote directions for the kids to complete the lava lamps)

- add ten drops of food coloring

- break the tablet (alka seltzer) into eight pieces and add them to the bottle one at a time

 That's the best bedhead, is it not?

Here is a short video of Kate's reaction (priceless):

The lava lamp effect only lasts until the alka seltzer stops fizzing.  We did try adding more alka seltzer later on, but the effect was not the same.  The lava lamps are still cool though because you can see how the oil and water remain separate in the bottle and observe what happens when you try to mix them together.

My Funny Valentine

The best part of 14 Days of Love this year, was getting a little love in return.

I walked into the kitchen to find this:

 "day 4 of 14 days of love  your the cane of my heart and go bannanas"

At Christmas time, I made candy canes out of strawberries and bananas and she tried to do that here. That explains the "cane of my heart".

That is shredded cheese sprinkled on the fruit.  She also made me toast with almond butter and a glass of lemon water.

Oh Reagan, you are the sweetest girl in the world.  Whenever I am feeling down, you know just how to make me smile.  You have a heart unlike any other, and you certainly know how to melt your mama's heart.

14 Days of Love

14 Days of Love was well received again this year.  I have to confess, however, that I actually only did 13 days of love.  February 2nd was Groundhog Day and since I gave the kids a Groundhog Day treat, I decided to skip the Valentine that day.  I figure that was still an act of love though, so it's all good.

Fizzy Hearts

The baking soda and vinegar reaction never gets old.  Even I still enjoy watching it fizz up.  In honor of Valentine's Day, I mixed some baking soda, food coloring, and a little water in my silicone heart mold and stuck it in the freezer.

I popped out the hearts and presented them to a very excited Katelyn with a muffin cup full of vinegar and a dropper.

She went right to work.

After a few minutes, she decided a spoon would work faster.

She used about four cups of vinegar, and would have used more but we were all out.  That ended up being okay though because she proceeded to smash the remaining ice with the spoon and move it around in the vinegar that was left on the tray.

Valentine Slime

Kate and I mixed up a batch of Valentine Slime this morning.  We added red glitter and metallic heart confetti to this slime recipe:

1. In one bowl mix 1/2 cup water and 1/2 cup of glue

2. Now's the time to add color or glitter if you like

3. In another bowl measure out 1/2 cup of liquid starch

4. Slowly mix the glue into the starch with a spoon

5. Switch to mixing with hands for a few minutes

6.  Put in a clean, dry container or on a plate

Hints: Liquid starch slime gets better with time but can be used right away. After about an hour, I think it is just right and looks awesome {even more fantastic the next day} Decorate your liquid starch slime with confetti or other fun things! 

It must feel really nice on her leg and foot because that seemed to be her favorite way to play with the slime!

Valentine's Day

For the fourteenth day of love, I originally planned on making banana splits, but Collin has been sick and I haven't left the house in a few days, so I didn't have everything I needed.  That was okay because I opened the cabinet to see what I had on hand and I saw leftover candy canes from Christmas.  I remembered the candy cane hearts from The Artful Parent and decided to go with those.

They are so easy to make.  I just formed two candy canes in a heart shape and poured melted chocolate in the middle.  A few sprinkles on top, and they are pretty and festive!

Tom loves dates, so I made these turtles.

Wow, are they good!  I just sliced open the date without cutting all the way through, removed the pit, placed the date flat to look like a butterfly, added three pecans, and topped them with melted dark chocolate.

The three big kids presented me with some very thoughtful gifts!

I couldn't have been happier!

Now if everyone around here could just get healthy!  This cold started with Tyler and has attacked everyone but me.  I am hoping that it has no interest in me because I just can't be bothered with a cold!

Collin has definitely been hit hardest.  Today is his third day of sickness.  Boo has been taking good care of him.

I'm currently seeking the assistance of Super Goggle Princess Girl to rid our home of all of these germs!

We have school vacation all next week, and we are looking forward to a visit from Auntie Karen, so hopefully everyone will be healthy and we can have some fun!