Lovin' this Valentine Wreath

I love how my little Valentine wreath creation for my front door turned out!

Valentines Flashback

It occurred to me recently that Valentines season is always a pretty full time for us- we do a lot of projects together and I do quite a bit on my own too! I love the creative energy I always get- somehow late winter isn't quite so overwhelming as Christmas I guess. :)

Anyway, I thought I'd post some of my posts from Valentines past here in one place...

In the Library!

For quite some time, Cooper has been bringing home small little books to read every night. And just last week, he finished all of those books his teacher has in her classroom! That means that he gets to start going to the school library each day to take Accelerated Reader tests! He was so excited to have something new going on during school time and to have made it through all the little books!

To celebrate and acknowledge his achievement, I put together a simple little gift and Ryder and I were waiting for him inside the school that day to give it to him! Ryder wasn't feeling ultra great that day, but he's still stylin' in Mom's sunglasses!

Now Cooper has his picture on the big display outside the library :) He is a great reader, even though we have to twist his arm to get all his reading done some days. We are so proud of him! 

And in other cute boy news: 

Hanging out, taking turns playing on my phone... Little everyday moment

Daily Valentine Surprises

We've been getting ready to start our daily Valentine surprises again, starting this Friday on the 1st! For the last two years, I've made boxes for the boys that we put a small treat in each night for them to find in the morning- they LOVE this tradition and, I confess, I love it just as much! It's kinda like "Elf on the Shelf" for Valentines season!

I saved the boxes I used last year- I just took a box that was about the right size, modified a titch to get the hinge opening that I attached a knob to, and covered it in kraft paper. I re-covered them this year so the boys could decorate for a new year. I cut their names out of a red scrap of vinyl with my Cricut.

 I gave the boys these Valentines papers that I got in a pack from the dollar spot at Target. For some reason, I thought they would cut little hearts, given its Valentines. But, I had to smile at the reminder of what a boys life it is around here when Cooper cut out pieces to create a shark! Love it :)

And then, of course, Ry needed a shark too and hacked this one out himself!

I told him his looked like a jet and he liked that even better.

Have I mentioned recently that Boys Rule? :)

The boy-ness continued as Coop drew a monitor lizard on top of his- it turned out awesome! I have really been trying hard to just put things in front of the boys and let them create as they will, instead of interjecting so much. I want them to grow up knowing that what they do is great, instead of that I always had to follow behind and "fix" it. I can be kinda particular, so this is hard sometimes, even though it shouldn't be!

Now we are ready to go for them to wake up to the first fun Valentines surprise on Friday morning!

Here's a few ideas I've pinned that I'll be trying to make for them- most of the daily surprises are homemade. Either that, or I get them at the Target dollar spot or Dollar Tree :)

Source: busilyspinningmomma.com via Sky on Pinterest

I LOVE this idea- a pillow fight shield! I wanted to whip these up for Christmas but ran out of time :)

Source: livingwithpunks.com via Sky on Pinterest

These cool scarves have a slot for tucking in, instead of having to tie,

plus a treasure pocket on the back side- the boys will love that!

Source: playathomemom3.blogspot.com via Sky on Pinterest

Laminated faces (another idea was laminated flash cards- I may try that too)

and include dry erase markers :)

Source: alittlelearningfortwo.blogspot.com via Sky on Pinterest

You blow on the straw when it's tucked in to make these fly!

You can see the simple things I've included in their boxes in the past

HERE and HERE  and HERE :)

Insta-Blessed

I haven't been Instagram-ing for very long, but even just in the time that I have,

I can scroll back through my vintage-y cre8ivesky pictures and realize that

they tell the story of our everyday life rather well...

Like how I can tell my husband is in love with me

because of this look on his face during a  lunch date the other day;

and how this sandwich from our favorite local lunch spot is always fabulous.

I can tell that the boys are happy when we visit Dad at work and he spins them in his office chair.

I'd say really they are just happy in general :)

I can tell I am blessed by the stunning aquarium in my front room.

Admittedly, I'll feel more blessed when the aquarium mess from the swap to a bigger tank he's doing right now is gone... :/

For sure, though, the aquarium stuff is more a blessing than a curse-

Stephen has an aquarium maintenance and stocking side business.

And that income makes it so that life as we know it is possible :)

I can tell that I have a little boy who enjoys being with Mom

when all the other brothers are off hunting with Dad.

And that he looks so sweet when he's napping, taking me back to when he wasn't this big.

My Instagrams remind me that I might actually be one of those fun type Moms

who takes her kids sledding... even if  they look like they can barely breathe all the while!

They prove that I love holding hands with my boys;

love it when they want to hold my hand back. :)

I look back on my pictures and remember our sliding door being frozen shut because it was -20!

And that, no, the hair dryer did not work...

I scroll through and smile that I'm married to an amazing man

who does more than just looks good while he smiles at me...

he also brings purple flowers home from work on a whim.

I am Insta-Blessed with a Capital B!

I would love to see your daily blessedness on Instagram too!

Leave a link or your user name in a comment so I can follow along!

You can find me HERE :)