Valentine's Day is here and the crafting has just begun! I haven't really been big on this (consumer driven) holiday for quite some time now. All the hustle and bustle to get a reservation at your favorite restaurant, only to drive in traffic and sit in a crowded restaurant waiting far too long for food that is way overpriced in a lot of cases. We celebrated quite a few quiet romantic dinners at home over the past couple of years seeing as how the boys were so young and to be honest, we enjoyed it a lot more.
This year, we decided to forego the busy restaurants and order out, take our favorite food and have ourselves a romantic beach picnic dinner (in case you were looking for any ideas). After all, we just want some time alone to enjoy each others company.
Having kids has changed this holiday quite a bit for us. Not only is it difficult to find a good sitter on V-Day, but it's become more of a celebration leading up to the actual day. We start the month off with a calendar countdown until the big day. Each week we find new and interesting crafts to do with each other, and this week was no exception. If you've read our "No Toy Gift Guide" then you know we forego the gimmicky shiny distractions (gifts) and prefer to spend our time and money on more open ended play. Our art station is well stocked to say the least, ready at a moments' notice to get down to business. The business of PLAY that is...
As always I kick off the celebration with some fun printables courtesy of Gift of Curiosity.
This usually allows me to get started on the Homemade Play Dough while keeping them busy for a few moments. Pink was the color chosen for Valentine's Day and I must admit it smelled yummy! A few of my laminated printables were perfect for incorporating our play dough.
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| Gotta love the toddler fingers hard at play |
NEVER underestimate the power of play dough people.. I had so much more planned this week, but play dough took center stage and never really left. I didn't seem to mind, I love following their lead when it comes to this kind of play. It never ceases to amaze me how many different scenarios they can come up with while dwelling in the sweet simple joys of childhood. So we tried our hands at Love Bugs, this wasn't much of a hit last year, but they were interested in adding "googley eyes" to the mix so I went with it!
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| I'd say it was a success! |
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| There he goes again.. |
After the play dough started being thrown around the kitchen ( a clear sign that play dough time is coming to an end), it was time to switch gears a bit. We got to work on our heart garland we plan on decorating for their annual Valentine's Day date with Nana! We cut strips of construction paper and glued them together for our heart garland, this will help set the stage for their awesome date with their beloved Nana. Every year we make cards for her and some sort of treat for them to share. This year we are working on the Weelicious Raspberry Cream Cheese Heart Tarts. We've made these before and they are so good, figured they'd be perfect for V-Day!
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| Sea of Love... |
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| My Funny Valentine... |
Essentially Yours,
Erika
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