Happy Valentine's Day sweet friends! You all know how I feel about today.
It's not that I'm into the mushy-gushy stuff...because I'm not.
J and I don't really do Valentine's Day for each other. I don't care if he gets me anything, although I do agree with my friend Leigh, a love letter would be perfect.
No...I love celebrating this day with my children. I love using today to shower them (more than usual) with love.
Not to mention...you KNOW that any excuse to fill the house with pink and red hearts and doilies is my kind of a holiday. Glitter? Sequins? Hearts and flowers and lace? Don't mind if I do.
Here's a peek into a Valentine's Day in the Howell household.
No creative school valentines for us. Although I pinned a million ideas and love all of them. Nope, for us it's the $1.30 (and 50% off on top of that!) box Valentines. WOOHOO! No guilt.
Harper and Sadie also used my copious doily stash to make special valentines for their teachers.
I had to bring a dish for Sadie's Valentine's breakfast at school. I decided to do heart shaped cinnamon rolls. There are some great recipes on Pinterest, but I wanted easy and no fuss.
Canned cinnamon rolls it was. I simply formed them into hearts and baked them that way. I then added pink icing (I didn't get the food coloring right, so it was actually more like magenta icing) and Valentine's sprinkles.
I served them in some Hobby Lobby baskets on top of (natch) layered doilies.
As far as treats for the girls, I hit up the dollar spot at a local shop and got them each little treat baskets.
The babies got hairclips, Valentine's beanie babies,Elmo valentines, and a lollypop:
The big girls got erasers,badges,pens,pez, Hello Kitty heart boxes with candy necklaces inside, and heart socks.
I set everything up to surprise them when they get home from school today.
But my favorite thing (BY FAR) that we did for the girls was our 10 things envelopes.
Jimmy and I worked on these together last night and I love the way they came out.
More than that...you should have seen the the look on their faces when they read these notes. It was amazing.
Sometimes I forget to give each girl the special attention they so desire. It's hard when you have four kids. Really hard. But it's something we are really aware of.
This was the perfect way to accomplish a little one on one attention and praise.
Each envelope contained sequins, sweet little die cuts, and ten punched hearts. I used this punch.
On each heart was written something we love about each girl. Jimmy wrote half and I wrote the other half.
These envelopes really started the day off right and it was a joy to see Harper and Sadie's faces. Pure pride and happiness.
Gotta love a day to celebrate love. Come to think of it...every day is a little like Valentine's Day in our house!!
Love to you all!
xoxo
I still want to be adopted by the Howells. You guys are just the best. Happy Valentine's Day to all of you!! xoxo
Posted by: Gayle W. | 02/14/2013 at 12:58 PM
Oh such joy!! What sweet things you do for your girls!! Enjoy your love-filled day!!
Posted by: Kami Pfingsten | 02/14/2013 at 01:27 PM
I love the expression on Sadie's face. Who is on the right.. is that Cate?? Love the face/expression!! Happy Valentine's Day!!!
Posted by: Michelle | 02/14/2013 at 01:31 PM
I'm totally with you. I'm not all that into Valentine's Day. My husband and I don't do much. And we've stopped doing presents for each other. But we do stuff for and with our kids. My daughter is 8 and she says Valentine's Day is her favorite day. She loves it even more than Christmas. Celebrating the love of family through her eyes is making today special.
I love your 10 Things idea ... I'm going to have to do that next year. Thanks for sharing.
Posted by: Kimberly Kalil | 02/14/2013 at 02:22 PM
what a great idea about the 10things!
xo
Posted by: christina rayevich | 02/14/2013 at 02:24 PM
Oh my word! The look on Sadie's face!! And then the look on Cate's face!!! They completely CRACK ME UP!!!!
Posted by: Ki Kruk | 02/14/2013 at 02:27 PM
What adorable faces!!! Happy Valentine's Day to all of you Grace xoox
Posted by: Grace | 02/14/2013 at 02:31 PM
What great ideas. I am loving the love heart plates! A shame my boys are big and beyond anything so obvious. Happy Valentine's day from across the pond x
Posted by: Deborah | 02/14/2013 at 02:33 PM
I LOVE the heart in the envelope idea, super cute!
I LOVE LOVE LOVE the b/w picture with the girls, it's only missing ONE thing, one of the twinners!
I still think you need a blog post about the twins with head shots, side shots etc. about each one
so I can learn how to tell them apart LOL!
xoxo
tara
Posted by: tara pollard pakosta | 02/14/2013 at 02:33 PM
Happy Valentine's Day to all the Howell's. Cards are on the way! I hope you allow the girls to have chocolate. I love those Sadie expressions!
Posted by: ginny | 02/14/2013 at 03:30 PM
Happy Valentine's Day! I love the 10 things idea...thank you so much for sharing that. And the twins picture is cracking me up...love their facial expressions!
Posted by: Lynn | 02/14/2013 at 03:46 PM
What a sweet day!
Posted by: Linda Coleman | 02/14/2013 at 04:11 PM
We do the same here. It's all about the kids. We can do dinner and a movie anytime and then it seems that much more special anyways. Have I told you before the faces your beautiful girls make crack me up? Happy V-Day!
Posted by: sam | 02/14/2013 at 05:57 PM
LOVE LOVE LOVE the looks on Cate's face and the look on Sadie's face. LOL. I'm dying. I LOVE the 10 things in the envelopes idea Steph, totally filing that one away for safe keeping - for when I kids. :) HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY to all the HOWELLS!!! xxoo
Posted by: Christine Campbell | 02/14/2013 at 06:21 PM
How sweet these are, love the way you talk about your family. I like getting the table all ready to surprise them too!!
Great idea on your envelopes, how cute they turned out.
We do LOVE hearts for the month. I cut a bunch out and put them in a jar with a pen. Everyone makes one for everybody daily if we can and stick them around the house and on our kitchen/pantry door. I love seeing the hearts add up all month long and it's fun to see what the kids write on them. This is our 5th year doing it and it still melts my heart.
Happy Valentines to you and your sweeties!
Posted by: dawn | 02/14/2013 at 07:22 PM
I love the 10 things envelope idea. I need to do that next year, or maybe monthly. Great idea. I was going to do the heart shaped cinn. rolls this year for breakfast, but I completely forgot to pickup cinn. rolls. Oh well, next year.
Posted by: Erin R. | 02/14/2013 at 08:13 PM
Right there with you on the we don't really celebrate but I love to do things for my boys. This was our first school Valentine's day and we went homemade on the cards. Cost wise I think your way is better. My oldest helped for about 1/3 of the cards and then I was on my own. That last picture of the twins is adorable. Also, love the 10 things envelope. Definitely going to have to start that tradition!
Posted by: Charity G. | 02/14/2013 at 09:10 PM
How cute! I love how creative you are. I used to do little things for Valentine's day with the kids in our playgroup, but now that my girls are in school, it's just like any other day to them. But they do use it as an excuse to stop at American Eagle! My husband and I get each other a card, but that's about it. I can't really justify more since he just ordered stuff for his train layout and me for my scrapbooks!! Your heart rolls look so good!
Posted by: Stacey | 02/15/2013 at 07:18 AM
10 Things?
THE BEST Valentine's/any day gift ever!!!
LOVE that idea! Especially that it comes from both Mommy and Daddy!
I have a note my dad left me, directions to a cathedral in Newark, with a simply "Love you, Daddy" at the bottom.
He's been gone since 1987, but let me tell you, seeing his handwriting and a "Love you, Daddy," well, that's the BEST thing I own and one of the few things I'd grab if my house was on fire!!!
Posted by: krys72599 | 02/15/2013 at 08:32 AM
love this post.
love the envelope idea.
i'm saving that away for "someday"... very sweet and special.
xx.
Posted by: mara | 02/15/2013 at 09:26 AM
oh my gosh, the expressions in those last pics are making me laugh!! My kids got a little sugar and surprises yesterday too, my big guy, who is 15 still enjoys his chocolate heart, as long as an i-tunes card is along side it! ha
Posted by: laurie lariviere | 02/15/2013 at 10:01 AM
I love the 10 things thing!!!!!!! So cute!!!! They will love those forever.
Happy Valentines Day Pretty Howell Ladies!
Posted by: Leigh Erin | 02/15/2013 at 03:19 PM
The babies look so big!!!
Posted by: Sonya R | 02/15/2013 at 06:52 PM
I love the 10 Things envelope!! I have decided to do something similar for my boys Birthdays! One of my sons turn 13 today, so I came up with 13 things for him. I think he will love it! Thanks for the idea.:)
Posted by: Lynn L. | 02/16/2013 at 06:58 AM
Ok the look on those sweet faces! So cute and so funny!
Posted by: Kristine | 02/16/2013 at 03:03 PM
Me too! :) ha!
Posted by: Leigh Erin | 02/18/2013 at 09:14 PM
I love the 10 things thing!!!!!!! So cute!!!! They will love those forever.
Happy Valentines Day Pretty Howell Ladies!
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Posted by: Asad Waheed | 03/01/2013 at 12:47 AM