Month of L-O-V-E

We had over a month of L-O-V-E fun in our house.  I’ve always loved designating a specific day to showing love,(even if you should show it everyday) and especially love getting the opportunity to show love to my two little sweeties.  Here’s some of the things we did to bring a little L-O-V-E into our home.  Lyla, you definitely learned to pick out hearts and thought every day was “Balentines Day” for about a month. 

 

Glue-Hearts

We colored glue red and you poured them into various cookie cutters.  I got the biggest KICK out of watching you stir in the color.  We had two cups; one pink, one red.  Instead of stirring them one at a time you stirred them both at the same time.  That is impressive babe!!!  You make me smile and feel proud every single day.  You have also become quite the skills pourer.  After a few days they dried into the most beautiful little hearts and one was even lips!  Muah!  We hung them on the curtain rod over out big sliding glass door (the curtain rod hall of fame) and you got the biggest kick out of showing everyone the hearts you made

Embellished Hearts

You LOVE gems and any time I get out this little divider full of various types of gems.  You also love gluing things so this was a hit.  I just covered heart-shaped cardboard cut-outs with paper and glue and you went to TOWN embellishing them.  You literally packed as many gems as could fit on the heart we sent to Grandma Bet.  It cracked me up! We made one for both of your grandma’s and one to hang on the curtain rod hall of fame.

 

Water Color Hearts

This was a two-phase activity.  First you painted this heart using our new water colors.  I loved watching your face as you painted with this new medium.  You were surprised to see it go on like water but take on such beautiful pinks and purples.  Once you sae the way it worked, you would slop in on there and giggle as it splashed about.  Once it dried you decorated it with glitter heart stickers.  You love stickers and, as you can see from photos, get a thrill out of each one you chose.  We had plenty of “oohs and ahhs” and “awe, so pretty”.  This heart was proudly hung on the art wall of fame

Window Stickers

A favorite tradition you have is to stick those weird window clings on the sliding glass door every holiday or pseudo holiday even.  You delicately take each sticker off the sheet and intricately place them along the door.  You point out each one and say “look at this one mom!’.  They inevitably fall off the door the next day (or Charlotte takes them off ) but you love them so it’s worth wasting the buck every couple months

Sugar Cookies

This is a tradition we started way back when dad and I were dating and included you when you were only 5 months old!  We tried a new recipe this year that was much more involved but more delicious as well.  The dough had a lot more substance to it which was perfect for you to use your cookie-cutter skills on.  You are awesome at cookie-cuttering.  Char helped from the high chair and wasn’t too happy til she got one to eat.  Once they were cooked and cooled we iced them.  Oh boy did you and Charlotte love that part!  You loved eating the icing!!  But also spreading it on the cookies in a nice big clump and then dumping a half ton of sprinkles on it.  This tradition is one of my favorites and was all the more special because we go Lottie to join us this time!

Heart-Globes

A resident favorite because it involves dumping and glitter.  I found these cute little heart shaped containers at the $ Store that said “LOVE” on the lid in felt.  They were perfect.  I got two so you could make one for Lottie to shake, and shake she did…along with chew   One thing I just love is when I set out the invitation (lay out all the supplies in separate clear cups so you can decide what to do when) and you know just what to do with them.  I never say a word and you’re dumping thinks in left and right before I even get sat down.  These ones were filled with red gems, heart-shaped gems, and glitter. 

Dot-Hearts

You love your dot-makers (they resemble bingo dotters) so much.  I have to ration the use of them because they’re not cheap and I just know they’re going to run out soon.  This activity was a heart on top of pink paper that you dotted around.  I never said anything but for some reason you decided to keep the dots away from the beautiful heart (as you called it) in the center.  The idea is to then remove the heart once you’re dong because there’ll be an outline of the heart from the dots.  We didn’t do this however because you just loved that little heart too much

Toilet-Roll Heart Stamper 

toilet-roll stampers are a pretty good staple when it’s time to get the paint out.   Every time you’d stamp a heart you’d say “look at that mom!”.  So cute.  This one also adorned our wall of fame. 

Valentines Sensory Bin. 

We started this bin at our Valentines Party and it was the biggest hit ever.  So even though everything got all mixed up, we had to have a few more rounds of fun with this.  It’s white, red and pink rice (Lyla you helped me dye them and shake them in a baggie), conversation hearts, big plastic hearts for scooping, heart-shaped cookie cutters, and colored purple and blue pastas.  We got all of our favorite cooking tools and went to town.  Charlotte, it was a battle, as always to keep things from your mouth, but I still think you benefited rom the sensory experience.  Lyla, in the lower pictures, you can see how evolved your play has become.  All on your own accord, you laid out plates or “Mommy, Lottie and Emily” and scooped food onto them.  We also shot rice through a tube that we have, which was a big hit as well.  Big mess=Big Fun!

Our wall of fame