Valentines Week

Since our budget is tight (student debt, saving to buy a house and thinking about having another baby will do that to a person.) We opted to go for small and simple this year. So here is a round up of Jakob's gifts.

Day 1:

A glow stick with a note saying "You're the Obi-Wan for me." So cheesy, so cute!

Day 2:

A stick with a note saying "Stick with me!" It really doesn't get better than that and even though he acted a bit disappointed when he opened his back pack that day, he says that it was one of his favorites. 

Day 3:

I've got a crush on you!

Day 4:

I just loved this card I found on Pinterest so I made one for Jakob. 

 I had some popcorn kernels to give him but I forgot.

Day 5:

Jakob love camo and he can usually be found wrapped up in his "woobie" every evening. So I got him a camo blanket. The note says "Let's cuddle (so I can steal your body heat) and watch Star Wars!" Jakob is always complaining that I steal all of his body heat because I am so clad all the time. It's true, I'm like an ice cube!

 Day 6:

 On a bit of a friskier note I made a little lingerie card. 

I really just love it and it was so simple to make!! .

Day 7:

 Ever since Jakob and I were engaged (since we never dated) we would write each other love notes. I just love looking back and reading them. So for our last day we exchanged love notes. It is by far my favorite! That's a wrap for the Hubby now onto the kiddos!

Day 1:

Glow Sticks this is also what I made their classes at Church. Cheap and simple!

Day 2:

Worms!!!

Day 3:

Coloring books with "You color my world with happiness!"

Day 4:

Sour patch kids.

Day 5:

I wrote a secret message on a piece of paper with white crayons and they had to paint them to find out what it said. 

 Day 6:

Fishies!

For their last day I put some chocolates, a puzzle and another coloring book in their little back packs. E just loved waking up each morning and checking to see what goody she and Duke got! It was so much fun!

Valentines Week

 Valentines. How can Valentines have already come and gone? I really enjoy Valentines (as with all holiday's) because not only do I do Valentines Day, but I do Valentines Week. I try to do something special every day for the entire week before Valentines. Gifts and little notes are my love language 100%. Jakob works so hard (which happens to be his love language) and I want him to know that I appreciate it so one day just isn't enough. This year the budget was tight so I kept things pretty low key.

Day1:

 A sock bouquet because Jakob is always in need of more socks and giving them to him just as, ya know, socks was lame. So I rolled him a dozen sock roses. They were adorable! 

 Day 2:

 I just love the funny things kids say and E is at a great age for funny phrases. For Jakob's second day I made him a heart chain that had reasons why E loves him on them. Some things include: He feeds me, he go to the zoo with Ethnie, Duke and Mommy, he play cushion game with Ethnie and Duke. So cute!

Day 3:

 Once upon a time, probably three years ago, Jakob wrote me a Christmas letter that had this picture on it. Since then I've embroidered pillows with the same picture and now we have a little mug set. You can buy them if you don't want to DIY it. I couldn't bring myself to pay $26.99. I got my cups at Wal-Mart (because my dollar store didn't have any. Weird right?) for $2. It was super fast and easy to make and you can find several different tutorials on Pinterest. 

 Day 4:

 We wrote out a questionnaire about Daddy from Ethnie. Her answers were adorable!

Day 5:

 I made up a game with simple questions about each other. It's amazing how much I learned about Jakob! Under each question I had written down my answers. Before we started I had Jakob write down his own answers and then we quizzed each other. It was fun!

Day 6:

 A mirror full of reason why I love him. 

Day 7:

 Jakob was in need of another tie rack.

Day 8:

 For the final day I gave him this little card. 

Costco is sort of an inside joke with us. We tend to go there unintentionally for special events birthdays, anniversary's, graduations. After awhile it just became our place which is convenient because it's delicious and cheap!

Saturday morning, this is what my hubby looked like. Sick, with the flu. It was seriously depressing. He didn't leave our bed for the entire day. I also happened to sleep on the couch... on Valentines. Yup, it was awesome. He wrote me a letter which is the best thing I could have asked for and he said that I had a gift coming "in the mail." He swears that he didn't forget ;). 

 I never made it to Jo-Ann to get fabric to make Duke a backpack like E's. Maybe next year. He got some chocolates and the coolest Lego toy ever!! 

 E's back pack was stuffed with goodies. 

 In the morning she asked if Santa came. She's hilarious. 

All of her goodies including an Ariel with TWO arms!! That was a pretty big deal! Despite Jakob and the kiddos being sick (kids are rocking a cough and colds) it was a great Valentines. Perhaps next year we can do without the illness. :) You can find all of these ideas and much more on my Pinterest Page. I hope everyone else spoiled their man and that your man spoiled you! Happy Valentines!

Be Mine?

 It is Duke Manfred's first Valentines and that calls for a photo shoot!! Hello Handsome!! 

 I knew I wanted a special outfit for Valentines but after researching everything was so gosh darn expensive. I decided to create my own outfit and I am so pleased with the final outcome! 

 Holy snaps! I seriously cannot get enough of this boy!

 I saw pictures of kissing booths on Pinterest and I knew I had to make one. I had all of the supplies on hand and I {love} the final outcome. That is the same crate that we put Duke in for his newborn photos. I can't believe how much he has grown! 

 And of course, some kisses! 

 I sure do love my little Valentine! I am one lucky Mama!

Love Hand and Footprints

 My home has been in full creativity mode the past month. Between Valentines and Ethnie's birthday I have got several projects on the go. It's a crazy juggling act but I'm loving it. One of my latest creations was this little picture. It's E's hand and Duke's feet and I love it so much it may or may not stay up all year long. If I did it again I would have done a slightly bigger canvas but this works!

It really helps balance my mantle which is still a work in progress.

Valentines Backpack and Bunting

 I had been searching around online for a cute little back pack to put Jakob's and Ethnie's Valentine treasures in because sometimes a mail box just doesn't cut it. I figure that since E was born in February I will start to make Valentines a little more special. After doing some digging I came across this back pack at Pottery Barn Kids. Super cute and just was I was looking for accept even on sale these were $14.99 a pop plus an additional $7.99 if I wanted to embroider a name on it! That would be $91.92 for the four of us (new baby too) plus shipping and handling. No Thanks. So i decided I would make my own.

Tada! I didn't have a pattern but lets be serious these are pretty simple to throw together. It took me approx 4 hours with the hand embroidery and I got all of the supplies for 4 of them for less than $20. Now that's more like it. 

 

 Even though I had to take the time to make them (I only ended up making E's and Jakob's. I'll make mine and new babies once we name it.) It feels a little more special since they came from me and not the store. I also was able to make them bigger than PB's and I got rid of the slit in the top. 

 I then decided that I wanted to decorate our mantel. Our mantel is a beast. I hate this thing. But we do what we can since we are only renting. I had all of the supplies as left overs from previous projects and the whole thing took me about 3 hours to make. Not too shabby if I say so myself.

 I love the final outcome! I did make seven flags and just tucked them under the candles since I figure our mantel in our future home will be a bit bigger! That's a wrap of Valentines. Onto BIRTHDAY!!!! Can't believe that E will be ONE in 4 days!!

Valentine's Week

I still think I'm crazy for doing an entire week but now that I have Pinterest it's hard not to do the 14 days of Valentines. There are soooo many good ideas out there! Not to mention Jakob really enjoys the week of spoils even if sometimes they are ridiculous.Everyday I put a little note in his mailbox that I made back in 2010. He just loves coming downstairs to see that he's gotten some mail.

Day 1: I made Valentines day cupcakes. What made them V-day you ask? They were supposed to be heart shaped. Did you catch how I said supposed to be. Major flop. Instead of them turning into cute little hearts they just looked like they had been squished by someone's thumb. I think they rose too much? They still tasted good and the folks in Jakob's office appreciated them. Hopefully you will have better luck. Click on the picture for the link.

Day 2: (Please ignore the facial expression. This man and pictures lol.) I was in the mall with my parents back in January and I saw a this shirt and I knew I had to have it! I mean how awesome is that?

Day 3: Sunday's a pretty busy in our house so he got something nice and simple. A little something to remind him that I love him every time he sings the ABC'S with Ethnie

Day 4: On Monday I gave him the sweetest little picture of Ethnie. Golly she's adorable!! It's a little motivation to help him come home a little earlier to his sweet girl!

Day 5: For the longest time Jakob has been trying to tell me that "The Last of the Mohicans" is a love story. I saw it once a really long time ago but I really didn't think it feel under the same category as The Notebook, The Proposal, or A Walk to Remember.  However Netflix claims that it is in fact a romance title as it was listed under Romance. I saw it in the $5 bin at Wal-Mart and decided we should add it to our collection.

Day 6: A little Gum Ball machine full of his very favorite candy. He was rather excited about this!

Day 7: Happy Valentines. He will be receiving our traditional letter. Little E will be getting a pink Teddy. I really love Valentines Week and being able to spoil my sweetheart! He totally deserves it!!