Valentine's Love Notes in felt envelopes

Yesterday I showed my Husband a little extra love by leaving him 3 short "love notes" around the house in places he would find them before work. And I cooked his favorite meal that I make (Eggplant Parmesan) for dinner.  Nothing big and extravagant, but just a couple of little things to make him feel special.

I found a tutorial to make felt envelopes on Pinterest.  It looked really easy (until I realized the template link was broken.  Making my own adding a little extra time but they are still pretty easy to whip up) so I headed for Hobby Lobby to get 6 sheets of felt and with the help of my 40% off one item coupon, I made the investment in pinking shears. (I actually made 3 envelopes but one was sent to AZ for a wife to surprise her husband with)

Instead of doing the zig zag lines where the address and return address go, I embroidered our initials.  I thought that added a special personalized touch.

I wrote 2 short sweet notes for the envelopes and I left the first envelope in the bathroom by Husband's toothbrush.  The second was left by the coffee pot.  and the third note was funny and envelope-less.  I taped that one to the steering wheel.   

maybe one day the envelopes will get RTS with a note to me in them.  ;-)

Dora Loves Boots and Daughter Loves Son

After seeing how much the kids love story time at the library every Wednesday, I've been making the effort to make sure we're there.  The downside of that is, I have to discuss things like Valentine's Day to my kids because they heard books about it for 3 weeks in a row.  I'm not very big on Valentine's Day but really, in its simplest terms, what I told them about Valentine's Day is really what we should make it - It's just a special day when you make sure the people you love know it.  flowers, candies, jewelry, big romantic gestures that aren't made on any other day of the year aren't really my thing but I do think it's important to make sure the people you love know it and create great memories they can carry with them about the importance of showing love.

Well, because we go to the library each week now, we also get library books each week.  Last week, Daughter picked Dora Loves Boots. It's Valentine's themed.  Dora loves her best friend, Boots, and wants to give him a surprise on Valentine's Day.  So she picks strawberries for him because Boots loves strawberries.  And Boots wants to surprise his best friend, Dora, so he goes to Chocolate Lake and gets some chocolate for her because Dora loves chocolate.  Then, like with any Dora adventure, they arrive at their destination with the help of Backback and Map (while also stopping Swiper from swiping).  At Rainbow Rock they reveal their surprises and decide to dip the strawberries in the chocolate for a super special treat.

The kids love Dora, Boots, chocolate and strawberries.  So after reading the book about 17 times, we went to the store and bought out of season strawberries (Sorry, Barbara Kingsolver but they were delicious - at least they were from Florida and not California) and a bag of semi-sweet chocolate chips.

Son decided he wasn't going to combine his strawberries with the chocolate.

Daughter was a good dipper

and after all the strawberries were dipped or eaten, the messy fun began. 

He didn't want to mix his strawberries and chocolate, but he sure enjoyed his fill of both.

And they enjoyed a bubble bath after and enjoyed the chocolate covered strawberries for days.  It was a big hit.  And the kids were both excited that they got to be like Dora and Boots.

Wordless Wednesday: I love us.

Adventures of Daughter: Valentine's Day Card

A funny valentine's story about Daughter:

Yesterday I was sitting at the dining room table coloring with her. She was drawing frogs and fish and I was making Husband a Valentine's card. When I finished my card, I folded it in half and handed it to him. He read it, thanked me and gave me a kiss and a hug and put it on the mantle.

Hours later, Daughter was back at the table coloring. She folded her scribbled construction paper in half, handed it to Husband and said, "Valiiiiiitie, Da. kiss, big hug." Then pointed to the mantle, asking Husband to put her Valentine's card beside mine. That kid, she's amazing. She melts our hearts everyday.

Spirits Sunday: Ghost Pines Cabernet Savignon 2007

We're celebrating. Why you ask? Valentine's Day? nah, we're not big on V-Day. A new season of The Amazing Race starts tonight. yea, that's right. And we celebrated with a great meal and wine.

[Husband has filled out applications for us at least twice a year for the last 3 years. but we [I] never get around to making the video tape and sending it in. Maybe when the kids are older. I'd love to be on that show]

We picked up this bottle at Publix yesterday for close to $20. To Husband's excitement it was a "real" cork cork.

It's a California wine. 59% of the grapes came from Napa County and 41% came from Sonoma County. A winemaker's blend.

Cabernet Savignons have quickly become my favorite wine [behind Rieslings] and this one didn't disappoint. It's got a nice warm cherry/blackberry taste to it. It's 13.9% alcohol.

We had it with THE Bread, Asparagus Pesto, {I got the recipe from March Southern Living. When it's posted on their website, I'll link it} a great big salad {with red leaf lettuce and lots of vegetables} and grilled steak. pretty stinking good by itself but better with the wine. It was a late lunch and I'll get more just in time for The Amazing Race.

If there's leftover pesto, I'll have it with penne tomorrow for lunch.