Happy Valentine's Day 2014
Today was a nice way to end our week. Nothing broke, Riley's fever was gone all day, Julia was cheerful and it was peaceful when the girls weren't arguing over the most minute things. Does it really matter if the Candy Land characters are on the same square? Does it really matter if you are shorter/taller/hungrier/thirstier/more tired than the other? Today it did. Too much time cooped up together is making them long for going somewhere. So we did!
Yesterday Riley asked if we could do a Sick Valentine Party since she was missing the party at school. I told her that we'd find a way to make it fun in our own way. Here were the ways we made our Sick Valentine Party unique and special:
BREAKFAST:
Riley slept until after 10am this morning - more than 13 hours of sleep! I stirred her to wake her up and make sure she was still ok. For breakfast, I made her special pancakes made in the shapes of hearts. Super easy!
Heart Pancakes
- Make the batter
- Heat the skillet
- Place cookie cutter on the skillet and fill with batter
**Once batter is completely filled in, take the cookie cutter out. On my first attempt, I left it in because I wanted the shape to remain perfect. Instead it stuck to the cookie cutter and I had to cut it out with a knife in order to flip it over. Still worked, but the shape remains well even when the cookie cutter is removed.**
- Flip over and cook
- Take off skillet and eat!
I cut out extra red and pink construction paper hearts with sweet messages on them. Put notes like "I love you" and "you are special" on them. Decorated her placemat with them and put the three heart pancakes on a plate in the middle. She wasn't very hungry still, but ate one of them and smiled.
Here is a link to some delicious looking heart pancakes and where I got the idea. Though I did not add all the sweetness to them!
http://www.recipegirl.com/2012/02/06/red-velvet-pancakes-with-sweet-cream-cheese-topping/
PAINTING:
I found a fun heart painting that I thought would keep the girls busy, but be low-key enough that Riley would have the energy to do it. She had MUCH more energy today though it went in waves. She got hyper several times and would then crash - looking like a zombie for a while before re-energizing.
We got out all of the acrylic paints, tarp for the floor, painting supplies and canvases. I showed the girls the idea that I had seen and gave them hearts made out of construction paper to use. On Pinterest there were tons of ideas about using the eraser of a pencil to put small dots around a cutout heart and create really cool heart outlines. I asked them what they thought and they both had completely original ideas so we went with it!
Julia's Heart Painting:
Julia just wanted to paint the canvas. Didn't care to use the bottom of a pencil to make cute dots around the heart. She wanted the heart in the center and then chose her paint colors: purple and yellow. We peeled the heart off and she wanted to make the heart section a deep red. I traced the heart shape in permanent marker and she painted the heart. Turned out beautiful!
Riley's Heart Painting:
Riley loved the idea of using the pencil eraser, but asked if she could do something different with it. Of course! She drew a puppy face. Then placed two hearts on the dog's head. She told me she wanted the hearts to make it look like either his ears or a bow. I traced the hearts with permanent marker. Then she created as she went! She used the pencil eraser to put dots on the bow and different colored dots around the edge of the painting. At one point, she wanted me to help and then told me I did it wrong and asked me to wipe it off. When I wiped it, the paint smeared and she loved it. She then made several other splotches with the eraser and asked me to smear it like the other one. She added a red eye to one of the dogs. (Though she was trying to simply paint just the eye, but it got wider and she loved it too - as did I.) Her picture turned out precious!!
SURPRISING GRANDPA AND GRANDMA:
I asked the girls if they would like to do something special and take the paintings to Grandma and Grandpa at work to say "Happy Valentine's Day!" They got very excited and both went upstairs to change. They each picked out a cute dress with leggings. Riley even put on a black headband. It was gorgeous weather outside and the first time we'd been out of the house in days!! Felt awesome.
It was so fun to show up at their work and give them the paintings. The girls were very proud!
GAMES:
We played a few board games together - Candy Land and Zingo. The girls both love these games and it was fun to spend time together cheering each other on.
The rest of the night we did some fun things: watching the Skeleton runs for the Olympics, reading books together, eating dinner.
It was a really great day and Riley especially talked about how much fun her day had been even though she missed her school party. Hoping we created some fun memories today!
Yesterday Riley asked if we could do a Sick Valentine Party since she was missing the party at school. I told her that we'd find a way to make it fun in our own way. Here were the ways we made our Sick Valentine Party unique and special:
BREAKFAST:
Riley slept until after 10am this morning - more than 13 hours of sleep! I stirred her to wake her up and make sure she was still ok. For breakfast, I made her special pancakes made in the shapes of hearts. Super easy!
Heart Pancakes
- Make the batter
- Heat the skillet
- Place cookie cutter on the skillet and fill with batter
**Once batter is completely filled in, take the cookie cutter out. On my first attempt, I left it in because I wanted the shape to remain perfect. Instead it stuck to the cookie cutter and I had to cut it out with a knife in order to flip it over. Still worked, but the shape remains well even when the cookie cutter is removed.**
- Flip over and cook
- Take off skillet and eat!
I cut out extra red and pink construction paper hearts with sweet messages on them. Put notes like "I love you" and "you are special" on them. Decorated her placemat with them and put the three heart pancakes on a plate in the middle. She wasn't very hungry still, but ate one of them and smiled.
 |
| Simply add the mix and quickly take off the cookie cutter so the mix doesn't stick! |
Here is a link to some delicious looking heart pancakes and where I got the idea. Though I did not add all the sweetness to them!
http://www.recipegirl.com/2012/02/06/red-velvet-pancakes-with-sweet-cream-cheese-topping/
PAINTING:
I found a fun heart painting that I thought would keep the girls busy, but be low-key enough that Riley would have the energy to do it. She had MUCH more energy today though it went in waves. She got hyper several times and would then crash - looking like a zombie for a while before re-energizing.
We got out all of the acrylic paints, tarp for the floor, painting supplies and canvases. I showed the girls the idea that I had seen and gave them hearts made out of construction paper to use. On Pinterest there were tons of ideas about using the eraser of a pencil to put small dots around a cutout heart and create really cool heart outlines. I asked them what they thought and they both had completely original ideas so we went with it!
Julia's Heart Painting:
Julia just wanted to paint the canvas. Didn't care to use the bottom of a pencil to make cute dots around the heart. She wanted the heart in the center and then chose her paint colors: purple and yellow. We peeled the heart off and she wanted to make the heart section a deep red. I traced the heart shape in permanent marker and she painted the heart. Turned out beautiful!
Riley's Heart Painting:
Riley loved the idea of using the pencil eraser, but asked if she could do something different with it. Of course! She drew a puppy face. Then placed two hearts on the dog's head. She told me she wanted the hearts to make it look like either his ears or a bow. I traced the hearts with permanent marker. Then she created as she went! She used the pencil eraser to put dots on the bow and different colored dots around the edge of the painting. At one point, she wanted me to help and then told me I did it wrong and asked me to wipe it off. When I wiped it, the paint smeared and she loved it. She then made several other splotches with the eraser and asked me to smear it like the other one. She added a red eye to one of the dogs. (Though she was trying to simply paint just the eye, but it got wider and she loved it too - as did I.) Her picture turned out precious!!
SURPRISING GRANDPA AND GRANDMA:
I asked the girls if they would like to do something special and take the paintings to Grandma and Grandpa at work to say "Happy Valentine's Day!" They got very excited and both went upstairs to change. They each picked out a cute dress with leggings. Riley even put on a black headband. It was gorgeous weather outside and the first time we'd been out of the house in days!! Felt awesome.
It was so fun to show up at their work and give them the paintings. The girls were very proud!
GAMES:
We played a few board games together - Candy Land and Zingo. The girls both love these games and it was fun to spend time together cheering each other on.
The rest of the night we did some fun things: watching the Skeleton runs for the Olympics, reading books together, eating dinner.
It was a really great day and Riley especially talked about how much fun her day had been even though she missed her school party. Hoping we created some fun memories today!
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| Riley with flu and the best she looked that day. |
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| Loved all the sweetness they had going on... sweet girls. |
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