Making Valentines

We decided to make our valentines this year.  Vera was adamant on having heart valentines, so after some Pinterest searching, we came up with an idea she was happy with.

After preschool, I took her to the library to cut out the hearts on the Ellison.  It saved a lot of cutting time for mom and dad, and Vera thought it was cool.  She came with me to Kroger to pick out the applesauce pouches.  Then we went to work one evening putting everything together.

Mom cut, dad glued, Vera signed her name, and dad helped her punch holes.  Then mom and dad tied the hearts to the applesauce.  Vera was excited to bring them to preschool for her friends.

We had lots of extra applesauce, so we made some valentines for our cousins.  Vera wrote all of her cousins' names by herself and then signed her own name on them.  She did a great job.  I had to help her with the "K" in Blake because she said those are so hard.  But all of the other letters she did on her own.  I am amazed at how well she does at writing.

We also made dad a valentine surprise.  When we went to Kroger, Vera wanted to buy a candy bar bouquet for dad, but they were kind of expensive, so I told her we'd make one.  We bought the Reese's Cups and then put it all together on our vacation day.  It turned out cute.

Not quite finished.  Vera was excited to give dad the surprise.

The kids got helium balloons and conversation hearts from mom & dad for Valentine's Day.  Vinners giggled and giggled when he saw his balloon for the first time.

I love this picture, especially of Annie.  :)  The floating balloons definitely catch her eye.

As a family, we enjoyed chocolate fondue to celebrate Valentine's Day.  We went to a fondue party a few weekends ago, and I found a chocolate fountain on the clearance at Walmart.  Vera thought it was awesome and has been asking to do it again.  We had some leftover ingredients, so I decided it'd be a fun valentine treat.

Vera's fondue motto: the more chocolate, the better!
We had cream puffs, graham crackers and marshmallows.  Vera was sad that the strawberries were gone, and dad was sad that we didn't have rice krispy treats.
Vera asked if we could have an ice cream chocolate fountain this summer.  Hmm...might have to do some research on that.  It does sound yummy!
Dad asked for the next one to be a cheese fountain with nachos, soft pretzels and bread.  That sounds yummy, too!

Vinners did not participate, but he did eat cream puffs and liked them a whole lot!

And baby Annie slept through the whole thing.  She rarely falls asleep in her seat while we eat, but I think the monotone sound of the fountain lulled her right to sleep.

Side note:  On Valentine's Day last year, we moved into our new house.  It was a white-out blizzard that day.  Who could forget!?  Our first year in our new house went by quickly; it definitely feels like home! :)