Valentine's Tradition

What?  Valentines?  That was weeks ago.

 He waited patiently........

 For his once a year box of candy from See's.  The heart box has been a tradition in our family for over 50 years.  My grandfather has purchased boxes of candy for all the 'girls' in the family over the years.  The tradition carries on with N now.

 And then we tear into that box.

Because nothing is better than a box of See's candy!

Valentines Recap

N had his Valentines Party at school this week.  I'm the class photographer so I get to be there for all the fun stuff.

I used store bought valentines this year and then spiced them up with a treasure chest and goodies from Oriental Trading Company.  You can see that post here.

I had to beg and plead for him to wear the pink polo shirt.  He was with me when I bought it and said he liked it.  He won't wear it now.  But I somehow managed to get it on him for a few minutes today.

He got a special breakfast at McDonalds this morning and when we got to school, he wanted to finish his OJ with Mrs. Irma.

I ran over to the Bake Sale and dropped off my second round of cupcakes and whoopie pies for the second day of the sale.

Then the fun began.  The class did their usual morning thing and then the party started.  On Monday, they made sugar cookies.  Tuesday, they decorated them with whipped cream and sprinkles.

They did a little Valentines Art and made their Valentines bags.

Then it was time to exchange Valentines.  They are learning about the mail system this week and N's teacher is a mail carrier.  He let her borrow one of his shirts for the kids to wear.

Each one got a chance to be the mail person and deliver their Valentines.

Tuesday is also N's share day.  He brought in his Polar Express book - which is his current favorite book.

As soon as my duties in class were over, I rushed home and started making dinner.  I used my heart shaped cookie cutters to cut out heart shaped potatoes.  I used the negative space too.  I found a recipe on Pinterest for roasted potoatoes and modified it a little.  I slice the potatoes fairly thin and then bake them in the over with garlic salt and olive oil. 

Everyone had valentines plates and heart swirly straws.

Dessert were cupcakes (shocker!) and See's Candy.  The candy is a tradition thats been around for almost 60 years - maybe longer.  My grandfather started buying the 1 pound heart shaped boxes back in the 50's for my mom and grandma.  Every year, they got one.  We still get one, every year.

One year my grandparents went to Hawaii the week of Valentines and we didn't get our boxes.  That was the only year too.  He's made sure that if they go away, he buys ahead of time and leaves them for us to find.  Each year, Nick has received his heart shaped box and digs right in.

Now that the holiday and bake sale are over, I can focus on getting my layouts and cards photographed.  I've got a stack ready to go but haven't had the time (during daylight hours) to get pictures.

Ready for V-Day

Thats right.  For once I'm early!  Normally, I'm up til 3 am the night before finishing up a project but this year, I'm ahead of schedule.  Excuse me while I pat myself on the back.

I used these cool clear tubes from SRM.  I've used them before but I bought more during the shop hop last year and I've been waiting for the perfect opportunity to use them.

Then I saw the new tags from Chic Tags and came up with this idea.

The tubes are for the staff at N's school.

The kids in his class will get the cool pirate valentines.  I couldn't resist the plastic treasure chests from Oriental Trading Co filled with gold doubloons, candy and toys.  N is addicted to Jake and the Neverland Pirates and Pirates of the Caribbean right now so when I took him to buy Valentines, he immediately grabbed the POTC set.

I. Love. You.

Valentines Day was fun in the Weinstock household.  I took it a bit further this year than in previous years and made fun food.

Heart. Shaped. Everything.  Oh yeah.  And I think I'll expand on it more next year.  I saw ideas for heart shaped hamburgers and buns.  Heart shaped pancakes.  Heart shaped......  You get the idea.  So I picked up everything heart shaped for the kitchen when it went on sale the day after.  I'm all prepared.

Here's what I did do this year.

Heart Shaped Rice Krispy Treats - I made these mostly for the Bake Sale at the school the week before but I made another batch for lunches and snacks.  I tinted them.  Yes I did.  Teal, pink and purple.

For Nicks class Valentines I had this great idea to sew up some felt hearts and fill them with goodies I found at Target.  That was until the construction started and I lost my bag of red, white and pink felt.

Which I found the morning of Valentines Day.  Right where I left it.  Right by my desk in the office.
So I threw these together at the last minute.

Cars for the boys and Tinkerbelle for the girls.  Generic boxed valentines attached to treat bags filled with the goodies I bought.  Mini erasers, mini paper pads, pencils, conversation hearts etc.

I made the cute tags on top.  Bakers Twine (Because we have so much of it!)  I punched a 1 inch heart out of kraft paper and stamped 'Be Mine' with a new Cats Life Press stamp.  Its stamped with Jenni Bowlin Cough Syrup ink.  I added the pink crystal.  The scalloped circle behind that is a sticker from Paper Source on a punched scallop circle.

Each of his teachers (Ms. Kim, Ms. Irma and Ms. Barbara) each got a mini book with quotes and chocolate hearts from See's Candy.  

For dinner, I made steak.  I decorated the table with a red tablecloth, felt hearts, candles, and the flowers from my husband.

Dessert was cupcakes.  I took the time to make frosting instead of using the canned stuff.  Tastes so much better too.

And I made brownies too.  Used the same heart shaped cookie cutter to cut them out and then made a brownie sundae.  Yum!

Earlier in the week, my grandparents had us over for dinner (they went on a Valentines Cruise).  Nick got his box of See's Candy.  This is a family tradition and this year was the 50th year.  We used to get the really cool heart shaped boxes but lately, they are just too expensive so we each get our own personalized box of chocolate.  Our favorite kinds are in there instead of the mix.

50 years my grandfather has given us these boxes.  All the women in the family.  Except one year when they went to Hawaii for Valentines.  When he got home, we let him have it.  He hasn't missed a year since.  He had no idea we looked forward to these.

Finally, his shirt for Valentines.