"I Love You Because...." Valentines

I know there are millions of people out there that despise Valentine's Day but I am not one of them. I love it! What better than a whole day devoted entirely to love?! Nothing :)

So this year we did this very awesome activity with the girls. Each person decorated there own Valentine's Day box with their name on it. Then starting on February 1st, we each had to write one reason why we love each person in our family and put it in their box.

The first 3 or 4 days were easy, but after the obvious reasons were done, we had to do a little more thinking. Why did we love each person? What is so special about them?

Then after we gave the kids our gifts from us, we all dumped out our boxes and read aloud each little note we were given. We started by saying "I love you because....." and then finished with the note. I was AMAZED at some of the things we came up with. The girls thought of things about their sister that I would have never guessed. Some reasons were funny and some were emotional. But when it was over (and it took like an hour) everyone was happy. The kids begged to do it again next year. It was free and it was special. Isn't that what were all looking for?!

 

For dinner we enjoyed heart shaped pizza and a heart cake. Simple but exciting for the little ones.

 

Valentine's Day- Love and Pretty {Journey's Decorating- Nashville TN}

 

I don't know how many families celebrate Valentine's Day as a kids holiday or a holiday for Mom and Dad, but we like to involve the kids in our Valentine's Day fun. Our anniversary is on February 11th so we usually have a special date day to celebrate our marriage on that day. Then for Valentine's Day, we celebrate with the girls.

 

I thought I'd share some of our Valentine's Day fun from last year as well as our plan for this year.

 

Decorating is a huge part of the fun. We always start with the center of our family room, the mantel! I love a beautifully decorated mantel. I started on ours this week. Here's a picture. As we get a little closer to February, I'll start changing things around and adding more fun decorations.

 

 

We like to "adopt" a special Valentine friend every year.

Someone we can do something nice for. Last year we picked one of my daughter's friends who has been battling cancer for two years now. She is a sweet, adorable little girl. We made her this gift bag and delivered it when she wasn't home. The girls love doing good deeds and serving others. This year our lucky "friend" is going to be Ray (our preacher). We love him dearly and he just may need a cheering up on his first Valentine's Day without his wife.

 

 

Something new, we're starting on February 1st we're calling "I love you because...". Each person in our family will have a box on the counter, which they will decorate and every day we will all write down one reason that we love each person and put it in their box. I feel like we spend so much time correcting the littles and pointing out all of the things they do wrong, so I though it would be a good idea to share with them all of the wonderful things that make each one of us unique and valued. What a fun way to do it! Then on Valentine's Day we can dump out our boxes and see why we're loved so much.

 

I'll share pictures and posts on how it works out.

 

When February 14th finally arrives, I like to surprise the kids with a fun breakfast of some sort. I found this on Pinterest last year. It's literally canned cinnamon rolls shaped like a heart with sprinkles. They were so happy about them, you would have thought I had slaved in the kitchen all morning. It's the little things, the attention to detail that makes life special. Add cute straws, some pretty napkins, and a candle and BAM- It's a Valentine's Day candlelit breakfast for a queen (or four).

 

 

 

When Daddy gets home, the real fun begins!!! We usually surprise the girls with goodies and gifts. But seriously, we only buy them things that they will be needing anyway. The picture below is from last year. Looks like we went all out right? That's the point! But we didn't. I just think it's more fun to give them a new outfit in a special way. I should also mention that my kids rarely get new clothing. We pass down everything we can, so new clothes are special to them. And sometimes, every girl just needs a new outfit.

 

 

 

 This year, I've bought the three little girls coordinating bathing suits with flip flops and mating accessories (I had Gymbucks so I got it all at a great price). The 2 babies also got pajamas and some chocolate. The 2 big girls got a box of chocolates. Mary (7) got a stuffed owl and Taylor (14) I have no idea what else to get her but I'll figure something out. 

 

I hope you'll embrace this little holiday this year and make it extra special for your family too. This is the stuff they'll remember forever :)

 

 

 

2015 Daily Homeschool Schedule {Journey's Homeschool}

With the beginning of a new year, I felt like we needed to revisit our daily homeschool schedule. The babies are growing quickly and have started napping together now, which makes for a couple of uninterrupted hours during the early afternoon. So we switched a few things around and updated it a little.

 

Here it is!

 

 

 

This week we're just easing back into our schedule. The kids didn't take school work very well on Monday and the babies were nothing short of a disaster. We'll just say that there may have been a few tears and they may or may not have been from children, wink wink.

 

 

I hope everyone else is off to a good back to school week :)

 

Many blessings!!!

 

 

 

 



Our Christmas Tree and Mantel {Journey's Decorating - Nashville TN}

  

Today I'm sharing our Christmas tree and mantel. This year we didn't buy a live tree. We had planned on buying one but the very week that we expected to get it, my in-laws said they were buying a new tree and taking this old one to the dump. Needless to say, it's perfect for our little corner in the den :)



 

 

If you're wondering why the bottom looks so bare, it is not because of my medioker decorating skills. In fact, it was decorated but we have lots of little hands who specialize in un-decorating. After a few broken ornaments I decided it was best to just put the rest of them up for another year. So I bought some ribbon and attempted to use it on the tree. I think pretty ribbon on a tree takes practice. It's clear I need more practice. This was my second attempt and I'm giving up for this year.

 

 

The mantel is my favorite thing to decorate! This wreath came from my mom a few years ago (I'm sure from a yard sale). The tall angel on the left is from Cracker Barrel a few years ago. The candelabra was a gift from my husband (from Target). I know there are lots of people who change up their mantel every year but I love mine so much that it's probably the only thing that is almost the same each Christmas. This year I added the red plate. I'll post a photo at the bottom from last Christmas.

 



 

I'm so proud of the new built ins that my husband put in this fall. These babies are completely from scratch! I designed, he built, I painted. I'm so happy with the way our den is coming together but we have a lot of work left.  



 

Here's a close up of the tree. My daughter was kind enough to notice that our snowman is falling off of the tree in this picture. Haha! See if you can find him!

 

 

Thanks to everyone for visiting :)

Here's a shot of last year's tree and mantel.

 

 

Halloween Candy Overload??

If you take your children to any kind of Halloween activities, you likely have an overload of Halloween candy when the first day of November rolls around. What are you going to do with ALL of that candy?

 

Here's what I do after the children pick through it for a day or two.

 

• First I pick out all of my husband's favorites and set them aside for him.

 

• Next I pull out all of the butterfingers and snickers. Then at the following monthly church potlucks, I make a butterfinger cake 

like this one.

And a snickers cake like this one.                               

 

• Then, the rest of the candy either gets put in to a bag for decorating gingerbread houses at Christmas OR it gets thrown in the trash.

 

 

Happy November!

 

 

 

 

Fall Meal Planning

My Fall Meal Planning

I don't have time this month to sit down and make out a real, calendar style menu for October. But I'll still need a grocery list and a meal plan or our month will be even more hectic.  

 

So my big plan is to add in some fall recipes to my regular grocery list and keep the ingredients on hand to fix what I need, when I need it. Some recipes are old fall favorites and some are new finds. 

 

I sure hope to share some favorite recipes soon but for now, I'm just sharing my list.  

Mains

 White bean & bacon soup

 Potato soup

Chili

Beef stew

Roast beef

Big pigs in blankets

Chili and cornbread skillet

Chicken ranch tacos

Quesadillas

Meatball subs

 Steak enchiladas

Breakfast enchiladas

Bacon patty melts

Bacon ranch grilled cheese sandwiches

French onion stroganoff

Chicken and dumplings

Chicken and dressing

Chicken noodle soup

Vegetable and beef lasagna

Chicken zucchini parmesan

Apple & honey pork chops

Sides

Twice baked potatoes

Broccoli casserole

Apple and butternut squash casserole

Sweet potato casserole

Breakfast

Apple cinnamon crepes

Baked pumpkin cream cheese French toast

Breakfast sandwiches

Baked oatmeal

Snacks and Outreach

Pumpkin pie

Pumpkin spice whip dip

Zucchini walnut blueberry bread

Pumpkin bread

Fried pickles

Fried cheese sticks

Pumpkin pecan bars

 

Happy Friday!!!

 

 

 

Fall At Home

 

 

The Summer heat is fading away quickly and day by day the air is just slightly more enjoyable. I'm still anxiously awaiting the cool breezes, sweat shirt days, and warm blanket nights by the fire but the highs are now in the upper 70s and that's good enough for me to start decorating :)

 

 

We have big big changes coming to our den this month. I'm hoping my pretty fall mantel will stay decorated through the process. I love pretty and I'm much happier when I'm surrounded with it.

 



 

I've started adding little touches of fall here and there throughout the house. My awesome brother sent me some beautiful flowers for my birthday last week and they really brighten up the dining area nicely. I wish they would stay fresh forever.

 

While I am trying to avoid the whole Halloween theme in my decorating this year, there are still a few of my favorite pieces that I just can't help but display. My daughters brought in some flowers from the field behind our house.

 

Thanks for visiting!!

More to come :)