iValentine.

happy valentine, y'all!

i hope this day is finding you all warm and cozy ... whether it be on the outside - thanks to gorgeous sun and 70 degree weather like we are enjoying - or on the inside - thanks to your sweetheart or sweet treats or the sweet sound the cork makes when you dislodge it from the wine bottle.

i spent much of my day with the children in valentine class party hades. i'm sorry. i know this may knock me down a few notches in your eyes, (probably ain't the first time, and most definitely ain't gonna be the last, i'm sure...) but i'm the teacher who doesn't love class parties.

and when i say i don't love them, i really mean i would rather have something waxed than to participate.

maybe it's sorting and passing out 22 sets of 22 addressed valentines. or dividing 22 bags of candy among 22 lunch sacks when i should be teaching a math lesson. or opening 22 juice packs and 22 little debbies and 22 bags of chips and 22 iced cookies and putting it all on 22 plates. and then cleaning up 22 piles of crumbs and 22 sticky desks caked with cookie icing and exploded juice.

but alas, such is the life of a kindergarten teacher.

i always manage to put on a happy face (the kids deserve a good time even if all i want is to just want to kick back in my rolly chair and eat cheesecake bites i found in the lounge), break out the hot pink sharpies and get after it - calmly and controlled, of course. but only for 30 minutes. we follow the 2:00-2:30 party rule very strictly.

in my other life (the one as a mom and wife and lover of all things sparkly) though, i adore the day of the pink puffy heart.

love the pink and red, love the sparkle, love the aisles and aisles of pretty pretties, love the cute polka-dotted dishes, love the holiday candy, love the excuse to leave a cute surprise for my sweet friends, love knowing my perfume bottle won't stay empty for long. (brighton perfume is my love language. like totally.) especially love the opportunity to have a little themed fun with my favorite little wild woman.

which is exactly what we did this weekend.

i don't have pictures from saturday because we spent the vast majority of it laying around in our pj's reading books ... p-dub's black heels for mama and the berenstain bears' valentine party for sophie b.

yesterday, however, was a different story. we were up and at 'em pretty early. sadly, though, we didn't make it to church. sweet tom had a pretty sour tummy and it worried me to leave him alone. (part of me seriously thinks his run-in with rat poison a couple of summers ago weakened his insides so that even little things are a lot harder on him than they should be....)

we got dressed (i use the term loosely - sweats and mascara for mom, ballerina pj's and a tutu for priss) and headed to lunch at mama shu's house. (loooooove sunday lunches at her house. xoxo, gloria. you're the greatest.) tacos and chocolate pie - don't get much better than that.

from there we hit up sonic happy hour for an extra large diet dr. pepper (which we shared - no haters, please.), drove through the car wash and then rode around with the sunroof open while my sweet girl snoozed in the backseat. perfection.

we got home with a few good hours of warm sunshine left and made the most of it. barbie jeep driving, baseball playing, cupcake baking, valentine card decorating, chocolate eating and all kinds of other fun.

i thought it might be fun to document our afternoon adventures with my phone (read: i was too lazy to drag out the big camera) and post them here.

enjoy!


the sweetest tutu-wearing baseball player ever. maybe she'll start a trend?!

my first encounter with funfetti. i'm hooked.



my sweet helper stirred in the bits of candy.

i went in for a taste but stopped myself before she saw ... don't want her trying to copy. eek!


anybody else ever noticed how much stickier funfetti batter is? or am i just a klutz? it was like dealing with marshmallow cream.


and then the cupcakes got HUGE!


i adore looking at iced cupcakes.


they managed to turn out pretty even despite my lack of culinary sense!

that smile. i die.



not bad for a $2 decoration. cute!

i don't know who stashed the dark chocolate dove hearts all over my house, but i totally don't appreciate it.



gotta love the cute frame that's been sitting there for a month sans photo. maybe in time for next year?!

again with the chocolate. this madness has to stop!



she picked them out all by herself.


it sure was a shame that the accompanying tattoos somehow ended up in the trash.... awwww shucks!


it was quite an unfortunate moment when she realized that she had to give some of these away.



making up a few little sweet treats for my sweet school friends.


she chose and decorated a valentine for daddy.

how precious are these?! LOVE target holiday goodies.

we're rita's favorite.

like, totally.

not bad for an $8 bundle of flowers i tied up myself. LOVE how homemade they look.

the card i gave hubby last night with his gift ...

i continue to amaze myself with my lack of good sense - an xbox headset for him to talk to all the other dorks he plays with.

the card i got for him to open today ...

i added an extra caption ... which is pretty much all the time. ha!

silverlicious!!!!!!!!!!!!!

valentine goodies for the wild woman.

and this morning ... my sad little valentine.

mommy said no to her makeup jewelry - i had nightmares about purple glitter lip gloss all over this precious outfit - and so she sulked all the way to rita's.

love & a fancy, official, even though the restaurants are overcrowded we're going anyway, date night!!!!!