More Love Week Fun

As Love Week continues, I thought I’d share a few more things I'm doing to make our celebration special:

These are our table centerpieces.

We’re using these placements.

We might eat these -

Hooray for Dunkin Donuts!

We'll definitely have these (little treats for my children and a few extra for teachers and some friends) -

This cute basket was a gift from a friend years ago.  I love it. 

 
I'm contemplating making these (from the same creative website as the treat above) -- check it out.  

I have a few other ideas up my sleeve.  But the week will assuredly be filled with small reminders of our giant (though not always perfect) love for each other. 

It's Honest Abe's Birthday!

Love Potion

Because my husband and I met on the 11th of February, we've always celebrated that day more than Valentine's Day.  Dinner reservations are more easily made and flowers are not quite so expensive (as they are just a few days later).


Still, I've always loved Valentine's Day -- replete with hearts, cupids, red and pink.  What's a girl not to love? Consequently, for years I agreed to be the Valentine's Party mom for my children's classrooms, providing the snacks and drinks. I looked forward to creating one of my (and crowd pleasing) favorites -  Love Potion, using dry ice.  

This punch bowl is not pink, but some reason (can you say Love Week?) it photographed that way!

I use this big plastic punch bowl I purchased inexpensively at a party store (I never attempted Love Potion in  a glass punch bowl.  I don't own one and toting this one to class parties was much simpler).  

Early on I made fancy multi-ingredient punches.  But after two or three parties, I realized pink lemonade works just as well because the dry ice gets all the attention any way.


Here are some easy to follow instructions for using dry ice and a container in a container.  You can also Google it for additional ideas.  I put my dry ice in a (new) knee high stocking so that I don't have to worry about the kids swallowing any small pieces.  I also create tiny, tiny holes in the stocking so it doesn't float.    Don't forget to use heavy duty gloves for this task -- they are key to the safe handling of the dry ice. 

This is always a HUGE hit with the kids. They are used to seeing a bubbling cauldron at Halloween but a Love Potion at Valentine's Day -- now that's a surprise. 

It's (Almost) Love Week!

In two days (yes, oddly, it will be a Friday) my family will mark the beginning of a 7 day celebration at our house. 


It's Love Week.  

As the About Me portion of my blog says, the week of February 11th through the 17th is our family's own 7-day celebration.   


It begins with the anniversary of the day my husband and I met (February 11th),  which was an unseasonably warm winter day in Washington, D.C. Halfway through the week is the all important St. Valentine’s Day.  Our celebration week culminates with the anniversary of our engagement  (February 17th in Williamsburg, Virginia), the year after we met.


So every day, for the next 7, we'll try to do something sweet or kind (sweeter and kinder, than usual, I mean), but not elaborate, for each other.  I especially enjoy leaving small tokens for my children each day of the week and sending my husband a card or two to his office.

Perhaps, like us, you'll invent your own day to celebrate. Or you'll decide that some things, like L-O-V-E, deserve not just a day, but a whole week of celebrating.

Happy Birthday Laura Ingalls Wilder

I don't know why she's not smiling.  After all, she brought so much joy to her readers, including me.

Today is the birthday of one of my childhood heroes - Laura Ingalls Wilder, author of the Little House series.


When I was 10, 11 and 12, I soaked in the words of her nine-book series, over and over again. I imagined myself in the big snows of Minnesota  and longed to ride in a covered wagon.  I wish we'd had family friends like Mr. Edwards, I was intrigued by names like Almanzo and Royal and I knew people like Nellie Oleson.


That Mrs. Wilder didn't even begin to write down her stories until she was in her 60s makes her even more remarkable.

Original cover of the book

So thanks so much Laura Ingalls Wilder, for your vivid stories of life on the plains which still seem so real more than 130 years later.

Still Relevant At Any Age

by artist Steve Penley

Today marks the 100th Birthday of Ronald Wilson Reagan.  

When living in Washington, D.C., in my early twenties, my job in the non-profit world was not well-paying, but it did have lots of perks.  My boss was friends with the White House photographer and managed to get us into the Rose Garden ceremony when Reagan welcomed the Dodgers following their World Series victory.  

My boss also managed to secure this photo for me (thanks, Tony!).  It's one of my favorite keepsakes from my time working in the Nation's Capital.   I prefer not to think about the fact that it was probably signed by the auto-pen because I love the photo. 

    

Happy Birthday cowboy and President, Ronald Reagan!