a perfect holiday.

T and I love holidays.  Maybe a little too much.  We especially love extending our favorite holidays.  Valentine's Day being one holiday that's easy to extend.  

We started a little early on Thursday night.  T wanted to cover the actual day of Valentine's this year and I wanted to do something, so I did a pre-Valentine's meal.

Complete with top sirloin steak (grilled to perfection) and a side salad and chocolate-covered strawberries for dessert.

Yum.

The morning of Valentine's Day, T sent me a beautiful bouquet of flowers to school.  Last year, he sent some and the delivery man couldn't figure out the address (since it was to the elementary school) and ended up dropping it off at a random house across the street from the school.  Luckily, the people living there had heard my name before at the school and brought the flowers over the next day.

Still, T was a little upset.  The flower company was super nice about it and gave him a nice gift certificate to make up for it.

This year, my flowers got delivered to the school right on time with a wonderful note.  

Score one for the hubs.  And T always remembers that I'm not a big fan of red roses on Valentine's Day.  I love the look of red roses and I have nothing against them, I just think they're tacky on Valentine's Day for me.  I have a sister and friends who love red roses on Valentine's day and I think it's perfect for them- it's just not my cup of tea on Valentine's.  And for T to remember that, it's even more special to get a beautiful arrangement like the one he got me this year.

The part of the night I was looking forward to most was dinner.  T sent me a "menu" of food topics a couple of days before Valentine's Day and I got to pick one out.  He definitely picked my favorite food topics which made it hard to decide.  Picnics, chocolate, Italian, and Texas yumminess are all my favorites.  

Suffice it to say, he did good.

Mmm hmm... a man in the kitchen always looks good.

Always a good sight to see in the evening.

{see the roses on the table?  Those were for getting through my test last weekend.  Fresh flowers at home are always my favorite.}

Always.  

Especially when this man of mine has been so excited to make the meal he'd planned.  He definitely had some fantastic plans up his sleeve...

His masterpieces that he created for the night?

Chicken Crostini's with melted Provolone

Lightly toasted bread with Olive oil

and Mini Wonton Lasagna's

Oh my was this pregnant lady happy.  Every single bite was delicious goodness in my mouth.  I mean, this guy really outdid himself this year!

Happy Lover's Holiday.  

Mine was awesome.

Valentines and Lover's Holiday

Valentine's Day is tomorrow.

That always makes it a hectic week for a teacher (or at least the day before Valentine's gets crazy).  I actually got my Valentine's done earlier in the week this year...  I went the fast and simple route this time around.  I did these last year, but scaled them down and used double stick tape.  I busted these babies out in an hour this year.

Success for a grade school teacher.

I even had enough down time at home to paint my nails this year too!  I went to school with my nails like this on Tuesday and the next day a student showed up with almost the same exact nails as mine.

It turned up the corners of my mouth and made me laugh.  7 and 8-year-olds definitely know how to make a grown woman feel good about herself.  

Valentine's Day also means it's Lover's Holiday.  For our very first Valentine's Day together when we were dating, T and I really wanted to impress each other.  He did it by buying my sisters chocolates and my mom flowers (my dad felt left out...) and of course a bouquet of flowers for me.  He ended up having to work at Home Depot that entire day, but found time to show up that morning to surprise the women in my family and me.  After just a few months of dating, he already knew that by loving my family, he'd be on my good side!

He got off work late that night, but I saved our steak and shrimp dinners and we ate in my parents trailer in candlelight.  He'd surprised me the month before by dressing up and making me an Italian dinner (and I showed up in jeans and a t-shirt!), so I did the same to him, complete with a dress and heels.  :)  

Suffice it to say, it was a pretty amazing Valentine's Day.  And since that Valentine's, I've never spent Valentine's with another person.  I wouldn't have it any other way.  

We definitely enjoy the romantic side of the holiday, but we love having fun and being silly too.  We found what works for us and what we enjoy doing for each other and we say everyone else should do the same!  

So happy day-before-Valentine's-Day.  It's already been an awesome weekend (add to the fact that it's a 3-day weekend and it's even better!).

the day we celebrated love

The day of love treated us well this year.

More specifically, T treated me really well this year.  

Again.

After a fun filled day with my 32 monsters (and a fabulous Valentine's party put on by some of the most amazing mothers), we headed up to Barnes and Noble and grabbed some books we've been looking forward to learning!

T picked out Neverwhere by Neil Geiman and I grabbed Stephanie Nielsen's Heaven is Here.  Seriously a fantastic tradition that we've started for ourselves!

Then we went down the hill and dropped by JCW's for some burgers and fries.  And yes, we both felt like it would be a very romantic meal that we could take home.  None of that waiting in line even after you make a reservation and then enduring a crowded restaurant with cold food on Valentine's Day.  

Nope.  We like actually celebrating love and not drowning in everyone else's while sitting in a restaurant booth while everyone get stressed and ornery waiting for their food.

T surprised me and we stopped by the CocoaBean Cafe for some delicious cupcakes (oh how he knows his wife so well!)

 {Love Potion Cupcake.  Chocolate (of course) with strawberry frosting.  Yum.}

{T's idea of good valentine food.  We both got exactly what we wanted this year!  Can't beat eating good food with the one you love.}

{The cutest little cupcake box decorated just for Valentine's Day.  CocoaBean just won my heart over.  Again.}

Valentine's Day was terrific yet again this year.  

Perfectly Perfect. 

cereal lovin'

I love cereal.  I could eat it for breakfast, lunch, and dinner.

And probably a midnight snack.

So when my superhero teacher of an aunt decided to do cereal valentines for her 4th grade class this year, I decided to follow suit and do the same!

It was the most genius idea in the world.  I had these puppies made in less than an hour.

That includes typing, cutting, and putting them together.

Compared to last year when I attempted (and succeeded!) in making heart shaped crayons out of a heart silicone mold, these were a cinch!  Last year, I literally spent days peeling off crayon wrappers, breaking crayons, and melting them down into heart shapes.

Never again.

On another cereal note, T and I ate Cookie Crisp (a rare, but yummy treat!).  T found the perfect sign of love on one of his itty-bitty cookies.

He let me eat his bite of love he found in his bowl.

Now that's true love.

The Day of Love: Teacher Style

My day started with seeing a stream of red, purple, pink, and white walk through my classroom door in 25 various forms. There were even some students with hair braided and put up in the shape of hearts!

After our daily independent reading block, we jumped right into Valentines Day!

We first sorted boxes of conversation hearts and then used them to write letters to our loved ones. Some of them were so sweet and some of them were hilarious!

Tagging along with all of my students today were little friends that would be the keeper of my students' valentines. I was impressed with the creativity and hard work that went into these boxes!

Green googley-eyed monster

The force visited and kept watch over us all day

A sweet heart jumping for joy

King Kong!

If you look closely enough, you'll notice that King Kong has snatched up the teacher of Room #5 (yours truly) and is holding her ransom!

I had some fantastic room mothers plan an incredible Valentines Party. Our classroom received it's own personalized ice cream cake that was delicious!

The classroom, of course, was decorated perfectly.

I was surprised by my own valentine at school with the perfect bunch of flowers (I think red roses are tacky on Valentines day- he did fantastic picking them out!)

Just a close up of my lovely bouquet of flowers.

And what does a teacher do for her lover on the day of love? Decorate the house, of course! When T gets home he'll first see this...

With a closer look he'll see this...

And an even closer look will bring his eyes to this...

What does a teacher give her husband for Valentines Day?

A book (real original, right?)

To my defense, it was one to a series he has the rest of and we both looove these books.

Oh, and a oil vial.

Happy Valentines Day, T!