B+C+B+C+B+C: We got our Valentine ON

Sunday, February 14, 2010

We got our Valentine ON

I'm actually not the biggest fan of Valentine's Day. Pretty sure it was invented as a conspiracy between some jewelry-chocolate-flowers companies. But I'm also not the biggest fan of holiday-scrooge-poopyheadedness, so I did my part in sharing the love:

I'm the official holiday treat supplier for Brian's office. Unfortunately, I don't think he understands these are supposed to be for the CUSTOMERS...
I hope they at least saw the cute signs and felt loved/appreciated, despite the fact that the cookies were likely gone within a couple days.

Brian and Brianna got heart-shaped pancakes with strawberries and heart-shaped crepes for breakfast. Excuse Brianna's shirtlessness. She has an issue with wearing clothing lately. I did manage to get her into a cute Valentine dress for church. And I got Brian to wear his pink tie. I was festively attired as well. Thus we were more righteous and wholesome than the rest of the congregation because of our extreme outward participation in this completely non-religious holiday.

All our windows featured festive stickers/clings (got them on clearance in March last year for a quarter. i RoCk).

Brian and I did small gifts to each other - I made him this 8x10 photo collage (Walgreens was doing a freebie on the 13th only with a special code I received from my sources) and he made me a sweet card with sappy stuff written inside. Not because he wanted to. He was almost begging to head to the jewelry/flower/chocolate conspirators and give in to the mass marketing messages that plague our society, but I reminded him of MY love language. It involves no spending of money whatsoever. I love my cards I coerce him into writing for me every year.

Brian informed me that he might just die if we didn't decorate sugar cookies and bring them to our neighbors. I informed him I would loooove to, but we lacked the ingredients to participate in such a needlessly time-consuming messy ritual. But he found a recipe for whole wheat sugar cookies, (click here) and went next door to borrow butter. Thus I was stuck. And I learned I was wrong... it was actually a lot of fun. Brianna loved doing the decorating and didn't try to stuff them all her in face like I thought she would. Brian on the other hand.... I had to remind him that these were for the neighbors, as HE had planned. And for his employees at work the next day. So we made up some uncharacteristically (for me) cute plates and spent a couple hours visiting neighbors (bottom right photo - neighbor Debra, from Alabama - kept us chatting forevvvver. Husband Tom gave details of his post-heart-attack stent put in through his groin). One neighbor was a single older lady who had just returned the day before from major surgery - and we didn't even know it! So we felt really good about that visit.
Warm Valentine fuzzies.

10 comments:

DeAnne said...: Good job! I bet life at your house is never lacking....in anything.; February 16, 2010 at 8:04 AM
the Gardners said...: lol!!! Definitely more righteous at church and maybe even more so for bringing us cookies, too!; February 16, 2010 at 9:16 AM
Julie said...: soo fun and cute!! I love your ideas - working to be more like you!; February 16, 2010 at 10:44 AM
Unknown said...: It would be you to find the whole wheat flour sugar cookies. And I will bet that they tasted awesome too!
I love having little helpers in the kitchen. I am surprised that your little one didn't eat more. Addison wouldn't stop saying "more, more, more" when we were making them.; February 16, 2010 at 3:06 PM
summer said...: I usually don't go for sugar cooking making either....so much work! However, it is fun to see the kiddos enjoying it - and can I say...kudos to you and loves to you for sharing a WW sugar cookie recipe! Seriously, you are awesome.

! I laughed out loud at your more righteous comment on matching. I caught myself this last Sunday regretting that we weren't more color-coordinated...I know, I know. Silly! However it's the ultimate planner and Type A in me...sometimes is just spins out of control. I'll have to remember you in such situations, so that I won't take myself too seriously :); February 16, 2010 at 7:25 PM
Crystyne said...: Don't foget Halmark and other card companies in that conspriacy.; February 17, 2010 at 9:38 AM
Debbie said...: I like V day; February 17, 2010 at 9:36 PM
chelsea mckell said...: DeAnne - on the contrary. My house is frequently lacking in many things. Right now it's TV service and chocolate. I'm craving both.

Julie - how odd... I often think the same thing about YOU!

Crystyne - veryvery true.; February 21, 2010 at 8:53 PM
Sally Jackson said...: You are the photo collage queen!; February 23, 2010 at 8:17 PM
Tommy & Britt Schlosser said...: It totally looks like Brianna is busting a move in the pic where her and Brian are eating pancakes!; March 13, 2010 at 9:21 PM

Quotes I want to remember

"The Lord knows our bearing capacity, both as to coping and to comprehending, and He will not give us more to bear than we can manage at the moment, though to us it may seem otherwise. Just as no temptations will come to us from which we cannot escape or which we cannot bear, we will not be given more trials than we can sustain."
- Neal A. Maxwell

"It is a fundamental truth that the responsibilities of motherhood cannot be successfully delegated. No, not to day-care centers, not to schools, not to nurseries, not to babysitters. We become enamored with men's theories such as the idea of preschool training outside the home for young children. Not only does this put added pressure on the budget, but it places young children in an environment away from mother's influence."
-Ezra Taft Benson

“Perhaps there has never been a time when we had greater need to pray and to teach our family members to pray. Prayer is a defense against temptation. It is through earnest and heartfelt prayer that we can receive the needed blessings and the support required to make our way in this sometimes difficult and challenging journey we call mortality.”
-Thomas S. Monson

“Live the gospel as conspicuously as you can. Keep the covenants your children know you have made. And bear your testimony! Don’t just assume your children will somehow get the drift of your beliefs on their own.
-Jeffrey R. Holland

"We hold in our arms the rising generation. They come to this earth with important responsibilities and great spiritual capacities. We cannot be casual in how we prepare them. Our challenge as parents and teachers is not to create a spiritual core in their souls but rather to fan the flame of their spiritual core already aglow with the fire of their premortal faith."
-Neil L. Andersen

"Certainly there are times when getting the family together to read the scriptures does not stack up as a spiritual experience worthy of a journal entry. But we must not be deterred. There are special times when the spirit of a son or daughter is just right and the power of these great scriptures goes down into their heart like fire. As we honor our Heavenly Father in our homes, He will honor our efforts."
-Neil L. Andersen

President Hinckley admonished both men and women to be nurturers. He said, ‘How much more beautiful would be the society in which we live if every father . . . and . . . mother regarded [their] children . . . as gifts from the God of heaven . . . and brought them up with true affection in the wisdom and admonition of the Lord.’ ”
-Susan W. Tanner

"Children are like trees. When they are young, their lives can be shaped and directed, usually with ever so little effort. Said the writer of Proverbs, 'Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it' (22:6). That training finds its roots in the home. There will be little of help from other sources. Do not depend on government to help in this darkening situation. Barbara Bush, wife of former U.S. president George Bush, spoke wisely: 'Your success as a family, our success as society, depends not on what happens at the White House, but on what happens inside your house.' "
-Gordon B. Hinckley

“I give counsel to husbands and wives. Pray for the love which allows you to see the good in your companion. Pray for the love that makes weaknesses and mistakes seem small. Pray for the love to make your companion’s joy your own. Pray for the love to want to lessen the load and soften the sorrows of your companion.”
-Henry B. Eyring

“Reverent behavior is not a natural tendency for most children. It is a quality that is taught by parents and leaders through example and training. But remember, if reverence is rooted in love, so is the teaching of it. Harshness in our training begets resentment, not reverence.”
-Margaret S. Lifferth

"There is no one perfect way to be a good mother. Each situation is unique. Each mother has different challenges, different skills and abilities, and certainly different children. What matters is that a mother loves her children deeply and, in keeping with the devotion she has for God and her husband, prioritizes them above all else."
- M. Russell Ballard

“As parents, we should remember that our lives may be the book from the family library which the children most treasure. Are our examples worthy of emulation? Do we live in such a way that a son or a daughter may say, ‘I want to follow my dad,’ or ‘I want to be like my mother’?”
-Thomas S. Monson

“Security for our families comes from learning self-control, avoiding the excesses of this world, and being temperate in all things.”
-Kent D. Watson

Sunday, February 14, 2010

We got our Valentine ON

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