Love was in the Air!

Last evening the calls to see if Papa and I were home began to come in.

Before we knew it we were surrounded by grandchildren who

showered us with hugs, hand made gifts, a heart shaped balloon,

 a plate of fresh baked cookies, and heartfelt Valentine's in all sizes!

Love was in the air. It was an evening that gave

this grandma's heart a great big squeeze!

On a funny note:

One grandson gave Papa a bag of Cracker Jacks 

as a Valentine's gift that he had gotten at his school

 Valentine's party earlier in the day.

Papa: "Are you sure you want to give this to me?"

Grandson: "Yah, I don't like them?"

Papa: Did you know that there is a prize inside?

Grandson: "There is???!!!!"

(mixed expression of surprise and regret)

Papa: "Yep, let's open it now so that you can have the prize."

Grandson: " Okay!"

(relieved)

The prize was a pencil topper

and a fun fact.

Did you know that a typical pencil can write 45,000

words or draw a line 35 miles long?

That is a very fun fact indeed!

Personalized Valentine

How about doing a personalized Valentine 

for someone you love this year?

I made these for my three granddaughters.

You can check out the easy and free "type and print template" here.

I listed things they love, their talents, their relationships,

special things we do together, their interests, love notes, and I ended it

with an "I love you!" from Papa and I.

I listed their name after every three words or phrases.

Each one shows just how individual the girls are.

So much fun!

I backed them in red card stock 

and tied a tulle ribbon at the top.

Serious Stuff, Fun Application

I did this activity with a group of 16 girls ages of 8 and 11 from my church. It was a fun discussion and a very successful activity on personal qualities. This activity could be tweaked to talk about the qualities that make a good citizen, family member, student, scout, friend, club member, athlete, volunteer, baby sitter..... and the list goes on.

Some of the points we talked about were:

That some qualities come natural to us and others we have to work on to develop.
How our qualities effect our relationships with our families, friends, and our Father in Heaven.
We briefly talked about poor personal qualities and how they can be bad for us and others.
How our qualities are unique to each of us like our looks, the color of our hair, and our personal likes.
We discussed the qualities of Jesus and how we should pattern our qualities after his perfect example.

After our discussion I gave each girl a cut out of a girl (I purchased them pre cut in white card stock in a multi-pack from Michaels. They also had boy cut outs available.) with markers and crayons to personalize her cut out to her own individual liking. The girls LOVED this activity.

I then gave each girl a print out on hot pink card stock of a list of personal qualities. We stapled the now colored cut out to fit along side the list. There was also a line on the paper for the girls to write their name.

We then followed up with five more steps:

Go through the list of qualities and mark an (X)  by those qualities that you like in others.

Go through the list of qualities and mark a (STAR) by those that  you see in yourself.

Go through the list of qualities and mark a (+)  by those that you would like to improve in yourself.

We then lined all of the papers along two tables. The girls then made a (check mark)  by the qualities that they see in each other on one another's papers. Every quality listed was a positive one so each check mark was a compliment among young friends. Awesome!

We stopped and discussed any qualities that the girls did not understand as we went through the list and they were invited to add any additional qualities that they thought of.

To follow up on this activity each girl was to choose one quality that she would like to develop in herself  and then write down ten things over the next two weeks that she did to practice the chosen quality.

I am going to tweak this activity myself for my upcoming "Top Secret" Grandma Camp. What personal qualities would make a good "Secret Agent".......  and the kids will have a great time coloring their cut outs in a fun secret agent disguise.

It will be a teaching moment and they won't even know it!

Nine Hearts and Ninety Sticky Fingers

Happy Valentine's Day!

It was a great week of making Valentine's with my grands. Three sessions, ninety sticky fingers, forty hand made cards, and hours of love shared between my grands and I.

Yesterday Papa and I hand delivered our Valentine gift bags to each of our grands. Each bag had Valentine Candies and a couple of small gifts. 

Each one with a personalized tag.

It was fun sharing in their Valentine's Day preparations for school. One granddaughter was making Valentine rockets with the words "You are a Blast" written on them. They were made out of a roll of lifesavers covered in colored paper, the nose of the rocket was a "Kiss" hot glued on, and the red flames from the tail of the rocket were cut out of red construction paper. Super cute!

My two other granddaughters were creating their own cards out of colored papers, markers, and a variety of sticker hearts. Lots of glitter and loving messages too.

Every one of them was excited about this holiday of love. One granddaughter thought it was such an important holiday that she said:' I can't believe they are making us go to school on Valentine's Day!"

My daughters home smelled of freshly baked heart shaped pie pops for teacher gifts. Did you know that little individual pies are the new cupcake for 2011! 

My grown kids got a IOU for some homemade eclairs soon and today it's all about me and my Valentine. My husband of nearly 36 years! It will be dinner out as our Valentine's gift to one another.

And my friends and neighbors.....they get these big plate size sugar cookies that I purchased at a fund raising auction this weekend. All I had to do was bag them up and add the bow! 

Simply Delicious for your Valentine

Show your love this Valentine's Day with an elegant yet surprisingly simple dessert. 

Chocolate Eclairs

The pastry shell is very easy to make.

You heat just to boiling:

1 Cup water and 1/2 Cup butter or stick margarine.

Stir in 1 Cup flour and stir constantly(I use a wood spoon) 

over low heat until the mixture forms a ball. (about 1 minute) 

Remove from heat and allow to cool some. 

Beat in 4 eggs one at a time.

(I use a hand held electric mixer)

mix until dough is smooth and shiny

(This recipe yields 8 large or 12 med.)

Drop from spoon onto un-greased baking sheet. 

I bake them on a Silpat. 

I baked them for many years on a plain

ungreased baking sheet so no Silpat is needed.

Bake in a Preheated 400 degree oven 45-50 minutes

The baking time will depend on the size of your eclair shell.

The shells puff up and become hollow. 

It's best to leave the oven door closed and let them do their thing.

Once the shells have gotten very hard, poke each shell with a sharp knife to release steam and continue to bake. You want the shells to get very dry and hard. 

Remove them from the oven and allow to cool.

To fill:

Cut the shells in half (I use a sharp steak knife).

Pull out any soft dough in the centers.

Shhhhhh........ don't tell anyone but,

I fill mine with Jello brand French Vanilla Pudding (Instant)

Fill the top and the bottom of the shell with pudding 

then put the shell back together.

I then ice them with a fudge icing that I make from scratch.

I'm sorry I don't have a real recipe for the icing.

Fudge Icing Directions from scratch:

Melt 1 stick of butter or margarine in a pan. Turn off heat.

Add cocoa powder to the butter and blend with a whisk.

Amount of cocoa powder depends the darkness of chocolate you prefer.

Add powdered sugar (about 2 #) and stir with a wooden spoon.

The icing will be shiny and soft.

Add a bit of milk if needed for easy spreading.

(This icing sets up like fudge so make it just before you are going to use it)

Ice the top of each eclair and store in fridge

until you are ready to serve your

Valentine!

Love is in the Air!

Valentine's Day is a favorite crafting holiday of mine. This year I have gathered the supplies to make handmade Valentine cards with the kids. I made these Valentines with a group of 17 girls from my church last week and I am having each of my grands over to have a Valentine crafting hour with me this week.

I have gathered a few scrapbook papers, construction paper in red, white, and pink, heart shaped doilies, cellophane treat bags (because I liked the heart on them) and a collection of really cute Valentine stickers. My tools are a paper cutter, scissors, red and pink markers, and glue sticks.

I cut the striped Valentine print (from Hobby Lobby) into strips to use as accent color on the cards. The "Love Card" on this Valentine came from a card stock that had a variety of really cute cards printed on it. I cut the cards out so that one sheet of this card stock would make 24 cards! (I found this card stock at Michaels).

Before crafting with the kids I cut the construction paper down to 8 1/2" x 11" then I cut it in half again so when it is folded in half it creates a quarter page card. The cards will fit into 4 3/8 x 5 3/4" invitation envelopes. (I saved all of the scraps from cutting down the construction paper to use on the cards.)

For this card I had pre-cut the checked hearts, I used a piece of the pink scrap construction paper, stickers, and a marker to create the stitching. (I pre-cut the hearts (using a cookie cutter as my template) so that I could fit them on the paper very tightly so not to waste this cute paper!)

This one, I think is my favorite! I used a heart doily (Hobby Lobby), a strip of the craft paper, and little square tiles that I cut from the scraps of white construction paper. I wrote out the word (LOVE) using a marker and glued it into place. I made samples of other words and styles for the kids to choose from. (HUGS. XOXO, KISS, MINE)  I had pre-cut dozens and dozens of the little tiles.

These hearts were a great resource but I got them from an unlikely source. They were printed on clear cellophane snack bags. Each bag had two hearts. I got a 24 pack of the bags.....48 hearts for just over a dollar!  Before crafting with the kids I cut the bags apart. I salvaged the bands of the beautiful white lacy print from the top and bottom of the bags for later use..... maybe for Mother's day cards with the grands. Before using the heart the kids had to cut it out using scissors. In my sample card I backed the heart in white paper and cut the white heart out just a bit bigger than the cellophane heart. I also used a strip of the printed Valentine paper. 

For the group of 17 girls I had made up kits for each girl to make these four cards. It was amazing to see their creative minds at work. They came up with dozens of variations using these simple supplies.

You can't have a Valentine crafting party without refreshments!

Chocolate cupcakes in heart shaped foils.

Homemade buttercream frosting in pink.

Topped off with red sugar sprinkles.

Oh so sweet and yummy!

A Massive Heart Attack for Valentine's Day

Last year Papa and I plotted and planned  for a massive Heart Attack on Valentine's Day. A few weeks previous we had returned from a trip to find that our entire bedroom and master bathroom had been"Heart Attacked" by all of our grandchildren. Hearts of all sizes and colors had been cut out, loving messages had been hand written, and each heart was lovingly placed by the hands of our grandchildren. It was hard to find a surface without a heart!


Well, we decided that Valentine's Day was going to be pay back time in a very good way. We loved the surprise and we knew our grandchildren would too. We had gotten permission from all of the parents to "heart attack" our grandchildren. We gathered our supplies, wrote our messages of love, and cut out hundreds of hearts. 

I made cookie sheets full of rolled low stick painters tape to attach our hearts to the surfaces so not to cause any damage. 

On the day of the attack we were ready to go.

Each family had a personalized bag.

Instead of doing all of the bedrooms we did their shared bathrooms. We chose to do three much smaller rooms instead of their seven big bedrooms! The big mirrors in the bathrooms ..... very appropriately doubled our love. 

To personalize it for each child I made each one a heart garland that read

"We, Love, Child's name, Love Grandma and Papa"

Although this project took some time it 

showed our love for them in a very big way.

The parents reported that the kids loved the after school surprise!

We received phone calls from every one of them

about our Valentine's Day Heart Attack!

In fact three of them came to our door

within minutes of being home

with a very excited

Thank you!

This post is part of the February blog carnival hosted by the Parenting/Family Channel on About.com. If you have a blog, you are invited to join in.  For details go to childparenting @ About .com.

A Very Excited Thank You

This picture was snapped just minutes after the boys had discovered our Valentine's Heart Attack on their shared bathroom. The Valentine surprise was waiting for them after school. They headed straight down to our house after their discovery to let us know that they had found it and to tell us thank you. With their Valentine's suckers still in hand they grinned with excitement as they described all of the silly places they found hearts.

Their mom tells me that they have used the hearts over and over again. Once to heart attack their little brothers bedroom, another time to decorate the breakfast nook on Valentine's morning where their mommy had made them heart shaped pancakes, and then again later in the formal dining room for their Valentine's dinner.

Valentine's Sweet Treats

There's been some baking going on in Grandma Shelley's kitchen this Valentine's Day. Chocolate Eclairs and home baked chocolate chip cookies topped with fudge icing and a fun heart of pink and red sprinkles stenciled on the top to make them extra special for this Valentine's Day.

Chocolate Eclairs are so good and no one should ever be afraid of making them. They are really very easy to make. They are perfect for so many occasions. The ingredients are inexpensive and ones that you probably have in your pantry right now. I plan to do a "how to" posting with pictures and step by step instructions to show you just how easily you can impress your friends!

A Valentine's "Heart Attack"

These are pictures from the Valentine's Heart Attack that we made on our grandchildren. It ended up being quite the project to do three attacks in one day. Fun stuff for Papa and I!

Time to Launch the Attack!

Today is the day. It is time to launch our attack. Our mission: to bring smiles to our ten little Valentine's faces. All of our materials are organized and are ready for a quick and speedy attack. Our accomplices in the field (a mommy, an auntie, and a daddy) plan to let us sneak into their homes.

Mission accomplished! Our plan was executed with precision. We were able to retreat without being caught. Our surprise attacks are sure to bring smiles to our little Valentine's faces!

More Heart Attack Preparations

It is almost time for Papa and I to make our "Heart Attack" on our grandchildren for Valentine's Day. To personalize it a bit for each child we have made them each a heart garland of sorts with their name on it as part of our plan of attack! We have also made two cookie sheets full of rolled low stick painters tape. We are good to go!

Yesterday one of my younger grandsons walked into the house while I was working on the first heart garland. He asked; "Is that for my house?" Luckily, it wasn't and I said no. He asked "Do you got another of those?" At the time I didn't and I could honestly tell him no again. I then asked him if he would like one? With a huge smile he shook his head yes. I was thrilled to know that I was on the right track with our Valentine's surprise. I think they are going to love it!

Prepping for a Massive Heart Attack this Valentine's Day!!!

Papa and I are prepping for a massive Heart Attack this Valentine's Day. A while back we returned from a trip to our entire bedroom and bathroom being "heart attacked" by all of our grandchildren. Hearts of all sizes and colors had been cut out, loving messages had been hand written, and each heart was lovingly placed by the hands of our grandchildren. It was hard to find a surface without a heart!

Well, this Valentine's Day is going to be pay back time in a very good way. We loved the surprise and we know our grandchildren will too. We have gotten permission from all of the parents to "heart attack" our grandchildren. We have been gathering our supplies, writing our messages of love, and cutting out hundreds of hearts. I have made cookie sheets full of rolled low stick painters tape to attach our hearts to the surfaces so not to cause any damage.

Instead of doing all of the bedrooms we are going to do their shared bathrooms. So, we will only be doing three much smaller rooms instead of their seven big bedrooms! I am also very excited about the big mirrors in the bathrooms ..... they will easily give us twice the love. We have gathered some fun supplies and Papa and I are very anxious to make our attack!

See more photos and ideas here of the actual heart attacks:

http://www.grandmaslittlepearls.com/2011/01/massive-heart-attack-for-valentines-day.html

http://www.grandmaslittlepearls.com/2010/02/valentines-heart-attack.html

http://www.grandmaslittlepearls.com/2010/02/more-heart-attack-preparations.html

http://www.grandmaslittlepearls.com/2009/02/heart-attack-someone-for-valentine-day.html

For My Nine Little Valentine's

I have hand selected a Valentine for each of my grandchildren. I plan to take them with me this week on my trip and use some of my driving time to handwrite each of them a personal note.

Some of them are duplicates this year because I thought they were so cute....but never duplicates to siblings!

I sure love my nine little Valentine's!   I'm a very blessed grandma.