Since this is Christopher's last year of elementary school, it will mean the last of the classroom parties (other than the last day of school), so I thought I'd better enjoy the moment! I've never liked the cheap, cheesy valentines sold at the stores and we've nearly always made our own. Here's what we did this year.
Several months ago, I bought two packages of note cards that said "hello" on the front from Michael's on clearance for fifty cents a pack. I loved the red and white look, and knew I could embellish them into something better so here's our transformed valentines for Christopher's class.
The hello on the right is just printed on the card. The sentiment on the left is stamped on white cardstock, then layered on an oval piece of black cardstock, adhered to the card, then a little gemstone bling added, and topped off with a punched out folk heart. Christopher loved making them.
This was the very first year he's ever really been excited to make valentines. He enjoyed doing the crafting, which is really a new thing for him, and was excited to deliver his pieces of art to school today to his friends. He also latched onto my mono-adhesive tape dispenser and conned me out of it so he could keep it at school. He thought it was a clever invention.
The funny thing about these cards, that look all classy and pretty, was that he wanted to add something funny to them and I found some glittery Santa cut-outs that I bought a long time ago on a clearance sale, and he adhered a Santa on the inside of each one, with a Happy Valentine's Day sentiment next to it. He's got a delightful sense of humor makes his friends laugh a lot. He put the remaining Santas on the outside of his valentine box and cannot wait for Chelsea to ask him why he has them on his box. He's going to ask her why doesn't she have Santas on hers. And other silly responses like, "I like Santa. He's my valentine." He's so funny.
The completed masterpieces were paired with a bag of Skittles for each student and here is Christopher's very cool box, which he was quite proud of.
Lindsey was explaining how next year at middle school, the only celebrating will be when you just give any friends you want that you see in the halls at school a piece of candy or a valentine. That will be a new beginning for him. Speaking of, last night Lindsey participated in the annual New Beginnings program with her Young Women group at church and here are the lovely desserts that were served. Paige made all these lovely cupcakes and the heart ones too.
Jenn got the cookies at a bakery in Round Rock. Apparently her friend there used to work for the Ace of Cakes guy! How exciting.
Not only did they look fabulous, but they were very tasty.
To tie into my post title, I have one more new beginning to share about yesterday. Our microwave has been torching foods sometimes for a while and some things have literally been smoking and flaming. It no longer cooks popcorn properly (unless you prefer it smoldering) so we finally went shopping and picked out a new one at Home Depot. I really like the new one we had installed yesterday. 
It was worth the $100 to have it installed because it took three men working on it together for a long time to try to figure out how to get it attached. They were contracted by Home Depot and were frustrated it was taking forever and told me it really wasn't a "standard installation" and that if they couldn't get it figured out soon, they'd have to send someone else back to do it later. They got it eventually, so I'm glad Kelly and I decided to go that route. We waffled back and forth, and it was a good call since he's been really busy with work lately.
Several months ago, I bought two packages of note cards that said "hello" on the front from Michael's on clearance for fifty cents a pack. I loved the red and white look, and knew I could embellish them into something better so here's our transformed valentines for Christopher's class.
The hello on the right is just printed on the card. The sentiment on the left is stamped on white cardstock, then layered on an oval piece of black cardstock, adhered to the card, then a little gemstone bling added, and topped off with a punched out folk heart. Christopher loved making them.
This was the very first year he's ever really been excited to make valentines. He enjoyed doing the crafting, which is really a new thing for him, and was excited to deliver his pieces of art to school today to his friends. He also latched onto my mono-adhesive tape dispenser and conned me out of it so he could keep it at school. He thought it was a clever invention.
The funny thing about these cards, that look all classy and pretty, was that he wanted to add something funny to them and I found some glittery Santa cut-outs that I bought a long time ago on a clearance sale, and he adhered a Santa on the inside of each one, with a Happy Valentine's Day sentiment next to it. He's got a delightful sense of humor makes his friends laugh a lot. He put the remaining Santas on the outside of his valentine box and cannot wait for Chelsea to ask him why he has them on his box. He's going to ask her why doesn't she have Santas on hers. And other silly responses like, "I like Santa. He's my valentine." He's so funny.
The completed masterpieces were paired with a bag of Skittles for each student and here is Christopher's very cool box, which he was quite proud of.
Lindsey was explaining how next year at middle school, the only celebrating will be when you just give any friends you want that you see in the halls at school a piece of candy or a valentine. That will be a new beginning for him. Speaking of, last night Lindsey participated in the annual New Beginnings program with her Young Women group at church and here are the lovely desserts that were served. Paige made all these lovely cupcakes and the heart ones too.
Jenn got the cookies at a bakery in Round Rock. Apparently her friend there used to work for the Ace of Cakes guy! How exciting.
Not only did they look fabulous, but they were very tasty.
To tie into my post title, I have one more new beginning to share about yesterday. Our microwave has been torching foods sometimes for a while and some things have literally been smoking and flaming. It no longer cooks popcorn properly (unless you prefer it smoldering) so we finally went shopping and picked out a new one at Home Depot. I really like the new one we had installed yesterday. 
It was worth the $100 to have it installed because it took three men working on it together for a long time to try to figure out how to get it attached. They were contracted by Home Depot and were frustrated it was taking forever and told me it really wasn't a "standard installation" and that if they couldn't get it figured out soon, they'd have to send someone else back to do it later. They got it eventually, so I'm glad Kelly and I decided to go that route. We waffled back and forth, and it was a good call since he's been really busy with work lately.
Comments
It sounds like the new beginnings went well, I am glad to see that you were well taken care of in the sugar and sweets department. One can always count on the YW for that. Good call on the microwave installation, who would have thought that a little old microwave could practically stump three men. It looks really good in your kitchen.
And by the way, the dinner party looks DELICIOUS! It looks like all of your thoughtful and deliberate planning paid off.