Valentine's & St. Patrick's

 

HELLO!!!

hahaha....this picture cracks me up! Nathan was being a sour grape and Trever was being a wild man. They are always making me laugh. Sorry for another long wait between blog posts...busy as usual...but I did manage to take some photos of the past two holidays, Valentine's Day and St. Patrick's Day...

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First: Our Family Valentine's Party!

 I found some great ideas on Pinterest, put my own little spin on some of them, and threw together a simple "Minute To Win It" game night. But to get the party started, we first played "Don't Eat Pete," which was a riot! Then we all wrote a "love note" to someone else in the family and put them in balloons, to be popped and the notes read after the game night.

 The Games for our "Minute To Win It" night included:

1. Heart Stack 

2. Marshmallow Toss

3. Love Spot

4. Heart Pick Up

5. Cookie Face

 6. Blow a Kiss

and 7. Pink Mummy

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Here are a few pics of the games in action...

 "Don't Eat Pete" 

One person is "it" and leaves the room while the other people cover the Bingo-like board with candy, choosing one picture to be "Pete." The player who is "it" returns and begins to eat the candy, but when he tries to eat the piece covering the chosen picture, everyone yells "Don't Eat Pete!!!"

 Heart Stack

Everyone has a cup of Conversation hearts and has one minute to see how high they can stack their pile of hearts.

 Marshmallow Toss

Everyone has a cup of marshmallows and an empty cup on the table. They have one minute to see how many marshmallows they can toss into their cup before times up.

 Love Spot

Everyone gets a dab of Vaseline on their nose and then has one minute to get a pink pom pom to stick to their nose. hahaha...

 Heart Pick Up

Everyone gets chop sticks and has one minute to see how many conversation hearts they can pick out of the bowl before time is up.

Cookie Face

Each player puts a cookie on their forehead and has to wiggle their face to get the cookie into their mouth. No hands allowed. These boys were PRO'S and got those cookies in their mouths in seconds! haha

 Blow a Kiss

Every one gets a straw and a Hershey's Kiss. They have one minute to see how far they can blow their kiss across the table.

 Mummy Wrap

We each picked a partner and raced to see who could wrap their "mummy" the quickest. hahaha

 This was the boys' favorite game!

 At the end of the party, we popped the balloons and read the love notes written to each other...

Awww.....

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We had so much fun that the vote was unanimous in making Valentine's "Minute To Win It" an ongoing family tradition in our home. Loved it!

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The rest of February seemed to fly by and before I knew it, St. Patrick's Day was here!

The weekend before, our entire family caught a nasty stomach flu and I wasn't able to get anything prepared for Monday's holiday until that day. Years ago, I started a fun St. Patrick's Day treasure hunt tradition that the boys always look forward to. But with much-needed grocery shopping to do, I found myself scrambling at the last minute to get things together, hiding the last clue just minutes before the boys walked through the door....

 When the boys were younger, I made the clues super simple, like "go to the couch." But now that they're older, it's funner to puzzle them, a little. However, I had to come up with these riddles so quickly that they're kind of pathetic. But, the boys didn't mind...

After the first clue, they were hot on the trail...

 Treasure hunts never get old...

 And neither does the enjoyment that TJ and I get from watching them have fun...

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Surprise!

 

New undies! hahaha!

I usually keep the treasure more simple---just candy and little party favors. But the boys needed a few things...Trever--new underwear; Nathan--new under shirts; and Isaiah--new jammies. So, I threw those things in, too. hahaha It was fun.

 And the boys were happy.

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Holidays are always a great excuse to do something fun. And thank goodness for them, or I'd have even less pictures to share with you all! I can't believe how much faster the time flies, now that we have three kids to care for! I don't even have time to THINK about taking pictures, let alone take any. But I'm going to try harder...so we'll see how that goes...hahaha. 

Anyway, rest assured that we are all happy and healthy and thinking of you all!

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xoxo, Shilowe