Valentine Box from Recycled Materials

My son needed a Valentine box so I helped him in making this one from recycled materials.  His teacher said to use the bottom part of the shoe box and the students can decorate  it the way they like.  We used old/used gift bags to wrap the box and some of his  old  craft /art work from previous years.  

We also prepared a  treat for his friends/classmates.  Instead of candies, we wrapped some snacks, a pack of juice and  strawberry-flavored pop tarts.  

We used  lunch bags and just decorate it a little bit to put his  greetings and the name of his friends.  I saw some great ideas for Valentine treats on Pinterest but this is what we came up with for our son.  What did you and your kids prepared?

Spending Time With and Entertaining Your Family At Home

There are many benefits to spending regular time together with your family. CNN published an article about the positive effect quality time with dad has on teens. No matter what their age is, children respond positively to spending time together with their families.

You may think that you'll have to go all out of your way to make your kid happy, but this isn't the case. A lot of times, if you just take an interest in your kids hobbies, they'll be happy. Or you can just stay at home and find something to do together. Here are a few suggestions for you.

Arts & Crafts

I am always looking for or making unique decorations to liven up our house. You can start a similar tradition in your family. Your child may enjoy some of the things you used to do when you were younger, like knitting, crochet, sewing or needlepoint.

Drawing and painting is also a fun way to pass the time. You don't have to paint anything extraordinary. Your kids may enjoy painting something simple, like rocks. Find a rock outside, bring it in, and tell your child to paint it however they wish. Then put it in the yard or somewhere else you can proudly display it.

One of the best things about arts and crafts is that it is both expressive and relaxing. It helps to relieve the stress of a hard day (or week). A relaxed family is a happy family. They communicate easier, bond, and enjoy each other's company more. It's much easier to talk to your kids when you're both having fun than it is when you're both stressed and angry, and it's far more productive.

Cooking & Baking

This may not be for everyone, especially if you're watching your calories, but cooking and baking have the same effect as working on arts and crafts. Both of these activities are relaxing and a lot of fun. Cooking and baking comes with the added joy of knowing you're making something for someone else to enjoy.

If neither of you know how to boil water, there are plenty of ways to learn. You can get on Youtube instead of going to spend money on cooking classes. If you have satellite or cable, you can always watch Food Network or similar channels. They can teach you how to cook anything from ramen noodles to seven layer cakes.

Sometimes just the idea of looking at food is enough. Perhaps you don't want to learn how to cook, but you like watching other people do it. There's nothing wrong with that. The important thing is that you spend time with your family doing things you all find enjoyable.

TV & Movies

A common tradition in many families is to watch a television program together. It gives them something to look forward to every week. It is hard to find a program that is age appropriate for the entire family, but you can do it. This may involve compromising a little bit, but don't turn up your nose just yet.

There have been plenty of people who thought they wouldn't like something because they weren't in the target audience, but then they turned out to love it. A famous example is My Little Pony. It was intended for young girls but actually has a huge following of adult male fans. Most of them got into the show by watching it with a young female family member. All of them enjoy it immensely. Don't knock it until you've tried it, as the saying goes.

If you want to find something for everyone to watch together, you'll need to have a television package the entire family can enjoy. That includes plenty of channels with cartoons, and channels aimed at the little ones. The focus shouldn't be on the premium channels - although if you get them that's a bonus - but on having channels that everyone can watch. This includes sports channels, movie channels, educational channels, news channels and entertainment channels.

One of the great things about these channel packages is they usually come with a unique service. I found out that Direct TV has a feature they call "Movies on Demand." You can stream movies into your home for less than the price of a movie ticket. Sometimes these movies can be seen the same day they're released in theaters, but from your home. For more information about Direct TV and their satellite package deals, visit their site.

With this feature you can take your entire family to the movies for cheap. It's a great way to save a lot of money, since you don't have to worry about buying multiple tickets or expensive snacks. You also don't have to miss important scenes anymore. You can just pause the movie, go do whatever you have to do, then come back to it.

No matter how you spend time together as a family, remember to do it regularly. You'll be helping your family grow into happy, secure human beings, something the world needs a lot more of.

Love Pop Cards

Hey there everyone, how was the kick off of your Love-Month?  We had a blast  sled riding yesterday before we watched the superbowl game.  I was  going to write about this love pop cards that I received for review but my husband poured me a glass of wine and  invited me to watch the game with him. We ended up cheering  for the two teams, he cheered for the Seahawks while I cheered for the Patriots.  Anyway, congratulations to the Patriots, they really benefited to the huge mistake made by the Seahawks.

Anyway, back to these gorgeous  Love Pop cards, I am so thrilled to have these because my husband would definitely love this.  He is the type who is never  thrifty in buying cards for me.  He would  take his time to find the most  meaningful card that  has  what his heart says.  I am glad that these  cards are perfect for my Sweetheart!

Love, love, love this heart shaped pop-up.  The details is so intricate.  I so admire the two lovely people that are behind these  beautiful creations!  Their creativity is superb.  I love how they conceptualized these cards and how it started, I love the story on how it all started.  You can buy this card for $8 at their website, just follow the link I have provided above .  It is under the  Love category.

This is the card that I would  give to my husband this Valentine's day.  I will keep you posted if his heart pops out, lol.  Kidding aside, I am sure that he would love this.  I just need to put  my own words into it and  it would  be so perfect!

Another  card  that I received is this Lovers in a Dogdwood tree.

This would be  great to give  for wedding or anniversaries.

Here's the pop up when you open the card.  Isn't that beautiful?  This reminds me of the  fun days that  hubby and I together our kids in Korea.  This is a  Valentine-themed card but I am planning to give this to my Sweetheart on our anniversary!  

I wish I have the creativity to make lovely cards like this, it would be nice!  I will be showing this to my daughter because she love  making simple pop up cards,  She watches videos on youtube and make cards for us.  She would be inspired by this!

Shadow Shots

Aside from the lovely  cards above, I also got two of the sailor-themed card which is perfect for my retired-navy husband.  Now this would be perfect to give on Veteran's day and Independence day.

That's the front of the card and below are the corner details of the cards inside.

When you opened the card, this  beautiful ship stands out.

I am sure that this will spark beautiful memories of my husband's  sailor days.

Here's another design of the other card.  It has the anchor and the compass om it.  

I love both  designs of these ships.  Reminds me  when  my family would go for a walk  by the Korean military base by the water.  

At the back of the card, you will see  their website's url.  It also  said that these cards are "Lovingly Made in Vietnam".  I would definitely recommend this to our neighbor whose husband is a Vietnam veteran.

Thanks a lot Love Pop for taking care of my special occasion this year!  Now I know where to get extra special cards for my love ones!  Advance happy Valentine's to you all.  I highly recommend you check out Love Pop for some beautiful cards  to give to your  special someone.  They have so many to choose from for different occasion!

Disclosure: The author of this blog was NOT financially compensated to write this review. Opinions expressed is solely my own and may differ from others. The product/s being described in this review was provided for FREE for evaluation purposes only.

My Son's Favorite Blanket

I went to church today and attended the mass that the Kindergarten class  was spearheaded.  The kindergarten did a great job with their reading and singing, they even danced in front of us, they truly made my day.  Looking at them and how little they are, it reminds  me how quick time passes by.  It seems like it was just yesterday  when I had my son but suddenly he  has grownup.  He had his first confession last night and he was very nervous.  We were all there to support them  but he got through it just fine.  

I kind of miss when my babies are still little.  One of my favorite picture of my son that I always look back to is the one below when I awaken him with the flash of the camera.  I was trying to take a photo of him as he was peacefully taking a nap  and he woke up and cried lol.  The blanket that he  is holding is his very favorite blanket till now.  He is now 8 years old but still uses his baby blanket.  I guess he find comfort whenever he sleeps with it.  

Having babies at home is just pure happiness.  You get to wrap them up  with the most comfortable Blankets from Tesco that you and your  family bought before  the baby arrive and it's a lot of excitement.  It's amazing how life evolves.  I sure do enjoy being a stay at home Mom  specially now that my children are still in the stage where they want  us.  I am sure, as I heard a lot of this from other parents, time will come that they would distance themselves from the parents trying to find their own individuality.  For now, I just want to enjoy them under my care.  I maybe missing  great opportunities out there career-wise, but I wouldn't trade it for the best paying  job in the world.  Being a Mom is awesome!

Family is a Little World Created by Love

These are the photo coasters that my son gave me for Christmas.  I  put photos in them and placed it at our coffee table.  

 He was very proud that he found such nice  item for  a very affordable price..

 My daughter on the other hand got me these tea light set.  I love it since we do light candles  often.

 Then a friend of mine  sent me this candle holder  with a  decorated glass  that say "Family is a little world created by love".  For some reason, this became my son's favorite saying.

 These are my treasured gifts last Christmas!

It's great to  know that my kids are learning from their Mama, that gifts   doesn't have to be extravagant.  As long as it comes from your heart, that's all that matters.  Thanks sis Dhemz and Burritos!

New Addition

I got these four bear ornaments from Listia and thought it is perfect for the four of us so I  wrote our names on the balls.  I think I would  use a glitter or something to  make the names visible.  That would be my next project for this year's Christmas.  For now, they can sit in the storage.  

I also bought some bells on sale at KMart  that I could  use for our front porch this year.  

Gift Ideas

When  hubby and I were looking for Santa's gift for the kids, we looked at guitar and violin but decided to just get the keyboard.  I told him that I want to get  our son a guitar for his birthday and he agreed.  His birthday came and  the Dad changed his mind, he got him a  bow and arrow, ugh.  Oh well, I just remember the topic  because I  stumbled upon this denon dj online.  I think I want to  nurture my kids interest in music but my husband wants  our son to  do  manly stuff lol.

Christmas Pine Cones and Colors

Few years ago, my sister-in-law gave a basket full of pine cones.  She also   gave me some paint and glitters.  So my daughter and I painted those pine cones and made it part of our c\Christmas decor  ever since,  

 They make beautiful accents to  Christmas garlands or wreath.

This would even make beautiful Christmas tree decoration.

 This Tutu Christmas tree is really cute.  I won this few years back from a blogging giveaway.  I got the snowman and  small decors from Listia.

 I love this  Christmas Stocking hangers  made of  steel.  There are three of this that I put  on top of the book case.  I bought this from Goodwill last year.

 I think I got this from Goodwill as well, not so sure.

 I love this electric bulb turned into a snow man.  I got this for free from Listia.

 This is a softball ball turned into a snowman as well.  I also got this from Listia.

The two below are my kids project from their Art class last year.  EJ made this candle holder.  An inverted/painted  wine glass.

 I believe  my daughter's class made this from play dough.  Isn't it cute? I can't wait to see their project this year. I told my kids art teacher that she will always be part of our Christmas because of these  beautiful creations that she did with our children.

If you are looking for some unique holiday decor design on sale, there's so many to choose from online.