Count Down to V-Day

We've been cooking {and crafting} up a few Valentine's Day projects at our house this weekend.

This adorable idea came from Darby's blog.

Would you be "mice" valentine?

I cut out the "Mickey Mouse" ears {which proved to be the hardest part of this project} and Jack and I worked together on assembling them.

Sidenote: Have you ever tried to explain plural nouns to kids? Like the difference between mouse and mice? I swear, Jack and I sounded like a rendition of who's on first. I would try to correct him when he'd call them mices – "You have one mouse and two mice." He finally got that down pat, "So you have one mouse and two mice but how many mices?" I took that as my opportunity to bow gracefully out of the English lesson.

The completed mices that will go to Jack's eleven classmates in VPK.

Look who snuck away to get in a few rounds of Big Buck Hunter {probably because Mommy took control of the gluing portion of our mices}.

He's really getting good at the bonus rounds, but not such a good aim when it comes to actually shooting bucks. It'll take him a little more practice before he's ready to hit the woods with his Poppy. It could be, though, because the gun is still a little too big for him to hold.

So, I reeled him back in and put him to work on our second project from Randi's blog.

This was a great task to keep him entertained {it probably didn't hurt that occasionally I'd let him know he was doing great and allow him to sample the goods}. It worked out great for me because I didn't have to unwrap any of the zillions of Hershey kisses.

Aren't they lovely? Guess what? They taste as good as they look and she's right...you can't eat just one!

Our last project of the weekend was another goody from Darby's blog...Pink Peppermint Patties.

The link to the recipe is on her blog, but for convenience sake you can also find it here. Darby suggested the idea of adding red food coloring to make the guts {that's a technical term that us candy pros call the insides of candy} pink, which I also did. I did not however, bother to cut them into heart shapes {although I would have if I could have located a small heart cookie cutter in this town the weekend before Valentine's Day}. You could also add green coloring and do Christmas Peppermint Patties. If you had a tree cookie cutter, you could make cute Christmas tree shapes.

Here are a few more of my own recipe notes to add: Slowly add the fourth cup of confectioner's sugar. You may find that you don't need the entire amount. I learned this the hard way and my candy guts got too dry. To rectify this, I just added a little more sweetened condensed milk to make it more pliable.

Also, once I rolled out the one-inch dough balls and pattied them, I put them in the freezer. I only pulled out what I needed to dip in chocolate and worked quickly. Once they get room temperature, they become pliable again and it makes them harder to handle.

Instead of the semisweet chips, I used Baker's Dark {Semisweet} Dipping Chocolate in the microwaveable cup for easy cleanup. This only did about 12 patties for one 7 ounce container. Just know that ahead of time and buy more containers, or just go ahead and use dark melting chocolate or candy making chocolate. You'll save yourself a lot of headache. Put them back in the freezer after you dip them in chocolate and keep them in there until you are ready to serve or ready to package {otherwise you will get chocolate on your hands – and fingerprints on the patties}.

To package them, I used parchment to separate them and prevent sticking and melting to one another.

Finito! I liked this project a lot. It reminded me of making candy with mom every Christmas.

Speaking of my mom, we had my parents over for a fish fry tonight. And had these for dessert:

The occasion was my mom's birthday. I'll spare her by NOT announcing the year. Although, it was a LONG time ago, as you can tell from the photo below.

I love this photo of her. She was around 13 years old when the photo was taken. It is so dainty and Southern with the dress, bow and white gloves {which may seem completely out of character for anyone that really knows my mom}. Local Tallahasseeans will recognize the location as Maclay Gardens. Happy Birthday, Mom! Your influence inspires me to be the mom that I am today.

It's also this old girl's birthday {I could always remember because she was born on the same day as my mom}. Can you believe that she is 12 years old today? You wouldn't know it to look at her, she still acts like a pup. Hope you have a few more good years left in ya' Marley!

We did also get a chance to get out and enjoy the sun and 60s {which have both been scarce around here this winter} at the Southwood playground. We are looking forward to the warmer weather that is creeping in this week. We should be up to the 70s by week's end!

Note Ben's injured thumb wiping the little girl's snotty nose. I will be spending my Valentine's Day nursing my sweetheart to health. Ben will be going in for surgery on Monday morning to repair a torn ligament at Tallahassee Orthopedic Clinic. He will have the stitches removed after one week, then he'll be in a cast for 3 more weeks. After the cast comes off, he will begin rehab. He could potentially start working again as early as the end of March, but it probably won't be fully healed until more like the end of April. It all depends on his recovery and pain level, as to when he can really get back up to full speed ahead. We are planning for 10 weeks for now, but hoping {and praying} for sooner.

Little Miss Sweet Cheeks appropriately donning her heart dress.

I love that the hair is sticking up from the static on the slide.

And Tarzan the Ape Man!

Happy Valentine's Day fellow blog stalkers! Even if you don't have a special someone to spend the day with, be thankful that you don't have to spend the day in the waiting room of a surgery center, like me.

I am revising this post on 2/14 because, I failed to mention my poor worrisome hubby in this post. Be glad that you aren't the one actually having surgery on Valentine's Day, like him!