Valentine's Party at the Dyksterhouse Diner

We have been blessed with such great neighbors...and so many great kiddos in the neighborhood.

Honestly, we love having them over.  So we decided to open the Dyksterhouse Diner for Valentine's Day!

The house was all decorated.

The Valentine's Day questions were all ready for the adults to take with them on their date night.

We had a blast with the Mustache and Lips!

These are the Howell kiddos!

Love them. 

Zoe and Kalie are great friends!

They spend hours together doing homework, playing and just talking. 

These are the Stauffers.

Ava and Gisele are the same age as Kalie and Adison...they have become fast friends as well.

Anji and I love to do crafts together...and just sit and relax.

She is the leader of the Bible Study I go to on Thursday mornings.

Love this family too! 

Jen and Wyatt are our newest friends.

Wyatt and Ethan are in the same Boy Scouts together and actually live right around the corner!

Ethan and Wyatt love to play Legos together and just do boy things!

Jen is so great.

She was super supportive when Matt decided to cook a Canadian Goose...GROSS!

The cutest!

Here we all are getting the directions on how the kiddos were going to earn money to buy their dinner.

They received dollars for: coming, being respectful, sharing, participating in the games, and for being cute.

Our first game was search for the quarters.

They were hidden all over the house.

(They needed quarters for their meal too.)

The second game was charades...Valentine's Day style!

Searching for quarters in Matt's office.

Matt is amazing.  Really...he is.

He was so excited to hang out with the kiddos and help with all of the fun!

I love him.

We made the Dyksterhouse Diner Valentine's Day menu.

There were so many choices...all kid friendly of course: hamburgers, hot dogs, mac n cheese, chicken tenders, chips, applesauce, oranges, grapes, cheese sticks, carrots, and of course they all had to think about the cost.

Ava was being a great big sister helping Gisele figure out what to order.

These guys are our neighbors next door: Ethan and Austin...we call this Ethan, BOB.  It's just easier.

After dinner we made Valentine's Day cards for our loved ones. The boys did a great job!

BOB...you have a talent!  Beautiful job.

Even Matt joined in...it was his first time ever stamping!

He was so excited...really...he was!

And look at his card...pretty amazing. 

The girls were all upstairs primping: hair, nails, a change of clothes...

GORGEOUS.

We made YUMMY bars...Valentine style.

Then the girls got their stamping and card making on!

I realized how much I miss having friends over to scrapbook.

I have to do that soon.

Zoe...she is so cute.

Here is the party!!

We had so much fun!

And of course...every party needs to have a crazy picture.

And...this is what happens when you talk smack to Matt.

He just takes you DOWN.

We ended the night with a classic Valentine movie: Lady and the Tramp.

I love Valentine's Day.

I know I am blessed with love.

Valentine's Day...2012

Valentine's Day is a lovely holiday...

I love red, pink and hearts.

They make me happy...and so does my family.

Moving away from the extended family has been hard...we miss our family.

The kiddos miss their grandparents and aunts and uncles...and especially their cousins!

So...we decided to have a letter writing party.

We each wrote a letter and then everyone signed it.

I love getting a fun little card in the mail...I actually like getting anything other than another bill!

Right? 

So, we thought we would just send a little Valentine to the family we love.

Here are a few of the cards I whipped up.

These are the kiddos and their Valentine's for school.

They were super easy! 

I just had the kids hold out their hand, I snapped a ton of pictures,

went to Snapfish.com, picked the best photo, put on a Valentine's Day border, made them into wallets, picked them up at Meijer

 (saved $.80 a photo by ordering them through Meijer),

punched two holes, stuck a sucker and DONE.

A strand of hearts and I Corinthians 13...

please ignore the spelling mistake...it has been corrected...

and I am just too lazy to take another photo.

Just love me.

That's what Valentine's Day is about.

LOVE.

Tulips from my friend Loida. 

My Valentine's Day mantel...it isn't anything too special.

I should have taken some close ups...the scrabble holder says,

"I LOVE YOU"

I hope you have a great Valentine's Day!

You are Loved.

Valentine's Day Mug Holders Give Away!!

I love these little Valentines Mug Holders!

I saw them on Pinterest and thought...ahh...those would be fun to make.

So...I am having a little GIVE AWAY!

My first ever.

So...here is the plan...if you like it and would like one all you have to do is:

1. Leave me a comment.

2. Become a follower!

3. Check back to see if you won!

I didn't have a Starbucks cup...but they will fit on pretty much any type of cup.

Plus...the little "I love you" piece comes out.

YOU can also give these as gifts!

The top piece of burlap has been left open so you can leave a note, a little cash to let them go buy themselves a coffee, or even a tea bag!

I made a few!

They were so fun. 

So...maybe you don't win on the Give Away...

and you REALLY want one.

Well, I will sell you one for $3 plus shipping.

The GIVE AWAY will be chosen on 1*14*12

One month before Valentine's Day!

Leave a Comment and Become a Follower!

Decorating the school room for Valentine's Day

I LOVE the black dresser that I refinished.

I found this beauty on Craigslist for FREE...but it was free for a reason.

It was nasty...but with a little paint and some distressing it is PERFECT to store all of our homeschooling 

books, math manipulatives, pencils and games.

I wish I had a before picture to show you how gorgeous she was! HA! 

 Sometimes the kiddos need a little "smart candy" when they think the work they are doing is too hard.

I just like having the candy machine downstairs!  We tried gumballs...but they lose their flavor so fast. 

We tried jelly beans...but they were too gummy.  We LOVE the chewy Sprees!



Valentine's Day Mantel

                                        Happy Valentine's Day!