First of all, a little background info… Lately Gracen has really been into hearts and stars. I’m not sure how this interest came about really, but we do have a wooden shape puzzle that we play with daily and we’ve borrowed several books about shapes from our local library. Either way, the girl likes hearts and stars. She sees them everywhere (on posters, in store windows, in books, at the playground) and enthusiastically points them out while declaring, “Heart!” or “Star!”
Well today, just before her guests arrived, she was happily drawing on her chalkboard when she stopped, pointed, and said, “Heart! Heart!” Now I know that every parent thinks that their child is a genius and I’m 100% guilty of thinking Grae is quite clever, but is it just me or does this really look like a heart?!
Here’s a closer look. Am I just crazy? Does anyone else see the orange heart? Now I’m sure it was just a fluke, but either way, this mama is impressed.
‘Have a colourful Valentine’s Day!’ cards with 
A bigger version of the same card for her cousins Korbin, Chayton, and Kinslee.
And also for the cousins – felt heart hair clips for the little girls…
And felt tic-tac-toe boards for the big boys.
And something special for Papa too…
A handmade card card stamped with her little hands and feet. 
In preparation for Little G’s Valentine’s Day tea, this morning we experimented with making our own finger paint. I found the 
Gracen carefully added all of our ingredients into a large measuring cup first…
And then enthusiastically mixed it up!
Then we warmed the mixture on the stove…
Separated it into small bowls, added a few drops of food colouring, and stirred it well. It looks pretty, right?
Hmmm… Has anyone seen my Gracen Girl?
Each time she popped out of the blanket she shouted an enthusiastic “BOO!” and let out a pleased-with-herself giggle. Come to think of it, I never really tire of this game either… :)
This morning Gracen helped me make one of our favourite ever breakfast dishes – Lottie + Doof’s baked oatmeal. (You can find the recipe 
We normally make it with blueberries, but this morning we decided to switch things up a little and made it with raspberries instead. Naturally, Gracen was the designated taste tester.
After all that hard work in the kitchen, this little lady ate and then asked for a washcloth. I gave her one and found her below her chair a few minutes later “cleaning up” her mess. :)
♥
Today we spent our afternoon doing a bunch of little art projects for Valentine’s Day.
Gracen happily drew a “picture” on the back of each of her little friends’ cards.
All we have to do tomorrow is attach the 
Our next project involved punching out hundreds of little paint chip hearts… Technically Grae wasn’t the one doing the punching, but she was a great assistant.
Her real job was getting each little heart into this container for safe keeping. Of course this job was right up her alley because it involved transferring objects from one place to another. Little weirdo.
And while all those paper hearts kept Miss G busy, I worked on some Valentine’s Day hair clips for Grae and her little cousin, Kinslee.
Our last project of the afternoon involved a wax / watercolour resist. First, Gracen scribbled all over white card stock with white crayons…
Then we cut out a bunch of hearts, taped them down to some plastic, and painted them using homemade watercolours.
It took a minute for Grae to really get into the painting part (at first she was squeezing and shaking the paint out of the brush), but once she got the idea, she went for it.
Tada! Another masterpiece by Miss G. :) We’ll let them dry overnight and tomorrow she’ll hang them up on her bedroom door. And just in time. Only 3 days left!
Just like Mama. 
You think this little lady had a good time at the pool this afternoon?!
We swam, splished, and splashed for two full hours before I pretty much had to pull her away from the water. There’s no doubt she’s a little fish.
Now the project actually calls for old broken crayon chunks, but since our collection wasn’t large enough yet, we supplemented with some new crayons too. Gracen was an excellent paper peeler.
She was also in charge of breaking the crayons into chunks.
Then I helped by chopping them up into smaller chunks with a knife.
Then we stuffed our heart shaped mold as full as it could be.
We popped the whole thing into a warm oven…
And watched the crayons slowly melt.
And before long, it was time to take them out.
We let them cool a while and then popped them out of the molds.
Presto! Heart-shaped crayons. Very simple, but made with love. Tomorrow we’ll work on the cards to attach them to…
We woke up to the most amazing news this morning… Our very good friends welcomed their gorgeous baby boy, Tate, to the world late last night. The second Gracen woke up from her nap, we headed out to Langley to meet the new little man. Goodness gracious… He is PERFECT. Grae was very into seeing the “bubba” and even tried sharing her apple and book with him. Congrats, Steph and Micah! We couldn’t be more thrilled for you guys.
We got some great news this morning and fresh muffins were needed for the occasion, stat.
Gracen’s becoming a pro at muffin making.
The secret ingredient in this recipe? Whole greek yogurt!
The highlight for this little object transferring fiend? Moving the blueberries, one by one, from the plastic container into the bowl.
Baking is just so much fun!
Prepping the pan is Grae’s specialty.
Next step? Sprinkling cinnamon sugar on the muffin tops!
In the oven they go.
While waiting, my little baker kept busy at the gorgeous easel she got from her Uncle Gary for Christmas.
‘They’re reeeeaaaady, Mama!’
The finished product ready to be packed up and taken to our friends (explanatory post coming soon!)