Hearts A-Bursting @ Nesting Ground

There are half-finished Valentine cards scattered all over the place. Vida is making her own, Lea chose these, and Risa is custom-coloring these. The latter has requested (in a whisper) an additional Valentine for a "special boy." I am fine with this, as he always greets me with a cheerful, "Hi Ms. Montes!" and his hair is impeccable, and he listens intently when I teach art. He only makes it to school a few days a week, probably because—I think—he lives in an apartment with just his teenage cousins, but never mind; he's a good boy.

In more hearts-y news, I've been meaning to post pictures of the shower I hosted for my little cousin which had, if you recall (and I'm sure you do), a woodland forest theme. And perhaps that was a ridiculous theme to have, but these types of social events really ought to have a theme or else there is a very real danger that they'll downward spiral into an unpleasant aesthetic mish-mash. Do I sound crazy? I got your crazy right here. I made my front room into a dining room:


Does this owl not very much belong? My delightful mother-in-law gave it to me:


I am a fan of party favors. These are soy candles scented with lemon & verbena. I found hemp ribbon that twists out into a leaf shape. Boom:


And here is the winning entry in my Draw-A-Baby-Please game, which I invented just that morning when I realized that oh shit, I didn't plan any games.


I bring you this close-up of the table because I want you to see the little marzipan toadstools made by S.:



Love all over the place here.