My Valentines Day (2013) In iPhone Photos

Some parts of Valentines Day were special...others were rather mundane. Here's a look at what I (we) did on this Valentines Day:

Started the day taking photos with all my valentines...

Then, after preschool drop-off...grocery store, unpacking groceries, and laundry. This would be the mundane part of the day. 

A spontaneous (and very quick) lunch with Casey at Cane's.

Right after lunch...off to class parties at preschool. Ethan's class made "love bug" hats (you can just barely see the antenna attached to his "hat").

Logan was most proud of the pencil he got in his Valentines treat bag. He's still playing with it today. I love how both of the boys juice boxes are in their photos...the only time they get these is at class parties because I'm a mean mom and we don't drink those (or any juice) in our house.

After school, Mimi (who met us at the parties at school), took Ethan home to spend the night just for fun. So, Logan and I headed home to change into PJ's and cuddle on the couch. No nap and feeling a little under the weather makes Logan even more cuddly than normal. Yet still as silly as ever.

After the little one went to bed, I finished up a special dinner for us...Filet Oscar-style (topped with crab and Bearnaise sauce), lobster mac and cheese (this was yum), and roasted Brussels sprouts with garlic and parm. For dessert, hot fudge pie a la mode.

(PS - ever since I started preparing our steaks the right way several years ago, all has been right with the world. If you're still grilling your filets, you might want to take a stab at this preparation instead.)

Glowing Valentines

This year, the boys are giving out another non-candy Valentines treat to their preschool classmates...glow sticks. It's kind of a (really, really) popular idea right now and normally I try to do something different. But I already had a big canister of glow stick bracelets and there were so many in there despite us using a couple every once in a while for fun. 

So by using my already-purchased glow sticks and card stock I already had, I didn't have to buy one thing for this year's Valentines treats. And although it's been done, the boys are totally thrilled to give their friends some glow sticks. They think it is so cool.

I made a long and skinny tag through which to thread the glow sticks. I used an x-acto knife to make the slits in the tags.

I printed Logan's name on his tags and left a space for Ethan to write his name, which was really good practice for him since he had to do it 15 times. He is now writing his name the "Kindergarten way," which is with a capital first letter and lowercase letters for the rest.

The tag didn't take me long to whip up in Photoshop....and there's probably a reason for that. It looks amazingly similar to last year's Valentines that we made. My brain is playing tricks on me. I honestly did not even realize that I practically duplicated my design until after the Valentines had already been made. And although I wish they were a little different...no way are we redoing them! The boys don't care/remember and neither do their class mates. 

And even though it's not that different from last year's, you are welcome to download this year's Valentines tag if you'd like to use it. (Click on the photo to download.)

In Defense of Valentines Day

Photo by Summer Photography

Valentines Day gets a bad rap in my opinion. Many will say that it is a commercial holiday, therefore they feel no need to participate...blah, blah, blah. It's true. It sort of is a commercial holiday. People (men) are made to feel obligated to spend ludicrous amounts of money just because someone decided that we'd celebrate love on February 14. And when you put it that way, I totally agree...I can do without that. I actually used to be on the side of Valentines Day haters. 

Then, somewhere along the way, I saw it in a new light. Something changed. Because now, I see Valentines Day not as an obligation, but as an opportunity. Our Valentines Day celebrations rarely, if ever, involve roses, expensive dinners, or even gifts. Sometimes we go out. But we always cook a special dinner at home, which has become a fun tradition. 

Whatever we decide to do (or not do), the point is...it's great to have a day that reminds us to do special things for each other. I guess you could make the argument that we should do these things regularly anyway and we don't need a commercial holiday to make us do it. Ok, maybe. But I'll just speak for us....it's hard to remember (or make time) to do the special things. I can't speak for all couples with kids, but I sense that we may not be alone in that situation. And while we work hard to make time to reconnect and have regular date nights, I think a specific holiday that gives us another excuse to do special things for each other is pretty great.

And of course, it's a fun holiday to celebrate with kiddos too. And an excuse to eat chocolate. Not that I really need an excuse to eat chocolate, but I'll take one! Go Valentines Day!

Thumb-Body Loves You

If you need a quick and easy Valentines card...give this one a try. It's not fancy, but it's sweet. And it is especially fun for kids. Both of my boys loved putting their thumb prints on the cards. I took photos of Ethan doing his thumb prints all by himself (he's done it at preschool many times), but there are no photos of Logan doing it because I had that little boy in a vice grip to keep his busy hands from wandering while they had red ink on them.

Ethan's face completely lit up when he saw me transforming his thumb print into a little "thumb-body." I sent one of these cards along with prints of the Valentines photos of the boys to the grandparents. (They have already received the cards and prints, which is why I can go ahead and post about them!)

If you want to use my card template, you can download it by clicking on the image below.

Loveable Little Valentines

Stuck on You, Valentine

A couple of weeks ago, the boys and I were perusing the $1 section at Target just as they were putting out their Valentines stuff. I spotted some Valentines stickers and thought they would be perfect to pair with a small candy treat for Ethan's preschool classmates. So, I made a treat topper to fit over some 4 x 6 inch cello treat sacks (also from Target, which I already had). Ethan just stuffed the bags with a couple of sheets of stickers and a treat and then I stapled it shut with the topper.

I've spotted several other clever Valentines ideas in the $1 section at Target if you want to give something other than candy, but not spend a bundle. (Or pair it with candy like we did.) We saw pencils, shaped erasers, bouncy balls and more. 

You can download our treat topper (by clicking the image below), add your child's name at the bottom, and use for your own Valentines if you'd like.

My Valentines

My first and forever Valentine:

My two sweet little loves and my favorite little boys:

DIY Valentines

Ethan and I made some simple valentines for his classmates at preschool. Since he can't quite write his name yet, I was thinking of other ways he might be able to participate in "making" them himself. So, we bought some candy and just filled up snack size baggies. Then I made a topper in photoshop and printed it on cardstock. He wanted to help me staple those on, but I mainly did that myself. Ethan really enjoyed counting out two lollipops and three hearts to put into each bag. And watching him hand one to each friend in his class at his party today was so fun!