Sunday, February 17, 2013

Valentines Day.

I say it every year, but I love, love, love Valentines day.

For our family its about celebrating the love that we all have for each other, rather than a romantic holiday between Daniel and I.

My favorite tradition (actually, I think its the favorite of all ours) is our love note mailboxes.
The night of January 31, the kid put their mailboxes out. Each morning from then until Valentines day Daniel and I take turns leaving them a love note and a small treat.

The get so excited each morning to check their mail. Some days they would get one small piece of candy and other days they got a bigger treat, like bubble bath. What melted my heart is that they were so sweet and grateful every single morning. They would go on and on about how much they loved their mail, even on "small" days. And they love the notes just as much as the treats, especially Dylan.

 
Actually, I think their favorite treat were the two golden tickets they each got. They went on and on and on about those. And they were so cute trying to keep up with them until the right time to "redeem" them.
 
 


When I asked London what kind of valentines she wanted to give to her class, she said "A little snack and a little drink." That little girl.. she just makes me laugh. I wan't sure where to go with her suggestion, until I saw this one pinterest:

A squeeze and kisses

I was so excited when I found it. A little snack and a little drink, exactly what she asked for!

I changed it up just a little bit, and was thrilled with how they turned out.
 The best part was how excited London got and how proud she was of them.
She wanted to help me make them, of course (she wants to help me with pretty much everything I do). So I asked her to put 4 kisses in each bag. I was kind of amazed when she was finished and had done exactly that. Every single bag had exactly four kisses in it.  We had some extras, so she added two more to each bag, which she said equals six. My smart little girl! 
 


Dylan and I sat down together and I showed him some ideas I found on pinterest for his Valentines. This is what he picked out:
You’re the bomb!

I thought it was precious!

Dylan was a little less excited to help me make them all. To be fair, he had play rehearsal to get to.
He and Daniel helped me stuff all the balloons with candy and blow them up though, which was huge help.


Here is our version of it:


You may notice our wording is a little different. That's because we had some drama.
The night before V-day Daniel posted a picture of our original version that said "Your the Bomb", where it was pointed out that they may not be appropriate for school. Oh my gosh. It NEVER crossed my mind that these would be a problem. And I'm THAT mom that doesn't let her kids play with toy guns. I don't know why, but it never, ever crossed my mind that these could be "violent". I get it now. I just didn't think of it before. Very long story short, after a couple of frantic emails to the teacher, calls to my mom, tears on my part (because I knew Dylan was going to be devastated if he didn't have anything to take to school the next morning) we changed the wording they were okay to go to school. Ugh. I know I must have gained at least one wrinkle and a few grey hairs from that night.

Dylan loved them so much though. When I picked him from school on Valentines day he was so excited to tell me that "They were EVERYONE's favorite" and "EVERYONE loved them so much, mom!"
And that made it worth all of it, even the wrinkle.


I packed both kiddos a special pink, red, and heart shaped lunch. I was a little worried that Dylan would be embarrassed. I was so relieved when he got home and said that he loved it and his buddies thought it was cool too. I'm not sure how much longer he'll feel that way, but I'm so glad he does for now. As it turned out, London didn't need a packed lunch because her class had pizza. I didn't find this out until I dropped her off that morning. I saved it for her though and she was excited to open it after school and have the the strawberries and milk for snack. 

Dylan's school had Donuts with Dad that morning.
Sadly, I don't have a picture from that. I hear they had a great time though. ;)
London and I decided to have our own special breakfast, Muffins with Mommy.

Miss Priss pretty much made them all by herself. I measured the milk, helped poor the batter into the pan, and she did the rest
 
 


We watched cartoons while we had our yummy breakfast.

I loved  her little Valentines day outfit this year. She looked so grown up that I hardly knew what to do with myself. And those waves in her hair... I could just eat this kid up. 
 



Right after getting to the preschool for London's party, I got a phone call from Dylan's school nurse. He had an awful headache and need me to come get him. His party was in less than an hour, so I knew he meant it that he was feeling bad.

I stayed with London  for just a couple of minutes. I was worried she's be upset that I wasn't staying, but she was champ about it.
 
I picked Dylan up and took him home. I was relieved that he was at least feeling well enough to tell me all about his day. And also relieved that they had already passed out valentines. I loved the bag that he made, so creative just like him...


He took a long nap when we got home, which was his own suggestion, so I knew again that he really didn't feel well. Thankfully, by the time he woke up the Motrin had kicked in and he felt mostly all better.

After we picked Lou Lou up, we all sat in the floor and looked through both of their valentines  This is my favorite part of the day. It brings me right back to my own childhood. 


I usually make a big fuss about dinner, folding all sorts of traditions into it, but this year I was just done with the day by time to eat. I don't mean that in a "I can't wait for the day to be over" kind of way. Just that it was comical how many little things went awry. I told Daniel it felt like I was living in a sitcom. Its not even worth listing it all, because honestly its not how I remember the day as a whole, but if I did you would laugh with me. So by about 4:00, I knew I wasn't going to stress about dinner. Plus, with the way things were going, the stove might have caught fire had I tried cooking.

We ate at Chick-Fil-A. I was going to bring our heart shaped plates to eat on, but Daniel gave me a funny look when I suggested it.




At the end of the night we gave the kids their valentines gifts. They each got a Bible. Dylan's got a "real" one that he had been asking for and London got a girly picture bible, and they each got a small box of chocolate.
When we tucked them in, Dylan said this was the best Valentines day ever. He didn't even noticed the traditions that were missing. Part of me wanted to scream about that, but mostly my heart was bursting with happiness. Daniel and I snuggled up and spent the night watching TV and just hanging out.


 I'm so blessed to have three perfect Valentines. 
 
 
 


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1 comment:

  1. Hi Carla! Just hopped over from Kelly's Corner and had to say you have two beautiful children! I love your valentine's and might have to use the bomb.... errr.... blast idea for Drew when he's older. :) It didn't even cross my mind about that being a school no-no word until you said that, but I guess I get it. Anyway, sounds like a GREAT Vday and can't wait to follow along and read more. Hope you'll stop by sometime!

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