True Love

We like to celebrate and emphasize Valentine's day as a day to celebrate family & friend love (vs. romantic love).  The idea is that perhaps the kids will grow up with a wider concept of celebrating it and maybe be less disappointed overall. It seems like everyone- single, not single, etc.- ends up disappointed at Valentine's day because of their expectations. But I digress....

I'm cheap and we had a crazy day on the actual Valentine's day, so we decided to celebrate on the 15th instead. This was great because it was a) a Friday, and b) I could get all kinds of Valentine goodies for the kids at 50% off! It was such a good idea, I'm totally doing it every year!  It also allowed me to score the super-cute Thomas shirt Bear is wearing above for $2.50.  I hear Ralph's voice every time I read it, though.

We had our traditional fondue dinner. I have a new goal to have every holiday dinner table look as though we are drinking booze, so we added some sparkling cider :)  Also, note the "love" card right by the flowers. Birdy made that at school!

After the cheese course, the kids got their Valentine's from Grandma and Grandpa K. They were thrilled. DMP and I (who am I kidding *I*) got the girls small Barbies.

After gifts, it was time for some family Lego-ing.

I bet you can guess what came next!  It was Bear's favorite course!

This is Bear's Valentine from Mommy- his name is Monkey George. He has been carried around ever since and periodically I am commanded to give him a hug, or change his bum.

Be Mine

The girls were excited about passing out their valentines this year. EJ decorated her own bag (above) all by herself!

Birdy gave out Tinkerbell valentines with lollypops. 

EJ gave out cute cards of kittens and puppies. The animal picture changed as you moved the card. Pretty neat. I thought it was funny that this year both girls were concerned about giving out "girly" Valentines to the boys in their class. I had to explain that they boys will be giving them "boy" Valentines, so they shouldn't worry. 

We were going to have a Valentine play group brunch and pass out Valentines, so Bear got his very first valentines. He loved them SO much.  DMP and I folded them and taped 2-yr-old friendly candy inside. He woke up and was APPALLED.  This face says "WHY WOULD YOU DO THAT!?!"  We had to unfold and un-tape all of them before we could move on with getting the girls ready and off to school.  He was so attached to them, in fact, he couldn't bear to give them away to any of his friends (don't worry, I still handed out the candy).  I guess now we know why 2 yr. olds don't exchange Valentines!

Here is a shot of our play date. I think we had a record 16 kids at my house (plus their awesome Mommies!)

I'll say one thing for Mormon Mommy parties- we sure know how to eat. This is even before more of the yumminess arrived. Also, note the bowl of melted chocolate. The giant chocolate bar rides again!

I had to share this picture of baby J in the mother of all cute baby ruffle-butts!

This was the "baby carrier parking lot".  I think there are 6 (?).  This is what happens when 9 babies are born in the ward in a 6 month period...  It also means lots of lovely newborns to squish and love and then give back to their Moms.

We got lucky and had some extra friends over for Valentine dinner. We had pink waffles, deviled eggs and strawberries. A good time was had by all!

I love love....

 We had a fun Valentine's Day this year! I was lucky enough to teach Preschool on Valentine's day this year, including a party.

 The kids had a lot of fun making bags to put their Valentines in.  Even Bear got to make one (he loves coloring- especially on the walls...)

 We played some games, read some books and then we made our adorable "Love Bugs".  The bodies are made of cardboard hearts and they put them together and painted them with their favorite colors. They turned out really cute!

 EJ got home with her Valentines from her friends. The girls also got their valentines from Mom and Dad- a rice bag from Mom, and YamYam's and a note from Dad. 

 They were initially most excited about Daddy's treat, but have since declared the rice bags to be the "best ever". Not that I'm bragging or anything (and DMP's feelings can't be hurt since I picked out his treat, too!)

 After EJ's piano lesson, it was off to McDonalds (Happy Meals for the girls) and Chik-fil-a (for Mom).  As you can see, it was a very fancy feast. (on a side note, I got that table cloth for $2.50 a couple weeks ago and this was our first time using it. I washed it with Bear's clothes and he now has pink onsies. Ooops!)  Dessert was home made chocolate cupcake (Birdy and Bear's second for the day!).

After baths it was time for "Video Daddy", since Daddy was in El Paso.  Bear loves talking to Daddy on the computer so much, he wouldn't budge when it was his sister's turn to talk! 

How My Kids Changed my Mind about Valentine's Day...

This picture has not a whole lot to do with this post, except that mustaches are cool!



For much of my adult life, I've been a "Valentine's Day Hater".  I dislike Valentine's Day for the same reasons I don't like jewelery stores. So much of the merchandising and marketing around the holiday seems like a crass marketing ploy to get you to attach a dollar amount to your love for someone.  Also, I can't forgive Valentine's Day for ruining the excellent songs "Wild Thing" and "Born to be Wild" with countless  singing stuffed gorillas/monkeys/elephants in chains/cages.  Seriously, do yourself a favor and go listen to those two songs without the cheesy Valentine stuffed animal. You're welcome.

It also seems like a holiday that leaves many people feeling left out- little brother's and sisters are left out because they don't get tons of valentines from school.  People without significant others feel left out because it is a "romantic" holiday.  Even people with significant others sometimes end up feeling bad because they have unmet expectations.

I've learned to like Valentine's day more and more as EJ has gotten older and started going to preschool and now elementary school.  Her anticipation and joy in the holiday has nothing to do with "will that boy I like give me a giant singing gorilla?" (Please, please say that we are years from that!).  It has everything to do with doing something nice for her friends and taking a special day and way to say she loves them. I learned from her to ignore the marketing messages telling me that it is a holiday only for lovers (as if that is the only kind of love).  I also learned that we should be happy to take any opportunity to tell people they are loved.

I know that we should find ways to say "I love you" every day to those around us, but let's be realistic, some days are better than others :)  I appreciate that Valentine's gives me a reason to stop and focus on letting people know they are special to me.   The spirit of the holiday is nice, even if the marketing makes me want to vomit.

So, with that in mind, this is how we've decided Valentines day should go: spend little money (voting with our $$ so to speak), and think of heartfelt ways we can show others we love them.  We still bought Valentines for EJ to pass out in her class, decorations and chocolate (of course).  But we try to make our Valentines for each other and focus on really telling each person how and why we love them.

Preparing for this Valentine's day has been a joy.  My girls made special valentines for their Daddy (since he away this week) and some of their friends and Papper and each other.  Birdy made little cards to go with her Valentines for her friends (books from the Library book sale- score!) I made the kids rice bags (you know, the kind they warm in the fridge) and Daddy left them a treat and a note telling them how much he loves them.  We are planning on having a special dinner (Happy Meals on a fancy table cloth and plates!) and home made cupcake dessert. Simple and focused on spending time with each other and showing love.

What about you- how do you like to spend Valentine's Day?

Our Valentine's Day

EJ worked hard to make paper beads for a necklace for Birdy. Look at her cute face in the pic above. She's concentrating very hard!

Birdy got a special "Best Friends Forever" valentine from EJ, a special ring pop from Daddy and a crocheted hair pretty from Mom. She was very excited to show them off!

Here's a close-up of the hair ties I crocheted for the girls. Birdy had pink and EJ had white. Anyone else remember these from their childhood? I'm not sure if I actually ever had one, but I at least remember other kids with them!

EJ was excited to make her valentine box. Thanks to an empty formula container, she had one of the most uniquely shaped valentine holder in her class!

Birdy didn't want to be left out in all the valentine box fun, so we made hers out of an empty oatmeal box. She passed out her valentines to her Sunbeam friends and Sunday and even got a few valentines for her box in return! She can't wait until she can go to school and get a lot of valentines (and candy) like her big sister!

Our Valentines Day

We had a pretty fun v-day. What can I say melted cheese + Melted chocolate = LOVE

Birdy loved the melted cheese fondue best: