Valentine's Day, 2015

I've seen some articles about "keeping Valentine's Day for couples" or some weird way of thinking like that. That's just strange. It's a holiday that celebrates love, so I say celebrate it with whoever you can! Kids, spouses, pets, friends, or even yourself. I love a good celebratory occasion as much as the next fanatic, so I don't like any restrictions. Here are the little ways we celebrated with our children:

First off was Burl's school party. We signed up to bring drinks and I bought a bunch of those sugary, poisonous, capri suns. Burl was so proud of his drink contribution. Next up were the valentines. I asked Burl what kind he wanted to get and he said, "we don't need to buy any, I can just make my own." My heart skipped a beat and John said he was his mother's son-I can not tell you how much I felt like I was doing all the right things in my parenting gig right there. 

I offered stickers, glitter, and polka dots, but Burl went simplistic. White card. Red heart. Scraps glued on. HIs name written in the heart. It didn't say anything about Happy Valentine's Day, but he was set on his design and I say more power to him. 

There is nothing, absolutely nothing that can compete with the love and excitement of a school Valentine party. My husband has done sweet things for me every year, but 20 or so kids exchanging sweet cards and having a party-it just can't be topped. From here on out, I plan to re-live those parties through my kids and go completely overboard as a classroom mom. For now, I'll do what I can at home. 

On Saturday, I had a few surprises for the kids at lunch. I made them stay in Burl's room while I made lunch and set up a few surprises. The first things they said were, "Wow! Candies and Capri Suns!" Sweet children didn't even notice their gifts. 

They told me thank you and sat down with full smiles, then we pointed out the gifts. I spent $8 at an army navy store and bought a few carabiners and bungee cords. They're toddlers who like to invent things or whatever, so they can figure out something semi-safe to do with them.  

Lunch was a mixture of eating and hooking things together. My presents were a hit. 

John and I actually went out on Valentine's Day to Panera and the mall...which is NOT our ideal date in the least, but we were both excited about it and had so much fun. In the famous words of Walt Whtiman, "We were together, I forget the rest."  

On that note, I'm going to end and say that I hope everyone had a Happy Valentine's Day!

{Valentine's Day 2014, the year we killed the fish}