The boys have a Valentine’s party today and I keep telling them they should be excited, but really, they have no clue what the hell I’m talking about.  When they come home though, I’m sure they’ll be all hopped up on goodies and be excited about the cards they’ll have received.  And I’ll look forward to hearing all about it.

The teacher (Mrs. Lee, for posterity) sent home a little letter that had all the classmates’ names on it, it told how to address the valentines and to make sure there was one for each student from your child.  Since I have two children, I decided to forgo a valentine from them to each other b/c that’s kinda silly.  I will have to enlighten the teacher of this when I drop them off…

With the advent of Pinterest, I had seen a ton of cute valentine ideas and had even pinned quite a few.  The one that stuck with me though was this one.  I don’t know why I liked that one the best.  Probably because I like M&Ms.  But then I asked my fellow MoMs about candy choices and they said they would dump any candy their kid got that wasn’t wrapped.  So, that kinda sucked because I had already made the valentines (had the boys color the hearts, I cut them out and glued-no way was I going to arm 2-3-year-olds with staples-them together, put the To:/From: on them and stuffed them with a sticker or two and was going to go out and buy the M&Ms when I thought to ask).  I bought Hershey’s Kisses.  No go.  Too big.  Crap!  I went back to the grocery store and took my time, picking up most of the wrapped candies.  I determined that Skittles and Starburst, while yummy, were not toddler-friendly.  I didn’t want the icky gummy Spongebob weird things.  No gum.  Nor candy bar minis.  I ended up with some sorta-flat Hershey’s hearts.  They fit just perfectly.  Fab.

Here are the finished products.

Coop's heart

Cooper is not a big fan of coloring.  When you give him a marker, he inevitably chooses black (my least favorite color!) and then he makes the smallest scribbles and calls it done.  I had to cajole him to do more!, color bigger!, what about these hearts?!

Silly boy.

Spence's heart

Spence had no problem going to town on this project.  Give him markers and he’ll always grab orange first, with yellow second.  He makes these giant scribbles all around the page, he’ll draw circles and then he’ll tell you he’s drawing dinosaurs and he’ll roar for a bit.  Then he’ll switch out colors and in the end, he’s created a masterpiece.  Lovely!

All 18 of the valentines

That’s 1 for each classmate (8 others) and then 1 for their teacher.  But then I was strong-armed (not really) into getting their teacher something bigger and better, so she got this Dove truffle box and a card that plays music (Spence picked it out, he has expensive taste).  Whatever.  I’m totally going the cheap, yet crafty, route for the end-of-school present, damn it.

You want to see my Valentines, I’m sure.  But, of course!

Cheeee-cheeeeeese Cheeeeeese!

Spence is really quite excellent at waiting for me to get the camera on, aimed and button pressed before he moves.  He’ll say “cheese” the entire time too.

No! I don't want a picture!

Cooper, on the other hand, will *not* stay still for a picture.  He always ducks his head or puts his hand in front of his face, anything to avoid having his picture taken.  He’s such a turd!  I want pictures of this cute little face and he won’t let me!

Anyway, maybe I’ll blog about the valentines they receive.  Or their perception of the party.  Perhaps. 

Happy Valentine’s Day!