Valentine's Day

 I really like how my friend Colleen described Valentine's Day in our Mom2Mom monthly newsletter:

"Valentine's Day has come to mean something completely different than what it meant before I had kids. Before: romance, nice clothes, quiet dinner, expensive chocolate, and actual thought-out dinner plans.

"Now: running to the store to get those valentines for your kids that you forgot about, figuring out how many cookies you need to get for your kid's class party, trying to find something at least red, maybe even with a heart, for your kid to wear on Valentine's Day, and, oh yes, maybe even trying to get a card for your husband in the picked-over Valentine's card section of the store!"

I can relate! Here is a recap of our Valentine's Day 2013.
Violet wore her Valentine's outfit, heard a Clifford Valentine's Day story, and made pink-and-red heart crafts at My Buddy and Me.
Colleen kept her for me so I could leave class early to go to Cora's school and help in her class party...

 ...where I helped another mom run the Valentine's Day bingo game. Cora here looks shocked by the game. Sitting with her are Ryan and Tyler Belle.

 The class also participated in a cute craft and an outdoor scavenger hunt for red paper hearts, before getting their special snack of fruit, cheese and crackers, cupcakes, cookies and juice. (Don't tell the principal about the cookies and cupcakes! The school is on a healthy-eating drive.)

 Later in the day, a beautiful bouquet of flowers arrived from my love. Thanks, Stace! Love you too!

And you can see our collection of homemade Valentine's cards to each other.

The standing up card is what we made for Cora to give to her classmates. It reads, "Whooo loves you?" on the front, and on the inside, we wrote, "Cora, that's whooo!"


 

Cora made a special card for her dad. It said, "Owl be your Valentine" on the front; on the inside, she wrote, "D.A.D.D.Y. I no how to spel Daddy. I love you lots and lots. Daddy, I love you."