30 Days of Pinterest- Days 16 & 17: Valentine's Day the Pinterest Way!

My cousin remarked on Facebook how she could tell which parents got their Valentine ideas off Pinterest when her daughter brought home her stash yesterday.

**Guilty!!**

Two of our Valentine ideas came from Pinterest, and one Chaos Kid is too big and boyish for handing out Valentine's. (Although he was quite offended that a girl in his grade had a very large bag of lollipops and only handed a few to her friends, stuffing the remaining lollipops back in her locker. I said, you can't get without giving :)

Louisa still likes to give Valentines to her circle of friends, even though 8th grade is well past the classroom exchange age. I suggested she make these chocolate spoons that were originally posted on Sweetapolita. The friends can eat them, or dip them in hot chocolate.
On Sunday night, at 8:30, right before bedtime, I asked her if she was ever going to make these chocolate spoons. Of course she was still going to make them! It doesn't matter that it's almost bedtime ;)
She grabbed the last bag of chocolate chips (I had an unending supply for awhile because I WAY overbought at Christmastime) and began to melt them in the microwave. For one minute. When I smelled burning chocolate I asked her how long she had been melting it. "I don't know... awhile." Um, ya, chocolate is burned and I can't do anything to fix it. Last bag, mind you. I had two ounces of bakers semi-sweet chocolate, and maybe two ounces of white chocolate chips. Hopefully they would mix, and hopefully it would taste good! We melted them, added a little vanilla extract, added a bit of water to get it smooth and creamy, and it looked good. It was a melted Tootsie Roll consistency, and it tasted just like a Tootsie Roll.

I went on Pinterest to find some cute printable tags for her to add. I had her choose between two and she picked this one from Amy is the Party. Her favorite is the one that says, "you are the cheese to my macaroni" :)

Hunter and I made rainbow crayons in heart shapes, added a little coloring book from Oriental Trading, and printed a cute tag we found on Pinterest. We've been making rainbow crayons for years, and destroyed a few muffin tins in the process (before I learned to use silicone, cupcake liners, or the same muffin tin every time). It's a great way to use up ALL those broken crayons that accumulate in your house. I actually found broken crayons from when I was little!
There were two posts on Pinterest that featured the heart crayon. One came from Whipper Berry, and the other came from Flickr with clear directions on how to make the crayons.

I needed a cute printable to attach the crayon to, so I was excited when I found these on Pinterest from The Long Thread. Unfortunately, I didn't have any appropriate tape to attach a waxy crayon to a piece of paper. Hunter had written his "To" and "From" on the back of each tag, so I had to figure out how to attach the crayon, tag, and coloring book to something where we could see the back of the tag. Louisa suggested using the little bags we used for her spoons (I've had a stash of them for years and never used them for anything). I put the coloring book and crayon into the bag, attached the tag to the outside, and had a cute little gift for Hunter to give.

I realize there are parents who may think I'm one of "those" parents who always has to one-up the parents who send in traditional boxed paper Valentines. I do have to say that we've been home making our Valentines for 10 years and I don't see anything wrong with teaching the kids to be creative and go the extra mile for their friends. I'm not spending any extra money than I would on the boxed Valentines because I used things from around the house. Also, I was in the class yesterday afternoon helping the kids pass out their Valentines. All of the children were equally excited about ALL of the Valentines. Whether they were homemade, hand drawn, from the store, just a Valentine, just a piece of candy, it didn't matter. Each child was in awe over each Valentine they received.

Day 17 was all about cupcakes! I made these Cherry Almond Vanilla cupcakes from Better Homes and Gardens (in MINI!) for my gymnastics students on Monday. Yum just doesn't even begin to describe this. All the gymnastics students, and parents, went ga-ga over these.

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St. Valentine's Day

Yesterday, Valentine's Day. Not really sure what to do with it. It's not a religious holiday unless you celebrate the Feast Day of Patron Saint Valentine (of which there were several), nor is it anti-religious like Halloween. It's just... sorta... there. Not as insignificant as President's Day, but not as important as Easter. Many people call it a "Hallmark Holiday". I tend to agree. Husband and I don't do much for the big V-day. We say "Happy Valentine's Day" to eachother, and I call him "my Valentine". Sometimes I get some chocolates, or maybe a card, though most years it's not in the monthly budget so I don't worry about it. Since my birthday is also in February, I'd much rather him spend our "fun money" on my birthday! :-)

This is how I spent my Valentine's Day... and coincidentally the same exact way I spent my birthday this year. (With the exception of the rice crispie treat fiasco.)

~Woke up extra early to make rice crispie treats for one of the boys' classroom parties. I had made one batch Sunday night, and wanted to make another batch so both boys could take treats to school. I used the pink strawberry flavored marshmallows. Drew has a girl in his class with several food allergies, so he is very concious about taking treats she can eat. She's allergic to egg and peanut and that makes a lot of treats out of the question.
I mixed up the melted marshmallows and rice crispies, then molded them in to a mini-muffin pan so I could have individual bite sized servings. (Learning about equal, individual servings in baking class.) I kept coming across these big lumps of hard white stuff. I had no clue what it was, but it was frustrating me. I used pink marshmallows, so it's not like it was unmelted marshmallow. I finished putting the mixture in the muffin pan and had some leftover that I was going to put in a small pan for the kids to eat after school. That's when I noticed my spatula! It was completely melted away! The hot marshmallow melted my spatula! That's what the big white chunks were. And I had eaten some of it. yuck. I threw everything away and went to wake the boys. I told them what happened, but I had a solution. I had bought a bag of conversation hearts for my gymnastics students, so I let the boys choose who took the candy and who took the rice crispies for their parties. Luckily there was no issue as Hunter was excited to take the candy instead.

~Baking class went very well. I made a cinnamon swirl raisin bread. It was tiring, though. Being in a cooking/baking class for 5 hours three days a week, then going to work afterwards is tiring. But it's no more than full-time working moms do.
There was an incident where a girl stormed out of class because she found something she's not naturally good at. I'm not good at a LOT of things. I'm lucky that I found a talent in baking, and a love for it. I hope I get to do it for a living some day. However, I'd like to think that if I wasn't good at it, I wouldn't storm out in tears every time something didn't go right for me.

~After class I had to go shopping. I had 45 minutes to get it done, get out of there, and get home. I got home at the very last possible minute. Just enough time to change and get to work. I felt bad because the boys had their Valentine's out and were waiting to show me what they got. I would have loved nothing more than to sit and look at their cards, make them dinner, play with them, and spend a nice Valentine's evening at home. But... that's not where I am at this point in my life. So off to work I went!

~I have four gymnastics classes on Monday nights. I'm the only teacher at my gym because it's a small YMCA and there isn't need for a large gymnastics program. I had Valentine candy for my students, and several of my kids had brought me boxes of chocolates. I love this job! Sometimes it's frustrating, but the kids make it so rewarding. I feel blessed that I get to do nothing but work with children. I was, however, very happy when no one showed up for my 7:00 class! (It was "icing" out, so not very drivable weather.) I got to go home a little early to see my munchkins.
Louisa had made the boys dinner for me. I finally taught her how to use the oven, or rather she had a crash course in it because she was babysitting one day (for other kids) and their mom had left a frozen pizza for Louisa to make them. She didn't want to tell the mom she didn't know how, so she called me! At the store I found DiGiorno Pizza & Cookies! So cool! Louisa was excited to make it.

~When I got home I was greeted with, "MOM!! Come here! I have a surprise for you!" Drew made me a scavenger hunt. I had to read each note and follow the clues to find the next note. At the end of the scavenger hunt I found a card. The card says:

Dear Mom, I am writing you a poem
I hope that we are both always in a nice warm home
I wish you a very, very happy Valentine's Day
I don't just love you on your Birthday.

Now *that* is just what I needed to end a long day.

Wait.... one more thing! Did I mention that my "Valentine" wasn't home? He's on a trip out of state. So the last thing I really needed? To finally sit and talk with him on the phone.
Ahh..... now that I've done that, I have everything I needed to end my long day.

Happy Valens... whatever Part 2: Be Careful What You Wish For

Remember how I was complaining earlier today about not having anyone to take cute little Valentine's to school? (If not, then read the post below this first.) Well ya, guess what? 3:30 Louisa gets home from school and says, "I need to bring Valentine's tomorrow".
Oh Great!
We go for our usual Wednesday walk around the golf course with the playgroup, which was really just me and one other friend, and then head to WallyMart. (aka, the suck-me-out-of-all-my-money-why-do-I-have-20-more-items-in-my-cart-than-what-I-came-in-here-for store)
Do you know what WalMart is like on February 13th? It was crazier than the day after Thanksgiving sale! Big, hulking soldiers carrying around giant $50 teddy bears to take home to Miss Right. Moms fighting and scrambling for the last of the packs of Valentine cards because, like us, they didn't know until today that their child's class was exchanging. And husbands weeding through the measley selection of carnations hoping to find some nice enough to please Mrs. Can't Do Anything Right So Why Even Bother (ever heard of an actual flower shop? they sell "pretty flowers")
So after staying up till nearly 10:00 getting homework and Valentine cards ready (when you have a 2 year old who must "help" with everything, everything takes twice as long!) I'm ready to curl up with a book and prepare to spend yet another holiday... alone.

Okay, okay... so I'm having lunch with friends. Geesh! It's still kinda alone. "Intimate affection-less". How does that sound?

Happy Valens....... whatever

I have to admit, I'm a little blue this year. At a time when, technically, I'm supposed to be Red. Or Pink. Or maybe even Purple. Any of those Valentine-y sort of colors would be best, but nope. I'm Blue.
Yes, I'm spending the big V Day without my husband. That's not why I'm sad. I'm sad because I have no Valentine's to buy this year. Drew isn't in school, so we don't need any for his class (unless I want to give one to myself!). And Louisa's class isn't exchanging them. They didn't have a Halloween party, they had a very small Christmas celebration that she couldn't make it to, and now they aren't exchanging Valentine's!
I do have small gifts for the kids. A book for Drew, a book for Hunter, and a DVD for Louisa. (and after the huge pile of withdrawn books that she just brought home from her school library, I can safely say that she doesn't need any books for awhile!) But I miss that part of school where you get to address little cards and attatch a piece of candy, and the part where you get to help them make a mailbox out of a shoebox or a cereal box, and the part where they come home with the little mailbox stuffed full of cards and goodies and their little faces are so excited to see what cards they got from who!
{sigh}
Not this year.
We did get adorable Valentine's from one of the sweetest 2-year-olds I know. When we went for our walk with our playgroup friends on Monday, one of our cute little friends gave each of the kids a Valentine she picked out for them, along with a bracelet she picked out for Louisa. And the look on her face when the kids opened their cards and gave her a hug was priceless.
I sent Husband a *big* box chock full of Valentine-y fun that he got earlier this week, and we sent out our Valentine's to our family. So I guess that should be enough. And for the most part it is. But those people who have kids in school know how fun it is to see them come home on February the 14th with their little home made boxes, and to share in their excitement when they see what candy they got and what's in the goodie bag they've been dying to open. It's just a normal part of school that even us parents look forward to. Well, I do anyway!
So, Happy Valentine's day. A day to think about those you love, send an extra note their way, and be happy that you have all those people to send notes to!

Oh, and PS, I hope you never get stuck in a school district that sucks all the fun out of the "school experience" like ours does!

Happy Show-Your-Woman-Attention Day!

I am officially renaming today. From now on, unless you're Catholic and actually observe today as Saint Valentine's feast day, it's called Show-Your-Woman-Attention Day.
To me, Valentine's Day is another day where lucky women get to show off how much their husbands spoil them, and unlucky women get to feel like crap. And I always get presents on Valentine's Day. Husband has never missed one. I've gotten jewelry, candy, flowers, homemade gifts, candles, taken out to eat, made delicious homemade dinners. I've been spoiled. So what do I have to complain about, right?
It's just that I don't need a day where my husband spoils me just because a greeting card company has gotten fat off sucker husbands and whiny wives. What I need is a gift anytime for any old reason. What I need is for husband to say, Hey, Today's June 4 and I don't know what that means, but I'm bringing wifey flowers!
Ok, ok, since he's reading over my shoulder right now (and protesting with some very loud pssht... noises) I'll give him some credit. He does a lot for me and usually for no special reason. But I can't help but think of all those women out there who got their hopes up today thinking they'd get flowers, candy, a card at least, and got nothing.
So why not put aside all this bullcrap and call today what it really is. Show-Your-Woman-Attention Day. Reason being, men need things to be obvious in order for them to understand. If we call today what it really is, there won't be as many disappointed women out there. Men will finally get it! I can see their little lightbulbs going off now. Oh, so that's what Valentine's Day was for!
And on a side note, if you were one of those disappointed women, I give you full permission to take this idea and run with it! By all means, take advantage of it. Next year, be obvious. No hint dropping. Tell him the day has been renamed and I promise you he will finally understand.
On a sider side note, I'm going to invent Sister Day where us women show our sisterhood towards eachother. Why, because we won't forget and dropped hints are totally ok.

On a way sider side side note: I love you husband, you know I'm just kidding. You did good this year. (yes, he's still reading over my shoulder)