My Valentines

I know Valentine's Day is one of those "hallmark holidays" that many people dislike. But I like it. I think it is fun for the kids. Well, all but the loads of candy part. But I confiscate the candy and all is well. :>)

This year we decided to celebrate Valentine's Day with a little party for James and his play group. Our little group has been getting together a couple of times a month since the babies were all just a few months old. We have had so much fun bonding over these little kiddos, learning from each other, and laughing (or sometimes crying) over all the stresses that toddlers bring. Watching the kids play and grow together has been so fun. Unfortunately we didn't take a group picture at our little party. In fact, I don't think we've been able to take a group pic in a long time because they NEVER sit still. Here are some from the past.

And a few from our party. We did crafts, ate goodies, and played!

That week, I also had the pleasure of making 115 Valentines for my four kiddos ... 40 each for the girls, 28 for James, and luckily only about 7 for Elliot's class. Whew! And I say "had the pleasure of" because I really do enjoy doing that. I like coming up with easy non-candy ideas, and it is fun to watch the kids get excited about giving them to their friends. I admit I broke my non-candy rule with James this year because I could not resist this idea I found for my little Olaf fan ...

And then we did stickers from Annabel and bookmarks from Madeline ...

And last but not least, little "Bear Hugs" from Elliot. (He does give the best bear hugs!)

Of course I knew sending that many Valentines to school with them meant they would come home with that same amount. I had braced myself for it but still don't think I was prepared for it to look like this ...

I think the candy had already gotten to Annabel!  But then I did what any good/mean mommy would do and put all the candy up rationing it to them one piece at a time ... or not at all when they don't think about it and ask!

I have to add this funny story about James. He had the best time going through all his Valentines from his little friends and hearing us tell him who gave him each one. And apparently he memorized it because his favorite game for the next several days was to sit at the bar with his big Valentine bag and pull out each one and announce who it was from. I was amazed that he could remember "this smoothie is from Ben, this card is from Eli, this sucker is from Madison," etc.

A few more pics of my precious Valentine's ...

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