valentiny

Warning: Martha post ahead.
Hehe, not truly Martha-ish , as there wasn't much real crafting going on at all... I just wanted to preface this post for certain people who are suddenly professing their "Martha" hate at any given opportunity and like to knock the homemade goodies that I love some people enjoy putting effort into. You might want to look away.

We've got all kinds of valentine goodness going on around here today.

First off, I've eaten way too many of these today... so addicting! Mmmm... chocolate covered pretzels. This bowl was pretty much full earlier today.

*ETA* I did not make these pretzels... I found them, heart-shaped and already covered and decorated at Walmart a couple of weeks ago.






Anyway, back to our busyness...
This morning Sawyer made a valentine box for his class (graham cracker box, wrapping paper and foam stickers) that he's quite proud of.

Don't ask me why there's a P on there.... but it was a must, believe me!!









Then Sawyer was in charge of sorting out candy and putting three to a bag (super job buddy!!) for the kids' valentines while I got some tags printed out for them...














Both Savannah and Sawyer are giving these silly seals out for their classroom Valentines:














I got them on the cheap from Oriental Trading and we're tying on the little bag of Hershey's Kisses for a Valentine that's "Sealed with a Kiss"!














I know... cheesey, isn't it? But so cute!
I think I may peruse Oriental Trading's selection and see if I can come up with any other 'punny' phrases for next year and buy them even more marked down after the holiday.

Last year Savannah just gave out the regular old, run of the mill, boxed (Island Princess) valentines. Given my tendancy towards handmade, I couldn't help but feel a little disappointed and bored by it. Here, write your name on 20 cards and tape a piece of candy to it. Done. Savannah didn't even get excited about it. And she loves Island Princess AND candy.
The year before that, her first year in preschool, we made some heart shaped crayons and gave those out taped to a piece of cardstock signed by Savannah. Those were cool and we had so much fun making them and talking about each friend as she picked the colors each kid got. She couldn't wait to hand them out at school.
So this year we're back to the more unique route. Savannah and Sawyer played with that box of red and pink seals for more than an hour yesterday... That alone was worth the ten bucks they cost me! And this morning when Sawyer was color sorting the Kisses and lining them all up and putting them in the bags, we were really having fun. He loved putting these together himself.

I've never been a huge Valentine person. But like I said before, celebrating holidays with kids just makes it so much more fun. I've never liked the mushy hearts and kisses and flowers and dinner out that are expected to go along with Valentine's day. Don't get me wrong... I do love getting flowers or being pampered-- who doesn't? I'm just not a huge romantic and Valentine's day has always been put on as THE Romantic Holiday.
It was much more fun when we were kids, wasn't it? When it was simply about who got what card from who and what was the best candy?

These days, we just like to celebrate loving each other, in whatever small or silly or special way we feel like. Sometimes I get cheesey valentine decorations from the party store and fancy up our dinner table for our traditional valentine spaghetti dinner (spaghetti just cuz it's red). Sometimes Ryan gets me flowers, sometimes I make him a little gift, sometimes we don't really do anything at all for each other. With the kids, we like to send cards to friends and family and just remind them we love them. And every year Ryan and I surprise the kids on Valentine's morning with a fun mylar balloon and a special book wrapped up for each of them. A book specifically picked out to remind them how much Mommy and Daddy will always love them and how special they are in this family; on Valentine's day and every day.

Okay, now I AM getting mushy and sappy. Enough of that.
Do you do anything special for Valentine's day?