Happy Valentine's Day!

So you know when you have an idea in your head of what a "perfect moment" will be with your kids and it just falls apart? I really wanted to celebrate this Valentine's Day to the fullest so the day before, I sat the kids on the dining table and spread out red, pink, and white construction paper and brought out the stickers I bought for the occasion and armed with scissors, was prepared to have a fun moment making Valentines with my two little ones.

 First we made a box for the Valentines to go in. I remember making these with my Mom and even won "best box" one year with a typewriter design where the keys were little pink hearts... I thought about searching Pinterest for ideas for boxes, but my self-esteem was already a little low that day I didn't need to see pictures of perfect boxes taken in perfect lighting by perfect women. So I grabbed a cereal box and gave Annalise some options for Valentine box ideas and she chose a book. Simple enough, I thought, and by the looks of it, simple is the right word.

So next, I began cutting out heart after heart (note: cut out your toddler's cards before you get them ready to do the craft) and the kids got real restless. And when I passed the hearts to Annalise and Jonah to decorate- they each did a small crayon dot and said, "Done, can I watch a show now?" Uhhh, this isn't the fun and exciting moment I had planned. The moment got worse as Jonah started putting all the crayons in a glass of water that I had on the table and Annalise was cutting paper to bits with scissors 5 sizes too big for her little hands. I filled out the cards and had the kids put on the stickers (which of course didn't stick and fell right off) and put the cards in envelopes and in the box we made and moved it all out of sight. I was exhausted!

The next morning on Valentine's Day the kids opened their Valentine's, but they just couldn't compete with chocolate I got them and didn't stand a chance against the little heart shaped mylar balloons they received with the chocolate (both of which I had put in a red solo cup and was kinda sad looking).

 So of course, I vowed next year I would do better. I would make a beautiful box, I would be better prepared with the Valentine's cards, I would find a way to display their chocolates and other goodies in a beautiful and creative fashion... Let's hope next year doesn't come too soon :)

So I didn't make them gorgeous, heart pancakes (after all that sugar
it seemed like a bad idea) but at least I cut their grilled cheese sandwich
into a heart!