Valentine Celebrations Recap

We had a fabulous Valentine's Week. First, we had our Secret Valentine Project going on and thus we had candy showing up mysteriously on beds, cards made in secret and hidden in clothing, and of course lots of extra hugs and kisses.

Miss M was her little sister's "secret valentine" with her tattoos and cookie. Miss A loved her daily surprises.

I even had a beautiful bouquet of purple flowers for my centerpiece all week. Let's just say there is nothing like fresh flowers in the middle of a cold and snowy winter.

Revealing our "secret valentine"on Valentine's Day was really fun. Everyone of course had already figured out the "secret," but dad wins the biggest giggle as he kept playing along that I was his secret valentine even though it was really Miss A. She could hardly keep a straight face all week!

C was his sister's "secret" valentine.

Being the creative mom that I am (insert laughing here), we made our own valentines to give away for the classroom parties. Scratch Off Tickets from Family Fun Magazine. We revised the saving to Winning Ticket and wrote in the scratch off area: You're Priceless! to keep the card a little more loving and not so lottery focused.

The Girls had a blast making the cards and they got rave reviews everywhere. We even passed them out to the Sunday School kids. Best part was it looked hard, but really was just painting metallic paint on contact paper! Miss A kept commenting that she felt like a movie star signing her name to her cards, "just like an autograph" to which she then said she'd like to sign her name for a living "woop woop" as she said. Getting paid to write her name is her dream job I guess. Not sure there is much of a call for that!

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Now the 4th Grade Valentine Box was a whole other story. Let's just say that after using the same, adorable box since 1st grade, Miss M was insistent on making a new one for her final year!

This is a picture from Valentine's 2007 ( C in 4th Grade with a rocket ship launch pad and Miss M in 1st grade with her flower garden valentine box) Can you see why we didn't want to start over? Yes, Miss A did have a black eye on Valentine's Day-being a two year was tough on her!

She decided on a Pink Piggy Bank so she and dad went to town. It turned out adorable. Do you think Miss A will want this box for her first grade year? One can only hope.

M loved the final project. It wasn't' the most elaborate or fancy valentine box in her class, but we certainly beat the boy who brought only a brown grocery sack with his name on it!! Obviously, some people have too much time on their hands. When I came up to help with the Valentine's Party on Friday, M's first words to me were that everyone "loved" her pig. That's a ringing endorsement for me!!

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Valentine's Weekend finished off with our traditional family Take Out Chinese Dinner. We think it was extra hip that we could celebrate Chinese New Year at the same time. The Girls decorated the dinning table and when the boys came home with the cute little take out boxes we sat down to a lovely candlelight dinner and "secret" reveal.

Miss A even ate Chinese Food and not just the rice. M had ordered Sweet and Sour Chicken and it came with the sweet and sour sauce on the side. We convinced Miss A that they were Chinese Chicken Nuggets. She totally fell for it, going so far as to say they were among the best "nuggets" she ever had. Note the creative use of chopsticks.



Perfect Valentines. Topping it off was the Amazing Race Premier. Tune in tomorrow for tips on how to plan your own family Amazing Race Game!