Happy Valentines Day!

We had a great valentines day here.  But, I overdid it.  I’m hoping I’ll have the sense to read through this part of the blog next year before valentines day so that I can remember not to try to pack so much in.  Maybe it’s just that I’m pregnant and exhausted, but V-day nearly killed me.

So, a note to myself for next year:

• Home made valentines are great, but you have to do them a week in advance and don’t plan to get anything else done that day.  They take time and more patience than I could muster up this year.  And there’s a lot of clean up.   And don’t make anyone who’s not really into crafts do them (like Charlie?).  Store bought Toy Story ones are just as cool (if not WAY cooler) to the other kids.
• Make valentines breakfast simple.  And don’t overdo it on the candy (they get so much darn candy at school!).  Jeff had the idea of being old school about it and buying them one big chocolate bar, which he did.  But that paired with all the red gummy crap I bought just put them into a sugar tail spin.
• We all made valentines for each other to open at breakfast.  I liked this part.  I got to write a love note to each of my kids and Jeff.  I think they really felt loved, and even if they didn’t, I got to be reminded of what I love about each of them.
• Jumping valentines are awesome.  This is a tradition that we did growing up.  We attached a home made valentine to a string and placed it on a friend’s doorstep.  We then rang the doorbell and hid around the corner, or in a bush and when our friend tried to pick up the valentine we’d give it a little jerk, jerking them along until they discovered us in our hiding spot.  The kids LOVED doing this.  Hazel’s friend even said that it was a “wicked bad Valentines trick.”  The best part for me was listening to Hazel and Charlie strategize for hours before hand about where to hide and how to make it work.  Next year I need to just make sure to use real fishing line and secure the place on the valentine where the string is attached so that the reciever doesn’t just tug it until the valentine breaks loose.
• Forget making and decorating valentines sugar cookies until you can figure out how to do it without wanting to bite your kids heads off.  Decorating cookies is just too messy and disaster ridden for my patience challenged personality.  Maybe if I left plenty of time for it it would be more enjoyable.  As it was we were all on the verge of tears by the time the cookies were safely packed up on their plates and ready to go.  Didn’t feel much Valentine love during that one.
• In general, I need to learn how pack less into holidays.  I pack so much in that it’s sometimes hard to really enjoy and feel the love that really should be thick as butter in the air.

Aside from these little mishaps and a few moments (ok, maybe more than a few) of extreme frustration we all had a pretty good day of love.  I need to go a little easier on myself around holidays, I often judge how the day went by how I feel inside…..but more often than not my kids are having the times of their life….so that’s got to count for something, right?