Valentines day

Because I didn't want to send the kids to school with a candy Valentine I had to get crafty. Alissa was easy peasy, she likes just about anything, but Zach on the other hand isn't as easy. He's in 4th grade and doesn't like the personalized picture Valentine anymore (which is good because I dropped the ball on even making one for Alissa) and the typical "Be my Valentine" I think is a little cheesy for boys at the age of 10.  SOO...

I spent some time on Google trying to find "Valentines for 10 year old boys" etc and wasn't finding much that wasn't candy related. It finally hit me...MINECRAFT! He loves the game right now and there has to be some cool idea out there! I did find ONE idea for Valentines day and so I customized it in Photoshop and was really excited to show it to him when he got home from school. He liked it and then mentioned BUTTER! Oy! I forgot that was his "thing" right now (and by "thing" I mean that Zach likes to have ONE random word that he just randomly says. a LOT. It was "cheese" and now it's "butter"). So today with out him knowing, I did 6 "Butter have a great day" Valentines for him to hand out to his close friends at school and am excited for him to get home and see it, he'll be happy!

I also decided that the kids could help with their own Valentines this year! I tend to just do it because I like to and I have nothing else to do, but I wanted them to help. After homework we all sat down and put together their Valentines and I think they turned out SO CUTE! Who says you can't say "I love you" with out candy?!

The night before Valentines day I got this urge to give our kitchen a "heart attack" so I cut out a bunch of cute hearts and did it! I set out the kids and Alan's Valentines and headed to bed. On Valentines day, I went to Alissa's class to help with her party and it was really fun. My craft was hand hearts with special messages to mom and dad (or who ever they live with that takes care of them). The kids loved it because they got to get their hands in icky paint and it was a big hit!

The kids got home from school with their stash and traded it all in! We talked with the kids the night before about the option to trade in their candy for something else. For Alissa, we came up with a small stuffed animal at the thrift store for 10 pieces and a BIG one for 25 pieces. For Zach, he got a texture pack for Minecraft for ever 10 he traded in. I've got to say that I'm proud of my kids for giving up their candy! They had no hesitation! They threw all their stuff on the floor, started counting it out and handed it right over! Alissa gave up 25 and kept 2 and Zach gave up 10 and kept 3. This was all their candy (although I'm not sure how much they ate at school, but still...). I also had to laugh because two girls in Zach's class gave him BUTTER!!

We also got cards from my Grammy and Alissa was really excited that her $5 bill left a mark the inside of the card...she ran over to Zach to show him and you can "kind of" see his mouth open. They thought it was so cool.

For dinner I made the kids mini heart pizza crust and Alissa helped put toppings on. I also made Alan and I chicken cordon bleu and asparagus. We had a nice little family dinner and a great low key Valentines day!

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