Valentines Shmalentines

Ok-so NEWSFLASH-Valentines is SOOOOOO not my favorite. 

In my book it is a totally lame, pressure putting' on, ploy to waste tons of money to prove to someone that you "love" them. 

That is just stupid. 

I know-bah humbug right?

As a kid, I didn't care for Valentines either, however-that being said, there was ONE thing I ALWAYS looked forward to on Valentines. I would wake up with butterflies from being so anxious to see what kind of goody bag my mom had put together for me-the bag that I KNEW would be sitting on the dining room table for me every year without fail. The bag would be filled with little trinkets such as: Hello Kitty stamp sets, new hair stuff, nail polish, stationary items, stickers, etc. etc. I loooooooooved it! Even as teenagers-except it was a cd & candies. :)

So that is what valentines still is for me-exept I am passing it on to the next generation. 

This year the kids each got a mini mailbox filled with Disney Princess or Cars chocolates & a giant Hershey Kiss, a bottle of pink CRUSH pop with a cute tag, a bag of personalized Hershey nuggets, a new lunch container for Pop Tarts, a chocolate rose & a new pillowcase. 

I got Mike a box of Hot Tamales (because he loves them) but they were in Valentine colors-cute. Lindt truffles, a gift coin to D&M and the CRUSH soda too. 

We had a valentine pancake, sausage & eggs breakfast. Except the kids only wanted the pancake part-whatever. :)

(let me apologize for the crappy picts-I was really tired & apparently so was my camera?)

Sister woke him so he'd be able to enjoy his goodies before we all had to rush to school. Look how tired the poor little guy is :(

Cutie Patooties in their valentines get-up. Ready for school!

This face says it all-my sentiments exactly dude. Trust me. Although here he is actually fussing about me making him leave his toys in the car. I know-I am such a meany mom. 

Happy again as he passes out his valentines to his buddies at "his school".

20 minutes later- back at my school, we started our valentines party day. About 30 minutes into class, in walks a chorus of about a dozen barbershop singers! No joke! The other mom's helping that day had just as confused looks on their faces as I had, so I KNEW it had to have been someone else that arranged this. I wonder who? :)

One of the gentlemen handed me a single long stem rose & told me that they had been sent by my husband Michael!

They sang a couple old time songs like "Let me call you Sweetheart" and I LOOOOVED every second of it. It was AMAZING! Somebody knows me very well to give me such a Valentine treasure. 

After that awesome commotion, we started class with Hunting for Hugs & Kisses around the classroom. It had "rained" chocolate drops in our room last night & the kids had to go find the candies & bring them back to the carpet with them. On the bottoms were numbers. They had to match the number to the corresponding one on our chart before they could eat it. It was a team effort & they really enjoyed it.

Of course after they ate the chocolates, we talked about which one we liked BEST & then graphed it. I was actually surprised to see more white chocolate lovers in the group! Notice my own name is one of them. :)

The kids rotated stations-as we always do on holiday parties at school. 

Station 1: M&M graphing & writing practice

Station 2: Valentines Holder Envelope 

(decorated with a heart tangram puzzle)

Station 3: Candy Necklace Making

(fine motor & attention span skills at it's best!)

It was a CRAZY morning to say the least & I am glad to say we have another 364 days until the next one rolls around. :) Tomorrow we are HAWAII bound! CAN'T WAIT!