Be Mine

We made it through Valentine’s Day!  Whew….who knew it would be far more work than Halloween and approach the type of prep required for Christmas?  Valentine’s Day in preschool is pretty easy….buy or make valentines, sign your child’s name, DONE!  Kindergarten Valentines left me feeling like a mall-walker trying to run a marathon.  We started weeks early.  Kenny had the attention span to write classmates’ names and sign his name on exactly three valentines before his eyes started rolling around in his head.  Twenty-two names, some of which were far too long to fit on a little Valentine.  Twenty-two “Kenny” signatures.  And then there was THE BOX.  I couldn’t even deal with the idea of working with my 5-minute-attention-span-5-year-old on this project.  So I broke my cardinal rule of motherhood and spent an hour of my life making an over-the-top Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle box.  I had to bust out my sorority craft box and nearly used up my supply of glue sticks.  Every glue stick was worth it—the box turned out fabulous and was quickly embraced like a prize trophy by my picky son.  

If only the cards and box were the end of this story.  No, no…the best is yet to come!  Elementary parties have evolved since the “dark ages” of my childhood to involve four fabulous stations the kids get to rotate through.  So the parents get to plan a fabulous snack, a fabulous craft, a fabulous game, and one more fabulous thing.  (For the life of me, I can’t figure out what was so bad about eating cupcakes and playing Heads Up 7-Up for all special events.)  Having dodged the bullet on parties so far this year, I felt obligated to help make something fabulous.  Thanks to Pinterest, and my trusty glue gun, the kindergarteners feasted on fabulous Valentine Robots.  Twenty-two juice boxes with an applesauce cup glued to the top, two raisin boxes glued to the bottom, and one wrapped candy glued to each side.  

We lugged the Valentines, the boxes, the robots into the classroom, nearly collapsing from either the weight or excitement of it all.  And then I had to go home and throw together something for the love of my life.  All the love was sucked out of me….he got a card and a bag of Dove chocolates!   It’s a good thing he loves me….probably for my sweet glue gun skills.