My love-hate relationship with Valentines day

February 14th. It's coming. I should start off by saying that my husband and I don't really celebrate Valentine's Day.  We usually get a bottle of wine, but the truth is that we just like wine, and we have it most of the time, not just on February 14th.  It's not that I harbor any bitterness about the day, or that we don't have anything to celebrate.  On the contrary, it seems sort of pointless because we treat each other well and are openly loving pretty much every day, which makes it feel more like an over hyped Hallmark holiday.  Like everyone else, we have our moods and pissy moments and we don't always agree. But generally speaking we are irritatingly happy and in love with each other, 11 years (8 of them married) and 4 kids into the whole thing.  So, to each their own, go crazy celebrating, even tell me all about it the next day.  The whole thing just doesn't do much for me, which in this case is a good thing, I think.

However, as a parent, I love Valentine's Day with the kids.  It means themed crafts, fun food, extra thought into why we love each other and planning valentines for school.  I also HATE it.  But only for the couple of days that I spend prepping all of the supplies for the valentines that they all make for their classmates. It was fun when Cassidy was the only kid in school, and in a small preschool class. We would whip up a dozen valentines, then just bake cookies and tape paper hearts onto the wall. On Valentine's Day, even if Cassidy had preschool, it didn't start until 9am.  We also had not yet discovered her eosinophilic disease triggered by massive a-typical food allergies (more on that in another post), so fun little heart themed breakfasts consisted of bread and jam, Valentine themed "eggs in a window" and as a special treat, fancy marshmallows, and it looked like this:

Pretty cute, huh?  It was certainly enjoyed by all.  Then came last year.  Cassidy was in kindergarten along with something like 24 classmates.  And the twins were in preschool.  They had 10 classmates, for a total class size of 12.  Of course, when it comes to something like making valentines, all of the classmates get one from each of the twins (including each other), and at that age they also like to give one to themselves.  Add it up, people.  24 for Cassidy's class and another 24 for the twins' class, for a total of 48 valentines.  No problem, I think to myself.  Mark is always telling me that it is OK to take a holiday off from all things handmade.  I usually argue that the kids are only this little once, and I really want to do this stuff with them, which is generally true. However, I'm starting to see the light a bit now, faced with 4 dozen valentines, undoubtedly in 3 different styles. So I decide that this year, we'll swing by the drugstore and everyone can pick out a box of valentines. I announce, in my best perky mom voice, "How would you guys like to go to the store with Mommy so that you can pick out valentines for your friends?"

Silence. 3 sets of wide, unblinking eyes. A feeling of confusion hanging in the air. (theirs and mine...)
Then Cassidy, with all of her 6 year old wisdom, speaks up for the group.
"Oh, you mean the crafty store.  Don't we need to decide on a project and make a list first?" This time, the wide eyes and stunned silence are on my end.  I ask her what she means, and her reply is simple.  We all have to decide what kind of valentines we want to make this year. The twins nod in agreement.  Yes, Mommy.  This year, we get to make valentines, too!  I force another perky smile, and explain that with so many valentines needed this year, I thought we could pick out some really cool ones from the store, and I begin to rattle off a list of heavily branded characters that adorn the drugstore valentines.  Mickey Mouse.  Strawberry Shortcake. Hot Wheels. Spiderman.  Hello Kitty.  As I pause to take a breath, I realize that it is way too quiet, with no happy squeals coming from the kids, no excited questions about additional favorite characters and their availability.  I glance up at Cassidy, and see a trembling chin and wide green eyes welling up with tears. "But...we can't make them this year?  We always make them.  Please, mommy?" and then the tears actually start to roll down her cheeks.  Within seconds, the twins follow her lead. I'm completely stuck.  I try to explain that it's the thought that counts, but they aren't buying it.  I cave in, wipe away tears, and we decide on which valentines each child wants to make for their classmates.

Chloe went with flowers, specifically made from 3 hearts held together at the pointy end by a lollipop. Quinn wanted dinosaurs, and we found a cute idea online that had little plastic ones leaving heart shaped footprints. Cassidy, finally allowed to chew gum on rare occasions, was determined to incorporate that into hers, so we made butterflies with a stick of gum for the body and hearts for the wings. I think we found all 3 ideas on the Family Fun website. Please excuse the terrible background.  I originally just took pictures to text message to Grammie and throw up on Facebook for a few friends.

All of them were very cute, and the kids were very happy with them.  They could also pretty much assemble the projects themselves, at least once I did the basic prep work, like cutting out the peices and neatly writing on them  Also, since I refused to pay $7 for a miniscule heart stamp or buy a $20 set of stamps which included a tiny heart, I carved one out of a pencil eraser.  It was really fast and easy, and I'm pretty sure the website that had the project on it suggested the idea.  So overall, a piece of cake, right?  All of you preschool and elementary school teachers out there are laughing out loud at THAT comment, aren't you?

Quinn's each needed 1 heart, Cassidy's needed 2 each and Chloe's needed 3 each, plus a leaf.  Let me save you a little math, folks. That totals 12 leaves and a whopping 96 hearts, all traced onto cardstock around my heart shaped cookie cutter and cut out by hand, one at a time. It took an insane amount of time, and my hand is cramping up just thinking about it.  In a nutshell, it sucked.

I both experiment with and make a living creating many different things in many different mediums.  But I don't scrapbook or do much in the way of paper craft like that.  I like to make my own plantable paper with seeds in it from shredded junk mail, and I occasionally make a card to go with a baby shower gift, but that's about it.  So I didn't own a die cutting machine to streamline the process. I do now.  Not a snazzy, fancy computerized one.  I have a Sizzix Big Kick, and I got it on sale.  I also buy the used dies most of the time on Craigslist or Ebay. But rest assured, this year when V-Day rolled around, I was ready!  I also use it to make pretty felt and satin flower hair accessories, like this:

I'll post a tutorial on making these soon, I promise!

So for Valentine's Day this year, everyone either picked a project or came up with an idea on their own, and I made my crafty store list early.  This year, all 4 kids have school, which means instead of 48, we have 58, and Cassidy really wants to do something for her teachers, including the art, gym, library, music and regular class teachers as well as the school nurse who she sees fairly often these days. She shared this plan with her younger siblings, so now they all jumped on that bandwagon. Add 14 teacher valentine treats to the list.  That damn die cutting machine was worth EVERY PENNY, for this holiday alone.  I used it to prep for 3 sets of valentines and half of the teacher surprises, without a single hand cramp!

Maybe by the time I write my next post with pictures of the valentines for this year, I will have lost some of my disdain for the holiday of love...