Valentine’s Roundup

Jade goes to an international school, which means they don’t celebrate all American holidays.  I wanted her to be able to give out Valentines to her class anyway, so I made one using Photoshop and had 40 of them printed.  That way she had plenty for her school class, primary class, and all her other friends.

She drew a personalized picture on the back of each one and we stuck a candy on.  She LOVES making cards and drawing pictures for people, so it was very fun for her.  We split it up into different afternoons so it wasn’t too much work all at once. 

The finished drawings:

A close up of a couple of my favorites.  The one on the left is of the sky getting dark as the sun is going down and the moon coming up, and the grass is changing colors because it is Autumn.  I think the one on the right is self explanatory:  the sun and a flower.

Quick story: While Jade was drawing her pictures, she was naming the people she was going to give them to. Then she told me that “Naughty Cokie” doesn’t get one. I prodded for clarification. She drew me a diagram (left).  It is of a Valentine and Cokie.  She knows signs with an X mean “no,” so she drew her own.

She proceeded to tell me: “Naughtys don’t get Valentines ones.  Teachers like to put Cokie in the thinking chair so he can think what to do but if he is put in the thinking chair he will cry outside. He hits everyone.”  Hhhhmmm… an interesting and humorous communication. 

I told her everyone in her class gets a Valentine and that maybe Cokie just needs a good friend and he will be nice. 

The first to receive Jade’s Valentines were her little friends at the Valentine’s party at Nora’s house. 

Betsey did a great job with lots of fun games, food, and cookie decorating!

The kids put frosting on their cookies and licked it off over and over until the frosting was all gone!  Calvin was smart; he skipped the middle step and went straight for spoonfuls of frosting right out of the bowl!  It didn’t take long for all of them to look like this:

The cupcakes I made for the party:
Jade was THRILLED to get Valentine mail from all her grandparents and cousins!  (THANK YOU!)  Now she wants to check the mail everyday… too bad it is just junk mail and bills from here on out…

 

She has read her book and colored in her coloring book everyday since receiving them!  She also likes to color and tear out the pages to give them to people as cards.   

The day before Valentine’s Day, I made Lemon Poppy Seed Scones for a treat and put one in Jade’s school snack on Valentine’s Day. 

For Valentine’s Day breakfast we had Red Velvet Pancakes.  I actually feel like they were quite gluttonous; they definitely won’t become a common occurrence, but I think Bill Cosby would approve.

 

Jade’s school had dress-up day on Valentine’s Day, so they were allowed to wear something pink or red.

I’m still baffled they had dress-up day for Valentine’s Day and not Halloween. I really don’t get it.

 

Jade passed out her Valentines at school and the class made chocolates. 

For Cody I did 14 Days of Valentines, with some changes to fit his tastes and items we can purchase here.

 

Ridge received everything he could ever want:  lots of loves and cuddles… and milk.

A basket of goodies was waiting for Jade when she got home from school (I promise I haven’t given into the Hello Kitty craze—I still don’t like it, but Jade does so I was lenient on this one little item knowing that she’ll only be wearing the slippers at home).

Cody gave me everything I could want: a postnatal shopping spree, Indian food, a ginormous bouquet of flowers, and time with him.