I'm a Sucker for You, Valentine!

Valentine's Day is the new Halloween. I'm convinced of it. It's better though, because I don't have to make costumes! Needless to say, the kids got a lot of candy, and we all enjoyed the day.

I was uber-prepared this year, having purchased two boxes of mini candy canes during after-Christmas sales for the express purpose of turning them into Valentines. (I seriously love coming up with silly ideas for Valentines. It is indeed a favorite past-time of mine.)

The tags read:

I'm a SUCKER for you, Valentine!

and

I cane, I saw, I conquered.
Happy Valentine's Day!

Cheesy, I know. That's what makes them AWESOME!

Then I packaged up some small gifts for their teachers . . . also after-Christmas sale purchases (all except for the bags).

The spatulas and measuring spoons were red and pink . . . I knew when  I saw them at Christmas that they would be perfect for Valentine's Day. The card read:

No other teacher MEASURES up to you!

Oh my word, the silliness of it makes me heady with delight.

The kids came home with oodles of Valentines, including candy, temporary tattoos, whoopee cushions, pencils, and fake mustaches.
 

They added that to the small haul of candy and goodies that I left out for them in the morning (see small plastic containers in the above two pictures . . . filled with, what else?, after-Christmas sale candy!), and they had a good 2-3 days worth of candy. Again, way better than Halloween (for me).

Lutece's best friend also gave her a bag full of silly goodies, including the heart headband above. She was one lucky cookie.

For dinner I made a couple of heart-shaped pizzas to top off the festivities. Not the best picture, but mmmmmm, bbq chicken pizza sounds really good right now.

I think Valentine's Day might just be my favorite holiday. No expectations, no big gift-giving. Simple fun, no stress.

Sticky Candy from Xi'an

When we were in Xi'an's Muslim Quarter, we kept seeing these small containers filled with something bright and colorful. Jello? Phoenix really wanted some, so we asked the price from a few vendors and always got the same answer . . . 5 kuai. We didn't want to pay nearly a dollar for a tiny container of jello, so we passed.

While getting dinner on our last night in Xi'an, we saw a vendor working a candy-like substance between two small sticks. The more she worked the candy, the lighter in color (and texture, I assume) it became. The kids and I were fascinated. She asked 2 kuai (30 cents) per glob, and we bought two. She dipped new sticks into a large container of . . . what else? . . . the jello-looking substance we had seen all week long.

When we realized that the stuff wasn't, in fact, jello, but rather a tasty strawberry-flavored taffy-like candy, we decided to pay the 5 kuai and purchase our own small container to take home with us. We bought strawberry and blueberry and got a handful of small sticks thrown in.

Valentine's Day seemed like the perfect day to break out the sticky candy and work it as a family. The kids didn't have the patience to "pull" it to perfection, but Stayc worked his nicely. It's pretty good stuff, but when it comes right down to it, it's just gooey sugar on a stick. Now we have to finish off two containers of it before we leave China.

From China, with Love

Valentine's Day has come and gone, but we celebrated in style. Our style, that is . . . which is fairly simple. Actually, we were surprised to find that although it fell in the middle of the Chinese New Year festivities, Valentine's Day still garnered some attention, both from the Chinese and from us.

Stayc (aka, the Crepe Master) started the day off with delightfully pink crepes for breakfast with a Nussa filling (a knock-off Nutella that quells the cravings).

After piano, language, and math (but before writing), the kids and I sat down together to make Valentine's Day cards. We pulled out the watercolors, colored paper, and colored pencils, and everyone chose their own medium and style. It was very free-form.

At one point, Lutece asked where Dad was and how he was going to give out cards to the rest of us if he hadn't created any. She was concerned and so found Stayc and guilted invited him to join us at the card-making table.

It reminded me that we had a family Valentine's Day card-making event last year as well. It looks like we have a new tradition, baby. Because you know, it only takes two years to create a tradition.

Lutece's cards

Phoenix's cards

My cards

Stayc's cards

I know, I know, I didn't actually have to take pictures of everyone's creations, but I was so darn proud of our little family's attempt at art. We may not be the most artistic family in the world, but we do enjoy the process together. That's got to count for something.

The best part was that after we exchanged cards via small "mailboxes" the kids set out in front of our bedroom doors, they insisted we all sit on the bed and read them together. "Ok, Mom, you first." It was like opening Christmas presents. Everyone had a turn and the kids insisted we all listen as each person read their cards out loud. It warmed my heart and gave me hope that even though they are at the (st)age when they make gagging noises when the word "love" is mentioned, they really do have love in their hearts.

Valentine's Day Goodies

As I've mentioned in other posts, I've been trying to pare down the holidays a bit . . . but things are never quite as pared down as I would like. I comfort myself with the fact that things would be OUT-OF-CONTROL if I weren't *trying* to tone down the holidays. It could be worse. There's always that.

In fact, Valentine's Day has the potential to be a simple, fun, diverting holiday in the middle of what is typically the worst month of the year. For the most part, it was just that. It was a good day. Really, the only thing that complicated it was that as room mother for both of the kids' classes, I was in charge of putting on two Valentine's Day parties in one day.

Besides running around the school making crafts, playing games, and serving food to children, I put together some SMALL valentines for the kids to enjoy in the morning when they woke up.

The little heart pillows were a last minute extra. I needed to make one for the class party games (Pass the Heart . . . like hot potato). After I made one, I realized I should just make two and then each of the kids could have one.

Stayc made red crepes, which, sadly, the kids didn't fully appreciate, since they were too busy eating Lindt balls. Sigh. And the jello (see above) was for dinner, not breakfast. I'm not THAT crazy. It could be worse, right?