A Monstrous Valentine's Day

I've got my eye[s] on you, you sweet thing!  This year, we had a monster themed Valentine's Day.  It's always a wild time with this bunch!

A week before the big day, we made valentines for our families.  On the front, it had a large eye and then a heart and then a you.  When you opened it up, the eye was from a monster inside the card.  Everyone liked them and we got a few valentines in the mail.  We got some fun pancake mix that turned pink when we added the water with a flipper and some valentine cards and chocolates from Grandma Di and Grandpa Scott, and some adorable hand and feet valentines and a "hug" from Tayla and our NM cousins.

We also made our valentine boxes and valentine boxes. Cal and Lucy were the only ones who got to make them.  Lucy made a chicken one and her friend summer made a heart monster one.  I did nothing, except help them get out a few supplies.  Cal wanted to make a Boba Fett one, and it turned out pretty dang awesome.  We did it together when it was his night to stay up with me.  Love that they're getting their own ideas and creating [mostly] all on their own now!  Cal made valentines that said "Happy Valentines Day, or should I say Happy Palpatine's Day?  From, Cal" and they had a pic of Emperor Palpatine (Star Wars nerd!) and his candy of choice was Sixlets, Lucy wanted candy bracelets and we slapped some valentine stickers on, Covey did some Ninja Turtles valentines with Pixy Stix, and Sydnie wanted Star Wars valentines too.  I gave her a whole bunch of ideas, but she wanted to do do Star Wars, which I didn't even suggest and this was before she even saw or knew about Cal's.  They turned out pretty darn cute and had a pic of a cartoon Princess Leia hugging Darth Vader and it said "Happy Valentine's Day from a galaxy far, far away!  Love, Sydnie".  She was quite proud of them and is our future Star Wars nerd.  Emma is always kind of bummed now that she doesn't get to do Valentines anymore.  The cheerleaders do a fundraiser here where they do singing valentines and take anyone you want a flower, candy, message and song.  I was going to do it for all the kiddos but since we already send lots of notes and lovely things like that regularly, I asked them to choose someone in their classes who are down, get in trouble a lot, get teased, etc. They did and Cov couldn't keep it a secret but everyone else did!  It was good for them to think of other people instead of just themselves.

Sydnie had her party the day before V-Day since she didn't have school on Friday.  They had a dance party, made an "I love you to pieces" card for us, decorated valentine bags, ate some sweets and exchanged valentines.  Sydnie and I looked them all over after her party and she was so excited about them...and the candy of course!  Our preschool party went well also.  We had some fun making and writing cards for parents, decorating bags, digging in valentine sensory bins, playing games, and eating goodies.  Such a fun holiday and a great time to think about who we love.  I always ask a question during morning meeting so everyone gets the chance to talk.  I asked them "Who do you love and how do you show them your love?"  A few of the kids said "Miss Melanie" including cute Halle and Raven.  Sweet gals!

On Valentines morning, we woke up and made a heart healthy breakfast since I knew we'd be getting lots of junk that day.  And I made some XOXO apples, heart tomatoes, and sandwich.  Then we sent them off to school.  Sydnie and I prepped dinner for that night and made cupcakes.  She enjoys cooking a lot and loved the red color of the batter and the taste of the batter!  I showed up at Lucy's right after lunch for the party.  I was in charge of the game so I pulled out the Truth or Dare from last year and the class and parents loved it!  We had a great spread of food, lots of parents there, and the kids got to pass out their valentines.  They had some really creative boxes, so adorable to see!  Then we brought the kids home, and we made some monster valentines and little fuzzy heart monsters.  We took them to the people at the hospital, which was good to go spread some love on this day.  Then we went to drop off a valentine of some bath bombs we made and some soap and a card to Sister Clark.  She was thrilled to see us and it was fun to visit with her for a while.  Such a great lady!  The kids all said they felt really good going to visit her.  These holidays get lonely as she is a widow and most of her family lives far away.

 

 

Then we got the party started!  We made pulled pork sandwiches, potato salad, monster mouth apples, monster claw Cheetos, deviled monster eyes, and monster mash juice and ate some dinner.  The best was when I told the kids they could eat like monsters for dinner, and they ate that up, literally!  Until a few got annoyed and it seemed everyone was complaining and arguing and for a while it wasn't such a lovely time.  Everyone was literally acting like a monster, including me.  Things got better though as the night went on.  I made some monster cards and on the top it said "I've got my eyes on you because..." and everyone had to write why they love that person whose name was on them.  Even some were being pills during that.  Sometimes I wonder why I even try!  But hopefully someday they'll see to appreciate what I do for them, because that's what this is all about, them!  We had the monster cupcakes for dessert next, and Covey and Lucy helped decorate them.  They vetoed the other games, so we saved those for the next day, including "Roll a Monster".  That turned out pretty funny and Cal and Em really liked it.  They did not like taking a picture, but we usually try to do a group shot on Valentine's Day.  Moody teens and tweens...gotta love that.  ;)  We gave them a little valentine gift - monster micro kites, monster feet stilts, and squishy monster tos.  It was Friday night, so they just couldn't break from tradition and we had to watch one of Dave's favorites, Phantom of the Opera.  That finished off our family Valentine party.

Dave and I exchanged gifts.  I made this monster card for him and am letting him choose a raft, and he gave me a bunch of Reisens candies with this cute note and I got a new shower door on our shower, yay! He is a sweet boy that makes me melt.

I'll always have my eyes on these funny valentines of mine!