The Miller Family Blog: Busy Day of Hearts, Candy, and the Color Red

Happy Valentine's Day from the Miller Family!!

I love small holidays like this one.. okay, so I guess I really love all holidays, but it's fun to be able to have extra fun and be extra crafty on days like Valentine's Day! I love homemade valentine's and we kept with tradition and made all ours again this year. The hardest part of all of this for me is to let my kids do their own thing with them and try not to interfere much. I was very proud of both of them though- they spent a lot of hours handwriting and making all their own cards for each of their friends. Katelynn made 17 and Justin made 11!

This year was Justin's first year of participating in Valentine's cards since it is his first year of preschool. We skipped joining the crowd of handing out candy and went for a toy instead. I, of course, stole the idea from pinterest. Justin is working really hard on trying to write all the letters of the alphabet, and I was so proud of him for writing all 11 classmates names and then signing his own on each card. He did a great job!

His cards read, "Hope you have a WHEELIE fun Valentine's Day!"

Katelynn and Justin both gave each of their teachers a tulip plant with a little pencil holder heart-shaped note that read, "Thanks for helping me grow!"

Here is Justin after his Valentine's party.. full of sugar and excited about all his cards and treats!

Katelynn's class all made their own Valentine's boxes prior to Valentine's Day. I went into the classroom that morning and helped the kids all pass out their cards in the boxes and work with them. They were all so exctied about getting to look at all their treats and cards! They had a salty snack, cupcakes, and read their cards but they had to wait until the end of the school day to do it!

I had a folder of all sorts of crafty Valentine's and Katelynn went through them and picked out her own that she wanted to make. She did the cards all by herself, including cutting out 34 hearts out of paper. The only thing I did was help her glue the hearts together and glue on the google eyes on her suckers. She made her own choice about what to write and color in each card and how she wanted to decorate them.

Katelynn's box of treats was VERY full of candy when she got home. It's almost like Halloween. We have to keep it up high and eat them on occassion. I can't believe the amount of sugar that comes home on this holiday these days. Many parents made a "treat" bag full of candy instead of a card!

Here's our third Valentine. He may not have had a school celebration to participate in, but his brother and sister made sure to share some of their suckers with him so he didn't miss out on the sugar high today.... in fact, he got plenty of sugar.. enough that he wouldn't sit still and smile for a picture (not that he really ever sits still at his age sugar or not..)