Valentine's Day 2015

Craig and I are not nor have we ever been into holidays.  We don't exchange anniversary gifts and we can happily go without hanging Christmas lights.  We've never set off fireworks on the Fourth of July and rarely carve pumpkins for Halloween.  It's just not our thing.  But, now that we are parents, these holidays seem to be more important - if not to us then at least to the kids - because they are cause for celebrations and lessons at school and for marking time with traditions as the year progresses.

Ella is particularly excited about holidays and loves attending parties, making themed crafts and gifts, having special meals, and dressing up.  She has been talking about her class Valentine's party all week... or I should say since the 100 Day party was over last Friday.  The incessant holiday chatter from my Kindergartener does wear me down, but I realize that all of these experiences are meaningful firsts for Ella.

So, this year I went a few extra feet, not miles, to make Valentine's Day memorable for her.  First we made Valentine's Day cards to send to our loved ones around the world.  Both Ella and Emilia really loved stamping with a real apple and Rex made thumbprint hearts.

Then we worked on Ella's Valentine's gifts for her friends at school.  I wanted Cutie tangerines, but they were nowhere to be found, so we went with these oranges for twenty cents each.  All in all, I think each of these bags might have cost us a quarter.  We made the same for Rex's classmates.

We also prepared gifts for Ella's teachers.  She did a great job with the felt heart cards.  She was able to thread and re-thread her own needle and pull it back and forth through the fabric, adding the embellishments, while I held the felt.  I got the pens on Etsy for a few bucks each.

Ella also watched me bake an insane chocolate cake for Rex's therapists.

And she was in Happy Land being allowed to wear a dress to school on Friday. She specifically asked me to fix her hair this way.  Made me think of Pippi Longstocking, one of my favorite literary characters when I was little.

I planned a special dinner for this evening tailored to Ella's favorite tastes: pizza and chocolate pie with whipped cream and strawberries.  The pie was dairy and gluten free and we had three kinds of pizza: GFDF smoked chicken and cheese for Rex and Emilia (thanks, cousins, for the yummy chicken), sun-dried tomato and basil for me, and a choose-your-own toppings for Craig and Ella.  And just so you know, two out of three came straight from our grocer's freezer because my Valentine's present to myself was a day with little cooking.

And so it ends, another holiday experience had.  Here we come, St. Patty's Day.