Valentine's Day

Valentine's Day was a bit like Christmas this year, with the anticipation and then the daylong supply of sweets and surprises. Isaac was thrilled with the holiday, starting with the night before, as we kept him up past bedtime making valentines for his class.


Though we missed our sleeping Jonah, the three of us had a great time. Isaac was very particular about the valentines - each one got the same number of stickers, and he was naming which friend each one would go to, even though we weren't supposed to personalize them.

Adam came up with the design, I cut out all the hearts, and Isaac put them together. Pretty cute!


On Valentine's Day, Isaac's class hung their decorated, brown-bag mailboxes, and we helped the kids put one valentine in each bag. Then there was a party. Teacher Sarah handed out their bags at the end of class, and Isaac sat on the daybed at home and lovingly pulled out each card. I told him who each was from and let him eat one more piece of candy from among the treats some kids had given. Most of the cards were homemade, like ours.

All day, and for weeks, Isaac carried that bag around the house, pulling out all his valentines, then carefully putting them back. If Jonah tried to pull out the valentines, he had a fit because those are "special."
The treats were gone quickly, except for a pack of Chips Ahoy cookies that were probably pulverized by the time anyone opened them. I'm not actually sure what happened to them.

That night before bed, we let the boys open their cards that had come in the mail, and I gave them each a little gift from us. Celebrating this holiday is fun!

Jane and Greg had sent cards with sheets of fun stickers, which Isaac especially loved. My parents had sent them each a card with dollars. Jonah was delighted to have dollars of his very own to hold, as he badly wants a wallet with dollars like Isaac has, and Isaac doesn't like to let Jonah play with his (it's "special" - and well, Jonah can tear up a dollar pretty fast when he gets annoyed).


I'd picked out a Russell Stover heart box of chocolates for Isaac - the kind my parents always gave us, which I loved and still love. I didn't want to get candy for Jonah, but I found this crazy lightstick (with red hearts along the side) instead.