Valentines

For weeks Emma has begged me to assist her in making fancy homemade Valentines. I insisted that she couldn't begin until her Indian report was finished. I was hoping that she'd be a little more motivated to finish her report. Unfortunately, no amount of motivation would prevent oodles of drama in accomplishing this assignment. Enduring the tumultuous turbulence of writing a report Emma finally finished it and so I surprised her with a couple of ideas for her Valentines. I hoped this project would entertain her for hours preventing the usual whining that there is nothing to do and no one to play with.....
Emma decided to make fish for the boys and butterflies for the girls. Three hours later, she'd managed to make two fish. These fish were thoughtfully designed specifically to each person they were intended for. She truly beamed with excitement in her masterpieces. While she was happily entertained, I became concerned about whether or not she'd have enough time to make enough Valentines before her class party. After all, she only had a week.
Each day after school I reminded her to work on her Valentines. Each time I was met with a defiant, "NO." I wondered where the enthusiasm for her project had gone. As it turns out, I ended up making her the 33 Valentines. She ended up tossing the 2 completed fish because she didn't want the other kids to feel badly about getting one of my puny ones. After all, she wanted to be fair.
In contrast....
I had given Tessa the same options. She chose butterflies for the girls. For the boys she took a pipe cleaner with a heart on one end and twisted it around a candy stick . Tessa finished all of her Valentines in a few hours without any drama. She only wanted to know how many days she had to wait until the party and could she have a candy stick?
I asked Noah what kind of Valentines he'd like to pass out: homemade or store bought? He decided to trace and cut small red hearts out of construction paper and stick candy on them. His only concern was if he had to say something on them. He seemed very happy that I only instructed him to put his name and the recipients name on each heart. He finished in an hour.
Elizabeth made some heart wire jewelry for her friends. The Jr, High provides an opportunity to purchase cookie grams to send to friends. While Elizabeth didn't seem interested, I remember Jr. High and the popularity contest it turns into and to feel not as loved as someone who gets tons of Valentines. So I sent one to her anonymously to insure she'd get at least one. She ended up with 5 and shared them with siblings.
Nathan also wanted to join in the fun. I cut out some big hearts. He colored them with markers and then decorated with stickers. He taped candy to them. We delivered one next door to his friend, Emmy. After giving it to her, he was sad to see the little heart sticker staying with her and so he savagely tried to steal it back. Tessa trying to restore peace, found a matching sticker for him to keep while preserving Emmy's heart intact.
As for me, I spent three frantic days making sugar cookies on sticks for my kids. Each day I had to beg them not to eat them yet. Each day I felt more frustration than love for my project. On the third day I let Nathan help me. I gave him the dozen tiny ones that were a little crisp to frost. He ate every single cookie and did his best to each every drop of icing. That was the best part of my Valentine project.

At last, my cookies were finished and distributed. I thought they turned out super cute. I hurried to make a cute cookie holder for them to adorn our festive dinner table as our centerpiece. I hoped they'd be appreciated. Wanting to light candles seemed much more exciting. As each child gobbled up their cookies I realized that cute or not they were gone. As I sat alone at the dinner table I watched the last candle flicker. I noticed the food spills. I noticed who hadn't cleared her plate and who hadn't pushed in his chair. I noticed the charcoal from one candles wick that had been smeared all over the table. I noticed my husband had cleared the left-over food and put it away. I could hear my children playing nicely together upstairs. I felt love.