T's Favorite

Valentines Day 2011

Honestly this one is not one of my favorites, the kids however love love love valentines day. We work to undervalue the junk food and materialism of the day and instead focus on the ability to express our gratitude and appreciation for those we love. Here was Landis' amazement at the table that Daddy had so lovingly prepared the night before.


Daddy had to work in the evening so breakfast was the meal that we were able to all sit down for. We had a few treats, like orange juice, chocolate tea, and bacon!! Then mommy took the kids to school and Daddy went to his school for the morning. Mommy ran errands, volunteered in T's classroom and prepared the items that I was to bring to T's class party in the afternoon all in the 3 hours that Landis was in preschool. Oh yeah, jam packed.


Teilee dressed herself And her brother for the day. He wore his best suit and she wore hearts and pink. She insisted that we all dress up, preferably in red.
Here is Landis after preschool looking chill. ;)




Then Landis and I got to go to T's class party. Teilee had Landis help her hand out her valentines bookmarks. In an effort to reduce the waste of this day the kids decided to make bookmarks for their friends. We lovingly worked for 2 weeks prior to get them done. This was complicated by Teilee's desire to customize every bookmark based on her 17 classmates/4 teachers interests and personalities. She finished them, which was my only requirement. The kids were so excited handing out their valentines!!
Then the kids had snack and a craft before ending their day. I hope that someday we can remove the idea that celebration/happiness= junk food. Many kids in the class are allergic anyways, why not just remove this 'tradition'. I love T's school and its community for many of it's creative, alternative ways of thinking except in this area! We have this idea that we are taking something away from our children, but really....they don't notice at this age. Extra recess, extra crafts, song, stories, etc... would easily take the place of sugar. Besides it makes it harder for me to 'treat' my children at home when they are getting it at school too! It is not true that sugar is safe in moderation. It is our way to justify why we continue to offer this 'drug' to our children. It is the last thing their growing brains need! Ironically we are in the middle of a school challenge called Schools on the Move, where children monitor what they are eating as well as their activity levels. Every day they are to get 5 servings of fruits and vegetables and 60 mins of activity/exercise. This is a pretty easy task for our family, but kinda pointless all the kids if they are getting a pound of sugar a day!!! Besides sending such an awful, hypocritical, message to our children. Okay, off my soap box.

We escaped with minimal deserts in the day (thanks to our allergies we were able to dodge the cookie/candy gauntlet) and for dinner we had a shrimp, veggie stir fry with chocolate covered strawberries for desert.
Teilee said the favorite part of her day was having Landis and her mommy at her school party! She loved having him help her with her valentines. They were so cute together, she led him around the room, helped him find his seat, helped him with his plate and drink, and loved showing off her big sister skills!! Teilee and Landis agreed that we should do every Valentines Day just like this Valentines day. I think so too. :)