A Tale of Three Valentines III

I suspect this will be the last entry in this particular series of posts. Not that I plan to end Clare's receipt of valentines from us, but I do believe this will be the final year for distributing them to her entire class. Middle school...a lot fewer fun and games! Which explains her basic, dare we say boring entry: packs of M&Ms. I'm not thrilled with resorting to handing out candy, but it's very difficult to find age-appropriate valentines for 11- and 12-year-olds, especially when you have to give them to boys as well as girls. Bags of chocolate? Easy!

Danny was hoping to find Lord of the Rings or Hobbit valentines, but no such luck. Sports-themed valentines with magnets, making them perfect for lockers (which they happen to have in second grade) were an acceptable substitute. Phew.

And in a far-from-shocking turn of events, Laura opted for Frozen valentines. I am delighted to say that we found them at the dollar store - as well as the pack of pencils to go with them. They have been working hard at tracing their letters in her class ever since the Christmas break, so I think the pencils may come in quite handy!

On our end, I made the selection for all three kids' valentine gifts fairly early. After seeing how enamored both Clare and Danny were of Laura's scooter from her birthday, I knew just what to order them - their own scooters. Meanwhile, Laura has been talking about princess Crocs for a while, and has nearly outgrown hers, so a pair of Frozen Crocs seemed just the right choice. Or so I thought. Instead, once she opened them, she burst into tears and declared, "This is the worst present ever!" Um, okay. Tim thought it was pretty obvious, after watching her siblings open toys. In my defense, a) they opened toys that she already has, and b) anything with princesses has typically been a big win. Oh well, chalk this one up to experience.

Clare and Danny did make a very sweet (literally) addition to our holiday: a cake baked from scratch! Yes, they had to ask for assistance from time to time (props to the visiting Aunt Cat for much guidance), but ultimately it was definitely their labor of love. We are lucky to have such sweethearts!