Valentines Day is for Kids

I got to spend a good part of the day Friday at the elementary school enjoying Will and Molly's class parties.  I used to LOVE Valentines parties when I was in school.   My favorite was in first grade when we actually set up a little post office.  Everyone got a mailbox and we took turns being the postman and got to deliver the valentines to the mailboxes.  We had a mail bag, hat and everything!  I loved Mrs. Casper and everything about the first grade - well, except the time she wouldn't let me go to the bathroom, so I wet my pants right there in front of the whole class!  I loved snack time with the milk crate full of 10 cent miniature milk cartons that was brought to our room each day  I loved film strips and school paste, coloring, and cutting snowflakes.

Anyway, the kids parties were fun.  Being co-room mom for Molly's class, I got to help plan the party!  We had lots of fun and I love to be there with Molly.  The good thing is, she still likes to have me there!

Valentine Bingo is always a big hit!

I made 100 brownies for the treat for the whole second grade.  They were yummy and festive!

Will loves to challenge me, like Lucy, with last minute, "Oh, I forgot, I was supposed to....." requests.  They usually include late night trips to Walmart,  speed laundry, extra trips to the school or searching the house for lost items.  Friday morning at 7:10 am (the bus comes at 7:11), Will informed  me he was "supposed" to have a decorated box for the valentines.   If I were a really savvy parent, I would have grabbed a shoe box and handed to to him and said, "have a great party"!  But, all those  memories of elementary school and lovely decorated boxes came flooding to my mind.  I WANTED Will to have a decorated box.  I wanted him to have great memories. So, what did I do?  I had Will tell the bus driver (remember, the bus stops at our house) not to wait for them.  I found a box and some simple supplies that were easy to find, and I threw together a nifty box for Mr. Will.  We hopped in the car and got to school on time and Will, armed with his box, was a happy camper.  A teacher even stopped him on the way into the school to checkout his cool box!

Later, I stopped into the party (even though Will told me it was "OK" - I didn't have to come, which was probably more like a "please don't come, Mom, I'm not a baby anymore", which I ignored and went anyway) to see what fun the fifth grade was having!  Will's box was full of Valentines and looked so nice sitting on the desk.  I told his teacher the story of my early morning creativity and she tells me, "He didn't have to have a decorated box.  I told the kids that I had bags here, or they could just bring a bag from home!".  Lovely.  I laughed and looked around and sure enough, Will had the best looking box in the whole class.    He was happy, and so was I.

Sweet.

The girls in the class had a great time line dancing at the party.

The boys did this.

Lucy, being in High School, doesn't get nearly the attention the little kids do.  She got a box of Camp Rock Valentines to hand out to her friends at school.  Awesome.

It was a Happy Valentines Day.