Our Valentines

My husband and I were talking this morning about Valentine's and Ash Wednesday being the same day. (Also my oldest son noticed that Easter falls on April Fools Day... interesting co-incidences this year.) 

"Here's the deal." he said.  "We can do Valentine's until noon, then we mourn."

"Should I make heart cookies with ash smudges on them?"

"Good idea!  You could use activated charcoal.  'Here, kids, it's good for you.'"

The kids spend a couple days working on Valentines to mail to Grandparents and give to friends.  I just put a pile of papers (including some old Gelli prints), glitter glue, heart patterns, and other pretty things on the table and let them do whatever they wanted.  I have been getting away from the "here's a model, copy this" idea with them for crafts.  They are very clever and have learned to create on their own.  For most of them, the wrote on the backs.

Evan's:

Evan saw an idea for these little paper springs in a craft book and devised these pop-up cards.  I was very impressed!

Andrew's:

He learned from Evan's pop-up idea and made one, too.  He said about the cardinals, "They love each other."  They cut these birds out of an old Christmas card.

Eleanor's:

The little envelope is taped up full of hearts to give to a family at church.

Levi's:

Not to be left out, Levi cut and glued, too.  I love his little efforts.


I made these simple valentines for the kids.  The colors are brighter in real life... They are just cut from some painted watercolor paper.  I put them in envelopes sealed with pretty washi tape and will give them to the kids at lunchtime.

(No, I did not make one for Jonah, the almost-13-year-old... He is not too into this lovey-dovey stuff, but he will be quite pleased with some cookies and treats later...)

And this one is sitting on my husband's desk for him to find whenever he comes home from sermon-writing at the college library.  I'm not terribly sappy, I guess... but this was fun anyway.

I am thinking some heart-shaped strawberry pancakes for lunch and a batch of chocolate spritz cookies (after all, the children will need a snack after church...) will round out the day for us.