February 14, 2014

How Do You Do Valentine's

Happy Heart Day!

I like Valentine's day, there I said it.  Even though we don't do anything fancy, we don't even buy gifts {typically} but I just love the feeling around and on Valentine's day.  So what if it's a "Hallmark holiday" and I get that you should let your people know you love them 365 days a year and not just this ONE day.  BUT what's wrong with a little extra love one day a year?  Love never hurt anyone.

With that being said, we are keeping it pretty low key this year.  Today my mother-in-law and I are taking Kendall to Melting Pot for some chocolate. She's been talking about eating strawberries dipped in melted chocolate for WEEKS now {thanks, Fletch} so I cannot wait to surprise her with her dream come true today.  Tonight we might go out to dinner, as a family, to a kid-friendly place {or we might just eat pizza at home because oh the crowds}.

Yesterday Kendall had her party at school and I was lucky enough to be able to attend and help.  It was so much fun and I loved seeing what Valentine's each kid brought and was so excited to give.  We had a good mix of cute, creative Valentine's and cute, store-bought Valentine's. We chose to do a mix of the two.
{my little photographer getting the perfect shot of her Valentines}

Which leads me to my first question...what do you think of these Pinterest-inspired Valentines?  I've seen so much controversy over this topic.  One mom says "what happened to the days when store-bought was all you needed?" and the others say, "who cares!  to each their own!".  I'm with the latter part of the groups.  I love making something special with/for Kendall.  I'm not very creative or crafty but kids crafts I can usually handle.  This year Kendall is obsessed with My Little Pony so of course she picked MLP Valentine's.  So we made take and bake Valentine cookies, stuffed them in cute, $1 heart bags, bada bing bada boom.  I loved them and so did she.

I also get that parents are feeling the pressure these days.  Pinterest and social media have changed everything, even Valentines.  Sometimes I wish for more simple days too.  I can only imagine what it will be like when Kendall and James are in grade school.  Thankfully we live in a pretty small town so hopefully the competition won't be that fierce.

So where do you stand?  Are you a fan of the Pinterest-worthy Valentines or do you go store-bought?

While we're at it I thought it'd be fun to take a trip down Valentine's Day memory lane...

And also...James Weston is 6 months old today!  A whole half a year since we've met him.  I cannot believe that in 6 more months he'll be one year old.  It's true, what they say, time flies even faster the second time around.


14 comments:

  1. Whoops:) You'll have to let me know how much she loves it! So pinterest vs. store bought...my mom always made pinterest-y valentines for us to give out... BEFORE pinterest was around. I think it just depends on what you want to do. Oh sweet baby boy, I wish I could pull off rolls like you. Happy Valentines Day Dews, miss and love y'all

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  2. Happy Valentine's Day!!

    I totally love how you captured your daughter trying to be a photographer. How adorable :)

    I hope you all have a special day today.

    http://welovecharm.com

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  3. I totally agree with you! I love the love around Valentine's day, and personally, I think the world needs a little more love! :) We don't go "big" for it either, but it's still fun! And I completely agree with the kids valentines thing. My biggest thing is that the kids should be INVOLVED. It doesn't matter if it's just punching out the valentines or baking the cookies... the kids should be doing it with the parents! As long as that happens, I love all of it! haha!

    And that picture of her with the camera... future blogger alert!

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  4. I LOVE doing crafts with my three year old. We made recycled heart crayons from a ton of old crayons, and added a little printable valentine on the front. I like having a creative outlet, and I just wanted to spend extra time with my girl this year. I hope her classmates like them :)

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  5. super cute! love the MLP Valentines!
    this is the first year I did "pinterest" valentines (gogo squeeze applesauce with tags that read "valentine, you're my main squeeze") and they were super easy and quiet cheap considering the box of appleasauce was $6 for 12 and including Marissa, there is 12 daycare kids. boom! they turned out super cute but so were the store bought ones she recieved!
    I was thinking the same thing about once she is in grade school, then I remembered that schools around here (west central MN) do not allowed homemade treats for birthdays/celebrations. that makes the compitition pretty equal! hopefully your schools will have that same rule in place so everyone has to play fair ;)

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  6. Awww the shot of her taking a picture is adorable! I agree, nothing wrong with making a special event out of loving each other, even if it is a consumer holiday. And James looks so big!!
    Happy Valentine's!

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  7. the first paragraph of this post are my thoughts exactly!
    Happy Valentine's Day. Hope you girls enjoy the Melting Pot :)

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  8. love that heart garland! KP is so beautiful! and i love james!!!! happy 6 months little love bug!!
    (i wanted to give out bubbles that said "you blow me away!" but C doesn't have anyone besides grandparents to give them too, so we didn't do it. ha ha!)

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  9. We did store bought. I think the kids will like getting a card with their favorite cartoon character rather than something fancy from Pinterest that mom mad. Also, I let Hadley put her own sticker name on her Valentines so they are all crooked and not in the right spot...but she did it. I'll probably be side eyed now for not having something super cutesy.

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  10. For school valentines we always do the store bought. We enjoy picking them out and I do think the Pintrest ones find some mothers feeling inadequate and we do live in a lower socio economic area and some families are just trying to get a few extra dollars to buy those. But my older girls enjoy making pintrest inspired ones for their friends/boyfriends. They like to take the time to make them homemade and special.

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  11. I am with the latter as well. To each their own. I don't judge other parents for just doing store bought. I considered it this year. Carter wanted to give out rainbow loom bracelets so I told him that is fine but to do the simple bracelet. Well, he didn't know how to do the simple one and struggled trying to learn so Tim and I made them for him, Carter made 2 of the 27. I was about to give up when one day Carter says.. mom I have 27 bracelets. Phew. I like to think of myself as a crafty mom so I will pick a craft over store bought any day.

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  12. I love Valentine's Day. I do! A special day to stop everything and tell those that you love that you love them? I'm all on board. I've always been a hopeless romantic though! I think for the Valentine's to each their own. If people want to put in the extra effort then go for it.

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  13. I don't have a problem with the moms that go overboard with the Pinterest valentines just so long as they don't judge me for my store bought ones lol. Although we were like you and did a sorta combination. Store bought valentines and and a bag of toddler approved homemade valentine mix, which was strawberry banana Cheerios, GERBER yogurt melts and mini heart marshmallows. I think the Pinterest stuff is adorable I just do to really have the time being a working mom and I am not crafty at all! Wish I was but just not. Happy Valentines Day!!!

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  14. I cannot believe how big Kendall is getting. So crazy!! Our girls are becoming little ladies ;-)

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