Valentine's Party!

I am fortunate to know a large number of other homeschooling families in the Nashville area. I invited a bunch of them over for a Valentine's Party. Why should the "normal school" kids have all the fun???? Everyone wore red/ pink/ white, brought valentine cards to exchange, contributed heart-shaped or red/ pink/ white goodies to share, and had "mailboxes" to receive Valentine's cards from others. As the responses flowed in, it was clear we'd have a LOT of kids joining in the fun (about 25 in total, I think). All were so well behaved; must be homeschooled! *wink*

Grant attended a school a few years back that was big on making really elaborate Valentine mailboxes. They even had a contest. So, the bar had already been set and none of my kids wanted a dinky shoebox. Each of them put the Costco-sized cereal boxes to use and drew up plans. Here is Dean's lion.

What gathering of children lately has occurred *without* Silly Bandz trading???

So many people didn't know each other, I whipped out the name tags. Dorothy took it upon herself to be the Name Sticker Stealer.

Here is Grant with his robot creation. I had only one role in the project- to help him tape the foil down in areas that required more than two hands. Apart from that, he did it entirely himself- from planning to execution -which made me really proud.

Look at those kids!!! All in my living room!!! Some of the littler ones aren't even pictured. It was amazing.

Moms acting like moms... who wouldn't want a snap of all the cuteness!

Loved, loved, loved the red polka dot ribbon!

My little fashionista who planned her own eclectic outfit. No one can deny it had red, white, and pink!

Donuts? With sprinkles? And Cosmic Snack Mix? You don't have to offer me twice!

Aw yeah... those are tulips from my sweet Valentine (and my handsome oldest son!). I need an entirely different blog post to mention how spoiled I was by Eric on Valentine's. He knows me so well.

Grapes!

Here is the part where they were really quiet. Lots of sugar munching. :-)

Handing out Valentine's. As we prepared the ones we were handing out, I was disappointed by how things have shifted. Where are the cards with *envelopes*??? Most of the candy is individually packaged now (with areas to write "to", and "from") and it seems no one is buying bulk bags and slipping a few Conversation Hearts or Red Hots into each envelope. C'mon.... who remembers carefully selecting the Conversation Hearts to go to each friend in class? Meeee! I do!

And then, at the end, it seems that all the mommies were saying the same thing. "Enough". "All done". "Last one". Enough treats for a lifetime all in one morning!