Happy Valentine's Day

Last night while I was attempting to get the boys to go to sleep, Satchel asked me what a Valentine was.

"A Valentine is someone special," I said. "Someone you love."

"Then you're my Valentine," he said. "Because I love you!"

It isn't often that I get to hear him say these words so I was lapping it up.

"But wait," he said. "I have three Valentines."

"Oh, really?" I asked. "Who are they?"

"You and Daddy and Jiro."

Then before I could completely melt, Satchel and Jiro both started smothering me with kisses until I actually uttered the words, "Stop! That's enough kisses!"

Today the boys are having a Valentine's Day party at school. They were instructed to bring 48 Valentines and a "Valentine Mailbox." I grabbed a few boxes out of the trash pile--a cell phone box and the matzoh ball mix--and covered them with tissue paper. Then I went through our arts and crafts box and found various things to cut heart shapes out of.


My plan was to let the boys glue the hearts on the box. Satchel was very in to the whole thing, but Jiro lost interest after just two hearts. So I finished Jiro's and worked with Satchel to add bling to his with a little glitter. (Sorry, no action photos allowed while glue and glitter are in play.)

Meanwhile Warren, a.k.a. Mr. Adobe Illustrator, went to work on the Valentines.


He found a picture of the boys sitting in the toy bucket, then through the magic of Illustrator, he made it look like they were sitting in a box of sweathearts. I was ready for him to stop there, but like Satchel, he is all about the bling. He added a border of candy hearts that he created himself. When I saw the finished product, I was glad that he didn't listen to me.