Happy Valentine's Day!

Valentine's Day is about sharing loving sentiments with the people in our lives. We find creative ways to tell them that we love them, right? Cards, candy, chocolate, flowers, bling...it all adds up to quite the day. School parties, excessive sweets, and random terms of endearments complete the foray of events for the average child. And sometimes, even though it only comes once a year, it just plain gets old...if you know what I mean.

But we did something different for Valentine's Day this year. The packs of cards were getting cheesier and cheesier. I didn't know if I could bide my kiddos sending terms of affection to their peers on Justin Bieber or Spongebob Squarepants cards. So I stepped out of the easy box and decided it was time to have a little fun. I've been inspired by pinterest...and it has allowed me to supplement run of the mill traditions with some fun new twists. Thus, the solution to the Valentine quandary was settled.

I saw some cute candy bar wrappers that people had made from a picture of their kids. They were simple to make. And with my mad couponing skills--I had loads of candy bars to work this out. So in a matter of an evening, we whipped up all 120 of our Valentine's!

We started with the great pictures of the kids. Some where definitely more into than others. (Note the picture of Braden. Yes. It's one of 20 that look just about the same, but from different angles. There was only 1 of Cameron...but he got it right on the first shot. Such a difference in personalities is remarkable in one family...but that's another story).

The puppy had scratched Cameron's face from his nose to almost his ear. The heart was strategically placed...on purpose, to avoid the questions later. Beats photo shopping, right?

Oh my. Braden's always this perky. I didn't have to plead with him to get this done either. More like I had to plead with him to stop before he ripped the heart before I got to everyone else with it!

We couldn't seem to cover Nathan's shirt. He's a total ad campaign for childhood and his current attitude about everything. At least he smiled a great smile, although it took him a while to warm up to the camera!

Someone didn't want to be left out. There was no way I was making everyone in all of her classes one of these babies! Ashley got 10...for teachers and close friends.

Jessica will do anything you ask her to. I told her that we were making our own Valentine's this year...and she jumped right in to do her part. In fact, she was the only one who worked with me till the very last candy bar was wrapped! Such a die-hard crafter!!

It was a family affair. Jeff took care of getting the prints to the right size for me. We were able to get 2 pictures per print and they were a cinch to put together.

The Results: 120 pretty cool Valentine's. I was the party coordinator Jessica's class today. I got loads of compliments from all the mom's helping out. I ran up to Nathan's class afterwards, and got the same fanfare. Kids are funny. The bigger the candy, the better the Valentine. Go figure. They were a lot of fun...and I'm already thinking about what we can do for next year! And knowing that we are going to need at least another 120--I'll have some time to maximize the savings on whatever we do.

After school, all the kids and I sat on the couch looking at their haul from school. There was candy galore and I asked if anyone had any Snickers on their cards. Nope. The closest we got was a Milky way...and that just wasn't going to be satisfying enough. Bummer. So I went to lay down (darned head cold!). Jeff called the kids before he got home and asked the kids what he should bring me for Valentine's day. They all said....a Snickers bar. So guess what was placed on my pillow this evening.

At least he got the kind with two bars in it, so I could share, after we all enjoyed the steak and roasted potatoes dinner that he and Ashley prepared! It was a lovey day with my lovey ones.