Valentine's Day 2024

UGH do I feel so horrible about Valentine's this year. I ordered gifts for the kids early enough that I thought I was on top of things. The first week of this month I kept telling myself I needed to plan more things than just presents, but then I'd tell myself I have plenty of time left. Then suddenly it's the 13th and I have NOTHING planned.

I also realized the weekend before that I got them gifts, but not any candy. I forgot to make breakfast plans or read our holiday books, and I never felt like I had time to put up our decorations.

In my defense, I really feel I've still been trying to get caught up and used to our new normal schedule with the activities we have and making sure homework and reading is done. Also, we couldn't make valentine's boxes since the teachers sent emails out saying they were providing bags to decorate for the kids so we only had to get valentine's cards and candy for the classes (but I feel like decorating a box is a big part of celebrating).

I will say we did have fun with the gifts. I had planned to give them their stuff in the morning, but then Gwen wanted to play Bingo earlier this week so we told her we'd play Bingo for our gifts so they looked forward to that ALL day long. They also had a lot of fun with the anticipation of giving out valentine's and getting them at school. 

The other bad part was I didn't really wrap their gifts, I kind of repurposed bags my mom gave her gifts in the day of so that didn't feel like I put too much effort in to it. I also felt SO cranky that night. I felt like ALL the kids were asking for my help all at once and weren't being patient with me as I was helping each of them (Larry was breaking down boxes for garbage day tomorrow) so I felt like I was snapping at them a bit. No matter what I did, I just couldn't stop yelling at them even though I could tell I was doing it and needed to stop.

The good news is, they all said they had a good day. They loved the candy they got, they REALLY loved the gifts they got. For Cara, she got a diamond art keychain kit and some non toxic (kid friendly) nail polish. For Gwen, we got her some play dough tools, paint brushes (she loves to paint), and some snap pop bead set. Lucy got some play dough character accessories and popcorn pens. Pierce got socks, a pillow case, a magnet toy, and some puzzles. I also got them new thermos straws since Pierce chewed through the old ones and they all got to pick out an outfit at Carters. The girls all picked out dresses and for Pierce we got him a new swim suit set. I was pretty happy with what I got them and was happy they liked what they got as well.

As for Larry and me, I got him a shirt that says "V is for Valentine Video Games" and a tuna press tool (the kids have become obsessed with having tuna lately and so this strainer is supposed to make draining the cans easier). He got me flowers (stargazer lilies, my absolute favorite) because that's what I told him I wanted. No candy, nothing special. I honestly forgot it was Valentine's this morning when I ran upstairs to grab his things and just hand them to him haha. It wasn't our most romantic moment, that's for sure haha. 

So while Valentine's Day was a bummer and I wish I had done so much better, I am glad the kids are happy. I promise I'm going to do better next year. I know I say that all the time, but I've got plans to do better for the rest of the holidays this year to get more used to doing more and how much time I need to plan them out.