Happy Valentine's Day!

(Isaac with a cookie he decorated himself)

My Sophie has a crush.

There is a boy in her grade who makes her heart skip a beat. In the third grade, while practicing square dancing, she happened to be partnered with this boy and later told me that "it felt like being on a roller coaster ride."

Sometimes I find his name with hearts scribbled on little notes tucked around her room.

It is very sweet.

I told her that whatever she does she must not reveal her crush to him (or anyone who would tell him). Because we all know that this makes elementary school boys shout the word "cooties" and run the opposite direction.

She has played it cool.

The 5th grade went on an ice-skating field trip today. Sophie has been looking forward to it for weeks - deciding what to wear and wanting to look cute on the ice for her crush.

Two weeks ago, he folded a Chinese star out of origami paper and gave it to her. She took this as a sign that he likes her too. Could it be?

Last night, Isaac cried at bedtime because I couldn't come to his class Valentine's Day party. I helped with Sophie's Halloween party in the fall and today I helped with Ian's Valentine's party - and, darn it that the class parties all take place at the same time. So, what is a mom with more than one kid to do? I reminded him that I helped with his 100th Day of School party. But, he was still sad.

At Ian's party, his best friend Oliver found a sticky foam heart that said "Best Friends." He cut it in half with a crooked line and stuck one half on his shirt and the other half on Ian's shirt and they stood side by side to show me. It reminded me of the "Best Friend" broken lockets that were popular when I was his age. I love that they are young enough to do something goofy like that and I love that Ian has a best friend.

They are good for each other. At the party, the kids made guys out of the heart cards from a deck of poker cards by attaching red pipe cleaners for the arms and legs and drawing on a little face. Ian's guy was as straight forward as could be with the pipe cleaners attached in straight lines and a simple smiley face. His best friend Oliver bent the arms and legs all crazy and added foam hearts for feet so it could stand. Then, he made a wicked face with pointy teeth and named his guy "death." That pretty much sums up Ian and Oliver. Ian is a serious little thinker and Oliver is as creative of a kid as I've ever met. That's why they are so good for each other.

Tonight we are having our traditional Valentine dinner. My mom is joining us. I'm so excited! Everything came together so quickly this year. Usually, I'm running around trying to clean up the house at the last minute, but this year I'm writing this blog post and everything is ready to roll in 30-minutes.

We have a lovely centerpiece of hearts and we will be eating heart shaped sloppy joes with veggies and pink ranch dip. For dessert, there are heart shaped sugar cookies. The kids frosted them after school yesterday. It's another of our traditions. I just love Valentine's Day.

This year, I took everything off my tree after Christmas and re-decorated it with white lights, red hearts, snow flakes, red berry garland and silver and red ornaments. It was our first Valentine's tree and I rather liked it. I think it looked even better than our Christmas tree which has become a hodge podge of random trinkets over the years. I do love the vintage mitten garland and the colorful lights, but I'm questioning the tradition that Brian and I started on our Honeymoon to buy a Christmas ornament every time we travel. It has led us to a somewhat sentimental tree that has no theme whatsoever. I liked the simplicity of the red, silver and white tree.

In our old house, I was always anxious to take the tree down after Christmas since our space was so small though I've always thought that December 26 is just too soon. There are so many long days of winter left before spring. So, we enjoyed the tree for six extra weeks this year and I officially declare that the middle of February is just the right time to take down the tree.

(I just undecorated it and took it down before I started writing this - it was time)