Valentine's Day 2012

(If you want to skip my ramblings, cute kid photos and video are at the bottom!)

When Valentine's Day arrived last year, we had only just arrived in China, so needless to say our celebrations were a little bit 差 (chà, poor in quality).  I think we managed to scrap together some homemade valentines (thankfully I had thrown in some Dollar Tree doilies into the suitcase at the last second!). It was somewhat sad for me since not only do I love celebrating all the little holidays throughout the year (we all need reminders to celebrate in life, right?), but I also have a strong sense that it is my motherly duty to create happy memories for my kiddos. I'll be honest, at times this "strong sense" can be burdensome, particularly when I start to play that oh-so-sneaky-yet-destructive game called "Comparison." (Ever want to feel bad about yourself? Just read a few blogs about all the awesome things other moms do and that'll usually do the trick. :P )  Sometimes I go down that road (and regret it), but other times, the desire to do fun things for my family is just that, without any of the sick pride and ego that somehow seek to find justification for my existence by my thoughtfulness in making happy memories. Besides, I've had too many attempted "happy memories" gone wrong, when the vision painted by my pride gets a dose of reality from my toddler who keeps wanting to stick her finger in the bowl, and, instead of embracing the reality God has given me, I flip-out on said unsuspecting toddler and ruin the "happy memory" with my own sinful outburst. As I fight to believe that every moment is redeemable by His grace, I trust that, despite the damage caused by my sin, the example of how to respond to one's own sinfulness by repentance and reliance on Christ's sufficiency is a more valuable gift to my children than a glossy, picture-perfect afternoon of making cookies, as if our lives were lived out in a sin-free bubble.  (Please someone tell me this is true!)

After all this introspection, part of me doesn't even want to post these pictures lest I somehow create the false picture that I am this awesome mom who never loses her cool and always has fun, crafty activities for her children.  For the sake of full disclosure, I have really been struggling with impatience and anger recently and just yesterday abrubtly and rather harshly ended my one recent attempt at craftiness with the girls because Katie got paint on her clothes and Caroline started finger-painting seconds after I had told her not to touch the paint.  (sigh)  Did I mention this is why I am a Christian? Because I completely don't have my act together in a single area of my life and desperately need a Rescuer?

Okay, enough psychoanalysis, let's get to it, right?

I actually didn't intend on making today super-special outside of making frosted, heart-shaped sugar cookies. I'm pretty sure my mom did this when I was a child (every year? maybe just once? I can't remember, but it obviously made an impact!).  Plus, because I am rather lacking in the creativity department when it comes to celebrating holidays, I tend to stick with what works (hence frosted pumpkin-shaped sugar cookies at Halloween, frosted Christmas-shaped cookies at Christmas, etc).

However, inspiration struck when I was at Wal-mart yesterday so I picked up a few simple things for the girls and for Adam which, despite their smallness, I knew would be a hit (Bimbo brand "donettes" for breakfast, new toothbrushes for the girls, a Dove chocolate bar each, a cheapy Disney princess water color set for each girl , and a homemade valentine love note which I threw together in the dark hoping they wouldn't wake up too early this morning).  The theme for today was "His banner over us is Love" hence the scrappy looking thing hanging up in the background of the photos below...but I figured the message outweighed the poor presentation. Oh, and you gotta check out the video below...Caroline had us in stitches. The best part was that, after we finished decorating, she got down on the floor, doggy-style, in an effort to clean-up (i.e. eat) all the fallen sprinkles. Upon her return to the table, she proudly announced, "I ate them ALL."