Sunday afternoon and evening was dedicated to valentine production. Dave and Adam made his hippo mailbox, then I worked with the boys to put their class valentines together. The hippo mailbox turned out fantastic. I found some examples online and the two of them really did a great job (hooray for cardboard boxes and duck tape!). Adam was thrilled with the final result – and rightfully so!

Adam decided to give his classmates friendship bracelets and erasers this year. We ordered the bracelets and some pencil top funny face erasers online. I already had the big pink erasers (thanks to last summer’s back to school sales).

Adam actually made valentines for his class and the room next door. The two classes mix a lot for lessons during the day and so he has a lot of friends in that room as well (only his class got the big pink erasers though – I didn’t have enough in my stash for 45 kids). I picked up some small ziploc bags at the store, created some tags for the tops, printed them out, and his valentine assembly line was ready to go.

Luke wanted to do the same valentines Adam did when his was in kindergarten. So he wiped out my supply of 25 cent boxes of crayons.

I cheated and printed Luke’s name directly on the labels I made. He wasn’t feeling 100% and I didn’t feel like fighting with him to get him to write his name over and over again. It was enough of struggle to get him to decorate the boxes with stickers. They turned out great though.

Adam also wanted to give valentines to all the teachers he sees. Thankfully I had just enough highlighters on hand (this is doing little to discourage my school supply hoarding tendencies). For the teachers he and Luke have in common (gym, music, art, etc.) I had him write both of their names.

The boys said their valentines were a big hit with their teachers and friends, so I’d say we were successful. They had a blast at their class parties and reviewed all their loot as soon as they got home.

One little girl (Fiona) went all out with Adam’s valentine. She gave him a stuffed hippo and a Mickey Mouse heart full of candy (does she know him or what?). I’m trying not to embarrass him, but I think it’s pretty sweet. Adam named the hippo Fiona (both after his friend and also because that’s the name of the baby hippo that was just born at our zoo).

Happy Valentine’s Day from my little love bugs.

Edited to add: Adam finishes his class work very quickly and his teacher has told me that when he is done, she has him work with the kids that are struggling because he’s really good at helping them. I found out tonight that Fiona is one of the students he helps pretty frequently, which makes that valentine even sweeter to me.