Anthony's Preschool Valentines

You know how when you were a kid you looked forward to all the holidays? It didn't matter which one, you loved them all....Christmas, Valentine's Day, Easter, Halloween, etc. But then when you're older and out of the house, the holidays kinda loose their luster. They're still nice and swell and all, but definitely not as fun as when you were a kid. And then BAM!! One day you wake up and you have sweet little kiddos tugging at your shirt and getting all excited about Easter eggs and letters from Santa and all of a sudden the holidays are SO MUCH FUN again! You know that look of excitement on their faces? It's the same excited look you had on your face when you were a kid....and the same look you have on your face all over again now.

This is the first year in a long, long time I have gone to the store and gotten Valentines. Except now it's not me picking them out, it's Anthony. And it took him all of 2 seconds to do so, lol, Kung Fu Panda for the win! :) These are the little things that make being a Mama one of the best things in the world.

I thought it would be fun to make little chex mix/trail mix goody bags for his classmates. Anthony didn't disagree with me, so I took that as my cue to gather the rest of the stuff needed to make said goody bags while at the grocery store last Tuesday. Last Wednesday after Anthony was done with school, he and I sat down and got to work! We also (Molly included) worked on a few projects for Papa for Valentine's Day, but I'll share that later.

The ingredients/goods: 

Rice chex cereal

Cheddar tiny twist pretzels

Honey Wheat rod pretzels 

Raisins

Valentine colored M&M's

Bite size chocolate covered cookies

Anthony's choice of Valentines

Sandwich bags 

Stapler

Love and patience

How to: Because I wanted each kiddo to have equal amounts of the "fun stuff," I portioned out the two types of pretzels, M&M's, and chocolate cookie bites into 21 (for 21 kids!) equal piles on the table then let Anthony put each pile in a sandwich bag. For the chex cereal and the raisins, we wound up just scooping a handful into each bag. I rustled up each bag, sealed it shut, then stapled a Valentine on each one after helping Anthony write his name on the back of each card. Voila!! Easy peasy.

Anthony had a good time making his Valentines, I had a good time watching him have fun, we both (and Molly whenever she came over to investigate) filled our bellies along the way, and the dogs got the scraps that fell onto the floor making clean up a breeze. 

Here they are!

And remember those sugar body scrubs we made a bit ago for Anthony's teachers? They are now packaged up in cute little Valentine bags ready to make them smile and love Anthony even more (if that's even possible!!). 

Anthony had a whole lot to bring to preschool with him this morning! I hope all the kiddos like his special Valentine treat and doubly hope they have a fantastic Valentine party! When I dropped him off a bit ago the whole classroom was abuzz with excitement and all the kids were running around sneaking peeks at each others Valentines waiting in their cubbies to be handed out. Hehehe I can't wait to go pick him up and see all his Valentine loot and have him tell me all about his day!! ;) 

With love,

Mama Hauck