Valentines and my painted sweetheart

Our Valentine party is tomorrow. The kids are pretty pumped and to be honest, so am I. If I can just get all the planning squared away then I will be able to enjoy it. The party is my responsibility this year.
We started getting our Valentines made last week. Woo hoo - look at you - so on the ball! Right? Well, we only did them because normally we would be stressing the day before to get everything done! But not this year - I'm on top of it. Last night I let the kids make their bags. I say "let them" because normally I "help them" which means - I try to do it because I want it to look a certain way. What a nut! They do such a great job on their own. They love their bags and I think they are awesome! I got out different color bags, stickers, paper, markers, ribbons, and glue and let them go to town.

Madison and Ally's...

Carson and Cole (I love how they both chose brown bags and blue stuff yet still made them so sweet)...
Wilson and Tyson's (love the Happy Vallintims Day at the bottom of Tyson's)....
I even let Pip get crafty. Everything on here she wanted - she even put all the hearts on...

Last week we finished out adorable Valentines that we will be handing out. Now remember - we have 27 kids to pass Valentines to and I have 7 kids. Imagine trying to have each of them make 27?! So, the twins did theirs jointly and Pip didn't do any. I got these great ideas online. SO fun!

Madison and Ally each made 27 treats out of match boxes. They decorated the box and then filled them with M&M's..

Carson and Cole each made 20 of these little guys (I decided they could give their siblings a plain Hershey Kiss b/c I was tired of gluing felt hats!)...

And the twins just attached hearts to clothespins and filled bags with candy - and the super cute Valentine Peeps...

I'm also making lunch for the mommies to have at the party. I think for my fruit salad I'm going to cut the strawberries like this...

Do they look like hearts or little bustiers?? Hahaha!

SO - while I was getting so organized in the kitchen for tomorrow the kids were all playing in their rooms with a flash light. They were having quite a good time and I just assumed Piper was with them. That is until Madison says "OHH NO PIPER!!! UMMM - Daddy! I think this is one for YOU!!!"

Now first of all, can we talk about what that means... this one is for daddy? Why do you think that is? Well, full disclosure here... Mommy can be a little high strung and mommy tends to lose her temper way more than daddy. It was a little fun to us that she said that but truly sad to me to think my kids know to go to daddy with a big mess b/c mommy might get too upset. Oh to be free from my sin!!

Anyways - I was completely composed the entire time we dealt with this...

Piper decided paint her toe nails...

and her fingernails...

and the floor, the counter, the cabinets, the shower door, and the bathtub. She was pretty proud of herself. So instead of getting all the kids clothes picked out for the next day and lined up in the hallway, Jason and I got Pip in the bath and I scrubbed all surfaces while he scrubbed her. Even after i finished there was still lots to go on her!! So I joined in. She was very cooperative even when she was saying "ow" because we were scrubbing too hard.

This is just so classic. This is what my life is like all the time. Always trying to be on top of everything and always realizing that no one can be on top of everything. It is still all the fun in the world. I wouldn't trade it for anything.

Sitting here now I am completely exhausted! A day full of paper hearts - all over the floor, M&M's - also on the floor and in the creases of my kids mouths, 48 cupcakes and 48 sugar cookies, temper tantrums, Charlie and Lola, burning dinner, flashlight chaos, party prep and nail polish clean up... It's my life - and I love it (and am so thankful for my Valentine who shares it all with me).