Valentine's Day

The kids had their Valentine's Day party on Friday. Every year I have them write "valentines" to each other in the weeks leading up to the party. They have to describe each kid in class with an adjective (something other than the ever-popular "nice") and then give two examples to show why they chose the adjective. So they might write "I like Joe because he is fair. He hits the ball to everyone in four-square. I never see him cheat." They come up with some pretty good adjectives (athletic, hilarious, gentle, intelligent, playful) and very specific examples, too. I'm also surprised at how observant some of the kids are. They pick the exact trait that I would use to describe a kid. When they turn in all the writing, I combine all of Joe's compliments into one book and give it to him at the party. The best part of Valentine's Day for me is watching the kids read what their classmates think of them. Some of them just smile. Others actually get up and walk around the room to thank people for what they wrote or give them a hug. It is very cute. I think people are always interested in how other people see them and this is a safe way to get some feedback (I check them all to make sure they didn't write anything negative). Of course it would also be helpful to read what people think you need to improve...but that's not really in the spirit of Valentine's Day. :)

Steve's favorite part of Valentine's Day is eating all the chocolate and candy that the kids give me.

For our own Valentine's Day we just stayed at the house. Usually we go some place new, but it was cold out and I also didn't really feel like walking around anywhere. So I spent the afternoon lying on the couch reading a book while Steve brought anything I wanted to eat (chocolate ice cream and strawberries). He also did all the dishes and laundry that had piled up over the past week. AND he watched a movie with me (a French one about love...with subtitles!) and didn't complain. It was a pregnant girl's dream come true.