Happy Valentine's Day!

I think Valentine's ranks up there with my favorite holidays. And considering I've not had a Valentine more frequently than I have, I guess that's saying something. :) I just love the opportunity to remind people of how special they are to me. I'm a firm believer in showing it all year round, but let's be honest, that would be expensive. Haha. This year's Valentine's Day was spectacular.

Now, I was a little concerned, because it's not a huge thing here. When I sent the letter home to parents regarding our party, I made sure to tell them not to stress about it because I had a feeling Valentine's might be difficult to find here. When I finally got out to the store on February 13th, that feeling was confirmed. :) Out of three stores I visited, this was the largest Valentine's Day display that I saw....

ALMOST as many options as at Walmart, right?! ;)

Needless to say, we had a lot of homemade cards and creativity for treats! However, the day was still superb. Before school even started, I was given a cupcake from some of the high school students. Then, my students came in all adorable as ever and super stoked for the 'holiday'. We read a cheesy Valentine's Day book for reading, did Valentine's themed activities for literacy work, and made our "Valentine Mailboxes". While making the mailboxes, I was complimenting one student on how proud I was because he was taking his time and putting in so much effort (not his usual when it comes to art projects). He smiled and said, "I know. Did you know that today is the first time I ever even cared about or liked Valentine's Day?" Aww. That made me smile. :)

They all got very creative and crafty! I was impressed!

At snack time, my co-teacher handed out homemade chocolate chip cookies. When I got back to my classroom, I found a dozen beautifully wrapped roses on my desk! A COMPLETELY unexpected surprise from my momma! This alone was enough to keep me smiling for the rest of the day, but of course it just kept being amazing. 

It may have taken me approximately 10 minutes to finally get all the wrapping off.

Around this same time, my sister received a bouquet that I had ordered for her and had nothing but the sweetest things to say. Of course, this made my heart extremely happy, too. :) During chapel, we had a good lesson on God's love and what that really means and should look like in our lives. We followed this up with a brief history on how Valentine's Day actually started (which apparently is all just legend?) and then went downstairs to have  our little celebration. The kids had been looking forward to the party all day (I swear it's like they smell the sugar in the room and get instantly hyper!) and when we got to the cafeteria before the other classes a few of them turned to me and said, "Where's the party?" Haha.
I replied, "We are the party." But they didn't like that much and could hardly contain themselves while they waited for the other kids to arrive. While they waited, they handed out their valentines and candy. It went a LOT more quickly having only 5 students than it did last year with 26! But they still ended up with way more than enough sugar and extremely happy. When the other class showed up, we enjoyed cookies, brownies, strawberry soda and chips.

Carolina and Naomi. So much cuteness.

Josiah and Elissa. Up to no good, of course. ;)

Naomi and Andar. Such sweethearts.

It's chowtime.

Within approximately 4 minutes, everyone had finished eating and I thought the room was going to explode with energy, so we took them outside to play "Steal My Heart".... the Valentine's version of Steal the Bacon. :)

I tricked them into thinking I was going to call a number when all I actually planned to do was snap this picture. Suckers.

So, yeah. All that to say, the day was exceptional. Full of love, happiness, and wonderful reminders of how blessed I am. After school, I worked with a 4-year-old girl to help her learn English. She's adorable, so just more sweetness.

 

When I finally got home at 6:00, I called up Papa John and asked him to be my Valentine. He was prompt, hott, non-judgmental and always just a phone call away. Quite a perfect date, if you ask me.

I hope each and every one of you had a Valentine's Day just as special as mine. It's a terrific special occasion and I hope if you're one of the "Singles Awareness Day" celebrators that your

I asked a co-worker if wearing heart earrings and necklace for V-Day was the same as wearing snowflake or pumpkin earrings on other holidays. She assured me that yes, I had officially become "that teacher". I am perfectly fine with that. :)

One other highlight from my day is that we took a class picture and it actually turned out reallllly well! (Minus the fact that it's missing one student! Haha). What a bunch of cuties I've been blessed with!