repurposed valentine crafts...and the family snowymoon comes to an end

A housebound week spent under a pile of snow translated into a LOT of crafting, using our already dwindling supplies, and so by Saturday things did not look good for making Valentine's Day treasures. Turns out being driven to the recycling bin can be a very good thing.

Yesterday I cut many cardboard hearts from a cereal box and a box that once held four sticks of butter. I punched holes in them, and spread them all over the table for the children to paint and decorate. I strung them up this morning on red embroidery thread to make a Valentine's Day garland for the dining room. I think they look lovely, and so did Gabriel. The only drawback of the recycling bin approach is that the backs of the twirling hearts say fragments of things like Safeway Select Organic Sweet Cream Butter. (This problem could easily have been solved by gluing two hearts together around the thread, but requires more foresight and dedication than this underslept Mama could muster).

Last night Mike and I returned to the recycling bin, and the various odds and ends in the kitchen, trying to devise some appropriate valentines for the children to wake up to in the morning. Frances was very excited; she made us all Valentine's cards and could barely wait for us to open them. We realized there was a bit of expectation. And so:

Behold her red rose! Mike wrote each kid a sweet 'roses are red' poem, and I made them flowers from egg carton cups and pipe cleaners, with felt greenery to give a bit more weight to the presentation. I found Gabriel's rose cast aside on our grassy green rug - knife to the heart, my boy! - but it did look sort of nice lying there.

And, I feel obligated to report this Valentine's Day evening - with a slightly heavy heart - that our shining family week of crafting, baking, and stories has come to an end. The day after my last post, that oh-aren't-we-happy business, Gabriel woke up crying before 5 am, Frances woke up soon after that, and both children were tired and grouchy for much of the day. I was too. It was gray outside, and the snow suddenly became ominous - icy in patches, holding the threat of floods to come. It felt like our happy winter family bubble had burst. Who do I blame? The four molars that refuse to emerge from Gabriel's tender gums. The four molars that have been tormenting him - and us - for weeks.

Is chewing really worth it? We're basically vegetarians. Who needs those back teeth for tofu?

Today was more of the same. This underslept family hovered on the edge of irritation (in the parents' case) and lunacy (in the children's). Given the circumstances, why oh why did we decide to go to church? Mike took Frances and Gabriel to 'Children's Chapel,' which takes place during the sermon in a room adjacent to the echoing sanctuary. All the children head back during a hymn, so it took me a minute to recognize the screaming child shouting MAMA!! as my very own Gabriel. He had gotten upset at the back of the church, and so Mike ran back and passed me the red-faced boy. I carried him back to Children's Chapel, only to bump into Frances, who was tearing out of the room, red-faced and crying herself, shouting "I WON'T GO IN THERE WITHOUT GABRIEL!!!" And so here I was, holding Gabriel in one arm - who began crying again when he saw the Children's Chapel taking place, saying NO NO NO A DIFFERENT PLACE, MAMA! GO TO A DIFFERENT PLACE! - and holding Frances around the shoulders with my other arm, who was also crying at the prospect of going back in there without her brother. By this time, as you can imagine, the music had stopped and my children's wailing voices were audible in every corner of the church.

Ah, what havoc a poor night of sleep can wreak!

We made it home. Gabriel shouted and yodeled and jumped up and down in his crib during naptime, causing my heart to sink down through my body in despair. Lucky for us, Grammy arrived for a visit this afternoon (perhaps not so lucky for her!) and both children were much much happier as a result.

Thank goodness for grandmothers. And sleep. And the return of preschool, after all, in just a few short days...