My sweet Valentine

Happy Valentine's Day 2009!

By bedtime Wednesday evening, Maisie thankfully had recovered from her Valentine's party sugar high and slept well. On Thursday I made a Valentine's bento for Maisie which was all hearts of pink & red with lots of sugary sprinkles and she loved it. Her bento turned out to be more nutritionally sound than I had first imagined but Maisie didn't care or notice, she just thought it was wonderful.

Friday after ballet Maisie and I made the little Valentine's house in the picture. I had found the kit a while back and loved that it was foam & stickers and thought it would be easier and less messy than doing a gingerbread house. Last Easter Maisie and I made a gingerbread bunny hutch which was fun but oh so messy, sticky & sugary. In addition, for days after making the hutch, Maisie couldn't resist feeling the coconut grass and poking at anything frosting and it just seemed to be a continued mess until I happily tossed it in the bin. This little foam house was great and I have one already for Easter but from making this one I did learn a few tricks for our future projects.

Maisie didn't have any problem piecing the structural house, roof and base pieces together but when we started decorating, if she pressed too hard, picked it up or turned it funny, it would cause the structure to come apart. I ended up taking it apart and hot gluing the house, roof and base together and that made all the difference, Maisie and I were then able to add all the decorations. The girl does have a little glue and glitter fetish so it wasn't as mess free as I had first hoped but now that it's dry, she's not poking at it, nothing is flaking off and no continued mess. In addition to hot gluing the structure together, when we make the Easter house, we'll do our glue and glitter pieces first so that they can dry and then when we decorate the house Maisie can add the glittered pieces without glittery glue squishing in her fingers.

Hope everyone had a wonderful day.