Too Good Not to Share!

Valentine parties were postponed last week due to the snow. So, yesterday Rylee came home with tons of candy and cute cards stuffed in her backpack. She was generous and shared a tattoo with her sister and a sticker with her brother. Aww...

Today was the twins' turn. I am officially the 'room mom' for their class, so I told their teacher I would take care of the party. One hour to celebrate love...how hard can that be?

Ha!

Really?
Let me just say that if you've read this blog for long or know me at all, you should know by now that I stink at crafts. We (meaning I) determined over a year ago (after Christmas of '08) that crafts were not something to try in this house unless they involved food. Anything food related...we can handle. Glue, glitter, scissors, paint, and the like are all items that spell disaster when it comes to me and preschoolers.

So, why, oh why, did I say I'd handle a party for a 3-year-old class at preschool?
Because...I love Mrs. Sonya. She is amazing. She is loving and compassionate and fun and energetic. My kids absolutely adore her. She teaches them, loves on them, and handles those 10 3-year-olds for 10 hours every week! I get to serve in our ministry office and help people in Asia hear the Gospel because of her. She really is great!

The party was set to start at 1pm. I headed over and was, alas, a little late. It's the story of my life, no matter how hard I try. First we were going to make some pudding. Yep...pudding. Yum-o!
I poured the contents of the vanilla box into a quart size freezer bag and then did the same with the chocolate. We talked about Valentine's Day and why we celebrate. We talked about love. (I was trying to keep them focused.) Then, we added 2 cups of milk to each bag. Despite spilling a little on the table and then almost dumping a bag on a little boy, I managed to get them closed and put inside another quart bag each. We took turns shaking the bag as I tried to lead in singing a song about love. Yep, forgot a CD with love songs.

Another mom who was there to enjoy and help took the bags to the fridge to set. So, we started on the second part of the party--the craft. Go ahead, start laughing now.
We were making candy necklaces. I got the idea here, on Family Fun's website. Love their stuff. So much of it is way over the ability of 3-year-olds though! This was going to be easy. (Ha! More laughter.) Tear off a long piece of plastic wrap. Lay about 10 pieces of candy on it, roll it up, tie ribbon between each piece and then tie it around the kids neck to make a necklace.
Now, imagine doing that 10 times with 3-year-olds. Not enough ribbon...had to go get some more. Candies rolling off the table...find some cups to hold it. Tell the kid to get out from under the table...their turn is coming. Tie as fast as you can...3-year-olds have a short attention span.
Whew...almost done with the necklaces. Oh, I forgot to get the jumbo tweezers to do the next game. Glance at clock...probably not enough time to do it anyway. We'll just do the pudding treat and call it good. Send the other mom to get the pudding.
Ha! Roll on the floor laughing at this point. Go ahead. The pudding is still nothing but liquid. Two bags of nothing but liquid sweetness. Not even close to edible...at least not in a cone and not for 10 preschoolers.

Confused, I run grab the box to make sure I'm not the moron I felt like at this point. Ah--someone bought us COOK & SERVE pudding instead of instant!

Well, at least I don't feel like a dork. And, thank goodness I grabbed a box of vanilla and a box of chocolate instant pudding from my pantry before I left the house this morning! The mom quickly stirred together one of the boxes. We only had enough milk left to make one.
We cleaned up a little more and just let the monkeys monkey around. I stuff a jumbo marshmallow in the bottom of each ice cream cone (to fill the space and not have to use so much pudding). Five minutes passed--quite quickly--and Mrs. Sonya returned with thick pudding. We scooped some into each cone, threw on a few sprinkles and the three-year-olds were delighted!

They never knew.
I admire Mrs. Sonya. That one hour exhausted me. Ten hours every week; she's a hero.

*This post is being uploaded three days late thanks to my point and shoot camera having issues with uploading photos. Urgh... But, we're still celebrating. In fact, today we're going to a Valentine party at church which was postponed from last Friday due to snow. It's good to celebrate love all month!