The Love Bus - Are you on it?

So, Valentine's Day- not my favorite day of the year. I don't really have any bad experiences per say, I just oppose it on principal. Plus it is really kind of a hassle. Take yesterday evening; I had to make a tray of brownies for the hubby to take to work, a veggie tray for Ella's class party, and make little valentines for each of the 13 kids in her class. Which really, it doesn't sound too bad, I know, but I would much rather have spent the evening normally, since a trip to the grocery, making dinner and getting the house picked up were also on the agenda for the evening. Can you guess which one we skipped?

The brownies came out a little overcooked because we were distracted from pulling them out by our work on Ella's little valentines, which I must say are VERY cute this year... We dubbed it "The Love Bus," and I thought they were kind of appropriate, not gender specific, and school themed, kind of. We put a strand of maroon and white beads (really left over Mardi Gras beads, that's not tacky, right?) in each one, to complete the sugar free, gender neutrality of it all.

Our little fleet:

And a closer shot of a few:

Too cute, huh? I pulled them off of my new favorite website for kid crafts: The Toy Maker

Ella was really excited about taking them to her little buddies, and I hope they have fun playing with them :) She looked extra cute today in her little pink sweetheart tee, courtesy of her BFF's crafty mommy, Aunt G, and the adorable little (well, it's kind of big) Valentine bow she got from her cousin Maddie. Love it!

As for the rest of us, I got a fabulous pair of earrings to match the couple of pearl necklaces I have, so I no longer have to wear the plastic pearls I got at Claire's 5 years ago :) Hubby kind of got the short end of it, he only got a card. And no fancy dinner, he'll be out of town for the evening. Maybe next year I'll get into the spirit. Not likely though.

So, Happy Valentine's Day everybody. I hope the love bus swings by your place...