Valentine's Day - A Little Late

It is about time that I posted something about Valentine's Day!

First, let's start with Valentine's Day - First Grade style. Valentine's Day is a HUGE deal in 1st grade. Even as the kids were coming in, they were asking when they could give out their cards. Because I am the horrible teacher that I am, I made them wait until the afternoon. So mean, I know!

The whole day I was sort of dreading it because this class is very active and not always appreciative. However, they really surprised me! They were all so well behaved and thankful for everything they got. They were saying "Thank You" for every card they got. It made me so proud of them.

I think the proudest moment was when I was giving out the cupcakes that I had made for them. Little A said "This is the best Valentine's Day I have ever had! Thank you so much Mrs. McCarl!". I didn't know what to say. It is moments like that that make it worthwhile to work with little kids all day.

Here are pictures of the amazing cupcakes that I actually made myself.

Of course I got tons of cards and candy from the kids. I also got these from D (have you noticed that I don't put my students' full names?). They are gorgeous and were so unexpected!

Now to the McCarl Valentine's Day. This year, Mat and I decided not to do anything special or get each other gifts. We really didn't have the money to spend. We did get each other cards and ended up going out to a little Chinese place to eat. Oh, the best part, we stopped by Krispy Kreme and got heart shaped donuts. That's a great Valentine's Day to me.

This weekend, we did a lot of relaxing around the house. We were going to waterproof our hardwood floors but realized Sunday afternoon that we forgot all about it. Hopefully we'll get to do it next weekend.

Saturday night, I made these cupcakes for Mat's mom's birthday that was 2 weeks ago. They also turned out being for my father-in-law as well because his birthday is on Valentine's Day. The cupcakes are supposed to look like groundhogs (because my mother-in-law's birthday is on Groundhog Day) but they didn't turn out as well as I had hoped. That will probably be the first and last time I make those. Everything said that they were good though so I guess that is what matters. Thanks also to Mat! He actually made much better looking groundhogs than I did.

Why so many cupcakes you ask? Because I have this:

and this:

I LOVE both of these things. The first is a picture of my stand mixer. I have wanted one these as long as I can remember however the KitchenAid brand is over $200 so I wasn't getting that. At Christmas time, Mat and I were out shopping at Target and discovered this one for only $25!! I had to have it and my hubby loves me so much that he let me get it. I LOVE IT!!

The next thing is my new cupcake holder. It has a cupcake pan on the bottom, another holder on the top (they are stackable), and a cover. It holds 24 cupcakes! This is a must have for anyone who often travels with cupcakes. My students are going to love that I have this. I'm already planning cupcakes for every holiday. :) And, of course, this also came from Target and was purchased by my awesome husband. He is so good to me!!

If you have learned anything from this post, it should be:

1) You need to make cupcakes.

2) You need a stand mixer and cupcake holder from Target.

3) My life is so boring that I am blogging about cupcakes and things I buy at Target.

I hope that you had a wonderful Valentine's Day and are having a wonderful start to the week!!

Happy Presidents' Day!