For Valentine’s Day this year, we ventured into hard candy making. It turned out to be quite a science, and we have learned a lot along the way. For starters, light corn syrup is 100% glucose, and NOT the same as industrial high fructose corn syrup (the bad stuff). Glucose is needed to keep the candy from crystallizing and getting gritty. We tried various natural flavorings and essences, and ended up using raspberry as the flavoring for our red lollipops (with a pinch of citric acid for a lemon-fruity sourness). They turned out pretty good, but winners of the taste test were the less Valentine-y colored butterscotch caramel pops. Nothing beats good old sugar/cream/butter/vanilla. We had more than 40 caramel pops (2 batches), and set them out in the lobby of our house. They were gone before the end of the day!

This is the 3rd year of Mika participating in the red/pink madness that is Valentine’s Day for U.S. school children. By now i am familiar with the rules (everybody has to get one, even the class bully) and we just treat it as another art project – albeit an ambitious one: there are 22 kids in her class and she insisted on making valentines for her two teachers as well.

Happy Valentine’s Day to our friends and families from Mi, Ni, To, and Su  xoxo

When i was a kid, Valentine’s Day was one of the minor Holidays in Germany … celebrated only between lovers or lovers-to-be. Despite some friendly reminders from the flower industry, nobody felt compelled to write ‘valentines’ in school. Let alone preschool.

I only heard about the social pressures of V-day through my friends who grew up in the U.S. … and now i am the mother of a 3-year-old U.S. citizen, who is encouraged to bring valentines to her friends at school. It’s cute, but there are 24 kids in her class and she’s not supposed to be selective.

Heart-shaped Post-Its to the rescue! Mika had fun painting, messing around with ‘sprinkles’, and writing her name 24 times. And i’ll come up with another use for all those peeled-off hearts…

For a while, Mika simply left off colors in her drawings to save time … but recently, she developed a new style that’s more observant. There are subtle uses of perspective and many whimsical details (did you notice the pigeons on the roof of the house across the street, which the big cat is observing?). There are still plenty of remnants from the stereotypical preschool drawings though … i.e. those funny heart people she introduced on Valentine’s Day two years ago.

This year marked the first time for Tobin to participate in the annual Valentine’s Day card exchange – which meant crafting 25 (!) love notes for all of his class mates. He happily followed his sister’s creative lead, stamping potato hearts, throwing glitter, and gluing googly eyes onto the cards. He even started signing his name, but half way through he got tired of writing and decided that rolling in between cards could apply a personal finish as well. I am just happy this was the second – and last – time to make valentines with a three-year-old…