a valentine day

We hosted our annual mother-daughter Valentine card-making party yesterday. It's my very favorite party, though it also is the one that takes me the longest to clean up--I procrastinate my own card craft and keep out all of the paper and supplies because "just this afternoon...." I guess the love just kept buoying us along, too, because we ate lunch and headed to the salon to get our hair chopped for Locks of Love. This was the second time I've cut off a foot in an unsolicited act of support for a family member who has lost theirs ("for" my dad during radiation in 2001), and the second time I've fully regretted it. Oh well. A foot off of mine still leaves me with "long" hair. Though my new braid is pathetic. Marian is thrilled to death with her haircut, though Nathan and I are still a little in shock with her new bangs. We are a no-bangs family. But when the stylist asked, "Do you want bangs?" Marian gave her a resounding "Yes!" I, getting chopped next-chair, asked in surprise, "Marian, do you know what bangs are?" Vigorous nodding. Mom swallows her own anti-bang feeling, thinking (1) it's her hair and I want her to be thrilled, and (2)[this is kind of a bad-mom moment] oh well, it's all going to fall out soon anyway. I can stand it for a couple of months. But she looks very sweet and is, most importantly, thrilled. She slept in a night cap so that her dad, coming home after bedtime from meetings, can't see it until she shows him herself. I so can't say "Oh, Mare, I miss your beautiful long hair!" because the whole point of this is to give a cheerful transition to no-hair and be fully fully supportive. So I tell her she's adorable. Which will just never change. The girl is absolutely infectious.

On to the happier love stuff. I really enjoy our card-making parties. I think I hardly ever get my own cards made because I so love watching the very serious creating going on. I think I'm very lucky that I've proven my interest in these marvelous children enough that they love to come and show me what they've made. Some of those kids are prolific, coming home with just stacks. Some moms make Valentines, too, while others, like me, just enjoyed the spectacle of furious love craft.
My favorite photo: Miss C, Marian's classmate, using the bathroom window to use an embossing stencil (like my theblackapple goodness? I even bought this set before I knew she was such hotstuff). A child of writers, C is wondrously creative. I love peeking at her own writing when I visit their class (which I do every day to feed Marian. It has lucky benefits).
My favorite moment: A surprise visit from Marian's beloved first grade teacher. I couldn't get a good photo because she was so wiggly with joy. I made them pose this one (a re-creation of a candid I would have caught if my camera was glued to my hand and it didn't have such slow digital moments). We have been very lucky with this good woman.