in the eleventh hour

Quite literally Valentine's Day crafting started here around 11 p.m. last night. I have faced the fact that I am a procrastinator, and I am okay with it because my best ideas and execution always come at the last minute. (Or, at least, I like to think that's true.) Liam has been tinkering with his cute painted valentine mailbox for a few days but, after going round and round over an actual valentine idea, we couldn't come up with anything that met his approval. Finally, last night after dinner I showed him an idea I found on another blog and we went for it.


I shot the picture before bed and uploaded the image to Costo at about midnight last night and picked up the prints and the suckers this morning. We both love how they turned out. (Yes, that is an actual sucker stuck into his photographed hands.)


Last night I got the idea to make his teacher and class helper a valentine-ish coffee clutch. This morning I taught Liam how to sew on the buttons, which will probably end up being his highlight of the day. Why do I forget how much joy it brings this boy to feel useful and creative? It's so much faster to just do things myself, but not nearly as rewarding. I am 100% sure that the first thing he told his teacher when he gave her the cup today is that HE sewed on her button.


I had also been thinking about the fact that it is school spirit day today and the kindergarten color is pink. Liam does not own one iota of pink. So I thought it would be cute to make him a valentine shirt. I wasn't sure how he'd feel about wearing hearts, so I made some zigzag scribbles on them to make them look a little more boy-ish. This will probably be the last year I can get away with prettying up my sweet boy, but he was game today. In fact, after he put the shirt on and stood and looked at himself in the mirror, he told me he needed a haircut and could I please cut his hair before school. (I think the carpet bangs in the photo tipped him off.) So now there is paint on the counter, fabric scraps all over the table and hair on the bathroom floor. It's our crazy life. But it's in the midst of this kind of crazy that I love our life most.