Sweet Tattoos

I really love Valentine's Day.  I think it's a fun, "show someone you care" holiday. I don't buy into all the romantic pressure that surrounds it (that's not to say that I don't love and won't swoon over a V-day filled with chocolates, flowers and jewelry), I just think it's a fun excuse to shower the people I love most with more stuff.

I think it's fun to take the kids to the store and let them pick out Valentine's cards and treats. I think class parties are fun. I get a kick out of taking the kids around to deliver Valentine's cards and I like that all church activities in February are decorated in pink and red.

What I have mixed feelings about is the newest Valentine's Day kiddie card trend: tattoos and stickers in lieu of candy. I'm sorry but 99.9 percent of the appeal of this lovely holiday is the chocolate everythings, the cinnamon lips, and the tasteless conversation hearts that every 8 year old girl is sure have hidden meaning. I loved sitting around at recess with my friends and opening my Valentine's cards to find that Tom (name has been changed to protect my reputation) had given me a conversation heart that said, "call me". Call me?! That's practically a marriage proposal when you are in third grade!!! I'd hate to deny the future generations that kind of romantic thrill so I don't love that more and more teachers are discouraging the giving of candy. Boo on them!

And I definitely don't love that now, along with having to write names on 28 cards and put stickers on those cards or seal them in an envelope, we also have to include the tattoos. Because explaining to a 3 year old that the tattoos are for his friends and not for his entire left arm is slightly obnoxious. But let's be honest, Easton has all of 4 friends, so we had A LOT of tattoos left over.

What better way to get rid of them then to let him play tattoo artist in the bathroom? I normally don't let my kids wear tattoos when they have church or school the next day, so instead I opted to let Easton tattoo me. Kendrick and Taylor did sneak in on the action and had one put on each of their arms. But then they made sure to wear long sleeves to work/school the next day...although maybe Kendrick would get more orders if people saw him sporting a Buzz Lightyear tat...

I have been horrible at taking pictures lately but my cute friend, Tristian just mentioned me and my love of pictures on her blog so I took that as a friendly reminder to pull out the phone and start snapping more pics. I'm glad I did! I love that Easton takes this art form very seriously, so it was fun to capture his enthusiasm for it.