Feliz Dia de San Valentin

As a teacher, children and parents take advantage of all of the holidays to deliver gifts of thanks for teaching them everyday. Note to the wise... a teacher's favorite gift is really a gift card. And please, no more smell good lotion or candles or coffee mugs.

Fortunately this Valentine's Day I did not receive any smell good lotion or coffee mug. I did not receive any gift cards either, but here are a few of the gifts delivered to my desk yesterday.

A very creative (and patient) mom, planted these beautiful flowering plants for all of her teachers. She even did mini ones for each kid in the 4th grade. I love the detail of the plastic shovel with a bag of hershey kisses and a label that says "Love is in Bloom." Precious.
Another hand made goody was this little heart cookie with my name written on it. Looks yummy and very nicely done by a 2nd grader. Although, after discussing with the computer teacher, we remembered that he is a nose picker, so this cookie did not get eaten.

This is one of my favorites. Given to me by a boy 4th grader and his kindergarten sister. She did the writing. Look at the envelope. She wrote my name is well. And I mostly love the backwards e. Oh- and their choice of chocolates is divine.

Here's the card inside the envelope. You can't tell from the picture, but she definitely added the stickers and bows herself. Good job Kindergartener.

And here's the true delight. I saw her mom on Wednesday at school and her mom says "how do you say I love you in Spanish?" I told her "Te quiero or Te amo." She replied, "Yes that's what I thought, but Cydni wouldn't believe me. And she refuses to write your Valentine's card in English, she said it MUST be in Spanish." (Because I obviously don't know English.) But it is so sweet and so perfect and in wonderful Kindergarten hand writing and I just love it.

And maybe my all time favorite of the day... a 4th grader who was in my 3rd grade class last year. Chaney has a knack for giving gifts. She always brings me gifts and she always remembers what I really like. So instead of giving me the usual smell good lotion, candle, coffee mug, or candy. She chose this...

A bag of fruit (and one snickers bar). The bag had a peach, apple, and orange. (I ate the orange about 5 minutes after receiving the gift.) Chaney knows (and remembers) that I eat fruit every lunch and every afternoon for a snack, so that's what she gave me. I love her. She is so thoughtful.

And those were most of my gifts from yesterday. Happy Valentine's Day to you! Oh, I mean, Feliz Dia de San Valentin! (I don't speak English).