Precious Valentines

Sydney and I had fun making these flower lollipop Valentines for her classmates. They are made with 3 heart cut-outs, overlapping with a mini Tootsie Pop (which I didn't know existed until today) stuck through to form flower petals. I cut most of the hearts out, and left 3 for Sydney to cut. She did a great job, better than I realized she could with all those curves, but that was plenty for her before she lost interest and complained that her hand hurt! Then she moved on to decorating them with stickers and the tags, which I'd also stamped in advance (again, to speed things along for my own sanity). Before we knew it, we had a bouquet! Red for the boys, pink for the girls, of course.

Miranda was also eager to help, and assigned herself the job of determining how quickly a child could rip off the flower petals and reach the center of the mini Tootsie Pop--probably broke some records there. Needless to say, we moved them out of her reach in record time; the lollipop flowers, seeking higher ground, joined the remote control and the cordless phone.

I like to think the flowers resemble plum blossoms, in bloom in Japan now most likely, although I don't expect anyone else to notice the abstraction (especially since ours have six petals, instead of five). But they made me nostalgic for Japan.

As did a trip to the mall this week. It occurred to me, once again, that a gourmet supermarket in the basement of a department store--with half regular groceries, half fabulous prepared foods vendors like in Saikaya in Japan--should've caught on in the US by now. (Not to mention the yummy sesame salad dressing one buys in such a Japanese market...nothing in America compares.) Japanese supermarkets are one-stop shopping at its best! I would definitely pay a little extra to not have to drive to a mediocre grocery store after shopping the mall for a couple hours. Is it just me? Is it only because I have two young, therefore, relatively needy children that I consider my time precious?

I don't think so. If I had more time because my children were older, one thing is certain--they wouldn't be letting me spend half my day or even a minute making silly Valentines, and cut-out heart cookies with them. But I know I'll still find my time with them later as precious as the time we've shared this week. But I realize that's because they're precious themselves, the epitome of love.

"Yes, mama, my frosting is all gone and my cookies are bare. So, I like a little cookie with my frosting. You knew this about me and still gave me my own cup of frosting..."