K's Valentines

Yesterday I was making a shopping list for the necessary groceries for Y's Valentine's dessert when K came up to me and asked what I was doing. I explained that soon it would be Valentine's Day. On that day we give treats or notes to people we love and our friends, so I was planning a special treat for Y.

K asked if he could make a treat for his friends. My heart nearly exploded - K wants to bake and do crafts with me! "Yes!! Of course you can!" I showed him a photo of both cupcakes and brownies, and asked him what he'd like to make. Brownies won.

The next step was to decide who to give his Valentines to. He started by naming my parents, T (my younger brother), and "Ankle" (my older brother). I told him that since we were baking something, we should try to keep our Valentines to those who live near us. Then as he started naming his best friends, I wrote down each of their names.

We started yesterday morning by making the notes. I cut out 20 little hearts - 10 red and and 10 pink. Then I gave K the pink hearts to color on. He colored in his signature style of scribbles.

I wrote each person's name on a smaller red heart and also wrote, "Happy Valentine's Day." Once K was done with the coloring, together we signed his name on each one. I put a little glue on the small heart and let him stick it to the big heart. Some are definitely placed better than others. What can you do? The kid is two.

This morning, while still in our jammies, we got to work on the brownies. I wanted them to be a bit more festive, so I got out a pack of holiday M&Ms that a friend sent to me. The M&Ms are mint flavored and red, white and green. I pulled out all of the red and white ones (and by "all" I mean the ones I hadn't yet eaten) and chopped them up. The chopped up M&Ms didn't quite make up a cup and a half, so I chopped up some chocolate bars too.

Then I called K over and we got the first set of ingredients out - eggs, cocoa powder, vanilla, salt and baking powder.

I helped K crack the eggs, we measured together, and he did the pouring. Then he whisked it up as good as he could and handed it over to me to finish.

Next was the melted butter and sugar. He stirred and then handed it to me.

The last addition was the flour, M&Ms, and chocolate.

Finally the batter was ready!

We poured it all in to the pan (and a couple of little baking cups) and popped it in the oven.

I ended up baking a tad too long and the very edge got a bit crispier than I like. Ah well.

I had K help me cut the ribbon and punch a hole into each heart.

I cut up the brownies (first cutting a square around the not so crispy part) and then wrapped up each one.

K put each one into a bag, I attached a heart to the outside, and tied the bag shut.

K is so super excited to give his Valentines to his friends tomorrow. I'm afraid he may be a tad confused, however, as he keeps saying that all of his friends will come over tomorrow to get their treats. That's not happening. I keep telling him that instead we will put each bag into our friends' mailboxes. Let's hope there's no major Valentine's Day freak out when no one comes over ;)