valentine blizzard

per usual, we are assembling our valentines in the 11th hour.  if you were around last year or the year before, you know that we're working our way through the plastic animal collection from his younger days.  this year's contribution is the lizard.  we found 29 in his stash.  his 4th grade class is a bumper crop of 26.  luckily, we've got it covered.

i struggled quite a bit coming up with a catch-y phrase for his cards this year. indeed, i did not come up with one. pinterest only yielded "iguana be your valentine" and "leaping lizards! it's valentine's day!" now both are relatively cute in their own rights. the problem lies within me and my literal mind. the lizards we had were mostly anoles with a few basilisks, chameleons, and bearded dragons. maybe just two or three iguanas in the lot. i have a degree in biology. you see the problem, right? and then, well, "leaping lizards!" only makes sense to me if i include a photo of little orphan annie. children of the 80's would get it, but g's classmates would not. dear me. i finally stumbled upon this cute poem by shel silverstein and inspiration struck. it's not exactly valentine-y, but it fits the current climatic conditions well enough. we're going with it. truly, you can't really go wrong with a shel silverstein poem.

in case you are interested (for next year, of course), here is last year's valentine design (above)  and the year belore that (below).  while i am a dud at the christmas party each year, i strive to be an overachiever for valentine's day.

fifth grade will be my grand finale.  ugly bugs.  i know you can hardly wait.