it's his party......

and mom is not welcome.  Ben's class Valentine's party was the last straw in my attempts to help at his classroom parties.  Although our morning drop-offs and mid-day pick-ups usually run smoothly, Ben really acts out when I try to join him for class activities.
I had known this from previous parties so attempted to just pick him up at the standard time while balancing a slightly early pick-up to head to lunch and meet Tante and sadly the party was still in full swing.  Ms. Bailey was just heading to the hallway to get Ben's Valentine's (that I had left there after re-doing 50% of them thanks to a single deadly arm swoop by Ben as we were leaving the house,) to hand out.  

Tying these cars on was much more difficult than my craft-mind imagined.

I instantly grew nervous as when Ben sees me, he thinks it's time to go home-NOW!  So I enter the classroom and there he sits quietly with a bag full of tempting candy.  A mix up by the teacher of his and a classmates bag caused a fight that ended with a bag ripped in half and Valentines EVERYWHERE! At this point, as I sat in the corner feeling the stares of the several other parents in the room, my fight or flight instinct screamed RUN! RUN! LEAVE THE KID AND RUN!
I helped Ben hand out his Valentine's while trying to contain him and his own wishes to RUN! and we were out of there as fast as possible. 
The sweet party mom came out with one last Valentine that Ben had made for me and assured me he'd been a perfect angel until my arrival.  She and I get along great so I knew her intention was sweet and sincere and that she was in no way questioning my ability to make my child mind as could have been inferred. :)
We left the school quite promptly and headed to catch the "EEEEE Train," to have our annual heart day lunch with Tante.  Ben was still 3 during lunch and on our journey but not as 3! as he can be sometimes and we had a delightful afternoon until Tante returned to watch Ben while Ryan and I went to a delicious Valentine's dinner at Carmine's on Penn.  We put a Christmas gift from the Lineberrys to use and enjoyed bolognese and gnochhi pomodoro that were both delicious. We picked up our favorite Whole Foods chocolate decadence cake and took some home to Tante and Ben and enjoyed a couple new House of Cards episodes to close out a wonderful day of love. 

The EEEEE train never disappoints.

Lunch with Tante was delicious and time in the sun on the Davita Deck was a bonus.

I found this card a while ago at a West Elm/Etsy local pop-up shop and Valentine's Day proved the perfect day to give it.