He SO Should Have Won

So, the note home read something like make a Valentine box, turn it in by Wednesday, we will pass out Valentine's that the kids make and there will be a contest for the best box.

What?! A contest. Ok, we are so there!!

So my creative wheels started turning ... very slowly. I am so not creative. Totally left-brained here. The right side of my brain doesn't work too often. That is probably why my scrapbooks look the way they do. Very orderly, very similar from page to page, not a whole lot of embellishments - it stresses me out. Anyway, after a few days of trying to come up with something, I enlisted a bit of help.

First I went to my right-brained counterpart ... Carey. He was a big help, let me tell you.

"Just get a shoe box and cut a hole in it."

That's it. Did I mention that he is into short-cuts too?

So Lame. How is that gonna win some contest?

So then I enlisted my trusty Internet. Typed in "Valentine Box Ideas" and found a shoe box that had been transformed into a Lion. So cute! Perfect for my animal lovin' guy!

But, I didn't want to totally steal the idea. So we made a monkey instead.



I mean how cute is that?! Totally fits his personality. He is even making the monkey sounds in the first picture.

He SO should have won.

I mean, I saw the other boxes. Very cute, very well done, but none compared to a shoe box converted into a jungle animal adorned with hearts. Plus, I cut out all those parts and painted the box in between cleaning up after Little Miss who had a stomach bug ... with a high fever ... for three days.

The big winner ... a box covered in a certain superhero paper (I will leave out the details to protect the young man). Hello. People. Come on. I guess five year olds just can't see creative genius when it is staring them right in the face with a cute monkey Valentine-like grin.

The girl box winner was covered in High School Musical. I dare not knock that, because I am a HUGE High School Musical fan and that is probably how I would have covered my box. Kudos to you little Kindergarten girl who has impeccable taste.

Fortunately, Riley was oblivious to the whole contest thing. He was out of school sick on Friday morning, so he wasn't even there for the judging and subsequent announcing of the winners. The only reason I knew was because one of the other kids in his class was giving me the scoop on it all during the Valentine Party that afternoon. He was very disappointed that he didn't win. I saw his box. Sorry bud, but you didn't stand a chance.

So, the lesson. Let Riley pick out how he wants to cover his box because only a 5 year old can predict what other five year olds will find cool.

And I can't wait until Tuesday when HSM3 comes out on video. So cool! I haven't seen it yet. I could never convince anyone to go with me to the theater and see it, which I have no idea why. I just know it will be great!