We've all experienced this before. The bait and switch that comes with visiting any dollar store. You go in vowing to walk out with a receipt of $5, but somehow inevitably leave no less than $20 later. It wasn't going to happen this time though. I had a well-thought out plan. I was hitting up the 99 cent store to do a fun, cheap- yet creative- Valentine stop. Last year I got these cute hearts and heart-attacked the boys door for them to wake up to. They each had a cute bag with some candy and a toy waiting for them at their spot at the breakfast table. All this was done for- well I don't know the exact amount but .99 times how ever many things that was. So this year, I didn't even put any thought into Valentine's Day. I just headed over to the store to mimic last year's success. And  after entering the store, one of the first things I see is Valentine's to give to classmates. Which triggers the reminder that my boys' too needed to participate in this tradition. And so I picked up two boxes of Star Wars cards. A mere 2 bucks to  satisfy two sons and two classrooms. But apparently not enough to satisfy the mom. As my eyes drifted to the cute party bags and treats and cheap party favors, I somehow subconsciously returned the Star Wars cards to their original location and started collecting items to do a goody bag. For all 40 classmates. This would be so much fun, right? We can do an assembly line at home, let the boys participate, and it won't cost that much money because after all...we're at the 99 cent store. Terrible idea. Unfortunately a terrible idea that didn't really register as that until I was handing my credit card over 27 dollars later. How in the world did a Valentine total of 2 bucks- that would have been equally appreciated by a bunch of 4 and 5 year olds- turn into $27. I mean subtract a couple of bucks because I did also find a misplaced bag of  flavored Tootsie Rolls and some jelly cinnamon hearts, but other than that, it was solely these dumb, under-appreciated goody bags. And my pride wasn't about to let me say, "Never mind, I actually don't want any of this," and walk out the door. And to fatten the total, I realized I totally got sidetracked from the original purpose of the trip- to put together a simple Valentine celebration for the kids. Later in the week, Target collected another $50 to bring Valentines to our house. Next year, I'm seeking a more solid plan and sticking to it. And I am definitely sticking to the simple, one step Valentine cards. And maybe I should just avoid the dollar store because it gets me every time.

And here is our most precious Valentine of 2011. Love this little girl!