The polar vortex finally swirled it’s way up to the Pacific Northwest and with several inches of snow Portland sort of shut down on Thursday afternoon, because the city doesn’t use salt on the roads (it’s bad for our beloved environment) and doesn’t own many snow plows (because it hardly ever snows) and who doesn’t like a snow day every few years?
There was a lot of snow day chaos to work out yesterday morning. The kids were unable to decide whether they should first play in the snow or watch the movie they were promised so there was much arguing and yelling. We also learned that snow makes the dogs crazy so when the girls weren’t yelling at each other, they were yelling at the spazzy dogs. Fun times.
Finally we bundled up and went outside.
After that I got Saoirse to sit down and crank out her valentine’s for her classmates. It didn’t take any coercing, really. She loves making things. (I wonder who she gets that from.)
After making heart necklaces last year and seed paper valentines the year before, she decided on cupid’s arrows made from twigs and felt. They were really fun to make and she was able to do a lot of it herself. I think we were both inspired by the geometric pattern on our tablecloth.
We used twigs from a dead branch on our cherry tree since everything else was covered in snow. She cut out a bunch of triangles and glued them herself onto one end of the twigs with craft glue.
I cut out a chevron shape for the feathers and cut two slits in it to slide the stick through. Saoirse slid the sticks through and secured it with a little craft glue. Then I cut the fringe, being careful not to cut too close to the slits that held it onto the stick.
Saoirse wants to give them away with a little poem that goes something like “Roses are red, violets are blue, I made this Cupid’s arrow, for a nice friend like you.” They turned out so well that I almost don’t want her to hand them out to her classmates! I think I need to make some more to decorate with. 
What would you do with your own quiver of twig arrows?