Valentine's Day snack: lessons learned

Whole wheat cranberry orange heart shaped scones... it sounded good. (keep in mind, snack is at 9:30am people... it can't be cupcakes with candy hearts and double icing... well it can be... but really...)

Lessons learned (didn't I just post something similar back at the Thanksgiving lunch/birthday snack day?!):

1. Never EVER make something, which you have never made before, for the first time the night before your son's snack day. Especially if said son is VERY excited to help and therefore you can't ditch it, or make it again without him knowing (since it was already way past bedtime).
   
   
2. Never ever get upset over your failed attempt in front of excited son. Just add stuff... in my case lots of flour since the dough was gooey instead of firm... and then add more stuff to compensate for whatever you added before... in my case lots of sugar glaze (which I never intended to use in the first place AND also did not turn out right! WTH?).
   
   
3. Give up on being THAT mom that bakes all the yummy, yet healthy snacks... you (and by that I mean me) are just not that good of a cook, go to Panera or Whole Foods and buy something, then make it look like you made it. What?! I can't be THAT mom that buys all the snacks!
   
   
4. When in doubt of recipe's success, make only what you need from it (number wise) and let son play with the rest of dough. (okay, he thought he was really still making them... and he had a blast)
   
   
5. Just rid your mind of that nagging reoccurring image and sound bite of all the kids in your son's preschool class concurrently yelling "YUCK! What IS this?" *gag, spit, spit, gag* "Ethan your mom is not allowed to have snack EVER again!" (oh wait, aside from my little man feeling dissed, I kind of like the no snack scenario) Just pack a back up, pray it all goes well and move on (as if!).
   
   
6. Why in the world do we ALWAYS have snack assigned to us on EVERY holiday (if we get Easter I am staging a formal protest)? Which is a lot of pressure, for the special kind of crazy like me, not to mention that there is also always a holiday lunch that day in which we have to make something as well. (and in this case, also, make a valentine box, address and sign valentine cards, etc). Okay this was more a vent then a lesson learned. Hey, it's my blog, and I'll vent if I want to! Uh... okay?
   
   
7. Always stop, no matter how stressed, disappointed or upset you are, take in the moment and be in awe of your children. Ethan disappeared, while I was frantically trying to make the dough into something usable, and came back up in his play chef hat - proclaiming and referencing himself as the chef the entire time. Made me stop mid-stress moment... and laugh... and feel immense joy in all that is Ethan.

Ethan swinging a cloth around, trying to get them to cool off fast so he could eat one. He loved them by the way, but considering he also loves my spinach/kale/fruit smoothies... er... I mean straight-up fruit smoothies that I magically color green, that's not saying much.