Can you keep a secret?

The Wednesday before Valentine's Day, I suddenly remembered that it was coming up.  I had a date with Daddy scheduled for Friday, so you'd think this would have dawned on me before then, but, well, it apparently didn't...at least, not in the 'oh yeah, I need to make valentines!' way.  But anyway, that was when I realized that I needed to do something THAT day for the kids' parents.

So before I headed over to their house for the afternoon and evening, I grabbed up my ipad and some random crafting supplies.  I figured we'd make cards, and did a search to get some images to inspire the kids...except on that first search I found a craft that I decided they should make instead.  Jars full of 'I love you' type notes.  I took a couple of jars out of their pantry (their mom likes to save up glass sauce jars and such to use for storage or craft needs), and assigned the dad's jar to Brother Bear, and the mom's jar to Sister Bear.  Superman and Munch chose some fancy paper and made some interesting, colorful collages on their own.  It was a very free-range crafting time--we had decorative paper, construction paper hearts, stickers, stamps, ribbon, pens, glitter glue, and a few wiggle eyes that had been in the wrong bin and that Superman HAD to use ALL of--and we all had such fun...but it didn't last as long as I'd anticipated, because about 15 minutes into it, their mom sent me a text saying she was getting off work early and was on her way home.  This takes her roughly a half hour.  We went into double-time to get the project done and cleaned up without a trace--because of course presents should be a surprise--and we succeeded!  Then we reminded the youngest ones not to say anything, and Brother Bear in particular made sure Superman understood that he wasn't to say anything, "Like you did last year."

But then, the moment their mom walked through the door, Brother Bear blurted out, "We didn't make BLANK for you today!!"  Sheesh.  Clearly I reminded the wrong kids!  :) 

We took the Munch's artwork home with us for Daddy, but I forgot to remove it from the bag until the next morning when the Munch and I were eating breakfast.  She saw it as I took it out of course, and asked me why I was hiding it, so I reminded her that it was for Daddy for Valentine's Day, but that it was a secret and he shouldn't know about it until then...

Well, the minute Daddy came downstairs, the Munch blurted out, "We hid a SECRET for you!  And you can't see it until Valentine's Day!"  

Face.  Palm.