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Just Another Wordless Wednesday

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Our Non-Valentine Week

This post is pretty much a quick photo dump of pictures from this week.  I’m behind on Project Life, and I need to write down the other things we did this week so that I can remember when I finally get around to catching up.

On Sunday evening, I went out to eat with Viviana and her kids.  I just love them.

On Tuesday, we did a science experiment with our homeschool friends.  This week, we learned all about taste buds!

On Friday, we went to see James and the Giant Peach at Lipscomb University:

On the way, the kids had fun playing with their new dry-erase toy:

We ended up with really good seats in the third row, center section.  Before the show started, we took a few pictures:

The kids loved the show.  At one point, they were laughing so loudly that other people turned to look.  I was a little embarrassed, but their joy was delightful.

On Friday afternoon, Viv and her kids came over, much to Luke and Anna’s delight:

Speaking of delight, on Saturday, I set out Luke’s old Thomas trains for the kids to play with.  I had to finish grading my essays, so I needed something to keep them busy for awhile.  These did the trick; the kids freaked out when they saw them!

This last one is random, but I have been reading The Story to the kids, which is a condensed version of the Bible.  Even though it is condensed, it is straight from the NIV 1984, and our reading sections can be lengthy.  To help them stay focused, I often print them out a coloring sheet of the story that we are reading.  It helps to give them something to do with their hands.  Sometimes, they can be a bit silly.  For example, in Anna’s version, Balaam and his donkey look a bit under the weather:

Well, that was the rest of our week.  It was a good one, but a busy one.  We just hung out at the house today, and I’m hoping for a much more relaxed week coming up!

Happy Valentine’s Day!

Well, we have had a very busy Valentine Week around here!  And what’s crazy is that my original Valentine’s plans were much more grandiose than what ended up happening.  I think I forgot that real life doesn’t stop just because it’s Valentine’s Day!  In particular, my college class still needed teaching (and needed me to grade their essays).  Also, we had several play dates lined up, apart from our actual Valentines events. 

One such Valentine event was Luke and Anna’s party for their tutorial group, which happened after tutorial on Tuesday.  The party was held at Chuck E Cheese, which for me is like “the outer circle of Dante’s Inferno,” to borrow a line from Downton Abbey.  The kids, of course, love it, though, and I guess it’s really not that bad on weekdays.  Still, there is too much noise and too many blinking lights for my low-sensory threshold. 

We were definitely the “ragamuffin contingent” at the party.  I taught that morning, so Greg got the kids dressed.  He apparently let Anna pick out her outfit, and then only brushed her hair without pulling any of it back.  When I picked her up from school, I was a little appalled:).

Also, Luke was in desperate need of a haircut, which ended up being our next stop of the day.  I was also appalled at myself when I realized that the kids were supposed to bring their own decorated Valentine mailboxes.  I guess I assumed they would make them in class?  That’s always what they did in preschool and kindergarten.  But no, I was wrong on that.  I had even tried at the last minute to find cute bags for them to carry their Valentines while they delivered them, but had no luck.  I had to settle for ziploc bags.

Well, guess what became their mailboxes?

Here are the other mailboxes:

Annnnnd here are Luke’s and Anna’s:

Mom of the year, right here, folks:).  At least our Valentines were awesome!

The kids took the Valentine delivery very seriously:

And then it was off to spend their tokens!  Anna used almost all of her on the “rides”:

 

Luke, meanwhile, staked out his place at the ski-ball games, and spent almost all of his time there.

He and I did get in a round of air hockey before leaving, though. 

The kids had a lot of fun at the party, and I was just glad that they still were able to have some semblance of a class party even though we homeschool.

On Wednesday night at church, we had the Sweetheart Banquet, where our church serves dinner the members of the church who “hosts” us.

Our teens serve them, which is nerve-wracking enough, but then all the little kids are supposed to perform songs for them, and that always stresses me out even more.

I’m happy to report that the teens did a GREAT job as waiters and waitresses, and our little ones hit the ball out of the park:

I was so proud of them!

Afterward, it was time to head home to put the kids to bed so that I could a) prepare for class the next day, and b) get ready for Valentine’s Day.  I don’t know why I think Valentine’s Day should be a production, and I do try to keep it low key (in theory)…but this year, I ended up making a Valentine scavenger hunt, using a grid map of our house:

When that was finally done, I went to bed…and woke up to find that my Valentine’s display had been expanded to include flowers and chocolates from my wonderful husband:

When the kids woke up, they were excited to open their valentines from Gigi, Papa, and Gramma Dottie:

Then, they went on their treasure hunt:

They had fun running from place to place and collecting a few things I had wanted to get for them.  Valentine’s Day became my “excuse”:

And of course, one of the stops had Anna’s annual stuffed animal from Daddy:

Meanwhile, Luke loved his cinch sack.  I got it for him for our busy Wednesday afternoons, which require him to pack a change of clothes and means to entertain himself while Anna is at gymnastics.  He had other plans for it:

After our treasure hunt, we ate a cinnamon roll breakfast…

…before I had to head to class.  I had had big plans of making homemade goodies for my college class, but that didn’t happen.  Plan B was Valentine donuts from Krispy Kreme.  My students didn’t seem to mind that they weren’t homemade:).

While I was teaching, Greg made heart-shaped sugar cookies with the kids.  They had cooled by the time I came home, and the kids and I made them into mini versions of fruit pizzas:

We made these because we were going to our first meeting of a Lego and American Girl club that afternoon, and we were supposed to bring a snack.  The request to “bring a snack” to a play group that you don’t know kind of reminds me of a wife asking her husband if this dress makes her look fat:  it just seems like a trap.  Moms are passionate people, and sometimes they have some intense beliefs about food.  I wasn’t sure if I was walking into a refined-sugar-is-of-the devil group….or conversely, if I were to bring carrots and hummus for a snack, were they the kind of moms who would wonder why I hate children??  Such a conundrum:).  I decided to err on the side of sugar, since it was Valentine’s Day and all…but to throw some fruit in the mix to give a nod to the healthy crowd.

In retrospect, I might have overthought the whole thing (shocker!).  Regardless, my cookie-fruit-pizzas were a hit, and for good reason:  fruit pizza is delicious:).  Also, the other moms were nice, and the kids really enjoyed themselves at the play group, so it was a good time all around. 

Next, it was home for a Valentine craft.  I got this idea from a blog I read last year, and had not forgotten it.  The idea is to talk about having the love of Christ in our heart.  I started by reading I Cor. 13: 4-7 and talking about what love looked like.  Then I talked about how when we show love to others, it is like sharing the love of Christ with them.  Anna piped up that when we show love to others, it is also like loving Christ Himself (someone had been paying attention to her Daddy’s devo on Matthew 25 on Wednesday night!).  With those thoughts in mind, we made our hearts:

Christ’s love shines through us!  I think they got the gist of it.

Our last Valentine festivity was dinner.  Two years ago, we had Swedish meatballs for dinner, which the kids love, and I thought that might become our Valentine’s tradition.  However, last year, I was too tired to make Swedish meatballs and ordered pizza instead.  This year, I thought about reinstating our Swedish meatball tradition but quickly realized that PIZZA should be the tradition.  So ham and pineapple pizza it was!

During dinner we did do our “Things We Love About Each Other” box, which we did in 2011 but not 2012.  This year, the kids worked all during the week, adding five things they loved about each family member to the box.  Then, Greg and I added ours, and we all enjoyed reading our slips of paper that night at dinner:

I especially love that the kids could write their own this year, and that they took delight in keeping their lists secret until the big reveal on Thursday.  I saved the slips from 2011 and now have saved them from this year.  I think it will be so fun to one day look back at our slips throughout the years and seeing what changes and what stays the same!

Well, that’s it.  That was our Valentine’s Day 2013.  I’m always exhausted by the end of it, and now, I can see why!  But even though it is tiring every year, it is also a lot of fun.  I love celebrating the love our family has for one another.  I have seen enough of this world to know that our love is something special and not to be taken for granted.

I hope that you and your family had a special Valentines Day, as well!