XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXO

Happy Valentine's Day! We started celebrating yesterday.

P.K. and Hannah started the day with Daddy Donut Day at her school.

Hannah looks less than thrilled in this picture, but let me assure you that this child was beyond excited. She is very difficult to wake up in the mornings and it is very helpful if she is looking forward to something fun that day to motivate her to get up and be in a decent mood. When I was waking her up, I told her it was Daddy Donut Day. She was immediately happy and woke Daddy up telling him it was Daddy Donut Day. This is a great picture of the placemat she made. It is obviously a double placemat for both of them. The part on the left is fill in the blank items about her daddy. Let me share. Hannah's answers are in red. My thoughts are in blue.

My dad is 7 feet tall. (She must have him confused with Marine Wife's husband Stretch.)
My dad weighs 124 pounds. (He is a tall skinny man.)
My dad likes to eat salad. (He likes the stuff that looks like it was picked out of the backyard.)
When my dad goes to work he puts on a suit.
My dad likes for me to snuggle with him.
I like it when my dad plays with me.
My dad always plays on his computer. (He really doesn't play on his computer that often. This one surprised both of us.)
What my dad does best is drive. (Again, surprise. This would not have been my response.)
My dad and I like to "I Spy."

Later that day she had her Valentine's Day party. I brought in a cookie cake, grapes and heart shaped cheese. I had fun using my little cookie cutter to cut out all of those hearts. I was a bit leery because my friend Kari didn't have a great cheese heart experience with her daughter's preschool class. Most of her little hearts went into the garbage. Luckily, the kids here in the south like heart shaped cheese. The kids got to play "Put the Valentine in the Mailbox" which is like "Pin the Tale on the Donkey." I thought that was a creative idea that I will have to file away. I read a Valentine's book to the class which we then gave to the teacher for her classroom library.

After Hannah's party she and I headed over to Aaron's school to help with his party. I took his class the same thing I had taken to Hannah's. His teacher immediately acknowledged the heart shaped cheese and half of the class came running to see this phenomenon. You would have thought she said I brought in a pet monkey. As the kids were enjoying their snack one little boy said, "Aaron your mom makes the best cheese ever." Whew! Way to make a room mom's day.

This is Aaron working on making his candy necklace the teacher gave them.

Rachel's class was allowed to exchange Valentines but they had to make their own box at home and weren't allowed to have a party because her teacher didn't want to take up class time. My heart broke for Rachel. I know it is silly, but I could tell she was disappointed. The other three fourth grade classes had a party. Her teacher is often put out about things that take up class time...fire drills, new students, code red drills (practicing what to do if an intruder is in the building), lunch. I guess I found it so sad because I know this year or next will probably be the last that Rachel gets excited about exchanging Valentines and having a party to go along with that. I wouldn't say it to Rachel but when Rachel was telling us about not having a party because her teacher didn't want to take up class time, I told P.K. that I should tell her teacher that we aren't doing anymore homework because I don't want to take up so much of our family time. During our devotion/prayer time before school yesterday I did pray specifically for her teacher.

I think Hannah helped Rachel this morning. When Hannah and I went to Barnes & Noble to buy the book for her teacher, Hannah saw a copy of "The Diary of a Wimpy Kid." Rachel has been wanting the third in the series and Hannah asked if she could get that for Rachel for Valentine's Day. I gave in. She was so excited to get something she knew would make her sister happy. She then found Aaron a snake book. They both loved them.

I came down early this morning to have some quiet time while the house was still quiet and found a little white box with a red ribbon on it sitting on the counter with my name on it. My sweet husband got me an ipod shuffle. I have mentioned several times how I miss my old walking path and get bored walking the track and that I wished I had something to play music on. I wasn't expecting anything. We are trying so hard to pay off bills. He has been selling a lot of his books on Amazon so I'm sure that is where my ipod shuffle came from. It was very thoughtful and a great surprise. I did tell him that he was very brave to buy such a small device for a woman who often has to call her cell phone to find it.

P.K. and I got each of the kids a WebKinz. It is the "Love Monkey." It is pink with hearts all over it. Aaron and Hannah were thrilled and Rachel was gracious.

Aaron surprised P.K. and me with our own sparkly rocks that he dug out of the ground with his own sweet hands. He assured us they were o.k. because he washed them first. He made us hold out our hands and close our eyes. It is hard to keep a straight face when your seven year old who loves creepy crawlies puts something wet and cold in your hands. Here are my new treasures.

The look of pride on his face was priceless.

The kids had breakfast on our heart plates that I pull out at Valentine's Day each year. Love those little traditions.

A friend I grew up with is coming in town today for her daughter's cheerleading competition and we are going to meet them for dinner afterward. We are going to take the kids to the aquarium this afternoon since it is close by where we will meet her. Great family day!

The Lord has being bringing this verse to mind the past couple of days. I'll type it from the KJV because that is the version I used as a child and to memorize the scripture. "Beloved, let us love one another: for love is of God; and everyone that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God. He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love." I John 4:7-8.