Valentine’s Day

 

"A bell is no bell 'til you ring it,
A song is no song 'til you sing it,
And love in your heart
Wasn't put there to stay -
Love isn't love
'Til you give it away."
Oscar Hammerstein, "You Are Sixteen" from the film Sound of Music

A friend of mine came over the day before Valentine’s Day to watch the kids so RJ and I could play pickle ball at the community center.  If the scoring was the same as tennis, we never did fall out of “love”.  We got our tushies kicked by geriatrics. 

On Thursday, I made the kids smoothies and muffins for breakfast.  Cheryl, Adam and Nathan came over for lunch and I made sugar cookies for the kids to frost and sprinkle.  I sewed like crazy to get RJ’s gift finished before dinner and had piano lessons in the afternoon.  We ate Chinese food (Market Pantry and Archer Farms) for dinner with the kids then exchanged valentines. 

This is the third year that RJ and I have given the children books for Valentine’s Day. It’s become tradition to instill in them a love of reading.  They were very excited about their books.

Reagan got a pull, spin and lift the flap book about a lion cub trying to find his mother.

McKenna got a Hello Kitty book with stories, activities, coloring, math, and stickers.

Hunter got Diary of a Wimpy Kid- The Third Wheel.  He read over 90 pages the first night and finished it in three days.

I drew a blank when I thought of what to do for RJ.  Then it hit me and I knew exactly what I wanted to do.  Reed (RJ’s dad) brought a sourdough start last year when he came to help Pam watch the kids.  RJ has been making bread, pancakes and english muffins at least once a month with it since.  He looks the recipe up on line every time.  I decided to make him a recipe book for his sourdough.  I printed off about 15 recipes and had them bound.  I decided to make him an apron to go with it.  I was really proud of myself for getting it done in a couple hours without a pattern.  I also gave him our blog book from last year and of course the traditional “Remember When” list that I compile throughout the year (mostly just the humorous happenings).

RJ let me pick out a necklace from Charming Charlie a few days later.

1st Official Haircut

Reagan’s hair was looking a little limp so I grabbed the scissors and took courage.  Because of her flat spot on the back of her head, I gave her three layers.  It’s not her hair that makes her so cute.  It’s her personality!

I noticed that her bangs are looking like a shark attacked in these pictures but they are not that bad in person.

Tooth Fairy Time!

McKenna’s dentist told me that she had some loose teeth 3-4 months ago.  I didn’t notice any loose teeth until this week when one of them was wobbling back and forth inside McKenna’s mouth.  She was very excited for it to come out and asked us to pull it.  RJ tried the first night but after about 8 attempts decided to have her wait one more day.  I told her I would try the next day since my fingers were smaller.  The thought of pulling the stringy ligaments apart made my stomach churn but I gathered my courage which McKenna was not lacking in the least.  I gave it a few tugs but it kept slipping.  I finally decided to grab the base of the tooth on either side and show no mercy (by the way, I have since learned that you are suppose to twist not pull).  Ta da!  Look at my growing girl!  She was so happy, she ran and sang through the house until we reminded her that it was bedtime and the party was over.  We staged a fun picture below with some salad tongs.  The tooth fairy left two quarters.  We hope her and her friends don’t compare fairies!

February Date

We missed out on our snowshoeing date last year because there was no snow so it made the date list again this year.  I was sure there would be snow but I wasn’t sure I could brave the low temps this year.  I decided I would just bundle up and not be the rain on RJ’s snowshoeing parade.  We dropped the kids off at Cheryl’s and drove an hour to Afton.  When we got there, they said the snow wasn’t deep enough to wear the snowshoes but we could “hike” the trail.  We walked about thirty minutes down a candle lit trail that wound around to this awesome bonfire!  It was so interesting to watch a blazing fire on top of a glistening, frozen pond of water.  After we got nice and toasty, we headed back to the lodge where they had hot chocolate.  We didn’t have any because we had to cash/change to tip the women handing it out but it was a nice touch.

Thanks RJ for thinking outside the box.  Very cool!