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.