Valentine’s 2019

February 14, 2019 by

Herding sheep for a group Valentine’s Day photo…

     

Eleanor kept trying to eat the sign.

Eleanor was just not feeling the dressing up for pictures today!

The school’s annual Valentine’s potluck is always so cute. We had a lot of parent volunteers this time, so I was able to alternate between Samantha, Amelia and Meredith’s rooms. Everyone was chowing down and didn’t really want to be interrupted for pictures!

Samantha’s class digs in.

Meredith’s first school potluck! She basically ignored me whenever I came in to say hi. She is so funny to observe at school because she’s so obedient and independent there! After eating and cleaning up, she brought her nap basket into Amelia’s room to get ready for nap, helped an older kid put the sheets on her mat, listened intently to the story and then curled up and fell fast asleep while I was cleaning up the potluck!

At home, we had our annual Valentine’s Day Party with Valentine’s Bingo, our family “heart attack,” and fondue, which had been a very effective bribe all week long.

Everyone had to spin the spinner and say something they loved about the person it landed on. Only then could they dip their fruit in the fondue! They were definitely more motivated to say nice things about each other when chocolate was involved.

Last year’s fondue was so messy that I almost thought about not doing it this year, but the girls were too quick to ask when we would be eating melted chocolate again for Valentine’s. They did much better with the mess this year!

Lots of love,

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Our Funny Valentines

February 16, 2018 by

Valentine’s Day Photo Extravaganza 2018 (a.k.a. I always tell the girls they have to take pictures for me on holidays):

The girls obliged for the most part, with the promise that they could climb trees and play hide and seek.

Getting the letters right side up and in the correct order was a work in progress.

            

Amelia the pink sparkly circus performer.

Samantha practices an arabesque.

   

I’m done.

Chucking that banner was extremely satisfying.

Sammy boogies.

So much love.

Tree climbing and hide and seek time.

Lots of love,

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Valentine’s 2018

February 14, 2018 by

Valentine’s Day is always a festive occasion at preschool and the kids get excited to not have to wear uniforms that day!

Miss Becky and Amelia’s class.

Amelia and her BFF, Mila.

Samantha and Amelia made some darling crafts and presents for us for Valentine’s, but for some reason, I only have a picture of Amelia’s:

As the Room Mom for Samantha’s class, I was in her classroom most of the time helping set up and serve. It’s exhausting dealing with all the requests for MORE, constantly reminding the little kids to stay in their seats and telling them dessert will be coming soon for the billionth time, but luckily, another parent was able to come in and helped serve. I don’t know how the preschool teachers do it because I need a nap after just a few hours of being there! I also coordinated with the parents on who was bringing what dish and I’m always scared we are not going to have enough food– it always ends up being the opposite! After the kids were done, we brought the leftovers to the atrium and the volunteer parents and teachers helped ourselves.

 

Samantha’s main teacher, Miss Holly, was still out on maternity leave and missed the potluck, but all the kids loved having Miss Thashika there to assist, as well as Miss Linda and Mr. Michael.

Jake and I went out the week before so that we didn’t have to deal with the crowds on Valentine’s and had a nice steak dinner at home for our “We Love Our Family Day.” It’s a holiday the girls always look forward to and more fun that feeling forced to celebrate a contrived holiday!

The girls raced through bath time after we promised them fondue for dessert.

Fondue was a brave decision and maybe not the best one!

Meredith gave up on dipping the fruit and just went for the chocolate.

We played a little Valentine’s game where each family member was assigned a colored heart. Everyone took turns spinning the spinner and whoever’s colored heart you landed on, you had to say something you loved about that person. There was a lot of “I love your cooking/cleaning/laundry,” from the girls to me, “You are cute,” to Meredith, and “I love when you play with me and be silly,” to Jake and the twins to each other. We tried to get the twins to think more along the lines of attributes they loved about each other/us, but they were having too much fun spinning the spinner to think very deeply!

Fondue chaos! We may stick to heart-shaped cookies next year!

Lots of love,

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School Valentine’s Party

February 20, 2017 by

I am backtracking to Valentine’s Day after realizing I never hit publish on my post! Let the record show we did celebrate Valentine’s Day (sort of)!

Amelia and Samantha on their first Valentine’s Day:

Wow, it’s almost that time of year to whip out those popsicle molds once again!

Our three sweet Valentines, 2016:

Our Valentine’s week this year was a tad crazy between our showings for our house on the market and school Valentine’s parties, so getting a picture of all three together was a complete fail. I kept meaning to pose them all in their matching “Love shirts” the week after and just pretend it was Valentine’s Day, but didn’t get around to that either, so individual non-posed pictures it is.

This year, Samantha and Amelia have really been getting the hang of the whole holiday thing (for better or for worse) and had been inquiring about when it would be Valentine’s Day for weeks. Since when did Valentine’s Day become Halloween? The girls ended up with shockingly huge bags full of candy by the end of school and spent the entire afternoon spreading out all their Valentines and comparing what they got with one another.

Meredith’s Valentine’s gift to me was sneaking into the snack cupboard and eating half a box of leftover Teddy Grahams from her birthday party before I caught her!

The girls had fun crafting at school during the month of February and displayed a few of their masterpieces at home:

I helped out in Amelia’s class with some of their Valentine’s crafts and also volunteered to help with the Valentine’s potluck in Samantha’s class. Amelia barely noticed me helping serve food in Samantha’s class, she was so busy enjoying her feast and playing with her friends. She’s come a long way as she used to get so upset if I was in one classroom, and didn’t have time to make it to the other. These days, she seems much more interactive and comfortable with her friends than Samantha.

It’s always a blast interacting with the kids and seeing firsthand what they are up to. The other kids always ask, “Are you Samantha AND Amelia’s mom?” Most of kids are pretty good at telling the twins apart, and it’s been great for them to have separate classrooms and make their own friends.

Samantha and Amelia were excited that I brought one of their favorites to share– baked macaroni and cheese bites in the shape of hearts.

The Valentine’s banquet was quite the feast! The teachers and other parent volunteers gobbled up the rest of the leftovers, but next time, I think the kids should serve us first.

Lots of love,

 

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