Happy Valentine's Day!

 We had a busy day.  Since Valentine's Day was a Thursday this year it was a Friendship day.  Gloria and I got dressed up in our hearts and red.  I did a short presentation on the history and current Valentine's day with lots of fun group discussions including pick your favorite heart candy phrase-I got to explain what a Heart Throb is :).  I then subbed for ESL 1 which is always rewarding but exhausting too.
Then Rachida and I headed to Gloria's and Houssam's school for their afternoon Valentine's party.  The weather was awesome so we waiting outside on the playground.  Gloria with friends and teachers-Ms Danielle and Elisabeth (who also has a son in the class and of the 10 kids five have moms with the name Elizabeth)

 Back home we got Lydia and various other neighborhood children to play after school.  Actually it was Summer and Rontrail.  He lives across the street and often plays with us in the front yard which gets afternoon sun so we spend a lot of time there in the winter.  We play 2 square-he is in 3rd grade, and the girls are too little, so its just me and him, he is a good sport whether he wins or loses; we color with chalk and  make tree houses for fairies.

 Today was the first time he came inside to play after school.  They all went through their bags of cards and candy and ate candy for about 2 hours straight.  We made heart sugar cookies with candy decorations.  For a moment I felt like a poster mom-look at that picture (though the details differ, I used a tube instead of homemade cookies and cream cheese instead of icing-but it was fun!)  We then went and played in the sunshine until Caleb came home.  The best thing about having Rontrail around besides the fact that is a good helpful kid (he helped pick up agave plants while I was doing it and shares his candy) is that he calms the girls down.  Summer and Lydia have been known to have 'alpha' female fights and be ugly to eat other but this doesn't happen when he is around.  Also Lydia still adjusting to KG can have meltdowns after school.  While making the hearts hers broke and she started crying.  He looked at her with shock and said, 'are you crying?' and she stopped!

 As normal we had a nice fancy family dinner at home (I have no desire to eat out on Valentine's day).  We had leftover soup from the guys' fishing trip.  The dinner started with rice and juice all over the table but it was okay because everyone stayed calm including the grown ups :)
Caleb did a 14 day count down to Valentine's with lots of cute cards and candy and the last one is tickets to a community theater and he is finding something for the girls!

It was a busy week but Chinese New Year (we didn't actually do anything but saw people dressed up at church) Mardi Gras (ditto didn't do anything this year) and Ash Wednesday.  Gloria and I went to Kellaura's seminary which is beautiful (and yes Gloria wore Valentine's outfits everyday this week).  It was a nice short service, Gloria wasn't as quiet as I would have liked but she likes getting the ashes.  Lydia was super disappointed she didn't get to go so next year we might try an evening one.  Blessings on your Lent and remember Easter is coming quickly!