Unfortunately my #1 Valentine left town Monday morning. For the third week in a row. So by the time I had put together 68 valentine's for classes, figured out gifts for teachers, planned a party for Ellie's class and dropped off the leftover goodie boxes from the fundraiser, I was about done with Valentine's Day. I was exhausted from being a single mom and wanted someone else to be in charge of something for once.
Tuesday morning I woke up at 4:30 am and decided it deserved to be celebrated anyway. I got up and made everyone heart shaped pancakes for breakfast.
Please note that both my boys make the exact same cheesey open-mouth smile.
Nate kept asking, "Uhhh, you know how usually there's a box of candy or something? Are we getting that after school?" I usually buy for the boys and Dustin buys for the girls (just something small like a Star Wars box of chocolates), but since we had been so slammed lately neither one of us had gotten them a single thing (unless you count the candygrams and truffles we bought from the fundraiser). So after I dropped the kids off to school, Sadie, Luke and I headed to Wal-Mart (the only place open before 8 am) for some Valentine's Day shopping. Usually I never have to go to a store on a holiday, but guess what!! 1. Wal-Mart is actually unusually empty that early in the morning and 2. They still had stuff!! You can actually purchase things for a holiday THE.DAY.OF! It is not necessary to shop 4 months in advance.
We headed home, decorated the table all fun for after school, wrapped the presents, made heart shaped rice krispie treats and got ready for Ellie's class party. Nate's was a no-parents-invited affair.
We had a candy obstacle course, played Cupid's Arrow, made cards for parents, ate snacks and then had a birthday party for Ellie's teacher whose birthday was the day before. 
We love Mrs. Scott and had fun making her wear a ridiculous birthday get up and playing a game all about her.After school we came home to find Dustin had ordered us the best Valentine's gift ever -- an edible arrangement.
My kids were CRAZY for that thing. 
Luke only like the regular strawberries which was a big win for us, because then we *had* to eat the chocolate dipped ones.It was Jill's night for dinner co-op so we feasted on pot roast and flat bread and then opened up our gifts. Ellie got earrings.
Pokemon cards for Nate.
Some Hello Kitty sticker book Sadie picked out for herself
and Thomas the Train plates -- also picked by the recipient at the store.
Apparently he did not like them as much when he opened them for the second time that day.
Or it could have been a meltdown from his no-nap strike. Seriously he really needs his naps still. How to enforce them?
It all turned out just fine with a little bit of chocolate. And luckily the 15 minute cat nap on the floor meant he was up ALL NIGHT!I am so grateful for the little prompting that morning and all the extra energy that magically appeared. I absolutely love me family and I'm so grateful I got to make them feel special all day! And I'm so lucky that their excitement and love of life, plus their hugs and kisses, made me feel special all day too.
2 comments:
Great post!
I love all the pictures!
I love all the funny stories!
Especially Luke and the plates!
Mostly I love you!
Love Aunt Beaney
Wow, I just wrote a whole long comment, and it disappeared. I will try again. So glad that you had a good V-day, in spite of Dustin being gone. I feel your pain. I think it is almost harder when they are gone often for short amount of times, like what you are dealing with, than gone for one long chunk. Not that I love that Kevin is gone for months, mind you, but it is so much easier to get into a routine/survival mode when they are gone for longer, because you aren't constantly getting having to transition from one to another. I have had both, and this is easier in that respect. Hope all is well, and that you get through the no-nap transition okay - it is such a hard phase!
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