Valentine's Day

A couple of days before Valentine's Day, we did a "love note" treasure hunt. I made it a little too elaborate (lesson learned. It took forever), but we still had lots of fun. Basically I looked up scriptures that had to do with love. I wrote the scripture on the front of a Valentine card. We talked about what the scripture meant and then had some sort of activity to help us apply that scripture. When the activity was finished we read a riddle leading them to the next clue.

There was lots of goofing off to be had by all.

Logan showing off what he made in school.

Domino patiently waiting for the kids to patiently put a puzzle together and figure out HE is where the next clue is hidden. Because Love (or charity, as the scripture says) is PATIENT.

On Valentine's Day, Jessie had a party. It was so so so fun. Here are a few snapshots.

Noah started saying "cheese!" as soon as I whipped out my camera. He noticed I wasn't taking a picture so he started saying it again and again, getting a little more animated each time. So dang funny.

Jessie with Sarah and Kylee, two of her besties. I love this picture. They are each so adorable and remind me so much of their own beautiful mothers.

Party's over. Time to go pick up the brothers from school.

And... Noah crashed on the way home. (He gets hives once in a while and then they can sometimes take a week or so to fade completely. That's what the mark on his right cheek is. The other one is from how he was laying in the car seat).

We all react to sugar differently. The older kids are a bit wound up from the day's festivities. Noah rests peacefully in a sugar-induced coma. See, on Valentine's Day and Halloween I don't fight it. I let them have their fill of candy and then regulate what's left after that. They learn to listen to their bodies, it's actually better for their teeth, and I don't have to deal with crappy candy around the house for weeks.

After dinner we watched the Kid History (or snippets or whatever it's called now) about Valentine's Day. We talked about conversation hearts. We read some more of their Valentine cards. Logan didn't know what a "crush" is. I explained it's when you like someone. Then Logan told us he has a crush on a girl in his class. Oh? Jared told him he's not allowed to have crushes. I asked Logan what she looked like, what her name is, if she is nice... He told me he thinks she is "beautiful." Oh? At first I thought maybe this was like when I took Freshman Psych, and I was sure I had every single mental disorder I read about... but then I realized that I just had some characteristics of them and I could still function (relatively speaking). Anyway, this girl he has a "crush" on has come up a few different times now, so it seems like maybe he really does have a little crush instead of just thinking, "Oh. I like people. I must have a crush." Tonight (a week later) he even drew a picture of her. As he was drawing it he told me, "This isn't what she actually looks like. I'm still learning how to draw right. On my birthday, she told me 'Happy Birthday, Logan' before she went to the bus. I liked that." Oh? Jared piped in something again about not being allowed to have crushes until he's 34. We make quite the parenting duo. All I can say is "Oh?" and Jared's response is "You're not allowed to do that."