Valentine's Day

Maddie has been very excited about Valentine's Day and I think today met her expectations.  I'm not exactly sure what her expectations were since I haven't talked much about Valentine's Day (and even if I did, not sure what I'd say that would make her very excited except maybe mentioning candy).  She has off from school this week but last week was her class Valentine Party.  Each party requires two moms to be classroom helpers and this holiday it was my turn.  I brought my camera but didn't take any pictures because Maddie was enjoying herself so much and I didn't want to risk making her feel uncomfortable.  But, I loved the peek into her school life and was glad to see her obey her teacher and enjoy her classmates.  Here are the valentines she made.

 

I underestimated the effort it would take a not quite 4 year old to sign her name so many times.  She persevered and got it done, although by the end some of her signatures were much less legible than the one pictured.

I saw lots of cute ideas on Pinterest, but in the end just did a basic card involving stickers, stamps and signing her name since I wanted it to be a card she would enjoy helping with (and not just something that I liked although it pained me to pass on some of those clever ideas--maybe next year).  We had a special trip, just the two of us, to Michaels to pick out all the supplies.

Today the girls and I headed over to my parents' house for a little celebration with my mom and Beth, Nate and Sammy who were visiting.  The cousins had a great time together and we all enjoyed eating treats and visiting.  Beth had a sugar cookie decorating project for the kids, my mom had gifts for each of them and I brought a red velvet cake.

Maddie requested and subsequently enjoyed pink waffles.

The only day of the year my sink is filled with bowls containing remnants of various pink batters and icings.

The girls picked out their own accessories.  With their "bling" (charm necklace and wooden bead necklace), sunglasses and stances there was an odd aggressive vibe emanating from them.  Avonlea is thinking, Don't mess with me when I'm wearing all pink and standing in Maddie's pink room.

 

We said "Hug for a picture" and this is what happened.  They look like they are fighting, but it was more playful silliness.

Finally they held hands and started to hug, but it ended up more like a tackle...

Icing cookies (or in Avonlea's case, eating icing)

 

 

 

My dad stopped home for lunch and suddenly there were three of us whipping out our Nikons.

 

 

 

And yes, I got to see and hold sweet Samuel.  I totally hogged him so I could cuddle him and take a million pictures.  I will sort through them in the next few days, but here's a sneak peek.