Will You Be My Valentine?

In sharp contrast to our previous week, this week has been a-hoppin'! Monday we (minus Brennen, who was still Captain Sneeze-a-lot) attended our art and ASL lesson, and were absolutely entertained by darlin' Dassah. She speaks of *beautiful butterflies,* *sparkly shoosies,* and requests hugs while caring for her baby doll *CryCry.* I asked if I could just borrow her for awhile, ha! So entertaining and sweet.

On Tuesday, we were double booked--actually triple. Buck was supposed to be work-scheduled early enough to help me run the kids to their activities, but then his schedule changed. Shucks! He arranged with his boss to come in a little early (though later than his new early) and leave early too. I took the boys to baseball, he met me there, I headed home to pick up the girls, he started home with the boys, I dropped off the girls (then went Valentine shopping), Buck and I both were home for a little while, then he headed out to get the girls . . . whew!!



And what were the girls doing? Well, let me tell you! Our girls were at a Bright Lights party--held, interestingly, at the little church (though it was a big church activity when they were involved). This group doesn't meet regularly currently, but they do celebrate together special days like Christmas and Valentine's Day. Our girls were happy to see some of their friends from the big church and from choir. They did lots of girly things like crafts and snacks, and they got to spend an evening with their good friend E. (By the way--the skirt Caelan is wearing is the skirt she made from the cute Hobby Lobby fabric we found :)

Valentine's Day arrived--and I thought I'd better get up early to get ahead of the crowd. The table was decorated with cards, chocolates, and small gifts. To this, Buck added flowers for us ladies . . . but, two of my crew slept so late, that breakfast time passed by! The other two went downstairs to start their schoolwork, and I waited. Okay, I did sneak in to the kitchen for my chai . . . and guess what I found? A pitchfork!! It said, "Hay-py Valentine's Day" (oh, I just noticed the *tines* too!). You may think that romance fades as the years go by, but this gift is exactly what I asked for--in fact, the gift was put to nearly immediate use as I headed out to give the chicken coop a much-needed cleaning. I like my new pitchfork!





The kids enjoyed seeing their Heart Day treasures, and Gabby made a batch of chocolate chip strawberry pancakes for a late breakfast. School went fairly quickly; I have the girls checking some math lessons now, which helps a lot! We started watching a Hallmark DVD series about a book series from Jeanette Oke that the girls like (Mrs. K let us borrow the first season set). I don't normally watch the Hallmarks, but I am intrigued by this being a series, so we shall give it a try :)




For dinner, we enjoyed sandwiches via a gift card from Grandma J--the kids got to get the *fancy* subs, with chips, and a drink, and everything! Lol! Usually, they get a plain sandwich and some water; such a festive day this! ;)

Later, we headed to youth group at the little church--which turned out to be a Valentine game night. There were lots of funny moments and some really odd games--"Why did the chevaliers have to jump into someone's arms?" Umm . . . "It's like when a princess needs to be rescued from a tower, back in the castle days; she'd jump and the prince would catch her--like on The Princess Bride at the end, only youth group pairs were boys and boys and girls and girls, so it didn't work out quite the same . . ." 🤣

Our kids were also pretty clueless about the pop culture references ("Sit down if you've ever had a crush on Jennifer Laurence"--I had to ask Buck who that was :) He said, "The Hunger Games girl." Oooh, right . . . we don't do *crushes* in our house, especially celebrity ones--pointless, am I right?!). Indeed, the Crew's lack of text, music, and movie knowledge helped them last longer in some of the games--which increased their odds of gaining candy from the big bucket (seriously, everyone rewards kids with candy!?) 

In the above photo, Caelan recited a Christmas poem to be the grand winner, though Graysen's *Fuzzy Wuzzy Wuzza Bear* nod garnered a few votes :)

We made it home in time for The Amazing Race and might have even planned a fall vacation. Buck and I are hoping to get dinner sometime soon, since spending time with 40 middle school and high schoolers on Sweethearts' Day wasn't exactly romantic, lol (but pitchforks are, I know, I have a very flexible definition of *romantic* :)

Update: Yes, I'm updating before I even publish this post the first time, ha! Buck and I did go on a date, and as we ate dinner at a steak house, we dressed up like a cowboy and cowgirl. Buck started it by appearing in his cowboy boots, jeans, a plaid shirt, and his black Stetson (I don't know if it really is a Stetson :) I matched his enthusiasm with my brown (not cowboy) boots, jeans, a plaid shirt, with a white vest and scarf . . . I might have said, "Yee-haw" as we left the house ;)