Valentines

Monday was Steven's actual 17th birthday. In the morning he had no gifts to open from us because he just wanted $$. He did get a card and gift card from Grams and Poppy Brady to open and a few days later some silver coins from his other grandparents. We let him ditch his high school classes that day but he still had to go in for his college classes. That evening I made Steven his favorite chicken alfredo and then the Jones family came over for cup cakes and ice cream.

After we celebrated Steven, we all went to Lucy's volleyball game. The game did not go well. Lucy's team lost 2 out of the 3 matches. It was not their night. And poor Maverick fell backwards off the bleacher seat during the game so it wasn't his night either. 

Wednesday while the girls were at their classes I went through the stuff in the basement and took a load to Salvation Army. It always feels good to get stuff out of the house. After we dropped off the load, I took Ruby to the library. I was just going to do a quick stop to pick up a book and let her play for a minute because I was not looking my best, but we ran into the other mom from the ward that has a girl Ruby's age. I ended up staying longer then planned, chatting with her and another mom friend of hers (this time she didn't cut me out of the conversation, like the last time I saw her at the library). It was nice but I wish I had actually done my hair before going out. 

Wednesday night we were supposed to get a lot of snow so all activites were cancelled that night and schools decided to preemptively cancel for Thursday as well. It ended up not being much a storm, just a few inches of snow. I really think they could have still had school and that the weatherman is maybe just a high schooler that just doesn't want to have school. The kids were happy to all have a day off. We had a lazy day in. 

Thursday night we had a Valentine's get together with the girls friends: Claire, Mimi, and Geli and Luna (who came an hour late). We started with crafts- little pizza boxes(you have a pizza of my heart), shrinky dinks (that ended up not shriking well in the oven because the girls put a few on the pan upside down) and they water colored a heart. After the crafts Geli and Luna showed up so we played some minute to win it games- older girls (unicorns) versus the youngers (team pink). We matched and stacked conversation hearts, tried to slide rubber ducks onto hearts, used straws to take marshmallows from one side of the table to the other, and they shook cups to determine which has more conversation hearts. The older girls ended up winning by just one point. Our last activity was decorating (and eating) cookies. Then they had about 20 minutes just to hang out before parents came to pick up. I know my girls love these crafts and activities so I am happy to host this for them and their friends.

Friday was Valentine's Day and I gave each of the kids their love gifts and cards. The boys were off early in the morning so they didn't get theirs until after school and I didn't snap a picture of them....but Steven got $$, Ben got a Goomba Lego set, Lucy and Penny got Beanie Boos and Ruby got a Police Duplo set.

Friday morning Tyler and I went to the Village of Milford to turn in our passport applications. It was a quick and easy process and now we are one step closer to our Englad trip. I have been spending lots of time looking up things because it has been so cold and icy here and it helps to dream of traveling to far off pretty places...even if we won't be going there for another a year.

That evening Lucy had another school dance with her friends. This time her Aunt Mariah came over and did her hair and make up. She looked really fancy and way to pretty to be at a place where boys were. She said that she did not dance with any boys, just hung with her friends the whole time.

 

Also that night my friend Corinne came into town. We went to Arby's and then hung out at my house. Shes stayed over until 1am which was way past my bedtime. She is the same bubbly enthusiastic and slightly judgy friend, lol. 

Saturday morning was nice and chill. I have been working on the books I make for the kids for Easter so it was nice to have some time for that. That afternoon I watched Corinne's 3 kids while her and her husband went to the temple. Lucie and Penny were awkward at first but it didn't take long before they were back to being good friends. Della and Joel were really chill kids and mostly just played with toys. I was worried her kids were going to be tricky (because they were when she used to live here) but honestly it was just my kid- Ruby- that was tricky. Ruby did not love sharing her toys or me with these other kids. She has a lot of only child behaviors as the major baby of this family. When their parents came back from the temple, we all hung for a bit and then they headed out to go visit another family. Honestly I had had some trepidation about Corinne's visit being a little overwhelming but it was just the right amount. 

This week Ruby has been getting some teeth in so there were a couple early wake ups with her- Tyler was a big help thankfully. Ruby is very much a toddler and does not like to have her diaper changed or go down for a nap- she often runs from me. We are also constantly telling her "feet on the seat" because she wants to climb onto the table instead of just stand on the chair. She loves to play with her Barbies and try to put them on their horses. She also plays with her Fisher Price Little People quite a bit. I am honestly quite impressed with how well she independently plays at this age. This week she has been doing better at signing "all done" when she is officially done eating (she seems to lose words and signs and then come back to them) and she has been very excited about all the "snow" outside- even though I don't take her out in it. It has been sooooo cold.