Valentine President Snow-valanche

I guess Valentine's Day should matter to the average married couple.  I don't know?  Matt and I are coming up on 16 years, and neither one of us got the other one something.  Actually, I take that back, I did get him a funny card, and he did want to make a mall run to Bath and Body after school one day last week.  The miser in me encouraged him to come home because I had coupons ( BB has the BEST coupons).  My sister had us over for a nice, home-cooked meal on Vday.  We played cards and hung out and noshed on some yummy Dairy Queen Blizzard cake.  That's the perfect date in my book! 

I  guess the evolution of "gift giving" changes among the grade schoolers too. 

The kids had their parties on Friday afternoon. 

Maybe it's a boy thing, maybe not, but I feel like the Valentine's box (for school party's) needs to make a statement about one's personality?  For my 8-year old, his whole world is centered around basketball.  It was a no-brainer what we'd make for his box this year.  It's not easy turning a shoebox into a basketball goal.  You definitely need something more pliable, like a left over Krispy Kreme donut box. We had one handy from Isaac's party the weekend before.  Add some acrylic paint and a little hot glue, and viola..

 He told me people were shooting Valentine's into his basket.

 The second grader comes home with loads of Valentines.  There's candy, pencils, small treats, a book, goody bags - lots of stuff. 

The 4th grader still comes home with cards and treats, but making boxes has been nixed by this point.  At the most, they will make a bag.  Isaac's came home with his Valentine's in his backpack - he told me his bag had broke.  He was completely "not" interested in talking about the party at all.

 And, then, there are the 6th grade treats.  Pitiful. Karson did tell me that she ate a few of them at school, but this is what she came home with - 3 measly pieces.  Do Valentine's mean something in 6th grade?  Is it a lost cause at this point?  Who knows?

My sister got the kids some early Valentine treats last Wednesday night - Brusters gift cards.  

We made an ice cream run after church.

One of the projects that generally occurs during the 2nd grade year is the school's wax museum.  Students choose an important person from American history to research and essentially become.  Miles and I discussed some possible options, and he was supposed to select three (3) from the list his teacher had provided.  He chose Martin Luther King Jr., Obama and Abraham Lincoln.  I loved his choices, but both MLK and Obama had already been selected, making him honest Abe.  I scored a cheap costume on Amazon and with my points and PRIME, the costume was free.  

 I was pleasantly surprised by the costume which arrived last Friday (especially based on the poor reviews it received).  It will work perfect for his project.  However, I had to make some minor adjustments on the beard because there were only three small sticky tabs on it.  There is NO WAY that would hold a beard on for more than a minute or two. 

I found some flags, star cut-outs and a tri-fold at Hobby Lobby.  We've been working on his poster and learning lots of fun facts about Abe like:  he was the only president with a beard, the first one to be assassinated, he didn't have a middle name, his mom died from milk poisoning….the list goes on.  The wax museum  project is scheduled to take place this Thursday.  I highly doubt that will happen though with this winter weather. Looking back through the 2nd grade wax museum pics., the other two were aviators.

Isaac as American Pioneer Orville Wright.

Karson as the first female aviator Amelia Earhart.

It was pure joy to wake up to blanket of snow yesterday.  I believe we got a total of 10 inches.  Due to the weather predictions, SKyPAC offices were closed.  It was a treat getting to stay home and enjoy the snow with the kids.  However, preparing for "snow play" reminds me much of Randy from a Christmas Story.  The prepping is time consuming.  We pull down all of our snow gear from the attic - ski pants, bibs, gloves, etc.  

Karson has had the same jacket for the last three years, and it was time for it to be replaced.  We scored a nice North Face on-sale at Dick's Sunday night along with some water proof gloves and a new hat.  I got the jacket a bit big so she can use it for the next two years (adult small).  Speaking of Karson, I'm certain she has grown a foot this winter.  I hardly recognize her.  She's not a kid anymore, and it's getting difficult to fix her hair because she's almost eye-level.  Sigh. 

After about an hour in the snow, bright red noses and mounds of wet clothes entered into the house.  Karson and Miles were wanting hot cocoa.  I rarely have instant cocoa in the house but always have unsweetened cocoa (for no-bake oatmeal cookies).  There's tasty recipe on the side of the container which satisfied the kids sweet tooth and hot cocoa craving.

Snow Day take 2 - our offices are closed again today which meant another round of snow fun with the kids.  We cooked a big pancake breakfast and invited our neighbors the Vernon's over.  Their kids and ours are literally stair-steps of each other and always have the best time together.

Miles and I went out this morning and decided to try and "free" my car which is buried in mounds of snow.  We pretended each snow chunk that we took off the car was a piece of cake.  

We are loving the SNOW-valanche!  I realize that weather like this puts a kink in things, but it sure is fun to play in.  Sometimes it's important to learn to "slow down" in life and enjoy God's beauty and the blessings of warm homes and valuable time spent with family.