Valentines Day weekend

Valentines Day was definitely more chaotic this year than last. Having 3 kids in school meant that I had 3 class valentines parties to plan for. The girls both had typical parties in their classrooms, which meant hauling out the valentines I got last year on clearance and having the girls sign one for each of their classmates. David's class did something a little different this year. His teacher decided that each child would be given a secret Valentine buddy (someone else in their class). You were supposed to secretly do something nice for your buddy each day last week, like sharpen his pencil or leave a piece of candy in his mailbox. Then on Friday, bring in a Valentine or special treat for your buddy. She thought that rather than having 2 dozen small valentines that would get lost, each child would have one special one from a classmate. I really like that idea, especially since David has already lost the card from his buddy. Seriously though it's nice to see the kids being taught to focus on doing something nice for someone else.

Fridays are always busy in our house though. I watch my best friend's 4 kids on Fridays. And of course now the Maddux bowling league has started. So every Friday from January until early April I take Rachel and Matthew plus the other 4 kids I watch and head to Maddux to pick up Rose and David. Then we all head to the bowling alley (riding illegally with 9 people in a 7 passenger mini-van. Shhh!) where I watch 3 of my kids bowl, keep track of 8 kids including 2 3-year-olds, fend off repeated requests for money to buy french fries or quarters to play video games. Fortunately 4 of the kids are picked up by their father after he gets off work. But this particular Friday all the kids were hyped up on Valentines candy so they were running around more than usual.

But I survived and headed home with my 4 kids. Phil and I got Brett to watch the kids and went out to celebrate V-Day by ourselves. We started out at Carrabbas Italian Grill. Oh boy do they have yummy food. I ate waaaaay too much but loved every bite of it. Next we headed to Newport on the Levee to do something. See a movie? Play at Gameworks? We actually ended up at Barnes & Noble browsing for a couple hours (and spending too much money). All in all a delightful evening!

On the actual Valentines Day we got heart-shaped pizzas for dinner. The pizza place down the street does heart-shaped pizzas every Feb. 14. The kids loved the novelty of it! I got a picture of one but still can't find my camera cord so I can't get the pictures off my camera onto the computer. I swear I never used to to lose things before I had 4 kids!! Anyway, we also gave little gifts to the kids. I started a tradition last year that I continued this year and really like. I took each child on my lap one-by-one and gave them our gift (a small toy and some candy). But I also told them what I love about each of them, what makes them unique and how special they are. Matt of course was only interested in the present. I want my kids to grow up knowing that they are loved and hearing it from me on a daily basis (I didn't hear it much growing up so it's really important to me that my kids do!)

Sunday was a fairly uneventful day. David played at a friend's house but the rest of us stayed home and rested. Monday was a holiday and we decided to do something fun as a family. After lunch we headed to Museum Center. I took the younger kids to the Children's Museum while Phil took the older 2 to the Cincinnati History and the Natural History Museums. It was exhausting for us grownups but the kids had a blast! Matthew loved playing with the balls and playing in the water area. He got so wet that he stripped off his shirt and refused to wear it wet. I stood under the hand dryers trying to dry it off, but it was soaked through. So he ran around shirtless for about an hour until we decided to go and forced him to put it on. Can't have him going outside in the cold with jacket but no shirt! Phil really enjoyed taking the older kids through the museums, pointing things out to them and talking to them. They saw the cave, some dinosaurs and something about the ice age. Completely worn out we headed to the van to go home. Matt was tired and cranky so I dropped him and Phil off at home while I took the kids to Chuck E. Cheese for dinner. We had promised them this if they were good at the museum. I think we over-estimated our energy level when we made this promise! The kids had so much fun eating pizza and playing games. And even dear tired mom had fun playing Deal or No Deal and one or two of the other games. I admit it-some of the games there are actually fun!

Well it's after midnight so I'm headed to bed now. G'night friends!