I made heart raspberry chip pancakes for the kids and eggs benedict for Steve & I (mainly because I was craving it). Then sent them off to school with heart shaped sandwiches and heart sugar cookies in their lunches.
At the beginning of school I signed up to help with Lila's class Valentine party and the teacher asked if I would organize. So Steve came home around 2pm to be with the boys so I could go up to the school. We had several other great moms volunteer to help. I did a chopstick heart stacking game (fitting since they were in Chinese class--I also did it in Ellie's 2nd grade class so maybe another tradition or coincidence or ease of repeating a game). Liu Laoshi would walk around showing them how to do it and talking with them, in Chinese of course so I didn't understand, but it was fun. One Mom brought her face paints and the kids loved that. Lila made me take a picture of it before we washed it off and she played in her new outfit all evening after school and code club (yes they stayed for code club so we had to go back to the school again to pick them up).
We had our traditional fondue and sent Mimi and Grandpa a text that we were missing them since we had done it with them the last two years.
Steve and I managed to sneak in a movie the Saturday before as our little romantic escape. It was fun to unplug and watch a movie semi-uninterrupted (one text from the kids).
The weather has been so lovely this week that I decided as one of Andrew's preschool activities we would try writing his name and then go for a jog to deliver them. This was his first attempt and I say it is pretty awesome! But he freaked out that it didn't look just like mine and refused to write any more so I wrote a couple of more so we could still go for a jog and deliver some.
Andrew has also been into playing Blink with me. I think we play 20 games a day while Marcus naps or is otherwise occupied. He even knows how to deal if you don't mind him looking at your cards first. ;) He misses the girls while they are at school and every night as I tuck him into bed he says, "Can I play a game with the giwls (his little voice) tomorrow?"
Friday after school Steve and I left the older three and took Marcus to lunch (we're trying to find more little moments to get out). It was a little family business and the food was good and it's close so we will be going back. Then we took all the kids to the aquarium. It was super busy again (I don't know why they schedule 4-5 field trips at one time it's ridiculous) so our trip was quick, but Ellie got to feed the sharks. Then I took Lila shopping for her baptism dress. I was hoping Macy's would have something since they are going out of business, but no luck so we walked the mall and managed to find a prom dress store and they had several white dresses. She probably tried on 7 dresses and we had a couple we liked, but when she put on the last one we both knew it was the one. :) Then we went to Claire's to find some accessories and got a little treat and talked about baptism. She is super excited and knows so much already she is even half-way through the Book of Mormon on her own. We'll do some special family home evenings and try to pay special attention to talks at church and during General Conference about baptism.
Saturday Ellie was invited to compete at the UVU Elementary Ballroom competition. We had originally planned to go skiing at Sundance Friday evening then stay at hotel, but it was raining at Sundance so we cancelled the hotel. Saturday morning we got ready and drove straight to the ballroom event. We watched Ellie do her two dances and be invited by a boy from another school to dance (ahhh--am I ready for that). She received a silver for her performance and the school brought home the gold trophy which is excellent! Then she did the newcomer swing event. There were 8 heats of 15/16 couples and they cut it in half after the first heat. I guess there was a little confusion about who her partner would be for the event so she was a bit distracted at the beginning and was not following her partner well. Needless to say they didn't make it past the first round so we left and in my hunt to find a place to eat I saw the Purple Turtle. I remember going there as a college student. We didn't go often usually if we were coming from Salt Lake or something (because Pleasant Grove is a long commute for a student ;). Steve had never been so we went. It was good food, but the pinacolada sherbert was really good.
Then we went to Jake's and hung out for an hour-and-a-half or so. Then I wanted to make a quick stop at the mall to shop in this store I really liked last time, but the mall was so busy we just walked back out and let the kids make a wish in the fountain, with nickels because that's all I had. Steve said, "You'd better make it a good wish since you are using nickels." I asked Andrew what he wished for and he said, "a cruise." That is definitely a big wish and maybe because Mimi & Panca just got back from a cruise with Nessa and her family. ;)
Then we went to the BYU men's volleyball match. The game was at 6pm (yay for the earlier time for the littles) and we got in free with our pass of all passes we bought to go to 7 Peaks back in June with Steve's brother's and sister's families. Marcus loved clapping at both events which were loud, but the noise didn't bother him. Andrew kept chanting B-Y-U. And the girls remembered the fight song that I used to sing to wake them up. ;)
We left at half-time. The team was resting several of their usual starters and at one point had 5 freshman on the court at one time, but they were still winning and we decided to hit the road to get the kids to bed. On the way home Andrew kept saying, "Mom I'm getting tired." Seriously, like every 5 minutes. The movie didn't distract him. Marcus fell asleep, but transferred to the bed pretty well since he was super tired (only a couple of short naps in the car). It was a fun long day!
Today we are having Stephanie and her family over for dinner. Smoking some whole chickens--yummo. The kids are really looking forward to playing with their cousins. :)