Happy Valentines Day

"Happy Valentimes Day!!!" - straight from MK's little mouth. I love the "times" part :) Granted she can say it correctly but it is one of those words that are just better off left alone for the sake of cuteness!

The children were more than thrilled to awaken to a house full of cards and special surcies in honor of the big day. Pryce declared it a school holiday???!!!
Because my children love surprises, we decided to surprise those in our lives that may not have that special someone. Balloons were delivered, donuts were given, letters were sent....the boys love what they call a "good deeds day." One of my favorite moments of the day came early when the boys went in to buy balloons at a local store. They went in, got three HUGE balloons and walked right out of the store with them - they were so excited! Curious at how much said HUGE balloons cost, I asked, "So, how much were those?" Colin looked at Pryce, Pryce looked at Colin, they briefly glanced at me and then they screeched in unison, "Oh no! We forgot to pay for them!"
In my attempt to get a group photo of 4 out of my 5 favorite Valentines, I said, "Hey, lets do a silly photo." Not sure what C heard. P and MK are posed accordingly. Maddox, well, lets just say that she is a very good listener when she is told to do something silly :)
I couldn't resist. C has a thing for strawberry flavored milk. When he was in school, he drank it everyday for lunch. I am not sure that he has had it since he walked out of the school building three years ago until a few weeks ago....the week of Chinese New Year, the boys and I visited my niece's school to talk to the first grade students about the Chinese culture. After our presentations, we dined with Emma and her classmates. Colin was in heaven when he saw the pink carton in the lunchroom - his beloved strawberry milk. EWWWW, makes me cringe to think of it as I am a chocolate kind of girl. However, he drank every single bit and then had another....so, for Valentines Day, the best gift of all for C was breakfast with strawberry milk!
As the day wore on and the treats were exchanged, we moved on into our next round of events....soccer practice and a basketball game, all P! (Yes, on Valentines Day!)
P wants to give it all a try. This season has been basketball and he has risen to the occasion.

His epic moment came when he scored the winning basket in the last few seconds of the game! I love this little guy's zest for life and his enthusiasm when learning new sports!

Eleven months home and today was BIG in her world. Church day. The day that, six months ago, I dreaded. Why? Because our girl would cling to me as we entered the building, accumulate huge crocodile tears in her big round eyes, and scream. We would leave her. Check on her. Still screaming. We would pick her up after thirty minutes and just hold her and hug her tight. Heartbreaking. Today, and might I add that it was the coldest day of our year yet, Maddox Ren decided to overcome all fears. We parked our car, and, as usual I went to get her out of her seat. She quickly let it be known that she wanted down to walk - this is where the coldest day of the year comes in, and windy, oh it was more than cold. Despite the negative temps, I let her walk. She held my hand. Walked through the double doors, into MK's class to drop her off, gave MK a kiss and a hug, walked down another hall and right into her classroom. Maddox then proceeded to take off her jacket, hang it up, kiss me, hug me and wave goodbye. No tears. Not one. Eleven months later and she is secure when we leave her, she is confident we are hers forever, she knows we will be back.
In other news, Maddox is all about play doh and coloring, two things she does on a daily basis. However, as one can tell from the pic above, she is not all about sitting in her booster seat to do said activities. She is Houdini I tell you. For sure. She managed to scramble herself out of her booster seat and then craftily climbed atop the tray for better seating????
Boys will be boys. What mother lets their child "paint" themselves with marker????
This crew is one of a kind, the best of friends, all of them.
Speaking of friends, my dear friend Sandi came into town over the weekend. Sandi was one of my very best friends growing up. When we graduated from high school, I remember being so sad because not only did she choose to go to a college out of state, her parents moved away that same year. I knew that seeing her would be a challenge. Of course, we have always kept in touch and visited sporadically through the years, the last visit being just one week before we received Maddox's referral. Recently, Sandi's brother-in-law and sister-in-law moved to a neighborhood less than five minutes from ours.....great news for us! Full circle.