I tried to convince them.  I suggested and cajoled.  I almost begged.  Almost.  Maybe I should have but they were so sure.

No, we do not want store bought Valentine’s.  We want to make them.  Yes, all 41 of them.  Each.  (That’s 82, but who’s counting?)

And you know what?  They did. (Well, she did and he helped assemble the pieces that I had printed and cut out the night before while watching the season premiere of Lost.)

In other Valentine news there was no romantic date because Brother had an unfortunate ‘bout of “I don’t feel so good’s” just as we were getting ready to walk out the door. BUT Will did have this delivered:

It’s a replacement for the one he designed himself and purchased for my birthday after hearing a random comment I made about how much I love Amazon.com.  It’s a replacement for the one I adored but that got stained and would never come completely clean.  And this time around he included a bonus for Dora.

And one last bit of romance news.

Last night was not as restful as I’d have liked so this afternoon I lay down on the couch for a nap. Before I did I told Will I was debating whether to make cookies or take a nap but the nap was winning.  He laughed and woke me up an hour later with a glass of milk and a plate of warm cookies he’d made while I was sleeping.  So sweet.

[Insert picture of cookies here ]

You’ll have to use your imagination for this one. They disappeared too fast to be photographed.

Sister, at eight, knows the truth.  Brother, at five, still believes.  Dora, at 5 months, remains undecided.  To mollify Brother and allow Dora a chance at decision we made the annual obligatory trek to see the big guy.  But this year, we were smart.  This year no waiting hours in line at the mall for us.  Oh, no.  This year we’d go the Bass Pro’s Winter Wonderland where they hand out passes and you get to walk around the store instead of standing in line. Then when it’s your time you walk straight into ye ol’ Wonderland, see Santa, and walk away happy …. at least in theory.

We arrived at 3pm and stood in line to receive our pass surrounded by the madness that is Christmas shopping on a Saturday.  I almost hyperventilated from the activity.  We homeschoolers tend to go places when there are no crowds.  You know - when everyone else is in school.  All that hustle and bustle made me want to run and hide but Will gave me a paper bag (not really) and had me do some yoga breathing (not really) and within a few minutes I was back to normal (not really).

Here’s Brother with our pass by the way.  Did I mention we arrived at 3:00?  Um, yeah.

Fortunately there were activities to occupy the time.

Reindeer candy canes, anyone?  (This staffer was actually bursting with enthusiasm but I asked if she could please stop with the effusive smiling already as it was distracting attention from my cutie of a child.)

Baby candy cane, anyone? (Couldn’t get this guy to stop smiling no matter what I said.)

And then the children got eaten by a bear.

(not really)

Eventually we made it back to the North Pole and stood in line 30 minutes (um, yeah) where Dora who had been awake and happy since we arrived fell asleep on my shoulder.  Let me just say that handing a sleeping baby over to Santa is a precarious endeavor.

In the end all was well.  Though Dora is still undecided. … Guess that means we’ll be going back next year.

*this post backdated for chronological reasons

Sister switched from her elaborate cheetah costume to an equally elaborate Chinese girl look while Brother switched from karate guy to crocodile finally settling on pirate firefighter.  We added an angel at the last minute.  The potential for stress was high and yet the prospect of more candy than they could eat in a year kept everybody on the positive side.  Especially Dora…. see how positive she looks.

We went to a local church for Trunk or Treat (apparently everyone’s doing it) and the kids’ had a blast.  Will appreciated the free hot dogs.

I, on the other hand, got poked in the chin some 14 billion times by that silly hat and did not collect candy.

In other news, we created 80+ Halloween cards to exchange at our homeschool costume party where Sister did dress up as a cheetah and Brother was a karate guy.

I was a wet blanket by the way.  No really, that was my costume … a wet blanket.

Halloween and I ~ we have issues.

Following close on the heels of Dora’s birth, Brother’s birthday didn’t get the attention it usually does.  Historically I’ve gone a bit overboard on the birthdays. It’s in my nature but this year simple was all we had time for.  Made some trays with cubes of fruit, cheese, meat, and bagels and let the kids build their own meal with skewers.  Any utensils out of the ordinary are always a hit but kids especially like putting their food on long pointy sticks.  Probably has something to do with the level of danger involved.  Kids like danger. 

After the eating I divided the kids into teams and sent them on a photo scavenger hunt.  These hunts are ridiculously simple to do and are always a favorite.  A surprise favorite game of the day was “Lego, Lego Who Has the Lego?” (shamelessly stolen from the “Button, Button” classic.)  The kids wore great poker faces and even the littlest could play.

Since it was mostly family we opened the presents then had lots of free play time before breaking out the cake.

Typically I order a cake to fit the theme and this year I just knew I’d get one shaped like a Lego brick.  Good idea with a failure to execute.  We found ourselves at the supermarket the night before saying to the bakery lady, “Do you have anything?…”  Adding our own bricks to the top worked surprisingly well and Brother loved that he got to help “make” his cake.

Happy Birthday, Brother!  You’re a big boy now.

*should have been posted August 15th.

I may have gone a little bit overboard.

We made and sent approximately 35 Valentine’s all over the US and even some to France in a pen pal type exchange.  Then, one week later, we made another 30 or so cards for our local homeschool group.

With a boat load of candy to choose from each child made “Love-bugs”.  Too cute.

Heather over at Untraditional Home wrote this line while describing how her family celebrated the Fourth.

“And catching lightening bugs with uncle James.”

This made me think of our own celebration.  We helped put on a huge party at my parent’s house.  When it was over and I asked Sister what she liked best about the evening she immediate replied, “catching fireflies”.  I smile still at her answer.  It was not the sparklers, nor the mounds of food savory and sweet; not even the bajillion fireworks but the fireflies that lingered in her memory.  Makes me think of that verse about the lilies.

“Consider the lilies, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin; and yet I say to you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.”

Luke 12:27 (NKJ)

Nothing compares to our God and His marvelous creations.  Nothing.

I know.  I’m a tad behind but I had so much fun making Mother’s Day cards this year that I had to share.  But I couldn’t very well do that until I was certain each card arrived at its chosen destination.

I always forget how satisfying crafting is until I get back to it again.  Now I suspect that getting back to it will be much easier because though these were done on my kitchen table future endeavors will be created in the very best mother’s day gift ever … my new craft room.

Wait for it…. pictures to come.

Anne Kroeker’s has started hosting Monday Funday recently.  I mention it because there are some good ideas floating about over there and because I thought of her carnival this weekend during Brother’s Un-Birthday Party.  Sometime early in the day Brother declared he wanted a party.  Always accomodating (HA!), Sister began making preparations.  With very little adult supervision help she decorated the bedroom with balloons, made paper party hats, pulled out games to play and turned on some groovy music. (Because “No party is complete without music, Mom.”)

Sister found out I was making muffins for breakfast the next day and as soon as they appeared from the oven she stabbed one in the center with a candle claiming them as party food.

Once the party began there were puzzle races and a hilarious game of Party Line.  You remember that one don’t you?  The first person whispers a phrase to the second person who whispers it to the third person and so on.  The last person says the unusually altered and often humorous phrase aloud.  This was especially fun with a three year old in the mix.  Next, our hostess brought out the snacks and we sang “Very Merry Un-birthday” while Brother blew out the candle.  A little dancing and a game of Guess Who? rounded out the hour.

Is today your Un-birthday?  It is!?  Well, then this is for you!

On Monday Ann Kroeker reminded me how to make Cootie Catchers or as some people call them Fortune Tellers. The children and I have had much fun since then creating and using our own. A big square of scrapbook paper is perfect for this and makes them so colorful. Anyway, it occurred to me that since you could write just about anything inside that perhaps they would make a good Valentine gift. So that’s what I’m making for my sweetie this year. Hopefully, he won’t read this post before I actually get to give it to him - or maybe he will and he’ll smile at the thought of what’s coming. ;)  See, I’ve hidden phrases like ” ‘K’ is for …” or ” ‘H is for … ” inside so if he picks one of those I will give him a “K”iss or a “H”ug.  Make sense?  These examples are pretty benign (This is a family friendly blog after all.) and are not actually in my fortune teller. For my hubby of almost 10 years I came up with some more lover-ly phrases.  Phrases which I expect will lead to much satisfaction happiness at the Simple house.

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shadow play of love

only a candle watches

rhythmic forms dancing

Have you written your haiku yet?