Valentine's Day

The best thing about home school is that there is no frantic scrambling to throw together a sufficiently creative Valentine for 30 unappreciative kids who are also unaware that half of their mothers are involved in some kind of secret ultra-competitive Valentine's-off.  It was low-key gifts and treats at home for us, and it was a lovely time.

We stocked up on art supplies and Kate drew her little heart out.

Speaking of secret competitions: Sunday was a Red, White, and Black-off for us Mormon moms.  We had to get a picture of our unintentional (promise) coordination.  The lady on the left, while not participating in our dress contest, has the admirable achievement of convincing Kiki to go to Primary class.

That wasn't even the most exciting part of Sunday, either!

David Archuleta came to our ward!

And I was so busy dealing with Kiki and writing Kate's Primary talk I forgot all about that I didn't even notice him even though he was on the row right in front of us!

And I played piano for a musical number so I'm sure he is super impressed!

On Valentine's Day, we exchanged gifts then Bruce headed off to work, where he received the best present ever: word that his boss had "resigned."  I'll not go into specifics, but those who are in the know regarding his struggles with this person will perhaps understand the happiness that we felt.  The girls and I went to lunch with my pal Cathy and then to Institute.  It was fun to hang with my Mormon gals for an afternoon.  Then, it was time for a celebratory dinner with Bruce at a Japanese place down the street.  Kiki was mad because she wanted Ramen noodles for her Valentine's dinner, and we had told her to zip it because the rest of us wanted teriyaki chicken.  We managed to con her into trying a steamed dumpling, which she immediately spit out, saying, "Now I DOUBLE don't want to eat here!"

She continues to shock me- she rejected a dumpling, then ate two skewers of...

QUAIL EGGS.

Because dumplings are sick.

And I still wound up cooking her Ramen.  Happy Valentine's.

These are some ladies in the branch at a birthday party last week.  They are a great group, and I'm really going to miss them.

The other night Kiki fell asleep at 6 and didn't wake up until 8 the next morning.

I took this picture because I couldn't get over how HUGE she looked.

She must be having a growth spurt.

We have a new park by our house- a real park with TOYS!

It's very, very exciting.

The time is flying by!  We are at six weeks and counting.  I'm getting excited to be home and be in my old life again (I swear to you that I am going to eat Mexican food while I run through Target singing "America the Beautiful"), but I'm getting sad to leave behind my friends and the opportunity I've had to spend so much time with the girls.  Meanwhile, I'm trying to figure out how I'm going to get all my souvenirs home- hopefully the girls don't mind leaving behind all of their clothes and toys.