Valentine's Day- Jules Version

Jules here,

Similar to Ems, I wanted to make Valentine's Day special for the kids. Every year I make hand-made cards (just like our mom used to do!) and inside them I write a list of all the reasons why I love them.

I had already done some after-Christmas shopping, so I had some small items already picked out for Valentine's day gifts.  I had found a bathtub-Spiderman basketball hoop set for James on clearance-- and I knew he would love anything sports related.  So my day started with such hope and joy for a loving, cuddly day.....

Some background though- two of my three kids have been suffering from the Neverending Cold; James has awoken several times at night for the past 10 days (I am having empathy for our youngest sister with her newborn-- how easy it is to forget what lack of consistent sleep feels like.) Anyway, after another restless night, James still had his seal-cough at breakfast.  He was THRILLED to get his hoop--however, I did not have good foresight into the, "Let's give James a toy that he can ONLY use at bath time in the tub....and let's give it to him first think in the morning."   And so the Day of Tantrums begins...

Now, the girls were thrilled with their gifts and heart-shaped pancakes (and I use the term "heart-shaped" very loosely when describing my pancake shaping skills):

 We have also have over 2 feet of snow on the ground with a fresh 9 inches on Valentine's Day---so we have a bit of cabin fever on top of the ACTUAL fevers...

My husband (because of the incredible fresh powder snow) had the urge to go skiing way up north; however he made a much more reasonable decision to stay local and ski for a few hours.  Here's an excerpt of our conversation:

Me: "Wouldn't it be crazy if I was in one of those Lifetime Movies where the man has a secret family and you didn't even actually know how to ski?"
Him: "Yeah, and I didn't know how to fish either and I was just really good at photo-shopping fish pics to convince you I had hobbies?"
Me (laughing): "How could those men juggle both families like that?"
Him: "I would never have a secret family.  [he paused to reflect for a moment] I would want a secret apartment though, without any family there. You know, with a big TV and video games....."
 Me: "I get the point."

Thanks, hon, Happy Valentine's Day to you too... :)

The kids and I embarked on a day of crafting, snow-play, and candy...

Making Valentines

The above scene lasted 3 minutes until James spilled glue and glittered his chair.  Grace, on the contrary, lasted 2 hours meticulously making Valentines-- for everyone.   I decided to bundled them up and build a snowman--- in 2 feet of snow. My children are BARELY over 2 feet tall and as it took over 25 minutes to assemble them into snow gear, we played outside for 12 minutes.  As the wind blew the icy snow into our faces, James stood in his little snow pile yelling, "INSIDE! INSIDE!"  I built the world's smallest snowman in 4 minutes.... (And why, might you ask, do I not have a picture?... Um, there's two feet of snow on my front yard... I am not traipsing out there to show you my pitiful sculpture display.)

Besides the failed snow expedition, here are some other highlights from my long, long Valentine's Day:

1. John calling to say he was picking up a special dinner for us (yeah! No cooking!)---however, by "us" he meant for the grown-ups after the kids went to bed.... which means I had to scrounge together some fantastic scrambled eggs and smoothies for dinner for the kids :)

Granted--the fondue after dark was fantastic:

 2.  Cementing the fact that mother's often feel like slaves-- Lissie asked me after running around the house, "I am so hot mommy! Can you just sit here and fan me for awhile?"

3. James decided not to nap. At all. And during the nap "attempt" he decided to "work out" on his bed and remove all the books from his bookshelf.

4. Finally we reached bath time and James loved his basketball hoop--which of course lead to the most epic "I don't to get out of bath or get dressed" tantrum ever ---but we survived....




Easy Rule #21414- Holidays are so much more fun with children, but sometimes they are a bit more work too.

Easy Rule #21514- Embrace the difficult days knowing that bed time will come, and tomorrow is a fresh start with the little ones!

ADDENDUM:  The next morning I heard James open his door, but not come downstairs--- at 6:15 AM I found him in the bathtub playing with his hoop....