Valentine's Day 2024
Sunday the girls and I worked on their Valentine boxes for school. Evelyn made a strawberry cow box out of an empty Goldfish carton, it was so cute…like a huge carton of milk. Josie wanted scrapbooking paper, buttons, flowers, and ribbon on her box. The girls had all their Valentine cards made and assembled by Tuesday night. Josie was feeling much better by dinner time. I needed to run to Walmart to buy a shower gift for a teacher, the Valentine’s aisle was crrrrrrrrrrrazy. No, thank you. The buzz was palpable all week at school. I had students either made a Valentine’s Day card using Adobe Express or code a Valentine’s maze in Kodable! That was a fun break. I was very excited to set out candy and squishmallows for my own sweet Valentines! I actually found a pickle with a mustache squishmallow for Phillip! Everett got a hot sauce bottle, Mia a darling big foot, and the girls Harry Potter house animals. Justin even got sushi and ramen, he said I was the expensive fish compared to his cheap bowl of Ramen…stop it! I quite loved seeing thoughtful students pop in throughout the day with cards and candy. So fun.
The day after Valentine’s was even crazier, tired and sugared up kids makes for grouchy students. I finally got a new hallway bulletin board put up with cute squishmallow Yetis to honor the new typing program we’re using. It looks very cute. A few parents donated squishmallows to plump up the contest prizes, only a couple more weeks to go!
I actually went grocery shopping Friday during the day! I had the day off for a teacher work day, yes! The boys had another nerd fest at their school, the state robotics competition this time. I watched their first match which they won, they lost the next two, won two and so on. Phillip really wanted the little girls to come watch. He bribed them with a slice of pizza. Phillip let both girls play with F.R.E.D. between matches. They added pneumonic wings and a rotating drum launcher this competition. When they lost the 4th match I noticed the boys were trying to smack the wall seeing which boys could jump and smack the highest. With Phillip being the tallest by far he won every time, still the competition went on. At their next match they lost because the wings did not have enough air pressure and the battery was low. I suggested maybe the boys check their bot first then smack the wall after it’s ready for the next upcoming match?! Everett crumpled on the floor crying into science beaver covered with his toast blanket when they lost that match because their own teammate accidentally blocked their bot in the corner (it lost battery power too). Losing is not fun especially when a trip to Texas for the World’s competition is on the line. In the end their team placed 7th, which was a fair improvement over the Valley of Vex competition (25th place?).
Josie accompanied me to Winco just for something to do. She originally thought I was going to Home Depot, which was exciting. Winco was even more exciting because of the bulk bins. I cautioned her it takes me quite a while to grocery shop, she was up for the challenge. We made it through the produce section and the exciting bulk bins. She got a small bag of rock candy, after that she was ready to go. Halfway through she complained, “I did not sign up for this! I just wanted some candy and get outta here!” Sorry kid…
There is some friend drama going on this week with one of Amelia’s friends. I got several alerts through Bark (a device monitoring service) that her friend was bringing up trigger topics. It is never clean nor fun to deal with messy family situations, especially “he said, she said” events. It was quite agonizing for Amelia caught in the middle, she knew I was aware thanks to Bark so she was not breaking her promise to not tell. During church today the dad pulled me aside and we actually had a very clarifying conversation, in my head the conversation was angry, blaming, dark. Not so, it was a heavy conversation but one born out of love and concern. I hope the family will continue to seek professional help.
The Palmers are in town visiting! Hooray! Amelia and Clare spent a day joined at the hip. They painted tiny canvases, took the little girls to Build-a-bear for a Tessa gift, went to Tessa’s birthday party, played Animal Crossing, went to the mall, and vegged. It was magical for Amelia! She needed some bestie love. Justin took the kids to clean the church early Saturday morning. I stayed home to make a complicated marinade for chicken schwarma, and quick trip to Walmart for bread. We drove up to Kirkham Hot Springs just to have an adventure. It was quite busy with the college-aged crowd swarming the largest hot pools. Josie cried in her closet, she was terrified to go because last time she lost her new koala hat in the river. I forced her into a swimsuit and into the van. Once there the switch flipped and she had quite a lovely time. Phew! Evelyn was not impressed with the PB&J lunch supplies I packed for the adventure, “whyyyyy peanut butter, Moooooooom?” Everett and Justin slipped on the slimy rocks. Justin did not suffer injury but Everett sliced open his palm on the sharp rocks. We explored the area more this second trip, checking out the source vents and the cool hoar frost formations. Dave and Esther came over around 6 for dinner. I was scrambling to get dinner made with all the side dishes that go with schwarma. We did not eat until almost 8 pm, dude, I was quite embarrassed. Sadly, the chicken schwarma was not as yummy as the beef version. The marinade called for bell pepper and onion processed with yogurt and citrus. The marinade was on the chunky side, stuck with the meat through cooking as well. Not my favorite. I hate how some garlic cloves are on the bitter side, there is not way to tell if you have a bad head of garlic. The hummus was too lemony and garlicky for me. In the end the meal took the back seat to having the Palmer’s in our home again. Dang, we miss them.
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