What a Beautiful Noise: Be My Valentine!

Our Valentines!

(Do you know how hard it is to get a photo of them together with our wriggly, squiggly baby?!)

Grandma Breyen made Amelia this cute valentine jumper.

And Nate actually thought his valentine shirt was cool!

Nate has his first Valentine's Party at preschool on Thursday the 12th. He wrote all of the kids' names on his cards--well, at least he wrote all of the letters of their names on the NASCAR cards (they're small cards so he'd soon be out of space and have to put the last few letters at the beginning of the name...e.g., he'd often sign them "ENAT"). Along with marker and crayon drawings, each valentine was adorned with the proper amount of stickers, too! Earlier in the week at Artworks, he made valentine cards for the grandparents and great-grandparents using oil pastels and water colors. To my knowledge, he'd never drawn a heart before. The facilitator asked him if he could draw a heart for one of his Valentines. He hasn't stopped since. The best part is, every time he draws a heart, he walks over and gives me a big kiss on the cheek! If he fills the space with hearts, he'll fill my cheek with "lots and lots of kisses!" He had so much fun doing his valentine card "project" he's been trying to find other people to give v-cards to (now birthday cards or even "just because" cards).

We call this one, "Heart Masterpiece #368"
(Yes, I got "lot & lots of kisses" for this one!)

Mia & Maraca

Mia & Mommy
(She did have another Valentine's Day dress!)

Our neighbor Lizzie had her birthday party on Thursday, too (right after Nate's preschool party--a very social day!) Lizzie is a Valentine's Day baby. Her birthday marks the beginning of "birthday season" in our neighborhood. Nate was a little put off by the girly Strawberry Shortcake theme at first, but (after a stern talking to about being grateful--another concept we're working on) he got to decorate his own strawberry cupcake. Amelia got to play around with the big kids.

One of Nate's "tackle-take-down-wrestling hugs" for Amelia

Nate's Valentine's Day lunch

(He wasn't impressed--he smeared the ketchup right away and decided he didn't like cheese quesadillas anymore. "You get what you get and you don't throw a fit!" is becoming a more vocalized mantra in our house! BTW, that's applesauce in the bowl, so there were some fruits & veggies involved!) :)

He was much more impressed by the tortilla cut-out.

At least Amelia still smiles at us on a regular basis (without threats & bribery)!

In other family events, our church had a Parent's Night Out (4 hours of childcare for $20) on Valentine's Friday the 13th, so Jason and I actually had a romantic date night! We went to the Liberty Bar to celebrate in style! We shared the cheese plate--drunken goat cheese, brie, manchego and some French Cheddar served with dried cherries, fig jelly, almonds and bread crisps. For the main course, we split the chili rellenos stuffed with shrimp & currants in an almond cream sauce AND the cilantro-garlic grilled salmon. We ventured to the Lighthouse Cafe for a ginormous snickerdoodle cookie-and-coffee dessert.

Practice, practice, practice!

She's so close to walking!

On Valentines Day proper, Jason rode with the ambulance from 7:00 am to midnight with only 5 responses. He's taking an EMT course right now for school. They have to see 40 patients, so he was hoping for a few more cases--maybe a lovers quarrel or two! ;) The kids and I went to the zoo. It barely broke 60 degrees today with an overcast sky and a breeze so it was a little chilly for what we've grown accustomed to here in San Antonio this "winter." Most everybody was at the zoo in a parka, stocking hat and the like---save my two children! Nate's mantra is, "But, Mom, I like to be cold." "I like the cool." or "I don't need a jacket it gets me too hot." and Amelia won't keep two socks on her feet to save her life. So, there's Nate and Mia meandering through the bundled crowds in a T-shirt and bare feet respectively. "Mom of the Year!" :)