Games James plays and Valentine's Day and how I made myself look old to my kid's classmates (again)

Ever since I told James that Papa would take him out to get a doughnut when he finished his workbook, he has picked up the pace a bit. I usually ask him to do 2 pages each weekday he doesn't have preschool but now he does 4 or 5 pages! Anything for a doughnut.

This is a pirate ship James made in our living room. Well, sometimes it's a fort, other times a castle or a bus. Every evening when I ask him to put the dining chairs back so we can eat dinner he flips out like the idea came out of  nowhere. "What?! I have to take it apart? For dinner? We can just stand up and eat!"

My nephew Isaac came to visit after being in Texas for....well I don't remember how long. Long enough for James to have no idea who he was. It took all of 5 minutes before James thought he was the coolest person he's ever met (and he is, let's be honest). Isaac taught him out to run fast and then they played his Nintendo. James asks every day if he can go play with Isaac. 

It's actually kind of fun and trippy to see grown up Isaac hang out with my kids and they think he's so grown up because he will always be this old to me.

And maybe this old.

The next day, despite James being in the exact same shirt (we're going through that phase) we went to the library and saw that they added a structure to the new playground. So stop we must.

We gave this new playground a C when we visited a few months ago. It was sparse and what was there was kind of awkward to play on. The addition of this web contraption raised the grade to a solid B.

We checked out a bunch of books and then drove to the store. James wouldn't get out until he finished reading a Piggie and Elephant book all. by. himself. I was so surprised and impressed and emotional all at once.  Something just clicked and he was sounding out words and recognizing his sight words and laughing. It took forever but I didn't mind. "Mom, what does uppercase A-g-a-i-n spell?" Again. "No, it has an uppercase A" "Uppercase letters make the same sounds." So cute.

In the mail that day (or maybe the next day, you can't go by James's shirt) was a package from my SIL Lisa. Our kids used to exchange valentines when Sarah was little and she still mails them every year even though her kids are all grown.

My kids love this day!

A week before Erica's baptism her new best friend (Madison Sheen is her first best friend but they live in Orem now) Delaney was baptized. She invited Erica and I took her so she could also see how her own baptism might go. Delaney is the sweetest and I always love going to a baptism but I think it made Erica even more nervous and worried. Delaney got so scared it took her 15 minutes to get into the font. We just sat quietly and waited and waited watching the font. Poor thing was so nervous with everyone watching. They finally got her into the water by closing the doors to the font and then opening them just a little right before the prayer for us to see. She later told Erica that she threw up in the bathroom and that's what took so long. While we were waiting Erica said she will probably be scared at her baptism "but I'll be quick about it".

Another day, another game (and lookie there, a different shirt). James was playing that the hard floor was lava so he could only walk on carpet or rugs. Fine. Until I needed him to put things away and do some chores. "I can't get over there Mom, the floor is lava!" So I handed him a couple of Amazon boxes and said here, this way you can travel across the lava." Problem solved. 

So he shuffled across the floor

Until he got to the safety of the carpeted stairs

And then took them down with him 

so he could use them across the concrete basement floor. 

Erica wrote this note to her best cousin Maddie and I took a picture of it before it was thrown away because it is comedy gold. 

Dear Maddie, you are my favorite cousin. We have a lot in common. P.S. Our great great great grandma died but you already know that. Love, Erica.

Valentine boxes time! Making Valentine boxes is my favorite favorite favorite thing about Valentines Day. I may or may not email my kids' teachers in January to make sure they can bring a box from  home.

Erica wanted to make a unicorn like last year but as we were fiddling around with this box she decided it looked more like a fridge. We ran with that. It has a water and ice dispenser, magnets, to-do list...

A calendar and kids' drawings.

Inside has food on the doors and shelves

And a bin for Valentine cards from her classmates.

Henry broke my heart and said he would just take his Valentines in a sack. A plastic grocery sack. Like the kind we line garbage cans. "What? I'm in 5th grade. I don't care." Broke. my. heart.

Until that morning--when he decided he would just write his name on a box. I rolled my eyes but was secretly so happy he actually cared even this much.

And then joy upon joy he wanted to tape it up and cut a hole for the cards to go! I'm counting this one as a victory.

James didn't make a box this year because they were decorating bags in class. He was so excited to finally do the whole Valentine thing like his sibs. Even better was dumping out the loot when he got home.

That afternoon we helped in Erica's class party. I manned the craft rotation and they laced hearts together and filled them with candy for their parents. Her little class is so cute.

James helped me by passing out the yarn. He would remind me if I forgot to mention that part to each group. "Raise your hand when you're ready for your yarn and James will bring it to you."

Back at home was a regular crazy afternoon.  Henry went to play with a friend, Erica went to gymnastics, and best gift ever, Justin came home to make dinner! I set out my gifts for my kids--a cup of candy and a book.

James got another Julia Donaldson book

Erica got the first book in the Alfie series

Sarah got Edenbrooke (one of my favorites) and Henry got another Calvin and Hobbes for his collection.

We ate tacos for dinner, chocolate mousse pie for dessert and watched Bluey before bed.

Henry's class is doing this big elaborate robotics thing. I signed up to help on a couple of days. I was put in charge of the soldering station even though I have never soldered before. I don't even know what soldering is. My only knowledge of soldering is this quote: If I lived back in the Wild West days, instead of carrying a six-gun in my holster, I'd carry a soldering iron. That way, if some smart-aleck cowboy said something like, "Hey look. He's carrying a soldering iron!" and started laughing, and everybody else started laughing, I could just say, "That's right, it's a soldering iron. The soldering iron of justice." Then everybody would get real quiet and ashamed, because they made fun of the soldering iron of justice, and I could probably hit them up for a free drink.  - Deep Thoughts by Jack Handey

So of course I made a couple of soldering iron of justice references. I was met with blank looks. Whatever. Turns out all I needed to do was keep the kids from melting the power cords. (I had to tape up two.)

"Soldering is just like a glue gun" I joked with the mechanical engineer dad who was running this whole thing. He laughed. I think he'll use that joke later.