Valentines Week

This post is way overdue, but since this blog serves as a scrapbook for myself and my family, I want to get this up.

The week of Valentines Day is usually somewhat crazy for us.  Husband does a big Valentines production after the kids go to bed on the 13th.  He decorates and puts out gifts for them.  That means someone needs to be ready with the camera when they come downstairs on the 14th.  Then Bekah's birthday is the 15th, so there is a friend party and a family party somewhere in there.  Our homeschool group does a Valentines party with cards, food, and ice skating.  And finally, Husband's birthday is the 18th.  Shwew.  A busy week.

This year was a bit backwards, because Husband was out of town all week, so he waited until the 19th to do his thing.

There are little gifts hidden under the balloons.  The kids really look forward to this every year, and I love having someone else in charge of a holiday occasionally.

Valentines Day itself was uneventful.  Rachel was doing all of the planning and cooking for Bekah's party, so that took much of the day.  She planned a Victorian tea party.  Here is Rebekah with her guests.

And your hostess for this afternoon's tea is the lovely Miss Rachel.






The decorations included some tea sets that Husband and I received in Turkey and Taiwan.






Joshua agreed to serve as butler.  A few of the girls really liked that idea.  I think they have what it takes to be royalty.

 Rachel took care of the food and the cake.  We used some of my vintage snack sets.  Note the Federal Glass sets with the pink and turquoise, and the Anchor Hocking sets with the bubble edges.  Rachel did a fantastic job on the cake!  She made homemade marshmallow fondant.



Our homeschool group includes several dozen families, and each year we have a Valentines Day party.  The kids decorate boxes or bags, and everyone brings Valentines to put in them.  We have snacks and games, then we all go ice skating.  My kids love this.

And these are the Valentines my kids gave out this year.  They turned out really cute!

So that was our week.

Leap Day Party!

My kids and I hosted a Leap Day Party for some of our friends.  It was so much fun!  Because we all homeschool, we were able to have the party in the early afternoon.  We have a large fenced backyard, and the kids spent an hour or so playing while the moms relaxed.

Rachel and I had a number of activities planned, such as bubbles and an RC car racetrack, but since it was 70+ degrees in February, the warm sunshine was all anyone needed.  I think fun was had by all.

 

There  were snacks, including frog cupcakes by Rachel.

We had questionnaires printed for the kids to fill out.  These were things like how tall are you, what's your favorite movie, etc.  The plan is to put them in a time capsule (really just a box at our house) along with a group picture from today, and in four years when we have the next party we can compare.

A couple of the families stayed later, and the oldest girls cooked dinner for all of us, then the boys and younger girls cleaned up.  I think everyone who came had a good time

Sharp Shooting Kids

I missed making a Saturday Night Retro post last night because I wasn't relaxing at home, listening to music.  Instead, I was watching my kids and their teammates win the Arkansas State BB Gun Championship!

Washington County Shooting Sports- State Champs!

Rachel's team won the whole shebang, and three of her teammates won most of the individual awards.  This team, made up of different members, has won for four of the past five years.  They are a great group of kids, and have some amazing coaches.  Winning here means they go on to compete at the national event in July.

Rachel is admiring the trophy

One extra pleasant bit was that Joshua won an award for being the only participant to score 100% on the written exam.  He and Rachel both worked hard to learn everything they could, and they basically have the rule and safety books memorized.  He also shot his personal best, 331.  Great job Joshua!

Here are a few shots from the weekend.

They got a taste of what camp is like.

and a cafeteria

Rachel kneeling

Joshua attaching his sling

They had a great time, and I'm so happy for their team and coaches that all did so well.