Valentine's Day 2011

Thanks to a good friend who took Sariah and Hyrum for most of the day, I was able to continue the tradition of team-teaching seminary with James on Valentine's Day. It is always a pleasure to spend the day with him in his world. I read this book to the students:
This story teaches that "true love always protects" and we linked this truth to the principles found in this book:

Hopefully it meant something to some of them.

Other Valentine's Day Goings On:

This is the Valentine's Mailbox that Talmage took to school today for his classmates to deposit their valentines. At 10 pm last night, James had visions of dragons and spray paint, and I said a recycled halloween costume would do just fine and allow for a whole lot more shut eye.

This was our family Valentine's dinner last Saturday night, complete with candles, flowers, music, and sparkling cider.

A lovely table set by Sariah including name plates.

Entree, no complaints. (All you can eat of course.)

Dessert, (thanks Danyelle).

We had a great time toasting and watching Hyrum drink from stemware.

These are the sugarless valentines the kids exchanged this year. This happens to be one I gave to one of my former young women. The kids' valentines of course had valentine pencils to exchange.

Last week, a package arrived from my sister in Lincoln, Nebraska. Among the contents:

This is the first I've seen in our own house of "two by two." For some reason seeing these cute little "twins" made me feel a little more excited and a little less overwhelmed by the adventure we're approaching.

Sariah received more new school clothes than I have ever known one person to have. Auntie found some great deals during Lincoln's lemon days.

More dress-up last week. This time, Hyrum is trying to figure out earrings.

And since we miss James on Tuesdays and Wednesdays for dinner while he heads off to class, I find myself resorting to these kinds of lazy meals. Again, no one complains about homemade bread.