Sunday afternoon and evening was dedicated to valentine production. Dave and Adam made his hippo mailbox, then I worked with the boys to put their class valentines together. The hippo mailbox turned out fantastic. I found some examples online and the two of them really did a great job (hooray for cardboard boxes and duck tape!). Adam was thrilled with the final result – and rightfully so!

Adam decided to give his classmates friendship bracelets and erasers this year. We ordered the bracelets and some pencil top funny face erasers online. I already had the big pink erasers (thanks to last summer’s back to school sales).

Adam actually made valentines for his class and the room next door. The two classes mix a lot for lessons during the day and so he has a lot of friends in that room as well (only his class got the big pink erasers though – I didn’t have enough in my stash for 45 kids). I picked up some small ziploc bags at the store, created some tags for the tops, printed them out, and his valentine assembly line was ready to go.

Luke wanted to do the same valentines Adam did when his was in kindergarten. So he wiped out my supply of 25 cent boxes of crayons.

I cheated and printed Luke’s name directly on the labels I made. He wasn’t feeling 100% and I didn’t feel like fighting with him to get him to write his name over and over again. It was enough of struggle to get him to decorate the boxes with stickers. They turned out great though.

Adam also wanted to give valentines to all the teachers he sees. Thankfully I had just enough highlighters on hand (this is doing little to discourage my school supply hoarding tendencies). For the teachers he and Luke have in common (gym, music, art, etc.) I had him write both of their names.

The boys said their valentines were a big hit with their teachers and friends, so I’d say we were successful. They had a blast at their class parties and reviewed all their loot as soon as they got home.

One little girl (Fiona) went all out with Adam’s valentine. She gave him a stuffed hippo and a Mickey Mouse heart full of candy (does she know him or what?). I’m trying not to embarrass him, but I think it’s pretty sweet. Adam named the hippo Fiona (both after his friend and also because that’s the name of the baby hippo that was just born at our zoo).

Happy Valentine’s Day from my little love bugs.

Edited to add: Adam finishes his class work very quickly and his teacher has told me that when he is done, she has him work with the kids that are struggling because he’s really good at helping them. I found out tonight that Fiona is one of the students he helps pretty frequently, which makes that valentine even sweeter to me.

Last week was a busy one for us. In case you’re curious, I’ll give you an overview of what it looked like.

• Sunday – Church (Luke has his Church School class during mass), followed by a birthday party for a friend’s son and then a trip to urgent care for Maggie (diagnosis: ear infection)
• Monday – Dance for Maggie (which we skipped because of that ear infection) and Basketball Practice for Adam
• Tuesday – Gymnastics for Adam & Luke
• Wednesday – Church School for Adam
• Thursday – Gymnastics for Maggie
• Friday – Basketball Game for Adam
• Saturday – Make up Gymnastics Class for Maggie (she missed a class the week before because Adam was home sick from school), Basketball Game for Luke, and then a Lego Batman Event at Toys R Us (the kids each got to build a Batmobile to take home)
• Sunday – This was supposed to be Church/Church School again, but ended up another trip to Urgent Care (this time for Luke, another ear infection)

So that’s what we’ve been up to. It makes me tired just thinking about it. Add into the mix that I started taking classes this semester (four of them, because I am apparently crazy) and we’ve got a lot going on here.

I haven’t mentioned the classes before, I know. Last summer my mom, sister, and I were talking about what sort of career would be good for me after the kiddos are all in school and one of them (I think it was my mom) suggested school librarian. I thought about it for a while an decided I really like the idea. I’ll get to work with students (but not have to deal with their parents) and I’ll have summers and holidays off with the kids (and not have to bring home tests or papers to grade). So I’ve started taking classes working on a masters degree in school librarianship.

I’m three weeks into the semester and it is a lot of work – A LOT. Thankfully I have the best support team ever. Dave doesn’t mind picking up my slack around here (wait until you see the Valentine’s Day mailbox he and Adam made) and my mom doesn’t mind when I call her three (or more) times a day for help or send her papers to proofread for me.

Whew. So yeah, that’s a lot. Kudos to you if you’ve read this far. Here are some weird pictures of Maggie and me that a friend took as a reward.

Oh, and the kids are all relatively healthy again – thankfully. Thank goodness for antibiotics.