We started the boys’ class valentines last weekend.

It only took about half an hour for them to fill the bags with five bracelets (in the colors of the Olympic rings) and a chocolate gold coin.

Last night I made the labels and printed them out.

The boys grabbed their class lists this afternoon and filled them out.

Overall it was a pretty easy process and I’m so happy with the Olympic tie in.

I’m also thrilled that the boys decided to go with the same valentines this year, it made things so much easier.

And you may think you saw our Christmas tree in the earlier picture of Luke. It’s actually our Valentine’s tree.

I’m not sure when we’ll take the tree down. Having the chair that normally lives in that corner moved to the other side of the living room allows us to block the whole room off and make it a giant safe zone for Annie. Plus, I really just love the lights and having the tree up.

It’s also not entirely my own idea. My parents had their tree up for a whole year once – it was decorated for all the different holidays. I’m completely on board with that.

Dave and I went to a show last night. It didn’t involve puppets, people dressed as animals, or our wonderful children.

We went to see a group called Diavolo. We saw them on last season’s America’s Got Talent. I can’t really explain what they do, but here’s a video, if you’re curious:

That rocky thing weighs over 3,000 pounds, it’s amazing. They used that for the second half of the show we saw. For the first half they used this train setup – also super cool.

Dave and I both really enjoyed the show and would definitely go see them again.

I took Annie to get Valentine’s Day pictures done this morning. She was a little hesitant at first, but she did let the photographer get some good ones. Here are my favorites:

The boys (including Dave) have a snow day today. Luke and Maggie have been playing together really nicely all morning. Luke even helped Maggie pick out her clothes. I feel like I should let him do that every day.

On Sunday, the boys and Dave had their first Lego League Expo.

The boys wore their shirts I made for our trip to Legoland. Dave didn’t because he was lame one of the coaches and didn’t want it to seem like he and only certain kids on the team got cool shirts (even though it’s true).

We were there for over four hours. Annie took advantage of the complimentary ear piercing (just kidding, it’s a sticker).

Here’s a close up of the model the team built. Each of the teams (there were 40 of them) were instructed to create a motorized design that had something to do with water.

The kids came up with the idea of having a swimming pool that was fed from a melting iceberg.

Maggie handled it all like a champ – thanks to several walks, vending machine pretzels, and the fun photo filters on my phone.

Each kid on the team got a medal and each team got a trophy too.

The team worked really hard on all of this. They started back at the end of September and met for an hour a week on Wednesday nights. There were other activities and lessons they did during the meetings too.

It was a fun experience for all of us.

Same boy, different baby.

All cute.

Google has a new app that allows you to find your own fine art doppelganger. Of course I had to test it with all six of us.

A couple of weeks ago, when Luke was picking out something to take for show and tell, he jokingly asked if he could bring Annie. I told him no and he picked out a toy helicopter instead. The next time I saw his teacher though, I asked her if Annie could make a guest appearance.

Luke was really surprised when he saw us outside his classroom.  He did tell me we forgot to pack something for show and tell. He was thrilled when I told him that was why I’d brought Annie.

Luke got to share first with the class. He told them, “This is my baby. I don’t know how my mom got her or why she did. I think she just maybe wanted four kids.” He told them her name (and spelled it for them), age, and birthday. He also told his classmates that she can crawl and she doesn’t have any teeth.

As you can imagine, Annie was a big hit. I felt bad for the little girl that brought her, admittedly very realistic looking, baby doll to show.

Maggie, with her milkmaid braids, was also very popular with the first graders. She’s even more excited about starting kindergarten now.

Maggie looked particularly adorable for gymnastics this morning.