Happy Valentine's Day! 2016

Yes, I realize I'm slightly belated with this post. I blame it on Kaity, who was supposed to take pictures for me to use and for various reasons that didn't happen. But let's be honest: I'm always posting stuff way after it actually happens.

Two weeks ago, our home school co-op had its Valentine's Day party - which was actually TWO parties! This year they split off into age groups. The middle and high schoolers had their own "Mad Hatter" tea party with every kind of candy imaginable, games, and crazy hats. The younger children had a more traditional party with valentines exchanged, food, and a craft to do.

The children's valentine collection boxes.

Selah showing her favorite Valentine some love.

Kaity had fun making a crazy hat for her party. It was constructed of Lego and included many nerdy references like Doctor Who, Star Wars, & Harry Potter.

The craft the children did was making valentines to be distributed to various recipients such as a nursing home, and a child battling cancer.

Jeff and I have never been big fans of such a commercialized holiday telling us we have to give "flowers, chocolates, promises you don't intend to keep ..." Except that last August I saw that the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra was doing a free Valentine's Day performance. Yes, please! So after church and a lunch at home of roast beef and potatoes, etc., we headed to the concert. It was well done overall, but we really wish we would have noticed that it was a "family" performance, meaning the audience was full of children. Ugh.

Me and my Handsome.

Kaity Crochets!

A few months ago, Kaity picked up her crochet hook again and started working. She knew the basics from a while back, but hadn't really gone much past making playing around with it. This time, she started looking for patterns on-line and it wasn't long before she started cranking out creative new projects.

One of her presents from us for Christmas was several new skeins of yarn and she even purchased more with money she received as a gift.

Here she is, modeling a trendy new hat!

As soon as she spotted a pattern for a banana, she knew she had to make it for Bobba's birthday. It's a silly running joke with him and the kids that bananas are his friends.

Kaity's friend Sierra loves pigs, so this was a gift for her:

This adorable dragon Kaity made just for fun:

And this is one of the bunnies Kaity made for her sisters for Christmas:

Beauty & The Beast @ The Fox!

Wednesday night, Amber, Kim and I went to see the Broadway musical Beauty and the Beast at the Fox in Atlanta! It's the favorite Disney movie for all three of us, so it's only natural that we HAD to go. Between all of our busy, conflicting schedules, Wednesday was the only night we could manage it, which just happened to be Selah's birthday.

Kaity leaned over the wall to snap this shot of me applying my lipstick.

After spending the day celebrating our favorite six-year-old, I put the finishing touches on the meatballs and sauce for dinner and headed out! Kaity took care of cooking the pasta when the time came.

Cooking dinner in my favorite apron! I was totally born in the wrong era.

Amber took all the following pictures with her cell phone.

Amber, Kim and me!

Here's Amber's contraband picture of the stage at the Fabulous Fox ... she's such a rebel! I love it. The architecture inside the building is truly beautiful. It was built in the 1920's and it shows!

The musical itself was really wonderful. All the original dialogue and songs, with added details and songs that just enhanced the experience. The costumes and the sets were all gorgeous.

Queen Kim and me!

Walking back to the parking garage ...

Selah Turns Six!

Yesterday we celebrated the birthday of our little "Sailor"! Six years ago, Hurricane Selah hit the house and it's been an adventure ever since. Jeff stayed home from work and we all went to lunch out at Chick-Fil-A. Then we came home to birthday cake and presents!

She wanted a pink cake with purple icing. I used a "pink velvet" recipe, which turned out pretty well.

Silly kids!

Singing "Happy Birthday!"

Presents from Mommy and Daddy: An Elsa dress and shoes, and a Pinkie Pie Pez dispenser.

Our little Elsa!

Here she is demonstrating that the shoes actually light up!

After her requested special dinner of spaghetti and meatballs, Selah got to video chat with Grammie and Bobba and open her presents from them: Lots of new clothes! She has been modeling them for me all day today. She held up each dress and outfit, describing them and telling me where she can wear each one.