Hearts & Home

Well, I for one, am very pleased to report that we are coming out of the sickness fog that has lingered over our household. We have had a relatively healthy week...Jack did miss the first 3 days of school last week with the flu, but his case was probably the mildest of all the kids, praise God! (Actually he only went to school one day last week because he had Friday & today off for Winter Break...lucky guy!) I have felt a bit better & stronger with each passing day. Jeff has remained strong & was the only one not to succumb...possibly the result of taking the tamiflu meds.
Since last week was a "recovery week" we spent a lot of time catching-up & just keeping up with regularly scheduled activities...including Valentine's Day & Awana Grand Prix, the two big events of our week! Then the weekend was full of fun activities, too...on Saturday, my mom & I attended the annual High Tea put on by the ladies of the Greek church she grew up attending; on Saturday evening, Jeff & I attended a truly top-notch dinner (I'm talking filet mignon!) at our church to kick-off our stewardship campaign for a wonderful building expansion; on Sunday we all got to go to church as a family (first time in several weeks that no one was home sick!) and then enjoyed having some good friends over for lunch. Monday was totally gorgeous & a perfect day for the kids to have off from school. My mom had the day off of work & she was so kind to come over to watch & play with the kids all day. That allowed me to work on things around the house & run some errands. My in-laws were also busy at work here all yesterday morning & into the afternoon installing the fantastic built-in for Drew's new room. Their working was cut short when my father-in-law sliced up his pinky finger pretty badly with a power saw & so they headed to the ER. Please keep him in your prayers that it will heal very well & quickly, and also that he will not be in a lot of pain. He ended up getting 11 stitches & a splint because he broke the tip of the pinky. And they still came back today to finish up the work! I have been truly blessed with amazing in-laws! (Pictures coming soon of their beautiful handiwork!)
Anyway, that's pretty much a quick recap of the last week...and I took lots of pictures of some things...and no pictures of other things...so I will just start here with all of the assorted Valentine's Day photos...I will do separate posts for the other events like the Awana Grand Prix, etc...

 My parents stopped by last Sunday afternoon to deliver their Valentines for the kids...Jack was at the Urgent Care the whole time, but the girls & Drew enjoyed digging right into their treats!

Choc-at!!! 

 Darcy took working on her Valentines very seriously!

 Jack worked diligently over the last several weeks to make an Origami heart for his classmates

 The kids decorated bags to carry their Valentines to school

 Drew had fun helping!

 Valentines cookie cake that I decorated for Darcy's class...you can buy the cookies plain at the grocery store & they also sell big tubs of frosting...makes it super easy to personalize for any event...I was even thinking this would be fun to do for a Family Night at home. 

 For the girls' Valentines, I used my Cricut to cut out hearts from card stock printed with pretty Vday patterns on both sides. I also used the Cricut to cut out little tags for each one. We then attached the tags to the hearts with a dum-dum lollipop. Super easy & really cute!!

 And here are Jack's completed Origami hearts complete with a dum-dum tucked inside! 

He finally got to pass them out today in school since he was out last week & he was proud that they were a big hit!

 Valentine's Day after school...everyone is sorting through their loot! Even though Jack was sick & couldn't go to school, a kind friend picked-up his Valentines (and homework!) and brought them to our house!

 I stopped for ice cream Sundaes after picking the girls' up from school...

 Drew enjoyed his immensely!

 Good to the very last drop!

Zoe makes a great hand washer....ewww!

 Kids still sorting Valentines & treats...it's almost like Christmas again!

 Drew had so much fun playing after dinner with the Elmo card from Pop & Nana!

 Talking to Elmo

 Reading the card

 Kisses for Elmo

 And high fives!

 That Elmo is one cool dude!

And last, but not least, I don't want to forget to include our little Valentine who hasn't arrived yet!

(I was still not feeling great & not wearing makeup...hence the no head in my photos! LOL!)

 We love her SO much already & are gearing up to meet her any day now...gestation wise, Drew had just arrived by now...so we are expecting Lucy any day now, but are thankful that she is giving us a few extra days to get ready! Or who knows, she may end up being stubborn & not decide to come out for several more weeks!