My Funny Valentines

Friday morning the kids were excited to wake up and find little packages on the table from Gummy for Valentine's Day. They loved everything and Lucy was especially excited about the clothes and adorable little purse. It is funny how early the fashion obsession can start. Last night we all watched Be My Valentine, Charlie Brown, another gift from Gummy. She has been on our minds and in our prayers a lot lately. The kids love her and talk about visiting her in California all the time. Whenever I tell them we are going to be in the car for awhile they hope that means we are again driving to California to see Gum. Thanks for the gifts Gummy! The kids loved all of them and are hoping to see you soon. We love you lots. Take care and Happy Valentine's Day!

I had to add another picture I just took. These are the beautiful roses Rich brought home for me on Friday. I didn't expect it, it is only the 2nd time in our marriage that I have gotten flowers and the 1st was shortly after we were married. Anyway, that is really not the point. Can you see what Hazel so cleverly decorated the inside of the vase with?! I have seen people use glass marbles, fruit, raffia and other decorations to color up what would be boring stems but I think Hazel took it to a whole new artistic level! Crayons give a whole new meaning to the idea of adding a little color!

Tiny Dancer

Dexter finished up with his karate class and mostly had fun. And of coarse I didn't get one single picture. I must admit this isn't entirely my fault, I did try, and that knowledge makes me feel less of a loser Mom but still I hate knowing that we have no pictures of him karate chopping the plastic practice boards in half or waving around the Styrofoam nun-chucks. When his course was over I asked him if he would like to continue and he said he wants to do break-dancing instead. Hmmm... we will see...

Lucy still has a couple weeks of dance left and with the guilt still hanging heavy around me from getting no pictures of Dexter, I put the camera in the car well in advance so I wouldn't forget. I think she makes the prettiest little dancer. She has a lot of fun, even if she doesn't always pay attention. She loves to watch her self dance in the mirror, it is so very cute and so very Lucy. I also think she really likes her instructor because where as most the students are eager to volunteer to be the first to "walk the line" doing a particular move (kicks, jumps, etc.) she will lag back and go last every time. She does this because she realizes she will get more attention from her teacher this way. It works every time too. Each time she was last and each time the teacher gave her special instruction and attention to get her moving along. I know that it wasn't because she didn't know how to do it or didn't want to do it, she just wanted her instructor to pay attention to her and has figured out the game. So very sneaky, so very smart, so very precious. So very Lucy!