Post Valentine's Day week in review . . . .

Despite all the middle school drama about going out and breaking up that I wrote about earlier, we successfully survived Valentine's Day.

Matt definitely survived.  He thanked me for the candy and the new drawstring backpack, and didn't give the holiday another thought.  I couldn't even convince him to wear a red shirt.

Gracie, on the other hand, went off to school wearing a red shirt and Doc Martens, heart earrings and carrying a box of Valentines with bags of gummy bears to give all her friends.  She and her crew traded Valentines like they were back in elementary school.   The only exception was she came home with a large bag of M&Ms from one boy (who gave small, Valentine sized bags to everyone else).  I'm *guessing* this is how said boy tells Gracie he likes her, which is super sweet. But he hasn't said anything else, which is just fine with me, too.

Back at home I scored some beautiful roses.

I think Bassam likes me.

On Friday night, while Bassam was off to see Matt in his festival band concert, I took Gracie and 3 pals to see their friend Keira in her play "Crazy for You."   The girls didn't appreciate the Gershwin music, but did love seeing their friend on stage.   Afterward I took them all out to Sweet CeCe's for frozen yogurt.   It might have been the loudest car ride I have ever endured.

This is saying something, I assure you.

But I love these girls and their sweet friendship.  Their singing of Backstreet Boys at the top of their lungs . . . not so much.

In other news, we are getting a longer than expected weekend.  We were not supposed to be off for Presidents' Day, but our Superintendent cancelled classes for students on Monday.   Every school in our county will be revisiting, reviewing and reinforcing their safety plans with law enforcement at the individual schools.  In the afternoon, EVERY school employee in our county will be at the Ag Expo center together to meet as a group.  This includes cafeteria workers, bus drivers, teachers (all registered subs, too),  administrators and support staff.   I give props to superintendent and school leadership for their efforts.  It has been an extraordinarily difficult week in the wake of what happened in Florida.

Hoping for sunshine on our bonus weekend day.  W'eve had lots of rain and dreary weather of late.  I know it's just February, but I'm ready for sunshine and warmer temperatures!

Happy Valentine's Day

Lunch with some of my best girlfriends (Gal-entine's Day), roses from my best guy and heart-shaped pizza for dinner (Thank you, Papa Murphy!).   For an old married gal, that's a pretty solid V- Day!

Hope your day was full of love, too!

Hearts!

When my Christmas decorations came down, I left up a several "snow" decorations....a snow man here, a "let it snow" sign there, some sparkly (but non red and green) ornaments and pine in my dining room centerpiece.   Basically, things that said "winter" but "Christmas."  But since then, the weather has been unseasonably warm.    It makes it kind of hard to get in the "let it snow" spirit.

So today, I packed up the snowmen and pine cones and pulled out my Valentine's box.   I don't have a lot, but I love seeing pops of red and pink to brighten things up.

Of course, no sooner did I finish that I heard there is a chance of snow in the forecast on Sunday.  Did I just jinx it?

Happy Valentines Day!

A lovely, albeit busy, Valentine's weekend.  First, I patted myself on the back for finishing up my class-party-throwing-duties for the year for this cutie.

On Friday night, Matt and I were off to the set up/dress rehearsal for the youth Valentine's Variety show at church.  He was playing his trumpet and part of two other skits. He's still finding his way with the youth group activities at the new church, so I was so proud of him for participating.

Saturday morning we went to Matt's last regular season basketball game of the season.  Can I get an "Amen?"  

In an interesting twist, they didn't actually play the game. The other team had to forfeit because they didn't have enough players (I'd place big money that they had a slew of sick kids!).   However, those that did show, plus our team, split up and did two 10 minute scrimmages, so the morning wasn't a total waste.

Then after lunch Matthew wanted to bring a special Valentine to his friend Parker.  What did he get her?  A chocolate heart and a New England Patriots t-shirt.  She gave him a Seattle Seahawks pennant, so really it just goes to show that they are the kind of friends that really know each other well.

Still, it makes me giggle.  Especially since Matthew decided to go ahead and get dressed up for the Variety show (they also served the dinner so dressed as waiters in dress pants and white shirts) before we went to Parker's to deliver his gift.  Y'all, he volunteered to put on a tie, too (Seattle Seahawks botwie, of course!)!

The dinner and variety show was great on Saturday night.   When we arrived at 4, I learned the Youth Director was sick and I found myself in charge of the variety show portion of the evening.   The kids did an amazing job, but I felt like I was floundering, largely because I had never seen the show before and I hardly knew any of the kids name (it was grades 5-12).  There was lots of "Who is in this skit?" and "I'm looking for Rob/Chloe/Maggie!"

This morning it was back to church for worship!  My sweet husband and kids also gave me these beautiful flowers!

Then Gracie's pal, Will, stopped by and brought her a box of chocolates. She also had a small box for him and a card she had made.   Oh my! Didn't these two just start kindergarten together? 

We wrapped up Valentine's with a fun tradition of fondue dinner!  Actually, we just did the cheese and dessert course and made homemade pizza for dinner.  The pizza was supposed to be heart shaped, but ended up a funky oblong shape. Not attractive, but very tasty.  Better luck next year, I guess.

Regardless, it was a wonderful Valentine's Day.    The kids are off school tomorrow for a teacher work day/President's Day.  While they want to stay up a bit late, I plan to hit the sack as soon as I hit "publish!"

Happy Valentine's Day!!

Happy Valentine's Day, one and all! Hope your day included celebrating love and a little bit of chocolate!

Our day started early with Matt's last regular season basketball game.  For reasons that are not entirely clear, we played way out in Fairview, which although in our county, was a good 50 minutes away. The kids got a nice win (only our second of the season) and truly looked like they were HAVING FUN!   We beat the other team by 25, but since we've been in their shoes, the families of our team were equally supportive of every basket their team made.  Matt scored two baskets, so he was especially happy.  So proud of how hard he has worked this year. 

The kids were excited about their Valentines from us, GG and Gus and Aunt Dana.   Bassam gave me a super cute bracelet and earlier in the week gave me flowers, although I'm not entirely sure those were for Valentine's Day as much as they were reminding me that I was loved amidst a very, very bad few days (see post dated February 11th).  Since Bassam is avoiding sweets, I gave him an assortment of freshly made beef jerky from our local butcher.  I felt compelled to tell him this wasn't a "sweets for the sweet" kind of thing, because of course, I don't think he's a jerk (or jerky, as the case may be!).

Gracie was off to birthday party for her pal, Anna, at the skating rink later in the day and Matthew got a visit from the sweet classmate he went to see yesterday who brought HIM a Valentine, plus this super awesome Vanderbilt hat.

Needless to say, he loves it. And for Mom, it was cute watching their super-awkward exchange! Such a sweet girl that my son has chosen for his first crush!

 

Bassam cheffed up a yummy dinner of salmon and made-from-scratch chocolate cupcakes.   And now, with happy, full tummies, we've settled in for an evening of basketball (Matt), a movie (Gracie), beer at the neighbors (Bassam) and laundry (me).    I don't feel at all cheated that we're not spending the last hour and half of Valentine's Day together.  It's been a good day together and we all need to unwind in our own way.

 

Although admittedly, I may have gotten the short end of the stick.

Valentines!

So today was all kinds of crazy with an emergency trip to the vet with Charlie (he has a slipped disc), battling both Ticketmaster and TPAC to get tickets for shows we want to see this spring and summer, last minute preparations for the class Valentine's parties, accepting and checking the book fair delivery and then actually attending the class Valentine parties.   But by far my favorite part of the day was driving a very nervous Matthew over to a classmate's house after school so he could deliver a special valentine that he had gotten for her.

Matt told me a couple weeks ago that he wanted to get something for Parker and I took him to Target where he walked up and down the Valentines aisles multiple times before finally deciding on "the perfect gift," a heart shaped tin that looked like football with mini Reese's Peanut Butter cups inside.

Parker plays football with the boys at recess, so really it wasn't just a matter of it being something that he liked.   Plus he reported she eats PB&J, so "she must like Reese's Peanut Butter Cups. "

Who doesn't?

Anyway,  I saw the girl's mom at the party today and gave her a heads up that Matt wanted to bring something over later, as he didn't want to embarrass her or himself.   We mused about how sweet this was at age 5th grade, but weren't sure we weren't anxious for it to happen in high school. 

So around 4:00, a very nervous Matt walked up to their front door (Mom was instructed to wait in the car, hence how I took this the non-sanctioned photograph above) and delivered his gift. She opened it up while he was there and as he turned to leave, she came out and gave him an awkward side hug (I had thrown my phone on the seat so he didn't see I had taken a picture and missed the hug shot!!).  

When I got home there was a text on my phone from her mom that said, "Oh my gosh--I am literally trying to hold back the tears right now! Just watching that nervous little exchange and how sweet Matt was.  PRECIOUS!  P was nervous, too.  She really did like it.  Smiling from ear to ear.  Thank you for bringing him over & for having such a SWEET kid." 

As for Matt, he reported, "That was the hardest thing EVER.  I don't think I'll ever blush that much again!"

Happy Valentine's Day

It occurred to me on Wednesday that I never got the Valentine's decorations up at our house. 

I know . . . nothing gets past me. 

I don't have as much for Valentine's as I have for Christmas or Halloween, but there is still a decent stash packed away in a large Rubbermaid in the attic.  

And this year, it is apparently going to stay in the Rubbermaid in the attic.

I'm usually ready to put up it all up immediately after the Christmas stuff comes down.  It's always a bit depressing when you put it away and the house looks decidedly naked during the entire month of January.  

But when the last week of January came, it was time for book fair.   Y'all may have read once or twice (or maybe twenty times) that I can barely keep my kids in clean clothes during book fair, so obviously, decking the halls with hearts, cupids and all things red and pink wasn't going to happen.

It's now been a week since book fair ended.  And I caught up on the laundry, cooked some decent meals, made sure everyone had a lunch every day, helped my dad unpack tools, made Valentines and valentine's boxes with the kids and even got a pedicure.

But no Valentine's decorations.

But still it's been a great day.  The kids made me beautiful Valentine cards, Bassam surprised me with flowers, I went to the kids' class parties and tonight we're going out for Mexican for dinner.

And this weekend, my list of things to do DOES NOT include taking down Valentine's decorations.

Happy Valentine's Day!

Happy Valentine's Day!

Ran across these pictures earlier this week and my heart skipped a beat.   What cute little Valentines they were!

Gracie was 2, Matthew was 5. . . where has time gone?

In other news, I'm THIS close to wrapping up bookfair!  Wahoo!  It has been fun, but since set up was 9 days ago, it has been a loooong haul. I'm ready to stop dreaming about book shipments and counting money.  

The other thing that made today particularly crazy was the fact that way back in August I signed up to run Gracie's class Valentine party.  It goes without saying that I had no idea it would coincide book fair. 

Sadly, it doesn't mean if I had known I wouldn't have signed up anyway, but I'd like to believe I would have at least thought twice about it.

Despite the busyness of the last 2 weeks, the party came off beautifully, we read "The Kissing Hand,"  made a special Valentine using pictures I took earlier this week,  played Valentine's bingo and then the kids made their own ice cream sundaes that were basically twice as much toppings as ice cream.    Add in trading Valentines with all their classmates and it was practically perfect in every way.

Hope your day was equally wonderful and sugar-filled!

Happy Hearts!

Happy Valentine's Day!  I am happy to report the anticipated snow amounted to no more than a handful of wet flakes, so school (and more importantly, the Valentine's Day festivities), went on as planned. 

Gracie was delighted with her haul of Valentines, in particular, the one from classmate, Will, that declared her a "Cutie Patootie!"

I *thought* I would surprise my kids with a beautiful heart-shaped cookie in their lunchbox with an "XO' on it for Valentine's day.  Alas, Gracie came home saying she didn't like the frosting and apparently the boys at Matthew's lunch table made fun of the "hugs and kisses" message on his cookie.   

For the love.   

No pun intended . . . although it is a good one. 

Regardless, the kids gifted me with some beautiful handmade valentines and the whole family enjoyed dinner at Mediterranean Cuisine after the school skate party.  We're not fancy, but no complaints from any of us. 

Happy Valentine's Day to you!
 

Monday reality check

Tammy has returned to the Miami sunshine.  I am left in the gray skies of Nashville---and yes, it is still cold.   The meteorologists are even throwing around the "s" word for tonight. 

Which of course, means we are automatically on high-alert for a snow day, even though it is supposed to be 45 degrees tomorrow. 

Let me say, I love a good snow day as much as the next gal (or at least the next teacher or school-aged kid!), but having a snow day on Valentine's Day would DEVASTATE my children, in particular, the redhead, who toiled over her glitter and sticker covered valentine creations for a full week.   She likes nothing more than a good party at school and cannot wait to give her handmade creations to all her friends (and boyfriends).  

Therefore, a snow day, especially a faux snow day, would be a very bad thing.  

Wouldn't you know it? Matthew's a poet!

I wrote a month or so ago that a poem Matthew submitted to the GFWC Brentwood Woman's Club Poetry Competition won 1st place for his division (grades 1-3).   The awards reception and ceremony was supposed to be last Thursday, but was postponed due to the snow.  It was rescheduled for today and it really was a neat event.  Matthew was tickled pink that when he walked in and introduced himslef that everyone knew he was the person who wrote, "I Love Saturdays."  

The winners read their poems and were presented with a ribbon and framed copy of the poem.  A book of poetry was also donated to the Kenrose library with his name in the nameplate.  Very cool!   We won't know until March whether his poem is advancing to the statewide competition.  It's currently being considered at the district-wide level (all of middle Tennessee).  

In other news, it was a great, but very busy Valentine's Day.  Both kids came home with scads of Valentines and other goodies.  I helped at Matthew's class party this afternoon (Gracie had a sock hop last week) which can best be described as "sugar filled."   

We had a very late dinner (by Helou kids' standards -- 7:15 pm) after Matthew's basketball practice.  Bassam cheffed up some pork tenderloin and picked up chocolate covered strawberries from Whole Foods.  Yum!   Bassam and the kids also gave me some beautiful flowers and  a gift certificate for pedicures.   All in all, a great day!

Valentine's Eve

So you know I love me some Valentine's Day.  Oh, who am I kidding, I just like holidays.   Period.   I get out a kick out of seasonal decorations (until it's time to pack them . . . boo!), I am a sucker for a Hallmark store and of course, then there's CANDY.  Except I'm trying really hard not to eat it because I swear my stomach seems to have pooched out big time in the last week or two.  

And no, I'm not pregnant.  I think this is Generalized Flabbiness Disorder.   It may be brought on by the first signs of springtime (today--sunny and mid 60's) and the thoughts of shorts and bathing suits begin to cloud your mind.

The 9 catalogs of spring/summer clothing that arrived in my mailbox last week didn't help.   Although it did give me chuckle on Thursday when it was 10 degrees. 

Wait, I think I've gone off on a tangent.  Where was I?

Oh yeah, Valentine's Day.  It's tomorrow.  I have some little gifts for Bassam and the kids hidden about the house.  This would be a good time to find them get them out and wrapped, yes?   It was in my plan for this afternoon, but that whole sunny and mid 60's thing put a big old kink in that plan.  I was so much happier being outside.     Now it's Sunday night and I have my whole list of "Sunday night" things to do, in addition to getting ready for the arrival of festivities. 

So TTFN . . . time to do the Cupid's work!   

Good news . . .

I read an article yesterday that mentioned this is a  good weekend to start getting ready for Valentine's Day.

While my decision to put my Valentine's decorations up January 10th a little early might have seemed wrong to some (just ask Matthew's buddies--every one of them who came through our house in the last three weeks asked about them!), now that it's actually the supposed "right time" to do it, I just look wonderfully organized.

Happy Valentine's Day!

Another Valentine's day in the books . . . . .hope yours was happy.


The kids were excited to find a bag full of goodies at the breakfast table. Some new jammies, books, Valentine's treats and other odds and ends. Of course, it was the "odds and ends" that really thrilled them. Matthew cited his new magnetic responsibility chart as "the best gift ever" and Gracie couldn't stop raving about her "very own grape smoochie stick" (Chapstick). For the record, I had already bought the responsibility charts for the kids when Matthew mentioned last week that he "realllllllllllllly hoped" he'd get one for Valentine's Day, at which point I decided to wait to give it to them. Otherwise, getting a kid a responsibility chart as a gift seems a bit cold!


Gracie had a birthday party to attend this afternoon for her pal, Elise. It was a "spa party" so the girls got their fingers and toes painted and their face adorned with makeup. The hostess gave all the girls these cute terry cloth coverups for the spa experience, which will be great for the pool this summer. Needless to say, she had a great time.



Bassam cheffed up a lovely dinner tonight and brought home some pretty tulips. Tomorrow is a teacher development day, so as for me, I'm going to rest up and get ready for it. We might even have snow!

Valentines

Note to self: When Matthew says he wants to make his Valentines next year (instead of using store bought ones), encourage him to take another look at the selection at Target.

I kid you not, there are scraps of red paper and glitter all over my house, despite the fact that they were all made at the kitchen table. Okay, I admire his creativity -- but wish he were just a little bit neater!

What I discovered looking through them is that you can tell how Matthew feels about someone by looking at their Valentine.

See, we really like Abby. Notice the extra glitter polka dots and he's signed it "Love, Matthew."
We're not so keen on Jennifer. Less embellished and simply signed "From, Matthew."

*snicker*

Today's the day . . . .

HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY!

And because I was asked, this is a close up of Matthew's shirt . . .

Valentines, summer and a possible TSD

Today was a strange day for us because Matthew didn't have his usual speech session. As a result, we had the whole day free! We hit the Y in the morning and then headed over to Cheekwood, despite the rain that plagued most of the day. They have this awesome "Tuesdays for Tots" program during the school year where little ones can make art projects. Today, of course, it was Valentines. The kids had fun coloring their heart shaped puzzles and hanging out with all the other crafty kids doing the same. I can't wait until the weather warms up and we can start staying out for a picnic after we do our project. Today I treated the kids to Sonic and we brought it home for a special lunch instead!!

I've been spending the last week or so trying to figure out the summer. Isn't it funny that you have to do that 4 and 5 months in advance? Matthew's school offers 3 weeks of "camp" in June that he'll attend. It is only on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, but it runs on the regular school schedule but it focuses more on art and each week has a theme. For July, he has a week of day camp (mornings) called "Abrakadoodle" and is attending the "Pirate Island" session. It sounds fun. And yesterday we decided to put both kids (yes, both!!) in a toddler painting class at Cheekwood for a week. Now THAT should be interesting. We'll probably manage to slip a week of soccer clinic in there at the Y...but otherwise, I think it's done. Still plenty of time to swim and play!

Since its been raining most of the day and the temperature is dropping tonight, there is a chance we will be having a TSD (Tennessee Snow Day) tomorrow. I hope not since Matthew is supposed to have his Valentine's Day Party. Keep your fingers crossed!!

Is springtime here??

I changed my colors on the blog in honor of Valentine's Day. Very festive, don't you think? As every day should include a little learning, here's some tidbits about the history of Valentine's Day from Wikipedia. Why not dazzle everyone with your newfound knowledge next Thursday??

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Valentines_day

It was a beautiful day in Middle Tennessee. I picked up Matthew from school and headed over to Granny White Park to meet up with some friends. It was so great to be outside--and the park was crawling with kids excited to run, yell and play!

Almost wherever we go, someone makes a comment about Gracie's hair. We're used to it. Matthew has even stopped correcting everyone by saying, "It's not red, it's orange!"
(although really, he was right). But I have to tell you, in the bright sunlight today even I was amazed by her hair. It was practically neon!! Since the park was crawling with kids, it definitely made her easy to find!

On a more serious note, the news of the recent tornadoes
continues to dominate our news. President Bush was in town today to survey the damage and visit with victims. To his credit--he really seems to have a gift for these one-on-one things. Everyone they've interviewed on TV is so touched by the time they spent with him. All the grocery stores are collecting donations on behalf of the Red Cross and countless
churches are collecting food, clothing and other household items. The National Weather Service now says that the tornado that hit up in Gallatin (just north of Nashville, right by Skyline), was on the ground for some 40 miles and caused 24 of the storm deaths in Tennessee.

Say a prayer . . . . . .