Candy hearts and Benadryl

TubaDad did good. He waited until we were all asleep last night and then assembled a bonafied Valentine's Day extravaganza. Let's see, he had big huge balloons (the biggest with a wild fringe tail), flowers for everyone, candy for Ro and Ree and chocolate for me, handmade cards, a new book for me and art supplies for the girls. Oh, and some wine. Seriously, he didn't miss a thing: Aw. Then he made blueberry/chocolate chip pancakes and thick Applewood bacon for his girls this morning. Yum. I ate so much that I didn't need lunch: The little runny-nosed, blueberry-syrupped kiddos were quite pleased (Ro first pic, Ree second one): Ree's pic reminds me, can you believe one of the candy hearts said this?!: I guess they've updated the things in the last few years. The girls spent a lot of time making Chinese New Year and Valentine's Day crafts (thanks for all the great suggestions!) and constructing elaborate structures out of their candy hearts: Then we threw some Kleenex and Benadryl in the purse and met BobBob and Wela at a local coffee shop for low-key dinner. It was cool until one of the waiters traumatized the girls by repeatedly running up to the table, flapping napkins in their faces, and saying "I'm Mr Squirrelly" in a funny voice. What the hell? We were trying to keep the girls on the other side of the table from my folks because of the cold germs, but after Mr Freaky came by for the third time, Ro burst into tears and sobbed "I need to sit on Wela's lap." And, well, you see where they ended up. Back at home, TubaDad watched the Olympics while the girls played with the Valentine stuff and built a huge blanket fort. All in all, a really nice, relaxing day, Mr Freaky and Benadryl notwithstanding. And I thought this picture that Ree arranged and snapped was a dang fine summary of the day. Go Ree!: PS: Did anyone else find it hard to celebrate Chinese New Year and Valentine's Day on the same day and to do it well? They really couldn't be any more different from each other, could they? I feel like I kept flipping back and forth all week in a forced, lame, completely ungraceful fashion -- ok tonight we're going to the FCC CNY party, hm we need to bring treats for your school Vday party tomorrow, hey let's do CNY crafts and decorate the house, it's time to make handmade Valentine's cards for daddy, do you want to read our favorite CNY book or our fave Vday book, let's go shopping for daddy's Vday present, let's get dumplings and long noodles for dinner, let's talk about blah blah blah... Anyhow, not a complaint, just an observation that we personally stunk at celebrating both holidays on the same day. I hope everyone else had better luck that we did. And if you found a neat trick that made everything work smoothly, please share.