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Sunday, February 14, 2010

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: DSC_1637LR 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: DSC_1648LR The little runny-nosed, blueberry-syrupped kiddos were quite pleased (Ro first pic, Ree second one): DSC_1651LR DSC_1658LR Ree's pic reminds me, can you believe one of the candy hearts said this?!: DSC_1660LR 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: DSC_1645LR DSC_1669LR 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. IMG_0062LR Back at home, TubaDad watched the Olympics while the girls played with the Valentine stuff and built a huge blanket fort. DSC_1691LR DSC_1711LR 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!: DSC_1699LR 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.

28 comments:

  1. Looks like a good time had by all!!!
    Happy Valentine's Day, and, Happy Chinese New Year!!
    Welcome the Year of the Tiger!!

    P.S. Kudos to Tuba Dad!! He did a REALLY Good Job!!!

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  2. Tuba dad rocks!

    I agree with you on it being difficult to celebrate Valentine's Day and CNY at the same time. I love them both and would have done a lot of activities with the girls, but them being on the same day and me feeling lousy made it difficult. It took away from both holidays and I sucked at it, too ;-)

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  3. I found "Valentine lanterns" at the dollar store and that brought it all together for me!

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  4. Yay for TubaDad, that was awesome! I found it hard celebrating the two holidays at the same time, too. I ended up not doing as much for either one as I normally would.

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  5. Looks like you had a great day!! Tuba Dad didn't miss a thing......and those pancakes looked SO GOOD!!

    I think it was or would be difficult to celebrate both and do it well. The only thing that the holidays have in common is the color Red......

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  6. TubaDad rocks. Looks like a great day. Hope the girls are feeling better.

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  7. Anonymous2/15/2010

    Folks in Hong Kong are confused as well...

    http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703525704575061262273282630.html?KEYWORDS=valentine%27s

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  8. We started Chinese New Year Friday night 6 to 11pm at a all Chinese fellowship where they performed, Saturday night 5:30 to 11:45pm at a University CNY party where my kids performed in front of 1,000 people with little black Doggie noses painted on and head bands with doggie ears dancing to a China Doll's CNY Doggie barking song (squeal!). After these two exhausting nights of fun, I went to church on Sunday in my Chinese handmade jacket and a Vday party that night. Today, I'm exhausted but content that we covered all the bases!

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  9. No neat tricks here. We kept V-day low-key and focused more on CNY and TET. The kids loved it all. Don't think they would mind either way though! Your day looked awesome.

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  10. um what on earth about that waiter seriously.who does that?

    tubadad..you rock!!!

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  11. As I read your disclaimer at the bottom, I mentally added in the birthday we had as well. I felt you were discribing my week to a tee.

    We downplayed Vday and partied up CNY, but it still felt weird. One of my Chinese American friends on fb is teasing me that I'm more Chinese than her :)

    My fingers are crossed for a late January lunar new year next year!

    Kim

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  12. I second Sandra and the others...Tuba dad rocks!

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  13. It's easier to do both if you go halfway on both (maybe not something to strive for?) My friend and I went to get Chinese food for dinner, and then folks came over for pink cocktails. All in all, I declared the day a success...

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  14. Christy2/15/2010

    Long time lurker! I have loved following your family. The girls are precious. I started reading your blog while we were waiting and found it especially fun to see what your girls were in to as one of my kids is the same age. Thank goodness my son doesn't climb quite as much as your girls! We have been home from China with our youngest since October 09. We celebrated Valentine's Day last week - house decorated, school parties, crafts,etc. We had a Valentine Brunch yesterday with extended family. When our daughter went down for her nap, we put the other two in front of the Olympics and changed the house. Valentine's down. New Years up. Family again for Chinese dinner. It was a fun, fun day. Busy, a little crazy, but a lot of fun. We did cross the two holidays a bit in the evening when we played a relay game with chopsticks and conversation hearts. : ) Thanks for always putting a smile on my face when I check in on your family.
    Christy
    (I am also very excited to start a Life Book. I will be following along.)

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  15. Yes, it was a little difficult, but truely CNY lasts 15 days so we have time to celebrate even more right?
    BTW, Got our daughter some jelly heart shapes and they say "text me" also. Wow, the world has changed.

    Kim O

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  16. We found it hard to do both yesterday as well! It seemed weird having our CNY decorations up beside a heart!!
    Thankfully it won't happen till 2030!
    Krista D

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  17. Anonymous2/15/2010

    It's all about LOVE!

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  18. Anonymous2/15/2010

    Way to go TubaDad!

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  19. We did our CNY celebrating last weekend, and Valentine's Day this weekend. The dates weren't exactly right, but it worked.

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  20. Anonymous2/15/2010

    Suggestion:

    Beginning next year, let Ree&Ro plan the food for one (V or CNY)and the activities for the other. Eventually, give them both parts for one event (V or CNY), alternating year-to-year.

    Include an element of service - e.g. $ store vases with a single fresh-cut rose for each resident at a hospice or group home for the elderly, little bags of treats for residents of a group home for DD teens or adults (perhaps as a surprise on their dinner plate), $ store Valentine paper tableware for any type of group home. These are groups of people who can feel especially left out on V Day.

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  21. Wow. Looks like you had a fab time, as usual. YOur house is the party meccs. Good job tuba dad.

    I had a hard time doing the two on one day. So we really didn't do either yesterday. How's that?

    I went to a CNY party today. We were talking about you (all good things) and some one said, "Oh! I need to meet her. She is famous. Knew you would LOVE to hear that.

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  22. Anon at 7:01: Wow, those are great ideas!!! Thank you.

    And Laurel: Hee! Famous. Love it.

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  23. Heather2/15/2010

    To make it easier we celebrated Vday on the 13th and Tet on the 14th. We will and have put more emphasis on Tet.

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  24. ok, tell TubaDad he's making it tough for the rest of us mortals. I've been travelling and feeling stretched thin and used that as an excuse for (ulp) no valentines cards or treats and just a hastily thrown together meal. my sweetie, on the other hand, surprised me with lunch at il fornio and love letters featuring Eva Maria Saint (remember the blond bombshell from north by northwest).

    So here i was telling him that i'm just super swamped to do v-day properly and then you post pictures like THAT from your house. I know tubadad's schedule plus the little incident with the cab and dang man ... don't raise the bar so high for the rest of us!!

    ;) looks like a blast ... hope to see you soon.

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  25. by the way, if you check out c's site there are pictures of her all dressed up for new year's. :)

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  26. We had a hard time to celebrating both at the same time. I was flipping all week too. I don't feel we did either justice..Props to Tuba dad he did an awesome job!

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  27. I know right? I have been having a terrible time too. I have been all put out by that Lunar Calendar- cuttin' in on our V-day stuff.
    I actually just sort of said "well, ok we'll do CNY when I feel like it- sometime in that 15 day range" And we went all out for V-day. I made that choice because Ev LOVES Valentine's Day , she always has, she gets all squirmy and delighted and loves the hearts and cupids and pink and red and the chocolate.
    So, in this house, CNY is on a TBA status. It worked for us.

    Oh and when my husband mentioned flowers for me for V-day? I said "heh! why break your 15 year streak?" and so- no dice. So that whole Tuba Dad extravaganza? Cool. Very cool.

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  28. Great job TD!! You rock!

    What a fun V'day in spite of the Benadryl. Mr Squirrelly could go though! What's up with that? Some people don't ahve a clue how to act around kids!

    We ended up celebrating CNY on Saturday and Valentine's on Sunday as I couldn't figure out how to mix the two either.

    Happy, happy to you!

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