The Saturday 7

1. On Monday, Levi, Nova, and I met up with my cousin and her daughter for a trampoline park play-date. Kids under 5 didn't have to wear a mask, so Levi just skated in under the cut-off. The kids had a blast, the place wasn't busy, and my cousin and I got to sit and chat . . . as well as we could with masks on, since we're both deaf. Lol.

2. This week has been a whirlwind of planning, prepping, making lists, checking lists, and thinking about lists. We're leaving for Florida tomorrow afternoon, so I spent all week doing laundry and shopping and packing. Plus, I was in charge of Lena's school Valentine's Day party on Friday, so I spent many hours working on that as well. There were days that I had every minute mapped out for myself. "Clean from 8-9, work on party from 9-10, shower from 10-10:30, etc." And every afternoon by 4:00 I inevitably crashed. I've been taking Plexus faithfully for about a month and a half. It's supposed to stop my afternoon energy crashes, but so far, no luck. It's also supposed to make me skinny. Wait til you see pics of me in a swimsuit in Florida. 🤦 (#notpregnant #justfat) I'm not really knocking Plexus. I know it takes a while, and it probably takes even longer when paired with a diet and sedentary lifestyle like mine. C'mon. Where's my magic pill??

3. On Wednesday, I got to watch Ruby and Casper for a couple hours. I've been missing them so much, and I wanted to make sure I saw them before vacation, so I was happy they were able to come hang out with me. Libby and Nash also stopped over, so we had quite a zoo going on!

They had a blast telling Alexa to "sing Let It Go!" or "do the dinosaur song!" and then singing and dancing like crazy hooligans.

Sweet Casper

4. Thursday was Levi's Valentine's Day party. I didn't have to plan that one, so I just got to show up and hang out. I love watching him interact with his teachers and friends at school. And I love that he's still so excited to see me and smother me with affection. He kept saying, "take your mask off so I can kiss you!" Haha.

5. For Lena's party, I created 5 stations. She has 24 kids in her class, so it's easier to have them go through each station a few at a time than attempt each activity with 24 kids at a time. We did Conversation Heart Bingo, a dice game with Conversation Hearts, pictionary, Conversation Heart shooters, and Valentine's Day Apples to Apples - I made up 5 scenarios: Something you want for Valentine's Day, something you don't want for Valentine's Day, a place you'd like to spend Valentine's Day, a person you'd like to spend Valentine's Day with, and what Valentine's Day is all about. I had pre-selected a bunch of cards from our Disney Apples to Apples game, so they were kid-friendly, and I made sure to have a variety that would fit the scenarios I made up. Then we played the game as usual. It was a blast. And let me take this time to point out that girls get a bad rap for being loud and giggly and chatty. The boys in Lena's class were way more giggly and chatty during this game! Haha. At the end of the party, we did one group game. I split the kids into teams (boys vs. girls) and gave each kid a balloon that I had blown up previously and put a portion of a Bible verse into. Each team had enough phrases to put together a whole verse (actually 4 verses: 1 Cor. 13:4-8). I told them to pop the balloons, find their verse pieces, then race to put the verse in order. The boys won and there was a fair bit of disappointment from the girls, but I gave them all prizes (Lil' Debbie cakes), so their sadness was smoothed over quickly. Haha. It was fun, but chaotic. I was grateful for a lot of parent helpers - especially a couple dads that I stuck on the shooter game to rein in the boys. Lol.

I only took this one picture after everyone had left and we were cleaning up!

6. Since we'll be spending most of Valentine's Day in airports/the sky, we did our traditional Valentine's Day dinner tonight.

Shells n' cheese by candlelight!

Lena made sure we stuck to tradition by sharing what we love about everyone as we ate. Then the kids got to open their presents: a cheap craft kit, box of chocolates, and one other random thing (Lucy: water bottle, Lena: mini etch-a-sketch, Levi: a tub of dragons from Once Upon). I posted something on facebook earlier this week asking for recommendations for a gift for Lucy, and defensively added, "I don't want any snark about kids these days being so spoiled they get Valentine's Day presents." I was surprised by how many people said they get stuff for their kids too. Glad I'm not the only one!

7. I'm already having a fair amount of anxiety about flying tomorrow. Honestly, it's mostly worry about remembering everything, getting to the airport on time, our flight being on time, keeping masks on the kids in the airport/on the plane, calming Lena's nerves on the plane, dealing with Levi's peeing issues on the plane, our rental car being available, making it to Justin's parents' at a decent hour, etc., etc. Although I'd be lying if I said I'm not at all nervous about the flying part. Haha. I know it's super safe. I'll just always be an anxious flyer. Let's go, Xanax! Do your thing!!

And now, some pictures: