Valentines Day

I know Valentines Day was a few days ago, but I wanted to put up the pictures here for memory sake.  There was a homeschool party through our homeschool group that we belong to.  This one was for K-5th grade.  I was told that the preschoolers (AKA Aubrey) could take part as well.  My oldest three girls volunteered to be in charge of the active game station.  So everyone took part in some way.  I think this is the first time I had the boys take part in a homeschool activity aimed at their ages.  They  had a blast!!!  Well, except Jedidiah.  He had a lot of fun at first, but was totally bummed when he didn't get "all the candy" he thought he was going to get.  I told him that the candy would be in his valentine box at the end of the party, but he just pouted.  So he sat on a chair for the second hour of the party.  Silly boy.  He didn't want to do any of the activities after he realized he wasn't going to get candy for doing them.  I think we have some issues to work on!!

Anyways, besides mister pouty face, everyone else had fun.

The first station the boys attended was the cupcake decorating table.  Here you can see Aubrey eyeing all of the possible cupcake topping options.

As you can see, there were quite a few options.  The boys had sooo much fun decorating their cupcakes.  All of my boys love to help with cooking.  So this was a big hit.  They have really wanted to help decorate the past couple of birthday cakes, but their sisters kind of took over, much to their dismay.  So they were thrilled to be in complete control over these creations.

Jonah is our biggest chef around the house.  He was quite serious about this cupcake decorating business.

Even when there were mishaps, no worries, as they could be eaten :-)

Jedidiah was trying to get all of the different toppings on his cupcake.  At one point I had to stop him as I was afraid there might not be any left for the other kids!

Aubrey showing off his yummy creation.

Jedidiah's cupcake.

Jonah's creation.

Saoirse was the oldest to be able to take part in the activities.  She pretty much went to each station on her own, being a big girl and all!

Saoirse's cupcake from the back.

There was a craft table to decorate paper hearts.  The boys have a friend, Caleb, that they wanted to make valentines for.

Some of the moms were a wee bit worried about the use of permanent markers at the craft table. They might have to rethink that one next year.  Aubrey spent quite a bit of time decorating his.  I was surprised how long they sat working on their hearts.

Jonah's finished heart.

Merida was thrilled when I let her down to walk in the hallway.

Look at me go!

She is our petite one.  I have noticed that she is on the 'thin' side.  She doesn't have the chubby fat rolls that most of my kids did.  So weighed her the other day and she is only 18.6 pounds.  So far all of my other kiddos (remember, Jed is a totally different story!) were 19 and a half pounds at a year old.  So she's only about one and a half pounds lighter, but I can tell the difference.

Are you still taking pictures of me?  Yes, you cutie pie, you.

Jonah being a good big brother walking along with her.  He really does look out for her.

The valentine boxes set up on the tables.  All the kids got 20 valentines each.  I never got a picture of the boys opening theirs up, but suffice it to say, they had a blast!  They totally loved it.  Even Jed :-)

Flannery and Merida spent some time together at the end.  I have pictures of the older three girls at the game station, but I would have to blur out a bunch of other kids faces, and I'm not up for that right now.  I had at least 4 other moms tell me what a wonderful job they did with the games.  As a matter of fact the lady in charge asked the girls if they could add more open spaces to their station since it was such a popular station!  The girls told me that the moms would come to get their children and the kids would NOT leave.  They didn't want to go to the other stations because they were having so much fun.  Since all of the other stations were sit down activities, the kids were able to get their wiggles out at their station.