Happy Valentine's Day! (almost)

Koen and his little friends had a Valentine's party today...at our house. I was hosting the Friday morning get together, and we decided to make it a festive event. All of the kids made and exchanged Valentine's with each other. For Koen's, he colored a bunch of construction paper. Then we cut hearts out of it and stuck them to cards with stickers and some glitter glue for the finishing touch. Each card had a pack of Smarties attached. We waited until the end to do this part, because, as I suspected, it made Koen crazy that he could not eat them all!



We also made Valentine's cookies and had more than enough snacks (let's just say, none of the kids were going be hungry for lunch after they left our house). I'm pretty sure Koen ate four cookies when I wasn't looking. My fault for sitting him up to the table in front of the cookie plate! Duh.



We did our best to recreate the first group photo we ever took of the kids (Valentine's 2007), but as you can see, only half of the group was able to attend today. Notice how Koen refuses to sit next to the other kids. This is so typical. Every time we try any sort of staged photo with other kids, he wants nothing to do with it. I'm surprised we finally got him to STAND next to the couch they were sitting on!

Two years ago....


Today...


We also took the opportunity to capture some pregnant bellies since four of the eight pregnant moms were present.



It was a fun morning. The kids got a little crazy toward the end (notice Ben's & Hannah's static hair), and my house was a complete disaster (we're talking war zone) afterward, but it was great. I must say that I have never wished, like I did today, that Oscar was the kind of dog that goes around eating crumbs off the floor. He sure could have helped me clean up!













A few other things to mention:

Clay has been taking Koen swimming lately, just the two of them. And if you could see Koen's face when they return from the pool, you'd think he'd just had the greatest time a 2 year old can possibly experience. Last night, he came running in talking a mile a minute trying to tell me everything that they did. He got so tongue tied trying to get it all out, that I had to have Clay translate. His favorite thing is when daddy jumps off the "dining board" (of course, while Koen is under the watchful eye of the lifeguard...I know, I wondered the same thing). But the whole thing just makes me smile. This little boy loves his daddy, and when they go off and have special time together it means so much to him...just warms my heart. I might join them tomorrow on their next pool outing.

Oh, and tonight, Koen and I sat at the dinner table discussing possible names for the new baby. After going through many of his friends' names, he settled on "Bacon".     ??? 

Hmmm, I'll have to give that one some more thought.