Valentine's Party

On Wednesday, our sweet neighbor Rebekah  invited us over for a Valentine's Party.  It was so much fun, and such a blessing to me.  After teaching in Immokalee for four years (where Valentine's Day is way, way crazy--the toughest holiday for me by far as a teacher!), I am not thrilled about having Valentine's Day Parties.  I was so happy to go to one that was not planned to by me.  I am so happy to go to ANY event not planned by me!

 First, they made Valentines' bags, of course.  Josiah is doing great with crafty stuff--even glue sticks!  He loves stickers, markers and crayons.  The things you see in the middle of the table, as a centerpiece, were little ribbon wands for each of the kids.

 Chloe and Lilia, two of our best backyard friends!  I love Chloe for her special 5 year old leadership.  Maryn usually lets Chloe be in charge of their play and leads the smaller kids in all kinds of pretend play, and I appreciate that a lot.

 Above, Miss Bekah was helping the girls (Ella, Ella Grace and Maryn) make bracelets.  I love this pic just because you can see all Maryn's curls!

 Love her.

And here is Josiah playing with his first sensory  box.  I filled a box with rice, measuring cups, heart shaped things, some plastic animals, etc...and he has been having a great time digging, dumping and finding hidden things in here.  A total winner.  I love this.  I love it, love it, love it.

Today we had Ella and Ella Grace over for some more Valentines activities.  We made sun catchers, filled big pieces of paper with all kinds of fun things Aunt Cathy sent us (crepe paper, stickers, foam hearts, ribbon, lace, foil, etc.), and did a few fun papers (dot to dot hearts, gluing on flower petals).  Then we read some books (Where's My Sweetie Pie? by Ed Emberley, such a good one) and played and played and played.  Then we had lunch with Miss Elise, Eli and Julia who came up and shared some of their lunches with us.  It was a great neighborly event.  Aside from the fact that all the little girls were pretty tired and were not getting along very well :)

I love our neighbors!

PS:  My hips hurt.  It took me about 2 hours just to "pick up" our house...not even really clean, just pick things up and sweep, wash dishes, etc.  UGH!!!!  I'm tired of this.