Happy Valentine's Day!

I set the bar low this year.  I didn't plan a big meal because no one appreciates it and this year was a regular, busy, school night.  I ended up driving Ethan to work and stopped at Costco for our weekly supply of 8 gallons of milk and bought some salmon and chocolate covered strawberries for our "special" dinner. Good thing the bar was low because we exceeded my expectations.  Only Landon, Parker, and Henry were home for dinner.  We didn't even set the table.  Instead, we just sat at the counter and ate our salmon.  I feel bad for the poor soul who needed a root canal at 6:30pm on Valentine's Day that kept Randy from getting home until the salmon was cold and smelly.  

Luckily, I found an awesome lady online who offered free Valentine printables so I heart-attacked each of my boys so they will have memories of a mom who cared but with minimal effort :)

What I love about these hearts is that all my boys have kept them up on their beds and walls.  Waking up to a heart that says SMILE or "I love the way you...." is a great start to a new day.

Stuff

Henry hasn't slept or napped well in several days so I'm determined to stay home and let him sleep until he wakes up on his own.  Poor kid never gets to start or end his nap without being in his car seat.  While Henry sleeps, I will blog.  And I even updated the photos on my sidebar after five long years.  You're welcome. 
Happy Valentine's Day!  I have done almost nothing to prepare for this day other than making sure Landon and Parker had Valentine's to take to school today.  Oh, but I did whip up homemade raspberry syrup to pour over the Belgian waffles I made for breakfast {Wednesday is late start day so we have extra time in the morning}.  No one ate the syrup.  Sometimes it's really annoying when my boys don't respond to my love language of food.  Oh well. 

 Speaking of food, Randy and I went out for a late dinner with some friends on Saturday.  This is significant because it means we are pulling out of our super stressful slightly depressed lives enough to be social.  A couple suggested we go to John Howie Steak which I rolled my eyes at because it is PRICEY!  But I guess if you eat in the bar area after 10pm, their amazing burgers are only fifteen bucks.  So that's how we found ourselves at a bar in our church clothes after going to a church meeting on a Saturday night.  And since our party of 8 didn't order any alcoholic drinks I'm sure our waiter was very unhappy.  But the food!  Oh my, it was good!  Randy and I split the giant burger and ordered a steak appetizer.  Oh, and the burger was served with truffle fries that were so delicious I didn't need ketchup and that's saying a lot.

I never take pics of our friends but these people are the best!

8th graders!

  I spent Friday night at the middle school's annual hoe down.  All the kids dress in plaid shirts, we eat dinner, then the kids dance the night away doing all the dance steps they learned in PE while the adults sit on the bleachers and watch.  Marcus LOVES the hoe down and Ethan was excited and nervous for it because he hasn't had PE yet so he barely knows what he's doing.  Let's just say Marcus was having the time of his life and Ethan may never go to another hoe down again.  I'll let you read between the lines on that one and just know that being a parent can be so PAINFUL when you watch your kids struggle. 

 After the hoe down, Marcus invited his friends over.  He never has friends over so I was ready to do anything at any cost to ensure they had a good time but all Marcus wanted was for me to make chocolate chip cookies.  Easy enough.  The boys devoured them, played in the backyard, then watched Nacho Libre until their parents came.  And since all the parents texted their sons when they arrived for pickup, I didn't even have to answer the door or have awkward small talk with parents I'd never met because the boys just left when their car pulled up.  Win!

 You may wonder why Parker is having soda with his breakfast pancake.  For the month of February we are doing the R.E.D. challenge which is Read scriptures Every Day.  For every day the boys read their scriptures they get to pick something from the R.E.D bowl.  It's pretty much filled with red junk food, red soda, and red Gatorade.  For some strange reason the boys pick their treat and immediately eat it.  I thought they would pack it in their lunches or save it for an after-school snack.  But no.  They eat it for breakfast.  Yesterday Randy said, "Mel, you're going to give the boys so many cavities if they eat all this junk!"  as he popped a handful of candy in his mouth.  I rolled my eyes.  So far no one has missed a day of reading so it seems like a good idea to me.

 

Landon is my first son to actually want to make a box for his Valentine's.  Usually my boys just take a grocery bag.  He made this shark box all on his own which makes me so happy.  Artistic abilities do not run strong in the Ball family.

The Valentine's Day Flop

This year was another memorable Valentine's Day.  Memorable because it was so bad I could only laugh about it.  We did our usual heart attack for Family Night where each person made a Valentine for every member of the family.  The activity was supposed to encourage love and compliments.  Apparently Marcus and Ethan need a little work in that area.  As we hung up the hearts Randy said to me, "Well, that was a flop!"

Marcus had to respond to Ethan's stinky feet comment.  Surprisingly they laughed over the whole thing.

Parker got in on the action

Landon drew pictures

Ethan knows the way to my heart

For Valentine's Day I decided I wasn't in the mood to cook a nice meal and eat by candlelight and thought we could take the whole family out to dinner at a buffet.  The boys think an all-you-can-eat buffet is the greatest thing ever and it seemed a like a family friendly way to spend our Valentine's dinner.  We found a great Japanese buffet a year ago that serves tons of sushi, Chinese food, American food, and has a grill where you pick your food and the guy cooks it for you.  I remember thinking the food was pretty good and the place was nice but I think I must've just been really hungry because the food was disgusting and there were some pretty interesting people at the restaurant.  Honestly, it was hard not to stare at some of them.  Ethan was in rare form that night when he dropped a pile of cake and whipped cream all over the floor and Landon's foot and then discovered his hard-boiled egg was actually raw.  That's what happens when you pick it up from the pile of raw food at the Hibachi grill where the guy cooks the food for you.  Randy and I were happy to go home and eat a slice of cheesecake I had made.