Valentine's Day

I think I set myself up for failure this year.  Last year I did a scavenger hunt for Valentine's day.  MaKenna kept asking me what I was planning and knew that it had to be awesome because it was last year... Unfortunately  I just couldn't get it together.  I had hoped to celebrate Mardi Gras on Tuesday - but that didn't happen either. (poor kids) I did get them valentines treats though.

Why 4?  We had Sasha staying with us Wednesday night because Dave and Dee were leaving early Thursday morning for a much needed Mexico getaway. (They are raising 3 teenage girls - if that isn't enough, they have already raised 5 kids of their own.)  Dave and Dee are our neighbors and super great people and our "goto" family in Colorado.

I got up extra early to make breakfast - Choc covered strawberries, banana muffins, and choc chip muffins. 

I tried to keep the Class Valentines simple this year.  MaKenna and Kyler did the same thing and it went pretty quick.  We used what we had - I bought a lot of Valentine pencils last year (after VDay).

We printed out 4 different sayings on card stock. Punched holes on both ends and slipped it on to the pencil.  Kyler did it all by himself and was quite proud.  MaKenna conned her brothers into doing  most of hers and was quite proud as well.

What do they say?
1. You've got the WRITE stuff!
2. Valentine - You're all WRITE!
3. You are the WRITE friend for me!
4. You are just WRITE for me!

I made it through the holiday rush, back to back wrestling duals (Wed and Thurs), shopping for the big weekend trip, packing and loading for the big weekend trip, and sending everyone off.  I'm exhausted (and lonely).  Today and tomorrow I will clean carpets, bedrooms, bathrooms, kitchen, EVERYTHING! (I'm secretly hoping to get a trip to ARC in today too.)

Year of the Snake

I'm not crazy about snakes - honestly I don't see a need for them.  Can't cats take care of the rodents just fine?  However, I do LOVE holidays.  February is full of them.  This year they all seemed to fall close together without weekends in between - I wasn't ready or prepared for all of them.  It started off with Groundhog Day, followed by Chinese New Year, Mardi Gras, Valentine's Day... 4 day weekend and then Presidents Day. 

Did I mention that I LOVE holidays and any reason to celebrate.  I really enjoy the opportunity for the kids to learn about other cultures and traditions.  This year we celebrated Chinese New Year.  I have been to China twice and Taiwan once and work with the region daily so I have become more aware of their holidays, festivals and traditions. 

Chinese New Year in China is like Christmas for us with family, friends, traditions, presents, parties, food, etc. This is the Year of the Snake.  

Jake coloring his snake decoration

Lanterns, Snakes hanging, and zodiac signs

There is a Chinese  legend about a wild beast Nien (also is the word for "year") that appeared at the end of each year, attacking and killing villagers. Loud noises and bright lights were used to scare the beast away, and thus Chinese New Year celebrations were born.

We opted for no fireworks and loud noises, but we did make paper lanterns.

Kyler making his paper lantern

Jake, MaKenna, Kyler

Red envelopesCalled "hong bao" in Mandarin, red envelopes filled with money and given to children.  The color red denotes good luck/fortune and happiness/abundance in the Chinese Culture and is often worn or used for decoration in other celebrations.

Kids loved this part - probably their favorite

If you want to find your Chinese Zodiac sign... here ya go.  This is of course just for fun.  There are several different webpages and they all seem to say something slightly different.  I'm not sure if I agree with the generalizations made below for each of us. Some are OK, others are dead wrong!

Coloring Zodiac Signs

Jake (2001) Snakes like to always be in control, are charming and captivating, yet calculating and often conservative. They are often enduring characters who can keep going in adversity. They have the alertness of the snake and often exhibit uncanny perception. They are brilliant at laying in wait and may patiently observe for months or years, then strike at the right moment. 
MaKenna (2003) Sheep are considered patient and like to exercise moderation and caution in all aspects of their lives. They can bear great pressure and remain stable. Can be very hard workers accomplishing much and can easily take on more than their load. Often they will remain in the background of an endeavor not needing to hog the limelight. Good team workers. Their steadfastness makes them very reliable. 
Kyler (2006) Dog is the honest, friendly and sincere sign of the zodiac. People born under the Dog always seem to be ready for action and this quality brings respect from others around them. They can be brave and courageous and rarely withdraw from a commitment or betray a confidence. They are very loyal and reliable. They are devoted to the welfare of others and are often wonderful listeners.
Steve (1974) Tigers are determined, enthusiastic and positive with a sense of superiority. They explore the potential in unlikely situations. They like to see everything settled, rarely abandon projects and will become self centered and obstinate if they fail to achieve. Tigers tend to place themselves in leadership or radical roles.
Elizabeth (1975) Sheep are usually generous, friendly and tranquil by nature. Rabbits like everything to be low key and even tempered and are anxious if forced to take risks. They enjoy paying attention to detail to create an ambiance in their lives. Rabbits most often prefer the easy road.


Food
The Chinese New Year's Eve meal is the most important dinner of the year. Typically, families gather at a designated relatives house for dinner - like we do for Christmas.  We had a nice family dinner.  We had fried rice, egg rolls, sweet and sour chicken - all made by scratch - nothing pre-bought (except the egg roll wrappers).  Here are only a few pics because this post is getting super long...

     

Wow - if you read all of this you're dedicated. My Valentine's post will be much shorter - I promise.

What do you know about Molly Brown

MaKenna came home from school a few weeks ago and said she had to do a research project on a famous Colorado person.  Her person was - Molly Brown.  I instantly got excited and called for a Family Movie Night.  We watched the Unsinkable Molly Brown (compliments of Amazon Prime).  I enjoyed it and loved watching it again after so many years.  The boys thought it was "funny" and MaKenna said it was ok. She watched it to learn about Molly - I had to make sure she knew that most of it was probably made up and not real.  It gave her something to compare against as she did her research.  We were able to go and do some on-site research at the Molly Brown House in Denver.  We had a great time.

Today was the big presentation day. She had to dress up like Molly and show at least 5 items that related to their person.  The 1st picture we took at the Molly Brown House in Denver, the others are from her presentation today. When I asked MaKenna which Molly Brown she wanted to dress up like - the one before gold or the one after gold.  She quickly responded - the rich one!

at the Molly Brown House

Presentation Time

Nice Rock! (yes that is a ring pop...)

 If you have four minutes that you want to kill - here is the video of her presentation.

Meet Barner the robot

Kyler had an assignment to build a robot.  He had to name it and answer a couple questions about it.

It had to have a body, head, eyes, mouth, and a control panel.  Extra credit was given for additional body parts.  We used those sticky stretchy hands for hands, red cups for legs, bottle caps for eyes and on/ off buttons, wrapping paper tubes for his jets, and pipe cleaner for an antenna.

O ya - we had red ribbon streamers coming out of the jets.

The three adjectives that describe my robot:

Fast

long arms

good catcher

Three things my robot likes to do:

play football

he likes to read books

run

Three things my robot likes to do for me:

Take care of my animals

do my chores

do my homework

I love my robot because:

he plays with me