February 14, 2018-Happy Valentine's Day!

(click here for today's pictures)

• Everyone was awake early this morning. My girls had made their beds, put on their red shirts and were eating breakfast pretty early. My boys on the other hand had found themselves breakfast, put on their clothes and hadn't even thought about Valentine's Day or the 21 kiddos that would be at the house this afternoon. My Anderson didn't even know that we were having a Valentine's/100 Days of School party at the house this afternoon.
• Once everyone was brought up to speed, we passed out Valentine presents. Everyone had a new shirt along with a box of Laffy Taffy and a box of sweethearts. The boys shirts were all Star Wars shirts. Anderson opened his and said. "this is the shirt I wanted." Campbell was pleased to have a Valentine's shirt since she had earlier said that she did not have one. I also think I might have found one that Reagan liked since I bought one just like one that she had bought before from Old Navy except in another color.
• Before we started a last minute pick up around the house, Robby gave me my Valentine's present: a calendar filled with pictures from this last year. He has been giving me these calendars for probably a decade so not only do I love them but I also desperately need a new one come March. He also gave me the warmest and most snuggliest blanket ever. I think that it actually looks like a Star Wars Wookie. 
• We left for Bible study, and my Reagan and Campbell were pretty excited about going. Campbell had made her class decorated sugar cookies which her cookies said were the prettiest they had ever seen. Reagan had angel food cake drizzled with pink icing and strawberries for her class' snack. All of the kids left with some candy, and by this point in the day, they had already had a great Valentine's Day.
• When we made it home, some of the girls were already there. We had our homeschool get together this afternoon and threw a huge 100 Days of School along with a Valentine's party. It was so much fun (and work!) I had divided the kids into 2 groups and each group had 9 different activities to complete.
• The big kids made a snack with 100 items, licked a lollipop 100 times, built a tower with 100 cup, built a tower with 100 index cards, worked a 100 piece puzzle, timed what all they could do in 100 seconds, put 100 drops of water in a cup, made a tower with 100 marshmallows and toothpicks and made a boat to hold 100 pennies. They worked so well together. It took them quite a while to complete all of these activities. I really couldn't believe how well they all did. 
• The little kids also made a snack mix with 100 items, licked a lollipop 100 times, and made a cup tower like the big kids but they also stacked 100 pennies, wrote their names in 100 boxes, did 100 exercises, rolled a dice to 100, guessed which jar filled with Legos had 100 in it, and counted a 100 cans of food. Everyone brought cans of food to count, and then tonight donated it to church for Feed the Need. The little kids (first graders on down) did so well too. Their stations didn't take quite as long as the big kids but they did so great. Each group had a grown up with them, and they all had such a good time. 
• When everyone finished with their stations, it was finally time to pass out the Valentines. The kids had been waiting not so patiently for hours. Everyone was so proud of their Valentines and could not wait to fill their boxes. And fill their boxes they did. When the Valentines were all passed out, we shooed the kids outside and passed out Traci's cupcakes. The kids then ate and played outside until church time which wasn't too much longer. 
• The moms all helped me clean up the house since it was quite a disaster. Everyone started leaving to head to church, and the kids grabbed a bite of supper and picked up some. We left for church tonight exhausted but with a semi straightened house.
• We drug in our canned food for the donation boxes along with Keaton's cards for Grannymom and Nonna and Valentine's cookies for Grannymom. It was then time for our classes. I know that Whitman and Keaton's classes had cupcakes tonight since I passed them out. I am sure that the big kids had some treat as well. I do know that after a week of eating pizza and even pizza for lunch, all of my kids grabbed a slice as it lay out on the tables as we were leaving church.
• Once at home, we had a drink and the kids cycled through the showers. We had a bit of downtime before bed. I know all of my people are exhausted, but Robby just said that he heard the boys still going strong.