The Vance's: my loves.

Well, Valentines Day has come and gone. It was a bit of a crazy week preparing to celebrate with friends and our family but we survived!

For starters, we prepped our homemade Valentines' for friends at school. I always like to try and stay away from candy because well, so.much.sugar. I found these adorable heart pencils in the Target Dollar Bin (love target!) and printed out a simple template with room for the kids to sign their names. I think they are so cute and the kids loved them!

Knowing the morning of Valentine's Day was going to be a bit busy with trying to get out the door for school and work I made a special breakfast the morning before. Banana pancakes, bacon and green smoothies. Yum!

And then Tuesday morning came. And it wasn't good. Lucy woke up with a high fever, no appetite, low energy and basically felt awful. Simon had a temp. too and lots of snot everywhere. So, change of plans! I stayed home from work, sent Carter to school with a backpack full of party supplies, emailed his teacher to let her know I couldn't make it to the class party and cuddled up with some sick kids as we watched a Tinkerbell movie. Poor Lucy....her face just says it all.

Luckily, about halfway through the day (and after a long nap) she was at 50% or so and perked up when a friend dropped off some Valentines Day crafts for her as a special gift.

Carter came home and spread out his loot from his class party. It's so fun to see all the kids handwriting as they address each little Valentine. Such a fun age to celebrate friendships and giving. He even shared some of his candy with the rest of us!

After a lot of sleep and tons of veggies Lucy woke up feeling good enough to go to preschool today and get her bag of goodies. She was so excited to read each note from her friends.

Simon is doing a bit better too, although all the kids continue to have lower energy levels than normal. I can't wait for this season of germs to be over so we can get out of the house more and play outside. While we have lots of time throwing the football around in the playroom, reading books and doing puzzles, Simon still loves to cuddle on the couch when he's extra tired. I try to savor those days when I can let him nap in my arms because I know it won't be like that forever.

Speaking of love, Carter's homework assignment last week was to share something he loves. Without hesitation he quickly wrote about his family. He sure knows how to make his mama feel loved.

And I just adore her too. She is growing up so fast but continues to be one of the most thoughtful, helpful, kind kids I know.

And Simon? Oh gosh, he is driving me absolutely bonkers lately. Being a very busy toddler, getting into everything, learning how to be kind to others (aka not hit/push/pull/bite/slap) is exhausting sometimes. But then he just unexpectedly sits down at the bookstore to read or squeals with delight over seeing a dog or cuddles up with his football and politely asks to watch Seahawks highlights (seriously, he is so obsessed with the Seahawks it's quite impressive) and I'm quickly reminded that he's a pretty great kid too.