Happy Valentine's Day

 The kids were excited to go to school today and celebrate Valentine's Day.  They started the day with some sibling love.

 Serafina's party and Leo's party were happening at the same time, but I felt like Serafina's class needed more help than Leo's.  His class is smaller and more mature; they had it covered.

She was in some dress up clothes when I came back after dropping off Leo and running an errand.

 She then proceeded to have a huge meltdown.  The teacher said I could leave since she never does that when I'm not there.  I decided to stay.  I want her to be able to handle my presence in the classroom without being so clingy and emotional.  She insisted on sitting on my lap but didn't do any more crying, and she eventually didn't even need to sit with me.  Due to switching work days, it's been a while since I helped in the classroom and I thinks she's out of practice.

I also felt I needed to stay because it becomes pretty chaotic once the kids start passing out their Valentines.  They don't address them to specific classmates so they can just walk around and drop them into the bags.  Here she is ready to receive a Valentine.

She did a great job passing out her Valentines.

She enthusiastically wished everyone a Happy Valentine's Day.  

 At snack time, the kids wore their Valentine crowns and necklaces.

 Then they went out to play.  Natalie and Serafina made "ice cream" with the tan bark.

 Some of the ladies ready to go back inside.

Walking back to class.  

 I'm not sure how Leo's party went but I'm pretty sure it included lots of sugar.  Here he is when I picked him up.

There was some fighting over that balloon, of course.  

 Here he is checking out his loot.  We had some beautiful weather, but unfortunately they keep their backpacks outside most of the day and all the chocolates he received turned into a melty mess.

But since it was so nice out, we took a little walk.  Serafina played with the bubbles she got in her Valentine bag and Leo had a lollipop.  

They both ate much more sugar than usual (confession: so did I), but they were much better behaved than usual.  They played really well together this afternoon and were pretty pleasant all the way until bedtime.  That's rare around here and I enjoyed it.  Maybe I should rethink the healthy, balanced diet and pump them full of candy every day.

Tomorrow we leave for an extended Tahoe trip and Grandma Carrie and Aunt Maggie will be joining us for most of it.  The wireless up there isn't great so I'm not sure if I'll get to post.  We plan to get Serafina up on skis so that will be an adventure.