Tuesday, February 16, 2010

"All You Need Is Love..."

Love, love, love. Valentine's Day was filled with love in the Rayhorn home. It feels like it's doubly special - the 'romantic love' Ethan and I celebrate, and the sweet 'family love' we celebrate with the kiddies. As a little Valentine's treat for all of you, I am including TONS of adorable pictures of my two sweeties. Hehe.

Seriously, having kids makes every holiday that much more exciting, special, and fun! The first picture above, is Anna holding the valentines she gave out to the kids in her pre-school class. (In addition to the v-day party, it was also pajama day at her school, which explains the nightgown and slippers. :) Anna was so excited to go to the store with me and pick out some valentines. She was so thoughtful when we were filling them out too. Anna really thought about what each card said, and who it best described in her class. So sweet!!! I also sent some Hershey kisses so she could give each of her classmates a sweet 'kiss' with the card. It was soooo fun doing that with Anna Ellene. Love her!

These pictures show all of our Valentine's festivities(taken after church on Sunday) - a few of the cupcakes Anna and I made together (like last year, we shared most of them with our neighbors...Anna loved that), crafts Anna and Ben-Ben have done lately, the Valentine bag filled with sweet notes and treats from Anna's friends from school, Valentine notes from me and Grandma Susie-Q, and last, but not least, a beautiful bouquet of red roses and carnations that Anna received from Grandpa Dew. That was an extremely fun surprise for her. Ethan answered the door, and the delivery person said, "I have flowers here for Anna Rayhorn." Anna was standing right there. She said, in complete awe, "I am Anna Rayhorn." Then she ran down the hall to the bathroom (where I was getting ready) screaming, "MOM!!! Guess what I got?!?!?!? I got flowers and they're just for ME!!!!" So sweet, so fun.
On Saturday, we decided to have a fun, family "adventure." Kind of just because, kind of to do something special together on Valentine's weekend, kind of because we haven't done anything out of the ordinary for forever. We drove to Ann Arbor, just an hour away, and went to a Children's Museum there. (It's part of our pass for the Flint Children's Museum, nice!) After, we drove around Ann Arbor for a bit, found a place to have dinner (yeah, we went out as a family for V-day...so romantic :), and just really hyped up the exploring and adventure aspect of it. It was such a fun day! I really loved Ann Arbor, and had never been before.
Anna loved the museum, and was old enough to find most of the exhibits interesting. It was different from Flint's museum - more science oriented. (Side note - I've been trying to be good about letting Anna choose her outfits more often, which means she is wearing dresses more often. What is it with little girls and dresses? She has so many cute clothes that aren't dresses...hm. She needs to branch out. :)
Ben-Ben found a ramp and entertained himself for a long time before moving on to something else. That boy is full of a limitless supply of energy. Consequently, it keeps me moving too, so that's good. :)
They have been featuring a "Bob The Builder" exhibit for the last few months, and Ben-Ben thought it was soooo exciting, since he knows who Bob is. (We have a few Bob books he likes to read.) The picture above is Benjamin in the little builder area, hard at work sketching plans. Anna is doing the life size bubble contraption.
The water area was something they both enjoyed. I love Anna's organization of her little aquatic family. And Benjamin spent most the time seeing how much he could splash.
Last three pictures: The foam blocks Benjamin is sitting in was part of the "Bob the Builder" exhibit. I'm pretty sure you were supposed to see what kind of cool things you could build with it. Ethan and Ben-Ben, however, would push them all into a big pile and jump in. Typical. :) There was a life size Bob that both kids were pretty apprehensive of...even though he was super friendly. Anna finally agreed to a picture, if I'd hold her hand. She isn't usually my shy one, but I have to admit, the size of Bob's head is a bit creepy. And for the final picture - our little famdango being recorded on the heat sensor video camera.
What a fun weekend. I love Valentine's Day and use it as a time to focus on all the people in my life that I love and am thankful for. I loved that I got to spend it with my three favorite Valentines. "Love Is All You Need..."

1 comment:

Lohra said...

I was laughing so hard at some of these photos. It was good to see you guys over Christmas and yes, I've heard the Book Thief is good so it's on my list!! Thanks.