Love and Hearts

Each February our family tradition is to have little mail boxes and we deliver little Valentines each day for the first 14 days. Sean and I take turns writing them to the kids and each other and the kids write them to each other and us some too. They write them more each year. It is so fun and the kids especially love getting a valentine each morning and the little treat that comes with it. This year we had dove chocolates, air heads, dollar store prizes, and jolly rancher loli pops. We take the little heart valentines and stick them up as part of our decorations. This year for Valentines Sean and I were trying to figure out a fun experience. We decided to take a day and go skiing. Sean and the kids could be on skis and I could have some boots to help out when Lizzie was trying and then also be in the lodge to hang out with the kids while they were taking breaks. It has been difficult this year because the Sunnyside lift changed its price. It used to be $15 after 3 and this year its way more. So the cost is just so high. We found another place that had the kids skiing for free, but the snow is getting old and icy and there really wasn't a lodge to hang out in and Lizzie said she didn't want to try skiing at all. So as we were discussing it and trying to figure out the logistics we decided to put that idea on the shelf for now and we booked a hotel with a fun water park type pool. The plan was to meet at the hotel on a Friday night after Sean's work and have pizza in the room and then swim that night, have a sleepover at the hotel, eat hotel breakfast, swim again and then go home. It seemed like the perfect Valentine date. I got our bag all packed, remembered all the things (I think), ordered the pizza so we could pick it up next to the hotel, loaded Oreo and the kids in the car, dropped Oreo off and the pet hotel, and then Sean called me to say the hotel had called him and told him the pool was closed for cleaning! So we decided not to stay at all. I briefly looked for another hotel, but there really aren't any others that have a waterpark type feel. The next thought we had was to go to the community pool and have a sleepover in our family room. So Sean went to pick up the pizza while I picked Oreo back up from the shortest pet hotel stay ever. We met back at home and by that point had realized that by the time we ate and got to the pool, we could only swim for half an hour. So we decided to eat pizza and doughnuts, eat candy, and rent Sing 2. It ended up being a lot of fun! The kids slept in the family room and we made plans to go to Boondocks the next day. We thought about going swimming as well, but decided that would be too much to fit into one day especially since we had cleaning, Sean had notes, Lizzie had a birthday party, and we needed groceries. I was so proud of all three kids for their ability to go with the flow. They were of course disappointed, but they understood and they made the best of it.  

I didn't take a ton of pics at boondocks, but here are the ones I did take. We ate pizza, cotton candy, lemonade, played games, won prizes, and played on the indoor playground. 

Our Amaryllis that has been growing super slowly and growing mold from day one finally bloomed. Its super beautiful and has been a happy surprise since Sean and I had pretty much given up hope that it would actually bloom. 

Heres our sleepover spots! Sean and I opted to sleep upstairs with Oreo. 

Lizzie got to bring home Happy the Elephant again. Happy is her class pet and its always a fun adventure when she comes to stay. 

The kids had the Friday before Valentines day off for a "wellness" day, not even sure what that meant. They filled out valentines and Brett made his box. 

Happy enjoyed watching Encanto with Lizzie.

Lizzie has been growing lately. Although she has gotten physically a bit bigger, the growth I have noticed is in her development. She is obsessed with learning and is becoming increasingly more literate each day. She is also more aware of things going on around her and seems to just understand things more clearly. We put her in her bed at 9 each night because thats when it works best for the family, but she is sometimes tired before that. Sometimes she will let us put her to bed a bit early, but other times lately she crashes on the couch. 

With all her fun new development she lost her 4th tooth at school. She was doing Lexia on the tablet during centers and her tooth just fell out into her mask =) She got sent to the office to get a cute little treasure chest to keep it safe. The tooth fairy visited and she was very excited to learn that the tooth fairy uses Oreo's dog door, called a "fairy door" to get in to our house. 

Oreo loves to nap in the mornings after his walk and while all three kids are at school. 

Martial arts has been very fun lately! Brett's class practiced jumping on these huge boxes one night. He was good at it, but landed funny on one of his toes and started bleeding =(

Now that Brett is a red belt he is supposed to help teach the beginner class once a week or so. He was paired up with Lizzie teaching kicks. 

We had the Saffrons over for games and enchiladas one Sunday. They brought a fun game where you clean out your college rooms and put cards in a garbage can. It was kinda like backwards jenga and very fun. 

Lizzie slept in our floor one night and when she woke up the next morning it was time to serve breakfast to bear and goo. 

Valentines Day was on a Monday this year and so we had my parents over for a valentine dinner. It also happened to be Super Bowl Sunday which traditionally means Lebanese food in the Zaelit home. I haven't participated in this tradition for a long time which is really sad. I was really happy that my parents brought ingredients and we made some Fatires (handheld meat pies) this year. We prepared the dough then made two kinds of filling. One was ground beef, onions, lemon, mint, salt, and pepper and the other was spinach onions and lemon.  They were both divine! It was not only fun to eat the yummy pies but also to make them all together and talk about past years making Kibi and grape leaves. Grandpa got a picture with Lizzie and Happy and made it into the kindergarten journal! 

Lizzie conked out on the couch again! 

Alana struggles with her clothes a lot and one night she was very tired and feeling extra stressed because I told her I needed to wash her pants. She snuggled to me and fell asleep with me. I snuggled her extra long and then put her in her own bed. 

Here's our Fatires:

Lizzies class journal about Happy's adventures:

I got asked last minute to help with Lizzie's valentines party and it was so fun! I didn't do much but I loved being there and watching her in her element! 

Alana woke up early this morning (at 1 AM) with a headache. She snuggled to me for a while but then I told her she needed to get back to bed or we could make a bed on the floor. Sean really struggles to sleep when we have a kid in our bed and he has been so tired and busy at work lately. She told me her head hurt a lot so I got her Motrin and then as we headed over to her bed to snuggle there, she vomited all over the carpet. Sean and I went to work. He started cleaning and I helped Alana change and brush her teeth. I got the carpet cleaner we acquired from my parents and it worked so good! I was so grateful and pretty impressed there wasn't a stain left. We got her back to sleep and then we both finally got back to sleep. I told Sean there is no one I would rather shampoo carpets with at 1 in the morning. She didn't go to school today and after throwing up again and having a  bad headache and a 2.5 hour nap she seems to be feeling a bit better. I gave her a covid test just to be sure and it was negative. Poor girl.