Trish’s Blog

We were able to continue the tradition of giving out valentines when we were invited to a homeschooling Valentine’s Day party. (Aside: We were able to call it a Valentine’s Day party without fear of hysterics from the atheist/non-denomination parents since all in attendance would be LDS. Another perk from homeschooling is we don’t have to rename all the holidays to reflect our political correctness. I did notice, however, that the candy companies are now putting “For Friendship Exchange” on their Valentine’s Day-themed, fun-sized candies. We’re keeping it real over here, but to be fair… I did overhear one of the moms telling her child that St. Valentine was slaughtered and he was bathed in blood so that’s why we decorate everything in red. Bear in mind, I do wear hearing aids, so I could be completely mistaken on what I heard.)

The kids made 20 valentines each. I helped Zoe with hers, so she did use the stamp and ink pads for a short time. When she couldn’t resist touching the ink pads with her fingers was when she was relegated to drawing on a piece of scrap paper. Neural connections aside, my stamps are my toys. Mine. Letting my kids use them is a big step for me. Seth stamped pieces of cardstock with different images and then signed his name. Zack and Sarah folded old-fashioned valentines, only we cut 12×12 sheets of scrapbook paper into fourths. I had received one of these cards last year from a friend and it brought a smile to my face. Sarah and I reverse engineered it and we think we’re so awesome when we make these now. Only, I kind of forgot and she is the one who taught Zack how to make them. The cards looked so cute little. Sarah and Zack stamped them also.

We made the cards on the second of February, made Valentine boxes (you can see them in the last three pictures – recycled white plastic meat containers with brown paper taped over the tops and a hole cut through the paper) yesterday morning, and went to the party yesterday afternoon. There were a ton of kids, but the hostess split everyone into two groups and it was more manageable to play HEART (exactly like Bingo only you say HEART when you get a row across or up and down — and using conversation heart candies as markers) and then switch to decorate cards and cupcakes. We got there a little late, but it was very casual and they had not started yet. We were recognized as brand new faces to everyone, and I was glad when we all sat down and took turns introducing ourselves.

I met a mom of two who attended BYU-Hawaii and just got called to be YW Camp Director, just like me (I was sustained in sacrament meeting last Sunday). She also has more than one calling and is the Activities Director in her ward while I am a Nursery Leader and a Visiting Teaching Supervisor in mine. All of the moms were very nice and very laid back.

I did not feel uncomfortable going blind to this event. I did get a little anxious wondering if we would fit in with the people we were meeting. Sarah had her reservations about going to something where she knew no one. I hope that I have been a good example of being brave in situations like this for her sake, but I know that most of her anxiety comes from her age.

As a result of this fun party – even Sarah had fun – I have signed up with yet another homeschooling yahoo group. So far, they have bi-monthly art classes, a choir that meets weekly, education days, sports days and a book club. We probably won’t get too involved with them just because of the distance driving to get to them, but we’ll keep them in mind for special occasions like this one.