Chocolate and Chucky Cheese - Valentines Day

These two do not normally go hand in hand, but this Valentines Day that is exactly what we did. We gave the kids more chocolate than usual, and took them to Chucky Cheese. I am not a huge fan of the smaller kid venues, but once or twice a year we give in. My husband and I were going from game to game with each child and in passing we kept looking at our watches and each other so that we could go pick up our take-out from a local restaurant, go home, put the kids to bed, and eat a very nice meal, just the two of us. And it was lovely!

One night after dinner leading up to Valentines Day I told the kids that we would be exchanging valentines within our family and passed out the markers, cards and stickers. I thought there would be some mumbling and grumbling, but there wasn't so I proceeded like I wasn't holding my breath. Everyone was busy at hand and then Brett whispers across the table to me, "Mom, I almost forgot the most important one." Well, I thought that he meant Dad, but he looked and pointed to Justin. Made my heart so happy. Yes, it has been a big, enormous, and hard transition around here so to hear him say that made my heart skip a beat. So many things to say and I can't put it all into words, but our family is rounding the next corner. I am thankful for the love that we do have for one another and for the love that I know will come in His time.

Our Valentines Day breakfast was Chick-fil-A chicken minis, fruit, orange juice and chocolate and surprisingly the kids made it to school on time.

One More Backpack

Justin started pre-K in the beginning of January. The First day and every day since then has gone smoothly. He did need some encouragement from my older 2 that the SSH was going to be fun, that the teachers are so sweet and loving, and that he was going to have a blast. On Tuesdays and Thursdays he is taught in English and Friday is a total immersion day in Spanish. At the beginning of every month we print a calendar from so that he can see when he goes to school and any special days we have like going to the dentist, family members birthdays, etc. We hope that he will be able to retain his Spanish, but I think he has forgotten some of it already. When I ask him to talk to me in Spanish he says he forgot. We are hoping to call his foster mother soon so we will see how much he has remembered because neither Bob nor I can fluently talk Spanish. A lot of the schooling on Friday is new for him because when we first me him in April 2011 he did not know the basics (colors, counting to 10, etc) in Spanish. We don't have any regrets sending him to school 3 days a week from 9am-2pm. I know having him home for 3 months definitely helped him to have more confidence in himself. This past week his school gave him Periquito Azul to keep for a week. He is to write a few sentences and share a few photos of what him and Periquito Azul have done together. He has carried that bird around everywhere!! Needless to say Justin takes on this role very serious. We shall see what happens when he has to return Periquito Azul. (I tried to post a few more pictures, but I can't figure out what the problem is so 2 will have to do. The picture below is him having school with me on his off days.)