The Dog Survived, and So Did We

So yes, I do cringe a bit when I look at the title of that last post. Am I really the crazy woman who will stay up late at night crafting things for little children, then hop on the internet to write mean and hateful things about small dogs?

Guess so.

The important update is that the dog is FINE. We determined, after securing a hasty associate's degree in veterinary care after our frenzied google searches, that doing nothing was the best course of action. We confined her to her pen and made sure she had lots and lots of water. I checked on her a few times during the night, and she was just fine.

Stupid, but fine.

She actually followed me around quite a bit today with very sweet puppy dog eyes that didn't completely make up for the butterfly massacre, but helped to remind me that I do like her.

Most days.

The homemade Valentines turned out rather cute. There were thirty kids at the party, and I had three kids participating, which meant I had to come up with 90 homemade valentines! Since time and money were both issues, we opted for quick and simple this year.

The template for this owl came from www.familyfun.com. A Valentine pencil is the "branch" that he sits on, and we wrote "You're OWL write" on them. In case anyone is interested in this idea, we found 10 packs of pencils at Target for $1, and the sheet of double sided poster board (in a very loud color) at Walmart for 25 cents.

Don't they look like birds on a telephone wire??

These were Max's valentines.

I headed to Target in the freezing cold and pouring rain to come up with these ideas. As I shoveled boxes of gummy fruit snacks into my cart I had visions of my boys cutting out these simple hearts and practicing their penmanship. Hmmm. And now, I present little hearts that I cut out and wrote on.

Here are Emma's butterflies.

At the risk of beating a dead dog (no pun intended), I'll mention that there weren't enough to go around.

Ready to head to the party!

Our friends who hosted this shin dig really know how to entertain a crowd. They did a great job of planning. This is sweet Samantha, helping Emma make a Valentine bag.

Playing charades.

This group of kids memorized and recited I Corinthians 13 word for word. Hooray for filling hearts with things that matter!

We decorated cookies for dessert. Someone loved her some marshmallow eyeballs.

Playing a game of hot potato. Em figured out real quick how to pass the potato, and was quite impressed to be playing a game with the big kids!

Eating her first ever dum-dum. The kids asked me if she could have some candy and I said no. I'm not ready for her to have all that sugar. However, she was sitting next to me looking at all the Valentine cards in her little bag while I was visiting, and the next thing I knew she had a sucker in her mouth! She got it off a card, unwrapped it, and went to town, so I gave in and let her have it. It was about a ten minute exercise in red, sticky drool. :)

What party would be complete without a little of this??

We had such a fun time. We are lucky to have lots of homeschooling friends in our area, and the opportunity to get together to celebrate special occasions is one of the things that keeps school fun!