Valentines

Hi

Well as you would expect Valentine's Day is completely over the top here. I loved it, as did the children but it did take a bit of planning ahead. Jacob had to provide cards and gifts for 21 and Abi 11. Abi wasn't allowed to put names on hers as it would be too difficult to hand them out?! So we spent the week and a half before Valentines Day making our cards. Abi only needed one afternoon as she's a crafty girl, Jacob however took his time over the week. He did have more and wanted to do all the writing himself. We baked cupcakes the day before and enjoyed handing out all the treats on the day. Allen sent me flowers for the first time in 13 years on Valentines Day, which was a lovely surprise. Well not so much a surprise as he phoned to see if I'd got the flowers before they were delivered! There's a photo of us with the flowers and bits Jacob and Abi got too.

Since Allen's been away Jacob managed to have 2 days off sick. He wasn't that sick as you'll see from the photo of him on the tyre swing along with Abi's friend Cody and Abi too. There's also a photo of Abi with Sweetheart. The bear she made at the Build a Bear party. Sweetheart has been a major success and even Jacob asked if they had army outfits to put the bears in (unfortunately they do!).

Off to the Childrens Museum today, went to the zoo Saturday and gym yesterday. It's President's Day here today so no school. Also going to buy the Transformers DVD as lots of things are on sale due to this 'special day'! Am busy mastering DVR - a way you can video off the TV without a video (not sure we have it in the UK yet?). So far I've managed to record Night at the Museum in Spanish (didn't realise we had HBO in Spanish) and cut the end off a Scooby Doo film. Not popular with Jacob at the moment although I did redeem myself in his eyes by recording 3 Power Rangers episodes. Allen returns on Wednesday which we're all looking forward to.

Hope everyone's well

Rachael.