Valentine's Day!

So, really in time order this post should have been before the Lent post, but that post was on my mind and I needed to type as it came to me.  I don't want to neglect to post this one as well though as it is so fun.  It is about Valentine's Day!!!!!

When we started home schooling in the Fall I started searching for other area home school families.  I was not having the best of luck finding a local group that was established.  I found a family about 20 minutes from us in the next town over off of Facebook and we started corresponding about maybe forming a group.  She said she had heard of another family and we all were going to try to get together.  I was unable to get together with them when they met due to a sick kid or something but they talked and they started a local Facebook group for home schooling which has been wonderful!  As word has gotten around the group has grown.

For many months it was more of an online support group.  A few months back though one of the ladies asked for interest on people coming together once a week for a class.  Many people expressed interest including us.  She gave us the link to the unit that would be covered and I checked into it.  Unfortunately it wasn't a good fit for us as it covered science and creation in a way that wasn't consistent with Catholic teachings but it was still exciting to see people starting to plan physical ways to get together.

As Valentine's Day approached I started to feel a bit sorry for the kids.  I remember fondly the Valentine's Day parties I had in school as a child and I remember how much fun the kids had last year at their parties in public school.  They would miss out on all of that.  I stated talking with my friend who also home schools her kids.  She has become a wonderful friend and we try to get the kids together a few times a month.  I also met her off of Facebook and I am so happy I did!  Anyway, we started to plan a party for all the local home school kids.  We found out the back room at the local library was free to rent.  We posted in the home school group and got a great response for people wanting to attend.  We ended up with 23 kids there ages 18 months to 11 years old!  Each family brought food to share, we had a craft station to decorate Valentine's bags for each kid so they could use them in the card exchange, we had another craft station for a heart craft, we had Valentine's Day bingo and they exchanged cards.  It was so much fun!!!!!  We met a lot of new friends and already have plans for more activities in the future so stay tuned.

I sadly forgot to take any pictures as we were having so much fun.  Valentine's Day was an important day for us for another reason though.  Joe and I celebrated our 11th wedding anniversary!  We had a babysitter for the first time here and she was wonderful.  Joe was working nights so we just went to lunch at a local restaurant which was nice.  So here is wishing Happy Anniversary to my wonderful husband and thoughts of many more to come.  I love you Joe!  Now, for a picture of when we were sooooooooo much younger!