When Valentine's Day Comes Early

**NO. This is not a post detailing the wondrous gifts that Big Daddy surprised me with before Valentine's Day. Last night he said, "and when is that again?". Then he said, "Don't get me anything and I won't get you anything, okay?". **
EDITED TO ADD... Just received flowers from my "loving husband and crazy daughters". They're from Proflowers.com and they're Peruvian Lilies which Big Daddy just happens to love because they open slowly and last for days and days. He always sends flowers from Proflowers because they're fresher and cheaper than a florist. I'll post a picture after they open up.

Yesterday was The Muffin's first field trip. We had planned to walk to the post office to mail Valentines, but decided to drive since it was so cold and extremely windy. I was also one of the party parents for snack, so I was able to go on the little trip and be there for the party afterward.

(I didn't even ask her to smile, she's just that sweet at school)
She mailed a card to her Mommy & Daddy!

(Gosh, I LOVE her!)
Maggie leads a somewhat sheltered life because we never buy goldfish, cheese doodles or cupcakes and she had all three things at her party. She very rarely drinks juice at home, but asked that I bring C.apri Suns for the party. I also brought the heart-shaped strawberry marshmallows because we are all about some marshmallows.

Because Muff is so strong-willed an has been a real handful this week, I'd like to brag on my sweet girl. She was the only one that wrote her name on her Valentine cards because she is the only child that can write her name. She also writes Mommy, Daddy, Ellie, McMillan and our address. Her teacher also said that she never has any trouble with Maggie except for cleaning up the centers. She cleans too much! Her teacher has to make her sit down and give the other kids a chance to clean up their own messes!! Maggie is such a pleaser.

(Taken at snack this morning. She was so tired!)
Ellie stayed with Nana while I partied with Maggie. That gave me two whole hours of alone time. I bought Ellie these Baby Mum Mums. These are the darndest things! They taste pretty good and get so sticky once they get all wet. I found a piece stuck on Ellie's shirt and I had to really work hard to pull it off. I wasn't so sure that she could handle eating them, but she really enjoyed it. Of course, Maggie had to eat one too because she tastes of everything that Ellie eats to make sure that it's not poison.

I also bought Maggie & Cousin Callie matching dresses for $1.00 each! Wal.mart, of course. I got a couple of shirts for Maggie for the same price. She only approved of one of them and said she "probably won't ever" wear the other one. Two out of three's not bad! Maggie wore her new dress to the Library Valentine Party today and I forgot to take a picture because she looked so sweet and innocent sitting on her carpet square and following directions and not screaming or looking strong-willed at all. I just sat there with Ellie in the sling and cherished the moment. Seriously, I had tears in my eyes at one point.

(Yes, she is wearing the "boy" boxing shirt again.)
Ellie will chew on anything she can get her hands on. Yesterday, she snatched the O.rajel tube out of my hand and chewed on it for a good thirty minutes. I was cooking dinner and standing right beside of her, so I kept an eye on her to make sure that she didn't bite the tube and suck all of the pain relieving yumminess out of it.

(Notice Ellie's sweet smile and The Muffin's cross-eyes)
And just for fun, these two LOVE each other. Muff entertains/aggravates Ellie while I cook dinner every single night. After dinner, Ellie crawls around while Muff watches Taylor Swift videos on youtube and I wash the dishes. That's the only sort of nice thing about Big Daddy getting home at 7:00 most nights.

The weekend doesn't look very promising. Big Daddy is working on Saturday (and maybe Sunday too) so I'll have just another day of the week. (We are planning on meeting for dinner and I'll most likely have Maggie & Ellie in tow.) We are really missing Big Daddy's old job with no weekends and only 9-10 hour days. Most days he works 12 hours and let's just say he doesn't love his job...at all. On the bright side, he'll only be sitting at his desk in case an engineering problem arises so he should be able to do lots of homework.

Big Daddy informed me last night that the little scene at the pharmacy wasn't as funny as I thought it was. I was afraid of that. I have decided that I will share it on Valentine's Day because this is my blog and I swear I think it's the only thing I have that's mine. So...stay tuned. Hopefully, some of you will find it amusing and none of you will think that it's gross or offensive.