A VALENTINE'S DAY TUTORIAL--NOT FOR THE FAINT OF HEART

 I LOVE READING THROUGH

my memories on the blog.

This is one of my favorites.

Those of you that have followed me since the

early days of blogging,

will remember all these little girls...

now pretty well grown up!

So- I dug another post out of the archives
to share with you.
Grab something with caffeine because
you will be tired when you are done reading this.

Step One:
First you must hang a banner inside 
so the grandkids
will know which holiday they 
are celebrating.

Just a word of caution..

If you hang one

that looks like

the one below..

SOMEONE

(who shall remain nameless)

will be sure to ask..
IS HIMS NAKED?

Your reply should be

Absolutely..

That is why he is

carrying an envelope.

This is sure to produce

a giggle from at

least 2 or the 3 grandkids.
The third one doesn't giggle.

She doesn't giggle 
because she doesn't
"get it".  
She is trying to figure out 
where HIMS got that big of an envelope.

Step Two:

You must lay out supplies.

These will cost somewhere

in the neighborhood
of $459.00...and....

after you buy

ALL THAT STUFF,

you will realize that you have

forgotten at least one or

two crucial supplies..

Like...

Elmer's WASHABLE glue. 
Lord help you if you buy the 
regular Elmer's glue
because it will NOT be pretty!

Now that you have

your supplies home
and have signed the bank loan

to cover the expense..

you must lay out the goodies...

Lay them out nice and neatly..

Sigh over the paper-Oh So Sweet

Step Three:
HANG A FLAG OUTSIDE YOUR DOOR.

A cute little cherub flag

to greet them with a smile.

Isn't it perfect?

Love Mary Englebriet's flags.

Then they arrive bringing presents.

Bringing PRESENTS?
PRESENTS FOR ME?

Yep-these are for Nana..
and they made them all by themselves.

Inside are beautiful little

hearts made with love..

One from Ria.

Two from Lulu...

and one from SweetCheeks.

Of course I must put them all on..

I pick up SweetCheeks...

What does this say, SweetCheeks?

That's jus' sumbuddy ehlse's name

on there...Doan't pay eny

attenshun to the name...

just putt it on..

Whereupon I am informed

by Lulu that

"I told SweetCheeks

NOT to give you that one".

Whereupon SweetCheeks says

NOAH.YOHU.DIDN'T.LULU

an' I dohn't care cuz I am ghiving

it to her enyways! PFFFFFT!

I start the legal paperwork

to change my name to Allison.

Great.. We are off

to a nice, calm start...

Now where were we?

Okay..girls..

Let's get started...
WHO WANTS TO MAKE A VALENTINE?

Everyone's hand shoots into the air.

In short order everything

 looks like this.....

All three girls are

Busy-Busy-Busy

Lulu made this-

 Ria loved the self-stick hearts...

SweetCheeks has changed into 
her 3rd Princess outfit and has busied herself

making th...........

Oh, Dear Lord In Heaven...
While I was refilling my coffee cup,

pray tell WHO handed HER 
the glitter?

There is glitter glitter everywhere..

On the floor and on the chair..

In her mouth and on her hair....

I could go on and on with the

rhyming thingy but I'm afraid

the Dr. Suess police will get me.

An especially nice touch? 

The globs of

glue that dropped here and there

and shine brightly up

from the chair...and the table...

and the floor...and the countertop...

Did I say floor? Ah..yes...

and back to the glitter...

Nothing like glitter on the floor

that can be tracked from

room to room..

Leave NO ROOM untouched

seems to have been the motto

of the day.

I decide I need a bathroom break

to dispose of the 3 gallons of coffee

that I have downed in an effort

to keep up with this

CRAFT DAY WITH THE KIDS.

Lo and behold,

in the small reading nook

(where the old steps used to be)
I SEE THIS!!!

How did all these books get off

the shelf and on the floor?

I ask ever-so-sweetly-

between slightly gritted teeth.

Uh-oh---Here it comes...

Welllll...says SweetCheeks..

Ria toohk a few books off

the shellf and then I helped her

and taked the rest offf..and

we jus' put 'em there for now.

Yeah? Where do you think

you're gonna put them later?

Wellll...It was Ria's idea.

I dunno how they gonna

get bahck on the shelfs.

Hmmmm...I dunno where YOU'RE

gonna go either if you guys don't put

these books back.

All too soon-

hahahahahahahaha

the day ends and we clean up the

mess, they put on their matching
dresses that Nana bought them
 and they get ready to go home.

As you can plainly see 

SOMEONE has been so overworked

she has collapsed in a heap

using her sisters as pillows.

These little girls are big girls now...
but I love them as much as I did 
when they were little like this...
even more...

Kind of bittersweet to look back on 
these special times.

I may invite them over to
do this again this weekend. 

If you don't see me by Monday

I will be glued to a seat somewhere

in the house.

I hope it is in a chair in front of

the computer.

Edited to add:
MyHero reads my blog and says:
 You SPENT $459 ON THIS STUFF?
(Sheeez...don't ya know a joke when you read one?;>)