Valentine's Day Fun

This year's Valentine's Day was so much fun. Not only does Sofia completely understand the concept of Valentine's Day now, she also attends preschool where she has 7 other friends in her class to celebrate with! We enjoyed making some "Banana Chocolate-Chip Valentines Bread" for Family Home Evening, made Valentine's for all of Sofia's friends, and finally, received an awesome Valentine's Day package from Nana and Grandpa.


Banana Chocolate-Chip Valentines Bread on Family Home Evening Night
This particular night we talked about the different feelings that everyone experiences: when we're happy, sad, mad, and scared. It was fun to use little faces as props and talk about why we experience these sentiments. One sweet quote from Sofia that night: "My friend Brooklyn was sad yesterday and didn't want to come to school." We talked about her friend, Brooklyn, and what she could do to help her feel better. Sofia answered, "I'll ask her to play and have fun with us!"

After we finished, we made some sweet banana-chocolate chip bread with a Valentine's flare. Sofia sprinkled valentine hearts all over the top and it came out cute and yummy! Here are some start to finish pics:


Ready for the oven


The Final Product


Valentine's Card Making
Sofia loves to make things and frankly so do I--even if I'm seemingly crafty-impaired, so we chose to make Valentine Cards for her friends this year instead of purchasing them at the store. It was so much fun! My mom was over that day and the three of us had a ball!

We are just at the tip of the iceberg with teaching Sofia to read and write. For each of the names of her friends and teacher plus her signature "Love, Sofia," I wrote the names with a pencil and she traced the letters--each and every one! I was so proud to watch her write, she is definitely ready to learn more!

Here are some of the cute Valentines that resulted from our evening. Fun, fun stuff.

Valentine's Package from Nana and Grandpa
On Valentine's eve, Sofia received the coolest package from Nana and Grandpa. It was filled with chocolate goodies galore, a Dora Valentine, and the best iced-heart-shaped sugar cookies from Grandma Great Staley! We all wanted to dive-in to the yumm-o treats, of course, and loved receiving the package. Thanks Nana, Grandpa, and Grandma Great!

"I got a package!"

"It is so cool!"

"Look, Mami, heart cookies, they're so cutie!" (and yummy too!)

"I love Dora!"

Good times.

"Princess Valentine, look, she has a pink ballerina dress
just like me!"

Family Home Evening, Good Times

Lately, when having family prayer, Sofia has not been wanting to say the prayer. It's been hard for Ryan and I to understand why this is as she's been praying by herself for a year and a half or so. Most of the time she says she doesn't know how.

Tonight for Family Home Evening we had our little lesson on prayer. With the use of some great visual aids my mother-in-law, Clarissa, gave to us we were able to enjoy a nice family discussion on the importance of prayer. Sofia loved holding the cute pictures and talking about what they meant. They were pictures of children and Jesus praying.

The sweetest thing happened as Ryan was talking about the steps to prayer. He was teaching about the step and importance of expressing gratitude. When he finished, he went around the room and asked each of us what we are grateful for. Sofia went first and she answered: "I'm thankful for being born." I can't even express in words how special and spiritual of a moment it was for each of us to hear her say that. As her mother it brought tears to my eyes and I felt so grateful to be Sofia's mom. It was a humbling moment and it reminded me how innocent and close to God little children are. We were amazed that she expressed something so special to her. I love my Sofia so much and I'll never forget tonight's Family Home Evening...none of us will.

Sofia said the closing prayer with some help from Papi and we enjoyed some ice cream cones when we were all done. I love Family Home Evening, it's a fun informal time to come together as a family, have fun, be uplifted, and enhance our family unity.