VALENTINE WEEK

Dear Family,  

There has been lots of action on Sherwood Drive this week.  I believe we have the busiest house on the block .

We had Oma's great valentine party on Sunday.  I don't usually like doing these on Sunday but we thought it might be a family dinner and Family Home Evening but there were so many little kids around, we had to settle for a Family Valentine Dinner.

Crowd control is getting to be significant activity when about 50 show up.  We had John and Kaley and boys, Suz and Scott and their children, Cathy and Pete and kids, Emily and John and family, Hannah came up from the Y, Mike and Rayanne and gang, and Cheryl and Paul and their children all came for Mom's yearly Valentine Get Together.

Since it was Sunday, all preparations were done on Saturday.  We decided to serve the food of Love which consisted of Quiche and Crepes.  Suz did a entire day of cooking making 125 Quiches shaped as hearts as you can see in the photo.  Some are with broccoli and ham (recipe in previous post) and some with Swiss Cheese, bacon and onion and they were fabulous!  She also made seven larger Quiches.

I  cooked crepes and made 60 10" crepes one at a time.  Suz took over and got two crepe pans going and made another 60.  I believe we went through four dozen eggs, two gallons of milk.  On Sunday, we only had to warm things up.

Here are some lined up for the above with salads and other treat.  It was interesting that this time, all stayed longer than fifteen minutes and there was continual snacking and conversation for three hours.  The kids ate all the quiches and most of the crepes.  Mom set up a crepe bar with Nutella, jams, strawberries, bananas and whipped cream and it was a hit.

We could not get them all settled for a 

family night; it was difficult when we had 17 children but now it is a real challenge.

Mom had a craft setup in the kitchen and some painted valentine boxes and others made valentines cards for their family.

Then there was a second Valentines party on Valentines day.  John and Kaley had a sewage problem in the newly rented house and they came over.  We had a spontaneous party with Suz and her family and John and his.  I won't get into the menu but it was great!  Suz then made a chocolate fondue and here are the kids lined up.  There is Grant, Timmy, Zandy, Juju and Tilly (Opa too).

For a further Valentine treat, Cheryl invited us to the Ballet West performance of Cinderella.

Cheryl's daughters Mary Clare, Lauren and Olivia were in this one.  They did not dance but were there as children, Mary Clare and Lauren holding flowers with Olivia driving the enchanted carriage. This is what the reviewers said about the children; "The children in the production blended so well with the company that they only stood out due to their adorable faces."

Could not say it better myself.  Well more action;  Mom speaks in Sacrament meeting on Indexing and Catherine comes by for her Patriarchal Blessing.

Love to All, Dad