Valentine's Banquet

We had the Valentine's Day banquet at church last night and it was very cute. First I must brag on my son's guitar playing and TaeKwonDo demonstration. He did a great job and at least one mom was impressed that he was a green belt! The mistakes the kids made just made it all the more cute. Quite funny.

I also have to brag on the job my friends, Michelle and Karen and I did on the HUGE cardboard backdrop that the kids used to tell their jokes through (like the old "Laugh-In" show). It was quite the undertaking. First, Karen and I broke down boxes and taped them together to make the "canvas" and then trimmed it down to the size we needed. Then Michelle hoisted it (by herself if you can visualize that!) onto some trellis with zip ties so that we could paint it. Then we got an overhead projector and outlined the design then painted it. Then we trimmed out the "windows" for the kids to talk through, placed the "confetti" and Rick attached it to some brackets with sandbags on the legs to keep it from falling forward. It took a week and a half to get it all done and we were so happy with the result!

Me, Michelle, and Karen in front of our backdrop.

You can just see Peter poking his head out above the "I"

We invited our neighbor, Liz to the program and she really enjoyed it too. I was concerned because she and my sister ended up sitting next to each other and didn't know each other. I shouldn't have worried. They talked all night about their cats and the new motorcycle my sister just bought (she got a great deal on a new purple and silver Harley that she is having built and will be ready in April!) My mother-in-law, Gladys was sitting next to Dana and they had a great time too. Yumiko took pictures with all the friends she had met over the last 6 months from church and was sad to leave. She heads back to Japan on Saturday morning. We will miss her very much but we know that she is looking forward to being home with her husband and family.

Yumiko, Liz, Dana, Gladys

Liz and Caroline

The kids danced the Macarena and the Chicken Dance and the parents had to join in. Yumiko was surprisingly good at both considering she had never seen either one done before.

Liz and Yumiko dancing the Chicken Dance

Yumiko, Peter, Me, Caroline

We had a wonderful time and the kids enjoyed performing for the parents. Michelle (the Ebay queen!) is hoping to sell the Fiesta board on Craigslist for Cinco de Mayo. Takers anyone??