Two for the price of one.

As many of you may know, Valentine's Day coincided with another equally important holiday this year, Chinese New Year. Feeling rather ambitious, I planned three, that's right, three parties to celebrate. Lily and Rachel invited a few friends over on Wednesday for a Valentine's bash. It was a blast - particularly since most of the people they invited were boys with boundless energy. After the last of the party games was played, I opened it up to free play time and, upon the suggestion of one of the boys ("Let's fight", I think were his exact words), immediately saw my girls rough and tumble with the best of them.

In contrast, Anna's party was an all-girl screaming fest. I was on my best behavior to ensure that every girl got a turn during the treasure hunt and that they all got candy no matter who won during valentine bingo... and musical hearts... and pretty much every game we played. Consequently, we finished the party virtually tear-free.

In all the fun, I didn't manage to snap any good pictures.

Friday night we invited a few friends over for dim sum (barbecued pork steamed buns, potstickers, egg rolls, tempura-fried green beans and fried rice). All homemade, of course. Not to mention, incredibly healthy. We stayed up till midnight just talking and rather forgot about the game of Mah Jang I had planned on playing. Oh well. At least this time I got one picture of the table (minus the food).



We spent Saturday morning purging the playroom and working on unfinished projects (which remain unfinished) before heading out for a Valentine's Day Dinner - just the two of us.

Today we ate our traditional breakfast-for-dinner Sabbath day fare. The cinnamon rolls appeared a bit heart-shaped this time around, though. And the frosting a little pinker than usual.



Happy Valentine's Day! And hooray for the year of the Tiger!