Valentine's Day is here again!

Dear Castillo Children,

Oh, my beautiful girls, how I adore you. We've had another fun week and lots of fun stuff is coming up as well.

Last Sunday I got to teach in Relief Society. Our normal teacher had sicks kids that came down with RSV. Neither of you have had that so far (knock on wood) but I have heard it is really hard and one of her kids was put in the hospital for it. Kind of scary! I felt so bad for her so I told her not to worry about her class and I would teach it. This happened on a Tuesday and I completely forgot about it until Saturday night. At midnight. Oops! I scrambled to get my thoughts down and luckily the class really seemed to like the lesson.

We talked about Lorenzo Snow and his conversion to the church. He gave his account about how he didn't have a witness to the truth until after he was baptised. I compared the conversion of him to Joseph Smith and the first vision, and then to us today in our own conversion. I noticed a pattern. First, we start with acting in faith. President Snow got baptised and J.S. looked into churches and studied it out. How can we start with faith? Second, they went somewhere to be able to feel the spirit. Snow went for a walk alone and J.S. went to the grove. Third, they both felt "darkness" befor the manifestation. This was important since Snow felt really depressed and didn't want to pray since he didn't receive his glowing moment of knowing the church was true. J.S. was attacked by a dark spirit trying to stop him. We discussed that perhaps depression and difficulty were a part of the process. That the Lord still loves us and doesn't abandon us simply because we are going through difficulty. Fourth, we pray in faith for an answer and finally, we can be ready to receive. I loved how these example of two great prophets can show up how to receive our own witness.

On Monday, we cleaned the house. I know, so exciting for you! We went through all your toys and I packed away all the "baby" toys and but aside a lot to donate. Of course, as soon as I put them in the give away pile they were AWESOME again. I'll have to sneak them out while you're not looking. Also went through all of Annalise's clothes and realized that I need to put away all the little girl clothes! I didn't realize how hard that was for me. I kind of hate that I need to store all these clothes just in case. We'll see if we'll add another sister someday. My friend Cindy stopped by with some cupcakes to say thanks to your dad for fixing her ice maker. Nora was super excited and talked all about them all through dinner and FHE. She even stopped playing games early so she could eat her cupcake. (Please note that she is wearing her shirt backwards in this picture and like it that way.)

 

 



On Tuesday we had Preschool here and we learned about the letter R. The best part of preschool was where we painted Rocks and make them into our Pet Rocks by gluing googley eyes on them.

Preschool has gotten really easy to do now, but I think that is mostly because I'm missing three students! One moved away, another is having potty training issues so he took a break and the last one came only two of the six times I taught. It was so laid back and fun. I really enjoyed doing it this time around. Honestly, it could be the smaller class size or that fact that I know what I am doing. The less I stressed about it the easier and fun it was for me. However, I am also REALLY excited that I don't have to teach for the rest of the school year. Hopefully I can find some more people to teach with next year. I'm not really worried about Nora being ready for Kindergarten, she's extremely bright and I know she'll do well.

Wednesday we went to the library to get some books and meet up with my friend Cindy to eat at McDonalds, lovingly referred to as Old McDonalds in our home. At the library there was a group of teens outside and as I walked out with my 2 and 3 year old one of them dropped the f-bomb. Seriously?! I said, "Hey, I have little kids here!" and at least they apologized. Come on people! I also took a dance class on Wednesday evening. It's a mixed dance style/exercise class and it was awesome. And hard. And I hurt for like two days afterwards. Seriously, couldn't move. I really like doing it but it made me feel old in the worst way! I can remember being able to move around on the ground and jump up. Yeah...not anymore. I plan to go again this next week. I think I'll survive. The only picture I have for Wednesday is a cuddle/wrestling that happens almost night between my girls and their daddy.

On Thursday was Valentine's Day! Your Daddy always does something nice for his special girls. We woke up to candy milk shakes! One for each of us. I got red roses, Nora got a little unicorn and Annalise got a little puppy.

 

After breakfast (and taking the candy away from them by force!) We got ready for a Preschool Valentine's Day party at our house. These are the Valentine's Nora gave her friends (she gave them special Cinderella cookies so the blue on the cookies are little slippers):

 

 

When her classmates came over they made some Valentine's for their Mommys, decorated heart cookies and played upstairs in our playroom. It was a success and my last day of teaching Preschool!

 



After the party the girls helped me set up my surprise for Daddy. I made a sign that said: I Could KISS  You All Over the Place! And then laid down pink material on the walkway to the front door and covered it with chocolate kisses. The girls loved helping to sprinkle the chocolates and then they liked sneaking out the front door to eat them while mommy was busy.

Daddy loved it! He came home early to make an amazing steak dinner (filet mignon!). He even made chocolate sorbet. (I think because I might be Gluten intolerant so no cakes or cookies) Nora and Annalise seemed to enjoy the whole presentation. (Nora wanted me to take this picture of her)

I got another present, an ASU sweatshirt! I've been wanting one and Todd got it for me, but it was from the girls. Now I can represent both of my Universities (and not get kicked off the beach when I'm camping with Aunt Cheryl...which I almost did a few years ago while wearing my UofA one)

We had a wonderful Valentine's Day! Which is a perfect way to introduce my play idea I've been working on. I decided to dedicate an hour every Tuesday and Thursday night to writing. Mostly since I need something to show to my writing group. My play is a modern retelling of St. Valentine. The story goes that Valentine was in prison for marrying soldiers against the order of the Emperor. He was eventually killed for his crime but not before he gave back sight to the jailer's daughter. He wrote her a letter before his execution that was signed, Your Valentine. This story most likely wasn't true, but still has a nice ring to it. My story is set in the future where marriage has been outlawed. Society has decided that marriage is something that is unnecessary and religion has been reduced to something for the mentally unstable. A young man starts to marry people in secret in a religious ceremony and is caught. He stands trial and his lawyer, a woman who believe in the letter of the law, starts to question the purpose of law. There is a little side love story with the woman's daughter as well. I wrote my first scene last Tuesday and I'm looking forward to writing more. It's funny. The first scene I wrote it actually the third scene but I had to start somewhere and that seemed more comfortable for me. Nothing might come of it but it's a fun hobby. :)

I've had a nice, relaxing weekend, complete with a dinner at Texas Roadhouse last night. I have eaten SO much steak this week! I know, feel sorry for me. :)

To my girls, I love being your mother. I love playing with you and I especially loved that you wanted to make a tent and watch a movie on Friday night.

 

 

With All My Love,

 

Your Mother