We enjoyed a relaxing weekend back at home, with a little shopping, a little family, and a lot of playtime.
Yesterday Jeremy, Gretchen, Aunt Nancy, and Uncle Jim came over for a pre-party before the Superbowl. Although you can't quite tell here, Blanden loves playing with his cousins. (It looks like he's being held captive, but he actually jumped right into the big-kid action.) 
On Friday Blanden has a Valentine's Day party at school. The kids were charged with decorating a Kleenex box ahead of time in which to store all of their cards on the big day.
We decided to go with stickers. Blanden put all of the Elmo Valentine stickers on his box by himself, wherever he wanted them to go. He thought that was fun. (He actually doesn't know who Elmo is, but the stickers were cute -- and seemed a better choice for B than the hearts and other assorted puppies and kittens that were available.)
Today Grammy got to see Blanden's classroom (and Blanden got to come home a little early from school to play!), and tonight Grammy came to music class. The teacher brought in a microphone to let each child take a turn practicing singing into -- and Blanden did it! Blanden carefully watched his teacher, then tentatively and quietly mimicked her by singing back in front of the whole class! He's pretty shy in group settings, so this was a big accomplishment. He came back to Mommy Daddy's laps looking a little sheepish but also very proud of himself. 
