Happy Valentines Day everyone!

Valentines Day has never really been a major holiday for me. Sure its nice to celebrate with the people you love, but I’ve never really thought that things needed to be extravagant or overdone. Maybe I’m weird or crazy – I don’t know. I think its a great excuse to celebrate, but I don’t expect (or even want) expensive jewelry or fancy limo rides to overpriced destinations. I’ve told Dave that I’m more of a single rose and a kiss kinda girl. Maybe a love note. Chocolate is okay too. Simple stuff.

This year we are going to celebrate by having Dave home all day Saturday (a somewhat rare occasion lately) and Sunday night with a homemade Chinese dinner. Yum.

That being said, I wanted to express my LOVE for my family. I have the most wonderful kids. Spencer is such an easy baby and so well tempered. I love that he holds my hand when I feed him or when I’m holding him as he drifts off to sleep. I love the little noises he makes and how cuddly he is. He really is a sweet baby. And Bridget… she is so fun. I love having such a big girl. She makes me laugh everyday. I love that she loves to play with me (even though some days I don’t want to), and I love that she tries so hard to be helpful. I also love her huge heart. She hates seeing people sad or upset, and tries her hardest to make them feel better. I love my kids!

I also love my husband! I love that he works so hard to support us. I love that he loves to play with the kids and that he’d rather be home with us than be gone. I love that cares so much about me and my well being. I love that he kisses me goodbye every morning and occasionally calls throughout the day to say “I love you.” I love the little things that show me he cares (even though I sometimes complain about having my neck kissed while I’m cooking or about getting goosed up the stairs). I love his brain. He is very intelligent and thoughtful in his work, and he comes up with some amazing things. I love his smile and his laugh. And his eyes. And..
Happy Valentines Day my dear family! I love your guts!!

On another note…

Bridget attended her first Valentines Day party this year. In years past we hadn’t really bothered to explain anything about the practice of giving or receiving valentines. This year I took her to the store and let her choose some valentines to give to her friends. She chose Disney Princess valentines with princess pencils. She decorated an old Quaker Oats can for her “valentine mailbox” and wrote her name on each of the valentines so people would know who they were from. She did it all willingly and excitedly… even the name writing part. She wrote her name 16 times. After all that writing I could hear her in the other room spelling her name aloud. B-R-I…I D G-E-T. Hopefully she remembers how to spell it.

After she got home from the party we were sitting at the kitchen table and she was showing me all the valentines (mostly the candy) she got in her mailbox. I noticed that she still had a few valentines left and I asked her who she was going to give them too. The conversation went something like this…

T: You still have some valentines left. Do you have any other friends that weren’t at the party you’d like to give them to?
B: Um. Maybe Brakken. He wasn’t at the party.
T: Ok. You can give one to him. I don’t think he likes princesses though. What will he say if you give him a princess pencil.
B: He’ll just say thank you. He does like princesses.
T: Probably not. Boys usually don’t like princesses.
B: But I’m a princess and he likes me.
T: That is true.
B: See, he does like princesses.
T: Well. Okay.

I hope you all have a wonderful valentines day!