Happy Valentine's Day from our little tribe to yours!
Showing posts with label Valentine's Day. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Valentine's Day. Show all posts
Friday, February 14, 2014
Friday, February 15, 2013
Be Mine
Our Valentine's Day was simple and sweet this year. Because it was during the same week
as Mardi Gras, Valentine's Day really snuck up on us. I found myself running through
town like a mad woman on Wednesday gathering cards and teddy bears and baking
ingredients to get prepared. But we kept it real: store bought cards with matching pencils
for Isabelle and Brees to hand out to their friends and classmates. We sat around the
kitchen table after dinner and put them together, trying our hardest to keep Brees
from scribbling AKA coloring on every single card. They were very pleased with their
work. On Thursday, I sent the girls off to school and daycare with their special treats,
all decked out in pink, and promised them good things when we all got home that night.
My patients all loaded me down with love: I received homegrown oranges, handmade
cards, and glow in the dark rings for the girls. Working on a holiday as a nurse is
incredibly rewarding as patients shower you with love and appreciation. Each and
every house I went to that day reminded me of how thankful they were for my service. It
was incredibly enlightening. When I got home from work, I was bombarded with hugs
and kisses and cards dripping in glitter. Shawn and I sent the girls outside to play so that
we could set the kitchen table with all their special treats: cotton candy, little boxes
of chocolate, singing cards (they are OBSESSED with singing cards) and lots of stickers.
When they came inside, their little shrieking voices said it all: Thank you, Mommy
and Daddy!! I was the happiest Valentine of all when my sweet husband surprised me with
the most amazing waffle iron, something I've wanted for a long time. He even bought
an array of toppings so that we could have a waffle supper extravaganza. We made a ton
of waffles with strawberries and bananas and ate until we were ready to pop. Then we
made brownies and had ice cream, too. It was Valentine's Day, after all. Bed time was a
breeze that night as the girls were in a complete sugar coma. And I fell asleep on the chest
of the man I love, in a home filled with peace. It was a really wonderful day.
as Mardi Gras, Valentine's Day really snuck up on us. I found myself running through
town like a mad woman on Wednesday gathering cards and teddy bears and baking
ingredients to get prepared. But we kept it real: store bought cards with matching pencils
for Isabelle and Brees to hand out to their friends and classmates. We sat around the
kitchen table after dinner and put them together, trying our hardest to keep Brees
from scribbling AKA coloring on every single card. They were very pleased with their
work. On Thursday, I sent the girls off to school and daycare with their special treats,
all decked out in pink, and promised them good things when we all got home that night.
My patients all loaded me down with love: I received homegrown oranges, handmade
cards, and glow in the dark rings for the girls. Working on a holiday as a nurse is
incredibly rewarding as patients shower you with love and appreciation. Each and
every house I went to that day reminded me of how thankful they were for my service. It
was incredibly enlightening. When I got home from work, I was bombarded with hugs
and kisses and cards dripping in glitter. Shawn and I sent the girls outside to play so that
we could set the kitchen table with all their special treats: cotton candy, little boxes
of chocolate, singing cards (they are OBSESSED with singing cards) and lots of stickers.
When they came inside, their little shrieking voices said it all: Thank you, Mommy
and Daddy!! I was the happiest Valentine of all when my sweet husband surprised me with
the most amazing waffle iron, something I've wanted for a long time. He even bought
an array of toppings so that we could have a waffle supper extravaganza. We made a ton
of waffles with strawberries and bananas and ate until we were ready to pop. Then we
made brownies and had ice cream, too. It was Valentine's Day, after all. Bed time was a
breeze that night as the girls were in a complete sugar coma. And I fell asleep on the chest
of the man I love, in a home filled with peace. It was a really wonderful day.
Friday, February 17, 2012
Be Mine
We did Valentine's Day big this year, like REALLY big!! Isabelle has been talking about
it since Christmas and I think we just all got caught up in the fever. Our day started
with a special cinnamon roll breakfast, love notes in lunch boxes, and a few chocolates
before school. I went to work and gave all my patients extra special hugs and kisses and
got lots of love right back. I made it home early to prepare my Pinterest inspired
Valentine's Day dinner: Foil pack chicken broccoli, Caesar pasta salad, and
steamed asparagus. Isabelle came home from school with a bag full of Valentine's
from her classmates and a teddy bear from a secret admirer whom she deemed "very
cute". Brees had her very own baby Valentine party at the babysitter's house and got
her first taste of Oreo cookies. She was extremely impressed. When Belle went upstairs
to put her things away, she realized she had been "heart attacked" (yet another
adorable Pinterest inspired idea)!! She stood at her door for a really long time, reading
all her love notes and smiling. As dinner time approached, Shawn literally came
bursting through the door looking like he had been attacked by the Valentine's Day aisle
at the supermarket. He was seriously loaded down with balloons, stuffed animals,
candy, cards, and a sweet bunch of daisies and lilies. Shawn has always been thoughtful
and romantic by all accounts but I have NEVER seen him go all out like this. Each girl
got special gifts from Daddy and a Valentine book from Mama. The rest of the night
went pretty quick as we approached bedtime and the girls headed toward a possible
sugar coma: we had dinner, a Whitney Houston tribute dance party that involved
break dancing, bath time, and stories before bed. Shawn and I ended the night
in the living room: catching up on our DVR with chocolate in hand. It was a very
special, thoughtful, giggly little girl good night. I think we'll all remember this
Valentine's Day for a long time...
it since Christmas and I think we just all got caught up in the fever. Our day started
with a special cinnamon roll breakfast, love notes in lunch boxes, and a few chocolates
before school. I went to work and gave all my patients extra special hugs and kisses and
got lots of love right back. I made it home early to prepare my Pinterest inspired
Valentine's Day dinner: Foil pack chicken broccoli, Caesar pasta salad, and
steamed asparagus. Isabelle came home from school with a bag full of Valentine's
from her classmates and a teddy bear from a secret admirer whom she deemed "very
cute". Brees had her very own baby Valentine party at the babysitter's house and got
her first taste of Oreo cookies. She was extremely impressed. When Belle went upstairs
to put her things away, she realized she had been "heart attacked" (yet another
adorable Pinterest inspired idea)!! She stood at her door for a really long time, reading
all her love notes and smiling. As dinner time approached, Shawn literally came
bursting through the door looking like he had been attacked by the Valentine's Day aisle
at the supermarket. He was seriously loaded down with balloons, stuffed animals,
candy, cards, and a sweet bunch of daisies and lilies. Shawn has always been thoughtful
and romantic by all accounts but I have NEVER seen him go all out like this. Each girl
got special gifts from Daddy and a Valentine book from Mama. The rest of the night
went pretty quick as we approached bedtime and the girls headed toward a possible
sugar coma: we had dinner, a Whitney Houston tribute dance party that involved
break dancing, bath time, and stories before bed. Shawn and I ended the night
in the living room: catching up on our DVR with chocolate in hand. It was a very
special, thoughtful, giggly little girl good night. I think we'll all remember this
Valentine's Day for a long time...
Tuesday, February 14, 2012
God Gave Me You
One of my very first blog posts was about Valentine's Day: how cynical I've always
been about the holiday as a whole and how the love and excitement of my oldest
daughter changed my mind completely. I used to think of it as an over
commercialized cheese fest bound and determined to disappoint women everywhere
when their partners didn't pull through with the perfect romantic surprise. I still kind
of feel like that, to be perfectly honest. But I've learned to love this day for what it
REALLY is: a day to take a personal inventory of all the love in your life, a day to
be thankful for friends and family who share a special place in your heart and make
life worth living. As busy as our every day lives are, a day set aside devoted entirely to
being romantic and showing the ones you love how much they mean to you is really a
special gift. I am, in so many ways, a very blessed woman when it comes to love.
I value my marriage and children above all else, believing wholeheartedly that God
placed me on this earth specifically with these people, this family, because He knew
that we belonged together. The stress of everyday life, the hardships we suffer, they
all seem more manageable when I am with Shawn, Isabelle, and Brees. We were
meant for one another, lifelong Valentines, living this life and carrying each other through.
No amount of chocolate or roses could ever compare to the magnitude of that reality:
that God gave me the people I need to make my life whole. Happy Valentine's Day, my
sweet little tribe. Words will never be enough to describe the love I have for you
inside my heart.
been about the holiday as a whole and how the love and excitement of my oldest
daughter changed my mind completely. I used to think of it as an over
commercialized cheese fest bound and determined to disappoint women everywhere
when their partners didn't pull through with the perfect romantic surprise. I still kind
of feel like that, to be perfectly honest. But I've learned to love this day for what it
REALLY is: a day to take a personal inventory of all the love in your life, a day to
be thankful for friends and family who share a special place in your heart and make
life worth living. As busy as our every day lives are, a day set aside devoted entirely to
being romantic and showing the ones you love how much they mean to you is really a
special gift. I am, in so many ways, a very blessed woman when it comes to love.
I value my marriage and children above all else, believing wholeheartedly that God
placed me on this earth specifically with these people, this family, because He knew
that we belonged together. The stress of everyday life, the hardships we suffer, they
all seem more manageable when I am with Shawn, Isabelle, and Brees. We were
meant for one another, lifelong Valentines, living this life and carrying each other through.
No amount of chocolate or roses could ever compare to the magnitude of that reality:
that God gave me the people I need to make my life whole. Happy Valentine's Day, my
sweet little tribe. Words will never be enough to describe the love I have for you
inside my heart.
Monday, February 14, 2011
Sweet lovie dovie
For as long as I can remember, I have always been slightly annoyed by Valentine's Day. I'm not exactly sure why. Nothing traumatic has ever happened to me on that day, nothing devastatingly sad. I've just always resented it as a whole, with its overpriced floral arrangements and the bizarre images of a chubby toddler threatening to shoot people with his primitive weapon. My sophomore year of high school, I rebelliously wore all black and frowned all day in protest of all the giggly girl excitement. When I was 18 and living the single life in San Diego, my girlfriends and I had dinner at a restaurant that specialized in "stinky food" and laughed about how lucky we were that we didn't have to worry about disguising our bad breath because of some guy. Even after falling in love with my soul one, I never could get on board with all the pink and red cheesy goodness. Shawn has always said that we don't need a special day to remind us about love, everyday is Valentine's Day. We have both been quite cynical about the whole thing.
But then we had this little girl, this fiesty, beautiful, intelligent, creative little girl. And she forced all of our cynicism right on out the door.
Since she was three years old, Miss Isabelle Grace has been completely obsessed with Valentine's Day. Except she calls it "ValenTIMES Day":) She starts making preparations as soon as Christmas is over. "Mommy, how much longer 'till Valentimes Day?" "Mommy, I think I'm going to go with a Barbie theme this year. With a lot of pink!"
She makes cards and draws pictures of herself holding hands with various male classmates and oohs and aahs over all the stuffed animals and heart shaped boxes on display. She has big plans of baking brownies and cookies and sharing them with her friends and talks about her class Valentine's Day party for weeks. Her excitement is palpable.
One day last week, I finally asked her, "Belle, why do you love Valentine's Day so much? What is it about this holiday that makes you so excited?".
She very insightfully replied, "Mommy, Valentimes Day is special because you get to tell everyone you love how much you really love them. You get to give them heart gifts to make them feel special. And you get to spend time with your family and be happy together."
Huh. I was, for once, lost for words. My six year old child had just schooled me.
I find myself getting swept up in Isabelle's spirit this year. Her genuine excitement is contagious. Her sincere desire to spread love to those around her is infectious. She has no hidden agenda, she's not just following the hype. She just wants to enjoy the people in her life and celebrate the love she feels in her heart.
Now THAT is what Valentine's Day is really all about!! That's what I really should have been thinking about all these years. Not resenting the marketing agenda of chocolate companies, but celebrating how full my life is, how lucky I am to be in love and to be loved. Whether you are in love or single, we all have relationships that are worth rejoicing over. We all have people who bless us and keep us sane. And that most certainly deserves a day of recognition.
Today's festivities are all about family and love. I have lots of little lovie dovie activities planned and can't wait to share them with the people whom I hold closest to my heart.
Thank you, my sweet little Belle, for once again opening my eyes to new truths and my heart to more love. Thank you for allowing me to push my jaded views of the world out of the forefront and just enjoy life. Thank you for making me believe in fairy tales all over again.
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