Thursday, February 14, 2013

Valentine's Day

Today is Valentine's Day! Oh, how I love this day! I was so happy and excited when I woke up! Now, don't get me wrong, I am a firm believer that our love should be expressed all year long and not on just one special day, but I do believe it's important to take the time to acknowledge that love and celebrate it, just as we do Jesus' birth at Christmas and His resurrection at Easter! Yes, I know that is also what anniversaries are, but there is just something special about a day where everyone is all on the same page about celebrating LOVE and the greatest example of LOVE being that God so LOVED the world that He sent His one and only son to die for us, so that we may have eternal life (for actual verse see John 3:16).....AMAZING!!

Anyway, I was super excited to see the kids faces this morning when they went to eat breakfast and saw all of their goodies and the final heart messages on their door! :) I had a bag of goodies for each of the kids (Madison's had the new Leotard that she'll be wearing to her competition on Saturday...I have to say it's pretty awesome, but you'll have to wait until Saturday to see it). Alex had mailed them cute little stuffed animals that he picked out through Build-A-Bear, they had cards and goodies from the grandparents, and I had made them heart shaped cinnamon rolls as a special treat for Valentine's Day! What a fun morning it was!


The picture below is the final picture from the last 14 days of writing words of love and encouragement for the kiddos. Each night after they went to bed, I wrote a reason that I loved them and taped it to their door. Here is what their doors looked like on the morning of Valentine's Day!



After dropping off Madison, Hudson and I hurried home, so that I could make the cupcakes for the class party (I wanted them to be fresh). Here is a picture I snapped of my sweet little monkey while we were waiting for the cupcakes to cool, so that I could frost them.


Madison's class party was so much fun! The kids were clearly hyped up from the day when I arrived at 11:00, but it was fun nonetheless. The kids each received juice, a Valentine napkin and a cupcake and they were in heaven. Right after their dessert, they each were able to start passing out their Valentine Cards to each other. It was so much fun to watch them try to figure this whole process out! :) I am so glad that I was there to see it all. I even received a cute little Valentine's Day Card from one of the little boys!



When we arrived home after the party, the mail had come. I had two very sweet things waiting for me. I had a very sweet and thoughtful card from my dear friend Diana (her writing has always blown me away...she has such a way with words). I also had the most amazing gift from Alex waiting for me. He had a pillow custom made for us with our initials on the tree. I just think it's the most thoughtful and romantic gift ever! I LOVE it!!!!



The kids and I ended up throwing in a movie and snuggling and watching it, after their quiet time and we ordered dinner from Oggi's. I had an amazing half California Cobb Salad and the kids picked a personal sized pepperoni pizza to share, despite the fact that tomorrow night is our "normal" pizza night. We all enjoyed our food and we enjoyed our movie and snuggle time. 

After the kids went to bed, I cleaned up the house and then waited by my phone. Alex and I had planned to have a FaceTime date night phone call for Valentine's Day (this was a special treat for two reasons: 1. Face Time hadn't been working during the normal time that we're able to try to talk, which is before he goes to bed 2. I don't normally get to talk to him at night, our time). Well, unfortunately, we were unable, once again, to get Face Time to connect, BUT we were able to talk via FaceBook messenger and we talked for a couple of hours, which was nice. On Friday's (it was Friday for him when we talked because of the time difference) Alex gets to sleep in, but he got up and used that time so that we could have a wonderful conversation. It was so great to get to talk to him without the distractions of the kids being up or the worry of taking away precious sleep from him, since he gets so little of it. 

My Valentine's Day was fantastic. I am so thankful for this special day! I pray that you all had a wonderful day too! 

***Please continue praying for Tori. Thank you!!!!***

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