Valentine's Day(s) Recap

It's been a red and pink and white few days and I've loved every minute of it. (Well... mostly every minute. It's pretty hard to get through a whole few days without at least one Pull-Out-My-Hair second or two.)

On Valentine's Day I buzzed and buzzed in order to get the table set prettily and a yummy meal of chicken & pepper quesadillas, warm cornbread, and veggies prepared for our dinner. Valentine's Day is a family affair around here, which means cards and candy and heart-shaped cookies for each of my lovely kiddos. (OK... so I confess to not forking over the money for a card for Aubrey-- and she didn't get any candy either.)

We shared a candlelit, game-playing, present-opening sort of evening-- presents courtesy a certain Nancy who loves us more than we deserve. It was a blast.

The craziest part of the evening was, by far, when I opened my card from Daniel. He's pretty good at picking out cards so I always look forward to seeing which one he's chosen. He also always buys at least one candy bar for me. But this year? Well, this year when I opened the card an order confirmation fell out.

Yeah. He bought me something. And not just anything, but something I have been wanting that's just seemed like a total pipe dream since the total cost of the gifts I receive annually can't touch the price tag on this one particular item.

You guessed it...

(!!!!!!)

I know!!!!!!!

But the fun didn't stop there. My parents were over the next day bearing gifts: coloring books for Gabriel, Bronwyn, and Jackson and a new calendar for me. Calendars are one of my favorite things in the world: inexpensive art that changes every month!

Then yesterday I got to play Grown-Up. I set the dinner table for eight, put candles all over the dining room, rolled out pastry to wrap around chicken and mushrooms, and tried two new recipes for side dishes (one was a winner and the other? Well... not so much). At 6pm our six guests arrived and while my little ones were upstairs with Auntie Mills, we talked and ate lots of food and answered silly Valentine's Day sorts of questions and played a game and talked much more. It was so fun!

Now it's time to whisk cardboard hearts off the windows and discard puddles of melted red wax. Easter is only a little more than one month away and I want plenty of time for pastel linens and little bunnies and many re-tellings of the resurrection. All in all, though, I must say it's been a few days of Valentine-ish activities that will be fondly remembered long after the remnants are cleared away.

I'm so blessed!