Love Fest 2011

Valentine's Day came early. Last week, I bought myself a gorgeous bouquet of flowers. After thanking my husband, I arranged them in a vase and have been enjoying them ever since.

The premature festivity continued when a certain mailbox surprisingly resurfaced. "Cupid" had intended to pass it onto Goodwill but fortunately, a pair of four year old hands rescued us all from that terrible mistake. Because I'm forgetful, it wasn't until I received a reminder from Eliza that I remembered the fun we had with that mailbox last year. Per her expectation, I repeated last year's tradition of placing a small treasure for the kids to find each day.

Sunday afternoon, Eliza and I went to work on creating homemade Valentines for her preschool classmates. Returning from school today, Eliza informed me that "the pizza" was the best part of her class party. That happy memory was soon replaced when Talon surprised her with a single long stem rose and a teddy bear. Sweetly, I heard him ask,

"Will you be my Valentine?"

Where's the Kleenex box? Honestly. It was adorable. Talon permitted Eliza to kiss him on the cheek as a token of her thanks - as long as Michelle and I were out of the room. That didn't stop me from spying.

The happy couple.

As for Henry, who has time for romance when your life is full of bromance? I agree. That sentence needs work. While Eliza was at school, Henry's morning was spent on a {play} date with Colby and Nate. And so you know, nothing encourages "male bonding" like the flick, "How to Tame Your Dragon."

My little man fell victim to having his haircut by yours truly this weekend.I'll be honest. It looks worse in person. Thankfully, his "good looks" compensates for the errors.
I smile when thinking of my littlest Valentine. A year ago today, I found out we were expecting this dolly. How grateful I am for the memory of that morning and for her safe arrival to our family. Here she is with her first Valentine, Mr. Clayton Blaser.

And finally, Andrew and I were able to steal away from 2/3 of our children Friday night. After going out to dinner, we made like a pair of high school students and found ourselves an empty {church} parking lot and relived those fun PG rated-memories. Never mind that Lottie was in the backseat. It was romantic. And fun.

Meeting up with friends a short while later, we took part in an epic, "Battle of the Sexes" competition. This ward activity was most definitely the best we've been too (despite our loss to the men). Highlights from the nights activity are destined for youtube. I'm sure of it.

Andrew dominated the abs of steal competition and I managed to keep my hula-hoop afloat the longest. Having an awesome muffin top, I have to say that I had the advantage. And because we're cooler than I give us credit for, we kept the party going when we convinced our babysitter and her parents to stay at our house until midnight. Having put our children to bed, we introduced them to Settlers of Catan. They are hooked. Sunday night, they returned the favor by having us over for a re-match.

Ah. The insane pile of clothes that's accumulated outside my laundry room door is evidence that we played too much and worked too little this weekend. Off I go.