Valentine's Day 2013

Oh Valentine's Day, how we enjoy you : ) As every year looks different, this one was no exception.  A few days prior to the special day, my mom & the girls worked on some Valentines with markers & stickers.  The stickers smelled like strawberries. Eloise was covered in them while Charlotte later admitted to eating one of hers. I guess they were too yummy smelling to resist! 

My dad flew in on the eve of Valentine's Day to spend the weekend with us.  We were all looking forward to his arrival, especially my mom who has missed him so much in the weeks she has spent in Orlando.  I am in no shape to go out on a date in the evening at this point in pregnancy so we planned for a fun filled day at home for me and a few activities for others.  We have LOVE having my dad here!  The girls are totally smitten with him as he plays pretty much non stop during his visit.  Also, it makes me smile to see that my parents still love each other & seem to enjoy each others company more with each passing year.  It makes me look forward to being married for 30 + years.

We got up at the regular time & enjoyed some breakfast tacos prepared by the Valentine Hotel chef Robby.  Rob & I gave the girls a Valentine card & a little bag with a couple things for each of them.  They each got a headband & then Eloise got some stickers while Charlotte got a little pink coin purse with some coins in it.  Since Charlotte has been completely obsessed with wearing her Bass Pro camo hat for 3-4 weeks, 24 hours a day (literally, she sleeps in it), I thought a hot pink  headband was the perfect solution! Think again mama! Charlotte ripped it off her head & threw it on the ground exclaiming "I DON'T LIKE IT!" She then put her camo hat back on & walked out of the room as my Dad started singing the country song "Gimme, gimme, gimme a red neck girl." Hahahaha! She is cute no matter what is on her head but I did force convince her to wear the headband for a picture or two before they took off for the Science Center with my parents. 

our little Valentines in their "Little Love Bug" shirts my mom picked up for them

It has been more than amazing to spend this much time with my mom since her arrival at the beginning of January. We have always been told that we look just like each other & I have always believed it but it was confirmed once again a couple weeks ago.  My mom was at Target without children & ran into a neighbor of mine who had never met my mom or seen a picture of her.  She walked right up to my mom & said "Are you Lauren's mom?" Ha! I only hope I can be a beautiful as she is when I am a grandmother! 

So, the happy grandparents & the little love bugs enjoyed a good portion of the day at the Science Center. They came home with all sorts of stories! I rested all day while my Valentine worked hard in the office.  Eloise was a little out of sorts when she arrived home since was forced to be awakened from too short of a nap.  I jumped in with the only creative thing I could do for Valentines Day....printing off something I had seen on Pinterest. It was working on patterns with candy hearts which was WAY over Elo's head but just right for Charlotte.  It was going well until they figured out it was candy ; ) 

Both girls received a couple other cards from G.Gran, cousins & friends.  Uncle Kyle had thoughtfully put together a pink cup for each girl filled with goodies (ring pop, Valentine, stickers & a Mickey & Minnie pin). Charlotte could hardly wait to eat dinner & drink out of her cup.  She is quite capable of using a big girl cup & not spilling the contents.  We filled Elo's sippy cup with milk as we sat down to enjoy our steak dinner.  Eloise started screaming bloody murder. We couldn't even hear ourselves talking as we tried to figure out what was causing all the heartache.  Somehow someone figured out that it had to do with the pink cup & asked Eloise if she wanted her pink cup to drink out of.  She immediately stopped crying & said "ya" to which we all laughed.  I would usually say no to her using a big girl cup at dinner but it was Valentine's Day so I said of course : ) She was a mess & couldn't keep her fingers out of it & ended up dumping the milk onto her plate making her bites of steak float. Oh well, it was worth a try!

After dinner we enjoyed a yummy "mostly" sugar free dessert in honor of my diabetes thanks to my lovely mother. It was layers of strawberry jello, cool whip & strawberries. YUM! What was even yummier was the mini sugar cookies my mom had bought at a Farmer's Market last weekend. I couldn't resist one which turned into two which made my after dinner blood sugar a little higher than usual.  I didn't feel too bad about it since it was Valentine's Day & I am always such a good diabetic patient : )

So, it was a wonderful low key Valentine's Day! Just for the record, our usual Valentine Card we send out in lieu of Christmas Cards is being postponed until the two newest Valentines arrive! Be on the lookout!