Valentine's Teeth.

This post was originally written and posted on February 24, 2010.

You know... in case the boys get too close.

Maybe February Doesn't Suck Afterall

I used to say that there was nothing good in February.

Why did we even have this waste of a month where it's cold and we're so over winter and all the holidays in it weren't worth the time.

Of course there's groundhog's day, which is still stupid, but whatever.

But there was also my birthday.  And Valentine's Day.

It's interesting to watch the progression of your life with the 20/20 vision of looking back.

I woke up on my 30th birthday and can only describe how I felt with a word like: exhilarated.

Because I knew, I just knew that my 30's were going to be tenfold better than my 20's had been.

I just turned 35 and the contentment and security I feel in my life are something that I cherish.  Because I know what it is to not have that.  People joked and asked, how old are you now?  23?

And I would smile and say, I'm not afraid of my age, my 30's have been tenfold better than my 20's.  Please don't make me be in my 20's again.

The side effects of being with The Man are more than I had ever realized they would be.

February is kind of fun now.

Even on my birthday this year, when I had an early morning class, a full day of work, and an evening class, I still felt excited that it was my birthday.  He and the kids had celebrated with me the Sunday before, with gifts and a surprise of lemon brownies (candles and all) when I walked in the door after church.  The Man had read on facebook a random post I had written about "someone should bring me lemon brownies for my birthday," even though I never suspected it to actually happen.

It's okay to celebrate your birthday on Superbowl Sunday, when no one makes you watch the Superbowl.  We still made dinner and lots of dips and treats, and then had a family movie night.

(The tripod present?  Not a tripod.  An iPod dressed up to throw me off.  The box?  A tripod.)

But even on the day of he sent an edible arrangement to my work, and met me for a late dinner with The Circus after class and told me he had set up a photography lesson for me, with my new fancy camera from Christmas.

The small gestures just fill me up.

And that chocolate covered pineapple?  Love.

We never do much to celebrate Valentine's Day, it's a holiday I've always detested.  But I think that may be because I've never had anyone who really made me feel like I wanted that day to be special.

Even now Valentine's Day is mostly a family affair for us.  

A special candlelight dinner at home.  With The Circus.

And I love doing it for them.  And for him.  

Because they fill me.

I've found the past year or two that I like to think of little things for The Man and The Circus to surprise them with.  It's never anything big, because truth be told I still like to keep pressure off of this day, but it's fun to have an excuse to do something little, even cheesy, for them.

We don't have kids today, I leave this afternoon to drive them to their dad so we did our dinner last night.

Cherry 7-up floats with chopped strawberries in them, mini heart pies with strawberry and cream cheese in the middle (here), Navajo tacos (one of The Man's favorites), and lots of candles. 

And lots of kids, as we had extras over.

But all the kids helped prepare it, even the friends, and  it was cheery and happy and I couldn't think of a better way to celebrate it.   

This morning we jumped on the band wagon this hairdo for Cali and Tayler:

And I set out pink tic tacs for the girls, and red tic tacs for Sean to say Happy Valentines just one more time before they headed to school for the day.

Last night, after dinner, I tied a note that said "Break me off a piece of THAT" to a giant Kit Kat (printable here), and put this note (even though it's not actually National Nude Day, I used it anyway) and a print out copy of this ecard

 in a pretty little box, along with a rather inappropriate store bought card that had a little vibrating action to it and when it was all sealed up in the box and envelope, I had Cas slip out and put it in The Man's car so he'd find it first thing.  

He took the truck this morning.

I seriously suck at surprises.

I expect tonight after taking the girls that The Man and I will sit on the couch with a bowl of ice cream and watch something along the lines of The Big Bang reruns, and that's pretty perfect in my book.

Insta Friday #4. And More Valentine's Day.

The stories behind this week's Instagram pictures.

I'm @thecircus6 if you want to follow along.

A lot of times when I have to drive my kid to meet their dad in the winter, we are met with snowstorms that make the drive... hard.

I curse the snow on all sorts of levels while trying to maintain that I'm grateful for the moisture that our desert state needs for the summer months.

And often times the storm changes during the drive.  What was snowing and blowing and freezing just an hour and half earlier is clearing up on the return side of the drive.

That leaves me with mountain sunsets like these:

All those pictures where taken on the same drive.  Sometimes the beauty just catches hold of my attention and I can't deny that I love living where there are mountains.  And though driving for 3 hours to meet my ex is not on my top favorite things to do list, I can't deny that my drive is spectacular.

Sometimes I can't tell where the white, snow covered mountains end and the clouds start.

 Our elementary school holds a 6th grade Valentine's dance.  The kids have dance cards where they sign up with partners for each dance (though most of it is just different types of line dancing).  They work for months to learn all the different dances they'll be expected to do on the day.  Elaborate decorations are thrown up in the gym, the kids are told to dress up, and a dj is brought in to play specific types of songs to match the specific types of dances.

This year they even had chocolate fountains for the kids.

Jayme was happy that we showed up (she reminded us about it daily for two weeks) to take pictures (as parents are expected to do for this occassion) but she wouldn't stop to talk to us.  She had partners to find and dances to dance.  She needed to be on target.

The Man and I slipped out for lunch for Valentine's Day and we found this hanging on the front door for us.

For dinner I called in help from the girls who cut and chopped veggies to throw in the dinner pot and dipped strawberries and bananas in chocolate for dessert.

As it goes every year we gathered a number of candles from around the house (that probably only get lit on Valentine's day) and turned off the lights.

Frankly, I couldn't think of a better way to celebrate the holiday.

Dear weekend, it's going to be a busy one.  Bring it.

Linking up.

Valentine's Day. And Tayler's New Name.

Happy Valentine's Day?

I decided long ago that the way to enjoy Valentine's Day is to not expect anything from it.  Valentine's Day and I get along quite nicely since I've picked up that mantra.

The Man and I don't make a big deal of it together.  One year we exchanged cards... a day late.
Another year we managed to exchange cards on the actual day, but neither of us signed them.

This year?
I found a pack of chocolate tools while I was at the store getting the kids' stuff for school so I grabbed it.  I left it out for him to find this morning with a note that had something to do with the word "nail."

(Keeping it PG here on the blog.)

(Because my kids actually read it.)

(Yikes.)

And I wore this shirt to the gym and to my yoga class in his honor:

The Man has one that says "This Guy Loves His Wife" but he never wears it. ;)  If it interests you can find them to order here.

We left a note for the kids telling them we loved them and set out a bunch of icebreaker strawberry duos.

{pic source}

They're kind of a big deal around our house lately so I thought it would be a fun surprise for them to each get one of their own.

Judging by the fact that I had a plethora of missed calls from them by the time I got of my class this morning, I'd say it was a success.

Jayme has a school dance that we're going to show up at and take pictures at (like we did for Casidee last year, here) and The Man and I will go to lunch.

Probably Taco Bell.

He likes that place.

And then we'll end the day with our annual Valentine's Family Dinner by Candlelight.

Lighting a bunch of candles on the table and turning out the lights for dinner makes me a cool mom.

I guess I should plan a menu for this event...

Crazy thing:

Last night Cali was cleaning out her closet and found this:

Tayler's teacher gave this to her at the end of her Kindergarten year.

It was almost shocking to see how the girl has changed.  She's covered in freckles now.  And I thought hair was supposed to get darker as you grew, not lighter?

 Also, apparently her teacher decided to rename her.

What crazy things are you doing with your family or special someone today?

spreading the love in hot pink leggings and neon orange Vans

Valentine's Day at our house was perfect. 

West loved the blanket that I sewed for him on my new sewing machine. 

Cas wore a sparkly black dress, hot pink leggings, and neon orange vans to her 6th grade Valentine's dance.

Her favorite dance? The very last one where she didn't have to have a partner.  Sorry boys, you're on your own for Valentine's.

Cali gave me a sweet valentine this morning.

I got to have a last minute lunch with my man at my favorite Mexican restaurant.

I started assembling a three layer, three tier wedding cake.  Red velvet cheesecake.

When I make a cake I like to make sure that the mess explodes all over the entire kitchen.

Cas helped me with dinner by "dehydrating the chicken."  Translation: Cas   defrosted the chicken.

We had some extra red velvet cake batter so we made some cupcakes and spread the love to some of our neighbors.

Don't forget our family dinner by candle light.

celebrating a year of love and friendship

I think Google nailed it this year:

Valentine's Day is a day to reflect on how amazing my relationship with The Man is.  It's a day to celebrate how we have loved for the other 364 days of the year. 

Valentine's Day is not a day to make up for the other 364 days.  It's not about gifts for us, but for simply enjoying each other and recognizing what we have the whole year through.

Valentine's Day, at our house, is a family affair.  Every year we eat our dinner by candle light. This picture is from last year:

This picture is hilarious, it looks like we just lit the table on fire, but I guess that's what you get when you take pictures with your phone.

So in reflection of my relationship with West, here's a few highlights from the past year, on why I love him so much, and how I know he loves me.

Hands down, he makes me LAUGH.

Our favorite saying to tell each other is, "I will seduce you with my awkwardness."  We are clumsy at best and down right ridiculous at our worst and that's perfectly fine with us.

Our life truly is a giant adventure.  We support each other in interests that we share, but also in interests that we don't share.  We are there for each other.  He's my biggest fan.  And I am his. (Some of these pictures are blurry, I'm sorry, but I want to add them because we had such a great year together).

Jane Wayne Day

Seals in the cove in LaJolla, CA

Scuba Diving

I love the we can work on our house together.  The planning, the compromising, the work itself has been so much fun.  And it makes me feel like I belong in the house with him.

Bathroom remodel

When I was trying to get the job with Attorney General's Office he sent me this text.

He was there to be my photographer for my new running phase.

Dirty Dash

Halloween Half

And I've been there for his riding stints.

Sand Dunes

County Fair

I'm always saying it, but he's my best friend.  I do everything with him simply because I want to.

He eats cookie dough with me. 

He knows my favorite author, and even knows my birthday now :).

Whoville dinner

Our anniversary

West and I don't put a lot of pressure on Valentine's Day.  There are usually no gifts, no cards, no fancy dinners out.  And we're okay with that.  We smile because we know we love each other, and maybe we hug a little more (if that's even possible), and touch a little more (again, possible?) and perhaps we'll say "I love you" just one more time today...

We do have some exciting things happening today as a family.  Cas is having her 6th grade Valentine's dance.  She has to dance with 16 boys and has given me the okay to stop by to take a couple of pictures of it.

I might try to get a better picture of our candle light dinner tonight... one that doesn't look like we've just set the table on fire.

Oh, and I did break our general rule of no gifts and made West a blanket on my brand new sewing machine.  But I would have made him the blanket anyway, it was just convenient that Valentine's was right here, so I utilized the day to give it to him.

So we'll do one more post tonight after all the fun is to be had.  Because even though we don't put a lot of pressure on the day, doesn't mean that we're not doing fun things with it.