{ Valentine's Day }

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A crazy amount of life has happened in the past couple of weeks, even though it seems at times like we've done little more than recover from the sickness that went through the whole family and kept us home for most of that time. I am very thankful that for the present everyone is finally healthy, with the exception of myself. I have been fighting an earache since Thursday, which came on the heels of a nasty cold. Uuugh! Can't wait for spring and the death of all these bugs!

For Valentine's Day this year I told Tim I would be perfectly happy if we combined the celebration of the day with my birthday, which is exactly a week later.  We decided to go out for dinner the weekend between.  Valentine's Day itself was a still a special day.  I decided to do a sweet little project for Tim that I had seen on Pinterest shortly before (sorry, apparently I didn't pin it, just did it).  I called it a "Passport of Love" and inside are suggestions for weekly dates to restaurants we've never tried of places we haven't gone.  He loved it!  We've already added to it.  It's fun to see how much there is to do in our area that we hadn't thought of before or maybe had, but since it wasn't written down we just haven't gotten around to it.  He woke me on Valentine's morning with a sweet card and a little box of chocolates.  That's another thing, I've suggested that he wait until the day after Valentine's Day if he's going to go all out on buying me flowers or chocolates.  Seriously, why not wait until they are 75% off?

We were all feeling pretty miserable with our colds that day, but we made the best of it.  I helped Oliver make a little craft for Tim to take to his office and I baked a chocolate cake for Tim and I to enjoy after the kids were in bed.  The thing I appreciated most about the day was that, despite the fact that I was blowing my nose every 5 minutes, eyes were watering and my nose was red and that I served leftovers for dinner, love was everywhere.  I realized just how blessed we are to be living a life where the externals don't matter so much because our hearts are right.  Our love is for every day, not just the "day of love".

The following day, Friday, my mom came up for the day and overnight.  I ran off to Winco when she arrived.  Now that I am so far along in my pregnancy my days of hauling both kids along with me are over!  Tim took a short break from work to meet me there and helped load all the groceries into my car.  So wonderful!  Later that afternoon he called me to say his boss was letting them out a little early and since it was such a beautiful day and my mom could watch the kids, did I want to meet him for dinner?  We went to a new Italian restaurant.  They only serve pizza, but they are traditionally italian so it is on the fine dining edge.  The pizzas are served uncut in the traditional style.  They were delicious!  After dinner we browsed an antique store and bought Katy Grace's very first tea set (though we'll have to wait a few years to give it to her) and came home early enough in the evening to spend time with the kids and put them to bed. 

Speaking of kids being in bed, they are both napping so I better get some work done!

{ Valentine's Day }

Happy Valentine's Day!

I hope you experience love in a special way today.

{ Isn't this an fun little Valentine dress? I can't remember where I found it, but I love it }

I have felt loved in many ways this week. This difficult week. I doubt now that I had the flu, but rather an infection, full-blown mastitis. At 1:30 am on FridayI woke up with another really bad case. After trying various remedies, my wonderful husband went out at 3 am to buy a pump at Walmart. It was a sleepless and very difficult night. For the rest of the day, I knew I had to STAY IN BED. So I did. I did nothing. My mom came up for the day and spent the night. Both my husband and my parents helped me through. Thank you, thank you all SO much.

Since Friday I have continued to do virtually nothing. I am cautiously optimistic that I am on the mend now.

Saturday I missed the bridal shower I had been helping to plan, which made me sad, but couldn't be helped. Instead, we spent a wonderful day as a family. We read a lot, had some great talks, and my husband made this lovely cup of tea. I watched a chick flick in the evening.


My parents came up again on Sunday afternoon to watch Oliver so Tim and I could go out. Still didn't feel well, but it was nice to go.

{ Going out yesterday with the man who has stolen my heart completely away.

So excited to be able to wear the dress I wore in Nikki's wedding again! }

Although circumstances have been unfavorable to make this the best Valentine's Day ever, from an outside view, I might say that it is the best, because love abounds, and that is all that matters.

{ Here is a little look at the Valentine I made for my sister. I found the idea in the February issue of this magazine. }