*love day*

I am an idealist.

I frequently have unrealistic expectations and frequently end up with shattered pieces of what I have built up in my mind of how things are supposed to be. It is not a healthy way to live my life, I do realize this, and while I do have wonderful moments in my life, I rarely have ones that are truly utopian.

Valentine's weekend exceeded all expectations because I didn't have any. Sure I had some plans that involved activities with the kids for their boxes and valentines and such but as much as I could have tried to, there was no way to plan the way things arranged themselves in perfect harmony. It just happened. And there was a moment that I wanted to tell everyone about but if I would have told anyone they would have given me a strange look and wonder why in the world I was telling them since it was nothing special. To them. It was my moment to cherish and love and remember when I need to remember something happy.

We went to Journey 2--not high on my list of things to do but the only kid friendly movie out at the time. And you know what? I loved it. It was cute and much better than I expected. We looked at a super cute house that day and I even was called off off work that night. The start of a perfect weekend.

On Monday, the day before Valentine's day, I had a rare burst of energy and was able to get all of my projects done. You know, to create my perfect holiday.

While I was getting things ready for dinner, Justin was helping the boys with their boxes, and Nick was singing the love song from Rio in his newly acquired baritone while helping me cook. It was so serene and the love I felt for my family right there and then was almost palpable. This simple and remarkable twinkling was my utopia. It filled my soul and I just stood there for a minute and soaked it all in.

Justin has so much more patience and creativity with this kind of thing than I do. I think he created, with the boys' help, some pretty phenomenal boxes.


I loved how Liam's valentines turned out.


I even had time to put together a little gift for the boys' teachers.


The next morning we had red velvet pancakes for breakfast. They were sinful.


I was also able to go and help with Liam's valentine party at school.






Then made dinner and went to work where we had a party to celebrate love day.

Pretty much the best weekend ever.