Happy Valentine's Day

Our Valentine's Day weekend was truly amazing this year. When Shawn came home from work on Friday, I asked him to stop at the grocery store for some juice. I had bought heart-shaped flute glasses and then realized that we didn't have anything to put in them for the breakfast I was preparing to make. He said okay, and he came home also with this next-to-dead plant. Now, I love the sight of what my Mom always called "Easter Lillies" when they come out of the ground in the Spring since it's a sign that the dead, cold winter is coming to an end. But, I grinned when I saw these and told Shawn I wasn't sure the earth was ready for them (notice the snow in the background!). Shawn also chuckled and said they were the most alive plant that was at the store. I thought it was a nice effort, and I gave up on the idea of roses, which is what Shawn typically gets me on this special day. After all, I reminded myself, we're going on vacation soon and promised not to get each other gifts for V-Day and instead spend the money on Florida. I thought he was finally living up to his end of the bargain. 

I already posted about sweets & swing Friday night...but I didn't mention how much the boys loved the balloons. Joshua begged to play with the monkey balloon, so Caleb then took the froggy balloon and they would run the circle of our first floor over and over again, laughing the entire time. Just look at Joshua's priceless expression in this picture to the right! I love it! The balloons were so big that they could knock things over - and Caleb even bumped his into the light switch with such force that it turned the lights off. Shawn & I cracked up. They were having a blast! They also got 'mail' including Valentine's cards from Grandma & Grandpa Ginder and Mom & Ken.

Saturday morning, we headed out and got breakfast sandwiches from McDonald's and then headed to Walmart and then Giant, where Shawn bought me a new flavor of coffee that rocks! When we got home, we did some cleaning around the house, and it was soon time for the boys to go to bed. While they napped, Shawn organized his clothes and I worked on school work. I think I'm finally caught up! Then he watched me (at my request) do the p90x shoulders & back exercise DVD and helped show me when I was doing something wrong or how to modify the move if I couldn't quite do it yet. He had hung the chin-up bar in our room, and I could do most of the exercises with the modification of a chair like they showed on the DVD. After that, I started the ab ripper X DVD, as suggested in the program. But, most of it I couldn't do and by that point the kids were awake and jumping on me. :) :) :) After I was finished, I went tanning and then came home to beautiful roses on the counter waiting for me.

I was genuinely surprised. I knew he hadn't left to go anywhere - the car seats aren't hooked up in his car and I had my ride. The other flowers he had bought were a 'decoy.' Sooo funny! Shawn keeps me guessing. He also made dinner - Asian Orange chicken. It was delicious. Inspired by my husband's amazing thoughtfulness, I gave him his card and gift awhile, which included a gift card to Barnes & Noble. I told him to go have some relaxing, quiet time - get a drink, read some books, enjoy!

He left shortly thereafter and enjoyed some time out and brought me home a Chai. In the meantime, I enjoyed building a new train track for the boys. Joshua insisted on wearing his construction hat - doesn't this picture just say "workin' on the railroad" to you? Caleb also insisted on wearing the Bean's hat since his cool older brother did. My boys are silly!!!

When Daddy got home, we all got into our jammies. Then we headed downstairs to start the movie "Couples Retreat." Shawn warned me that it wasn't rated overly fantastic. So, I kept waiting for the 'bottom to drop out.' But, it never did! I thought the movie was entertaining and funny. It was pretty brainless, but that's what I was in the mood for. It was a great romantic comedy without being overly sappy. We enjoyed it. About 15 minutes into the movie (after the boys had their snack) we hit the pause button and tucked our kiddos in bed. Both boys had seemed in a really good mood all day. We told Joshua how Valentine's Day was all about love. :)

The next morning, Joshua came in around 5:30 am. Daddy stumbled out of bed and turned on a movie for him so we could sleep a little longer. [Joshua is enjoying 'Finding Nemo' right now.] Then at ten 'til seven, the phone rang. It was my best friend Suz announcing the birth of their son, Ian Christopher Lang! What a great way to start the morning!!! I can't believe how lucky Suz is. Her due date was Saturday, and her water broke that night around 9:30 pm, then contractions started and were two minutes apart the entire time. She went to the hospital around 1:30 am (thinking she would have an 18-hour labor) and they told her that she was too far along for any pain medicine (which she really wanted, by sounds). They told her to push instead, and Ian was born at 3:30 am - 7 lbs 12 oz and 21" long. I was so excited! There's no sleeping after news like that! So, we were up and starting our day.

Since it was the Sabbath day of rest, I decided not to work out. I did start with my devotions, though, and I read the entire book of Esther. In it, I noticed the day of celebrating was the second month on the 14th day when the Jews avenged themselves from their enemies. I smiled, knowing that yesterday was the 14th day of the second month, a time of celebration for us. God is so neat how He puts little reminder love notes to us all throughout His Word.

 After showering and getting ready, I started making breakfast. I had premium thick-sliced bacon, french toast 'doctored' to my liking with a little vanilla and cinnamon, and Shawn cooked the scrambled eggs. He drank coffee and I had tea. We both drank juice. The boys were ravenous! By the time everything was ready, we were too! We all ate extremely well.

After breakfast, we cleaned all the many dishes, pots & pans and then continued to clean the house. Soon it was time for naps for the boys while we just relaxed. I decided to go tanning and get our outfits ready for the evening. Shawn had made dinner reservations at the Belvedere, a very high-end restaurant in the city. But, we looked at their online menu, and we didn't see anything that wasn't made with mushrooms, wine, bizarre seafood or other strange concoctions. So, he called and made reservations at Loxley's instead and canceled the original ones. The boys woke up, had a snack and started playing while we got ready. Soon Miranda arrived and it was time to go! We had looked through the movie options, watched the trailers and confirmed with her how late was too late for her to get home. Soon enough, we were off. But not before she snapped a picture of the two of us... here's me and my sweetheart or Val and her Valentine. :) :) :)

Loxley's was extremely efficient and we were pretty well done with dinner within a half an hour of arriving. We decided to get dessert elsewhere, so we drove around for a little bit, stopped at Sports Authority, and then ended up at Barnes & Noble where I got the most heavenly slice of Godiva Chocolate Cheesecake made by the Cheesecake Factory along with hot Chai and Shawn got a double-chocolate cupcake of some sort and his typical Java Chip Lite Frap. He also brought over tons of Florida magazines, and we looked into what to do, where to eat, where to stay, etc.  We talked more about the movie and decided that nothing was really playing that we were itching to see. 

So, we came home earlier than expected, Shawn took Miranda home since his car was already warm. We got the boys ready for bed and then I played with them awhile in the office while Shawn did some more online research. Our night ended on a bit of a sour note as we kept getting prank calls long after the boys had already gone to bed. It was seriously annoying until Shawn figured out how to go onto the computer and block anonymous calls. I hate to do that since sometimes various numbers that are important are anonymous, but I had had enough giggles and laughter on the other line.

We watched a little TV before turning in for the night. We also discussed favorite memories from Valentine's past. Our favorite was before we were married when Shawn surprised me by taking off work, and I woke up to a little breakfast 'buffet' in heart plates that he had bought. That year we were celebrating the romantic holiday before flying to Georgia with my sister & her (then) fiancee. :) Our second favorite was the "Sweetheart Storm" of 2007 because Shawn got out of work early and got Chinese takeout and a movie on the way home from work, and I had two sets of flowers delivered. :) We also had our Bean with us that day. :) Our first ever Valentine's Day we went to see one of the Scream movie's and Shawn gave me a rose. He's always been a romantic! Most of the others we don't remember, sadly. But, the ones we've appreciated most are the ones that we've been fortunate enough to share together. This weekend was incredible. :) 

 Happy Valentine's Day!