L is for...

Late - I am 10 days late with our Valentines Day happenings!

L is for the way you look at me
O is for the only one I see
V is very, very extraordinary
E is even more than anyone that you adore can

Love is all that I can give to you
Love is more than just a game for two
Two in love can make it
Take my heart and please don't break it
Love was made for me and you

We have a tradition that started years ago when my kids where just little and now.... it is now, one of their favorites.  There have been years when I have wondered... What was I thinking?  Sure, it is a labor of love - it takes pretty much my whole day.  But isn't that what the holiday is all about.... showing love?  Plus I get to burn a new play list full of cheesy love songs (like Justin Bieber's One less Lonely Girl) to play in the car while giving rides to my kiddos friends.... they love that!

It is interesting to note that, even though I tell my kiddos that I love them multiples times a day, on this day (more than any other day) it just resonates.  I don't know why it is this way, because I am doing all of the same mundane stuff I do all the time for them (clean, cook, write little notes, buy treats) but on this day, it is just.... different.  It is the one day that I feel they notice my work, my gift of love, for them - and I will take it!

It is really nothing to elaborate or fancy.... we have a candle light dinner at home, and I make a little treasure hunt for each of the kids.  That is it, and they eat it up!

My favorite part of the dinner..... the heart carrots - they are just so darn cute!  So cute that some of the children will not eat them - but I do!

The Valentine Menu

(it is pretty much the same every year)

Crab cakes

Cesar Salad

Angel hair pasta served with garlic shrimp
topped with a vodka sauce with little bits of prosciutto mixed in

Heart Carrots

Crusty bread

Heart shaped butter

Chocolate cake

Chocolate dipped strawberries

La piece de resistance.... The Treasure Hunt.  Honestly, I could probably just serve cold cereal, as long as we have the treasure hunt.  Again, not to complicated.  I take every letter in their name, I write something sweet about them and then give them a clue as to where they can find they next letter.  I try and make it challenging and have them running all over the place.  They are out in the garage, then in Mr Anderson's office, upstairs, in the oven, all over the place, it is so fun to watch.  They get a helium balloon with their first clue on it and they are off, ending with a little treat bag with their surprise. 

Now each of my boys only have 4 letters in their names and Lauren has 6.  Adam thinks it is a little unfair that Lauren gets 2 more clues and therefore more clues to unravel.... Lauren also thinks it is unfair (for a different reason) she has 2 more clues to find and does not finish as fast.  Sometimes you can't win for trying.  But, I tell you... It takes me a REALLY long time to writes out those 18 cards - I think that is the hardest part of the whole day.  You wouldn't think it to be so, but it is!  Then I run each of the routes as I place the cards... which I totally count that as my workout for the day.

There it is... the holiday is now complete.... the little munchkins feel loved and appreciated and promise to buy me things with money they do not have and do all kinds of lovely things for me for the next 100 years.  It really is sweet to see how just one day of showing love (or rather them actually noticing the acts) makes them want to show love back... forever. 

Now, despite their BEST intentions at that moment, they are still little, and so it doesn't quite work out that way, but for just a little while...... there is lots of love being spread around, they are polite with each other, they speak softly, they all offer to help and shower me with compliments of how I am the best mom in the world..... and I think, THAT, is the best Valentine I could ever receive!