Valentines Day

Yesterday was probably the best Valentines Day I've had in a long time, possibly ever. It started out kind of yucky...I was grumpy from Lulu staying up late. George let me sleep in as much as possible, but I still felt like someone had kicked me repeatedly.
I had picked Skylar, Bart, and Sky's friend Caitlin up from school on Friday, as it was a half-day. They played outside pretty much all afternoon since it was so nice out. They played on the trampoline and we all took a walk/bike ride when George got home. The girls put together a Star Wars scavenger hunt for Bart, and later that night, I set up a flashlight scavenger hunt for them. The two girls had to find items for a bedtime snack which were hidden outside, using only their flashlight and a list of riddles. Bart helped them find the first one - he's a clever little boy - and eventually they had all the ingredients to make air-popped popcorn with butter. Then all the older kids watched Ratatouille after Drake went to bed. He was pretty cute and called Caitlin "Cate-in".
Since George and I are trying very hard to stay on a strict budget over the next while to accomplish several goals, we knew we couldn't go out and do anything for Valentine's Day unless it was free or next to free. So we decided to ask two of our best friends over, who also weren't doing anything for Valentine's Day. They all have families across the country, so do not usually hire sitters for their kids. So we always do stuff together on holidays. Actually, some of our family was mildly offended last year when we opted to have Easter with our friends instead of family.
After taking Caitlin home, we ran to WalMart (necessary evil) to pick up items for dinner. I had planned on having our guests come early so the kids could all play outside since it had been so nice out Friday. Yeah right....It was rainy and chilly all day long, so the kids couldn't go out at all.
We ate lunch as a family and exchanged our Valentines. I had bought Dora and Diego chocolates for Drake, a heart full of candy for Bart with Darth Vader and Anakin on it, and a box of Choxie chocolate-covered cherries, strawberries, and cranberries for Skylar. Lucy had a new pair of pink socks, but I gave them to her the day before because she needed them. For George I had gotten Reese's peanut butter cups and I got a box of raspberry dark-chocolate truffles for us to share.
George had made origami hearts for Skylar and me from pink construction paper and written us both a note. Hers was sweet and funny, with a picture of her letting him suck her nose for Valentines Day (George loves noses, and he loves to suck on them - I know it's pretty weird, but basically harmless).
When I read my letter, I started out laughing, but I ended up crying because it was without a doubt the sweetest thing he'd ever written to me. It was even sweeter than those notes he'd written to me in our dating years and when we'd been separated while I was pregnant with Skylar and he was in boot camp. It was sweetest of all because after all these years and the things we've been through, it still amazes me that we have such deep feelings for one another. After the monotnous drudge of day-in and day-out and the stress of financial worries and children worries, that we can still find joy and excitement in our relationship gives me hope. He spoke about how our children would eventually move on, but it would be just the two of us forever and how he looked forward to that time and being able to work on us. I couldn't help but cry, because it is true. You'd never know it sometimes, how tough he acts, but he can be really sweet.
The children gave me a cute card from all of them that folded out really big ("We love you THIS much"), the darlings.
We hurried to finish cleaning the house, which did not go smoothly. The children had taken the broom outside yesterday to sweep the leaves off the trampoline. I had asked them several times to remember to bring it in. Well, they didn't, and it got soaked and I couldn't sweep until it dried. And our vacuum broke. It needs a new belt and another part (can't remember what), which we have to either order online or drive to Wilmington to get. It's an Oreck. Great vacuum, though. I'd highly recommend it to anyone. We've had ours probably seven years now and we bought it second-hand on ebay. So I figured we'd just use the little Shark vac to vacuum up the major stuff, but lo and behold, it also broke. I am not happy with the Shark vac, by the way. We have only had it about three years or so and the shoulder strap connection broke on it maybe six months after buying it, and now we just had to pitch the entire thing in the trash.
So, somehow, George used the broom to sweep up the large particles of dropped food from the two little ones which littered the dining room floor. Anyway, I'm sure our friends didn't care, but I HATE having yucky floors.
So our friends came over around 4:30 or so and we ate. The kids were pretty hungry. They ate a good deal and ran wild playing Jedis and knights and heaven only knows what else. The adults played Guitar Hero, Dance Dance Revolution, and the Force Unleashed on Wii. It was a good time.
Even though it wasn't your typical Valentines Day, it was a lot of fun.
Lucy even went to bed pretty early so George and I were able to spend some time together in the evening. However, she must have decided that since she went to bed early, she was going to wake up about five times during the night and then get up for good at 6:30 am.
We're all pretty exhausted today, but you can't win 'em all.