Valentine's Day

This year for Valentines day I wanted to do something different and heartfelt. Shane and I have both felt a lot of responsibilities pulling us in different directions lately so I decided to try and do a little something for Shane each day for the two weeks before Valentine's. By day three or four I knew I was in over my head, but I did my best to make my man feel special each day.

Day one: I made Shane a cute heart shaped brownie.

Day two: I made Shane a tumbler decorated with pictures of the boys. Shane loves to drink hot chocolate in the mornings when it is cold, so while he was getting ready for work I made put some hot chocolate in his cup and put it in the drink holder in his car.

Day three: I did this. Still one of my best ideas.

Day four: Four kinds of fudge, mmmmmm.

Day five: Five favorite memories. I went through some of our old pictures and wrote down some of my favorite memories, and hid them in places for Shane to find throughout the day.

Day six-Day nine: Ok these days didn't work out as well, as Max and Mason ended up being quite sick.

Day ten: Shane had to work a very long time this day so the kids and I took him dinner and dessert. The brownies we brought had a list of the "Ten Things I Love About You" on it.

Day eleven: My photobook came with a lovely picture journal of a trip to Hawaii we took a few years ago, so it was eleven special memories that day.

Day twelve: It was a dozen ugly roses. They were supposed to look like this, but they ended up looking like uh... this...

Day thirteen: was thisWhich was an idea I found on someone's blog, although I can't remember whose, so be sure and let me know if I need to give you some credit.

Day fourteen: was actually on the thirteenth too because because these guys don't ship on Saturday.
Cooking lobsters was new for me, and to be honest I don't think that I will be doing it again anytime soon. I tried and tried to muster up enough courage to throw the little guys in the pot, but I just couldn't do it. I had to call in reinforcements and Shane threw the ill fated crustaceans in, and after all of that I have to say that they really weren't all they were cracked up to be (pun totally intended). One thing I hadn't anticipated was Mason's reaction to the lobsters. At first he thought that they were a bit scary, and then after Shane put them in the sink where he could watch them from a safe distance, he said to me, "Mom they're really ALIVE, and I like them." We decided at this point that it would be wise to put Mason to bed before the lobsters made their exit from this life. In the morning Mason asked where the lobsters were. Instead of explaining this to him,
I took a deep breath and told the kindest truth I could think of I explained that the lobsters weren't very happy living in our sink so we sent them off to a better place, and that's the truth... I'm sure lobster heaven really is a great place.

It was rewarding to do something special for Shane. Sometimes I think that in marriage we expend so much energy trying to keep the family going, we forget that the reason we do all of those things is because we love that family so much, so this last two weeks I tried to let Shane know, and in return he came home every night telling me how loved and special he felt and how glad he was that he was married to me. On Friday he brought home these (they're a bit wilty now, but they were really lovely on Friday.)
And this

I couldn't have asked for anything better. Thank you Shane, I love you back.