Our family LOVE Day

Ah, Valentine's Day.  2.14.  I admire people who celebrate it, I for one, have NEVER been a fan.  I feel like it's a day when men are pressured into expressing their admiration for someone...even if it's not that strong.  I wish I could be a swooning girl, who schemes for months in advance on a creative gift to give my love, and  waits for the flowers to be delivered on the day of.  I just can't find it in myself to do.  On that note, I do have to say that my all-time favorite gift from Lincoln came to me on Valentine's Day '04 (just two weeks before we got married).  We did (semi) celebrate V-Day before we got married, but agreed that our anniversary was going to be more important to celebrate than V-Day after we got married.  So, 2 short weeks before we got married Lincoln presented me with a home made card on Valentine's Day.  It had a picture of our new family on the front - me (with a much bigger belly than I already had), a heart on my belly for our baby, and him.  I've forgotten what it said exactly (I have it in a keepsake box), but the point was he assured me, for the millionth time, that the baby and I were now his family - the loves of his life - and that he would do anything in the world for us from that point on.  It was, and still is, the best gift I've ever received from him.  

I use Valentine's Day to celebrate the love our family has together.  We celebrated early and had a family day yesterday.  We went to STL, just the four of us.  We stopped by Maryville and visited with Coach.  It was so good to see him (it's been a little over a year!).  Graysen and I enjoyed watching the three boys play a round of basketball in the gym where Lincoln spent countless hours playing in college.  Then we headed to Chuck E. Cheese!  This is one of our all-time favorite places to go!  It's fun for literally the entire family, and it's one of the few public places where I feel safe letting Hunter run and play!  We ordered a cheese pizza and spent 3 hours playing over 100 games!  This was the first trip with Graysen where she could walk and play herself.  She mastered climbing in the toddler play area and going down the slide by herself.  Although it was a tough call to leave at the 3 hour mark, we decided it was probably best to head on out.  We stopped by Target and picked up a few goodies.  Graysen got two new pairs of shoes, and Hunter got new swords!  Then we were on our way to Hermann for Lincoln's basketball game.  (One of the things I love about family days is that Lincoln often sacrifices for the good of the family, instead of making us cut our day short and coming back home so he could ride the bus to the game, he made arrangements to meet them at the game in order to give us an extra 3 hours in STL!)  The kids slept all the way, and Lincoln and I got some great conversation in.  The kids and I stayed for the first half of the JV game and headed on home.  We were all exhausted!  

It was a terrific day - I am so blessed to have a family who loves each other the way we do.  My kids are best friends, and my husband and I are best friends.  What more could you ask for then a day to spend with the best people in the entire world?!  

Valentine's Day 2008 (2009's picture to come tomorrow!)

Family Day 2009