Valentine's Day Blogging Here I Come!!

Beginning today, I am going to blog something about Valentine's Day every day for the next two weeks to commemorate February 14th. I want to give you plenty of time before the love holiday rolls around to do some of this for your own home and family. Many of the posts will be DIY crafts. Other posts will be items you can purchase for your kids or home.
Some posts will just be photos of things I love or things that inspire me.
Tomorrow will be the tutorial on how to do the above wreath that took me 2 days and 7 spools of ribbon to complete!


Tonight,
I leave you with this:

I Heart Valentine's Day

Okay I know ya'll are thinking, do what? It is mid January!
That's right, only a little over 3 weeks until Valentine's Day...eeek!
I am in the official throws of planning some cute crafts and decor for the month of February.
The above is a treat I plan on doing with my left over candy canes, that I saw on this blog.
Don't you love it?

I really do love Valentine's Day.
Growing up I remember just wishing someone would give me chocolates in a heart shaped box.
(I had the same wish about a chocolate Santa in December and a chocolate bunny come April...see a theme I have had going in my life? ;)
But I do remember anticipating all of those adorable little cards that would arrive in my paper bag at school. To this day I get giddy when the kids come home with their Valentines.

However, I will never admit to snatching the bags right out of their hands and saying "Let Mom see what Valentines we got!!" while pouring them all out on the table.

That wasn't me.

I love Valentines Day because it makes us stop and think about how blessed we are to have positive relationships in our lives. Valentine's Day also makes me stop and reflect upon the great love our God has lavished upon us.
That we even have the ability to love because He first loved us.
It also helps me to reflect on how I can better love those people (and children) God has placed in my life for this season of time.

So I decorate with joy and we celebrate with joy, knowing that the LOVE we have is not because of an earthly romance or the parent/child relationship, or even the affection for a best friend.
It is because of Christ's eternal love for us.

Stay tuned for my decor post hopefully sometime next week which will include a new ribbon wreath, framed printable art, and some special shots of the kids!

Randomness

Because I have nothing profound to write,

and I didn't want you to miss me for too long! ;)

Jasmine getting some big brother lovin'.
I couldn't resist saying, "she will bite your face!"
(Gloria...that one was for you!)

Jayden loves to receive anything new.
It does not matter what it is.
It is always a big deal to him.
So you can imagine how often he wants to wear his new Animal pajamas.

I needed to get the girls some new winter clothes this past weekend, as they have both suddenly grown out of much of their winter wardrobe.

I don't buy clothing from resale shops, but you can imagine how expensive it can get to outfit four kids...so I have to be quite savvy with my purchases to help stretch the dollar.
My most exciting deal this weekend was to walk into Old Navy Outlet to discover that the entire store was an additional 40% off including clearance items.
Plus, I had printed off a 25% off your total purchase coupon.
So guess what?
I bought the girls 17 items with an initial total of $219.00.

With the discounts, my final price rang up
$100.93.
Vivi got jean shorts for the summer for $4 and the above winter dress and a gingham dress for $7 each, among other things.

It was so so fun!

I am still living off that high!

I scored another major discount for Jasmine.
She has grown out of her 9 month winter pj's so I had to get her a bigger size before her feet busted through in protest. I needed several pairs to replace all the too small ones and you know pajamas are not cheap. I was not looking forward to forking over the money for sleep wear that she will only be in for a couple more months.

So imagine the thrill when I stumbled upon two pack sets in size 12 months at Target.
Originally $16.99 a set.


I bought them for....
drum roll.....

Yes, you saw that right. Four pairs of infant pajamas for $10.16.
SCORE!

Now I might just be able to justify my desire to go back to the mall and purchase the overpriced, but super adorable hot pink and zebra striped swim suits with matching flip flops that I saw for the girls at Osh Kosh. Because they just have to have those for Florida this summer, right? :)
Oh to dream...

And to complete the randomness of this post:

Vivi wanted me to put on her hello kitty nails that she got for Christmas.
They stayed on for about 3 minutes. :)
But it was CUTE while they lasted!

Martin Luther King Jr. Parade in Dallas

We went into Dallas to attend the parade today. We stood on the street as a couple of the only white people in a crowd of thousands. We got lots of stares from all the little kids around us but we smiled at them, chatted it up, and had fun!!

This street filled completely up.
Billy was packed in like a sardine and I was thankful the kids and I were secure in our chairs!

Superheros! We saw an African American Batman, Green Lantern,
Captain America, and two Super Women!
Jayden and Vivi loved it!!!

The marching bands were very fun!

I Have A Dream

"I have a dream that one day little black boys and girls
will be holding hands with little white boys and girls,
as sisters and brothers...

Now is the time to lift our nation from the quicksands of racial injustice to the solid rock of brotherhood. Now is the time to make justice a reality for all of God's children...

I have a dream today.

I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character."
~Dr Martin Luther King Jr.
March on Washington, 1963

Billy

A friend told me today that something I said about my husband made her think, and also made her go tell her husband how much she appreciates him.
I thought it sounded like the making of a blogpost!

I don't talk about Billy on here near as much as I could. But that is mainly because as Real Simple magazine pointed out in this article on FB etiquette, nobody wants to read about somebody going on and on about how much they love their husband. Even if you think its sweet, it would get old. And it may come across as though you are bragging about your relationship. As one friend pointed out, people who have to talk about how fantastic their husband is all the time...may not actually have a fantastic husband afterall!

But you see, readers...I DO have a fantastic husband.
So why need to talk about it, eh?
Why not save the brown nosing for Father's Day?
Well...that is because of the afore mentioned conversation with my friend. She and I were discussing the fact that our husbands work so hard to provide for our families. We agreed that we have to be cautious about saying things like "we don't have the money to do those things." or "I wish I could buy this or do that, but my husband wouldn't want to spend the money." It comes across as though you somehow wish your husband could do more for the family.

That what he does do is not enough.

My husband works 2 jobs and gets paid to write and edit on the side.
There is not anything more he could do.
He is gone every week day, works 3 nights a week until 9:00, and Saturday afternoons. We don't see a whole lot of Daddy around here. And sometimes it gets me down and makes me sad.
But mostly it makes me so appreciate that I have a husband who is willing to literally work until exhaustion to provide for us.

He was selling some guitar equipment on Craigslist this week and a guy came over to buy it. Billy pulled out his new guitar to demo the products and the guy mentioned how great that guitar is. Billy said, "yah it is... it took me a year and selling several things to finally get it!" I chimed in..."for every child that we have, Daddy gets one less guitar!" Billy smiled at the guy and nodded. Not in a feigning annoyed look, but in a genuine..."that's right and it is OK by me" look.

I know there is so much more Billy would rather do on payday than to go to the bank to get out cash for grocery and gas envelopes, I am sure he would like to actually buy some clothes every once in awhile for himself instead of forking it over for the kids every other Friday. And I know he would rather eat out at Kobe Steakhouse on the weekend instead of Kid's Eat Free at Dickeys BBQ. But he doesn't complain. And he spends all his free time with me and the kids, cancelling plans cause "he misses us too much". And he actually chooses to fold clothes, bathe kids, change diapers, vacuum, and empty the dishwasher...almost always without being asked. OH...and I forgot to mention but had to come back and add this: he disciplines his kids. ALL the time.
That is huge for me.
He also calls me atleast 3 times a day every day.
I joked with another friend that we are practically dating...we tell each other everything.
Nine years of marriage and it is as beautiful of a relationship than I could have ever hoped for.

Yes, my husband is pretty fantastic.

And I thought I ought to say it every once in awhile.