valentine's day bash 2012!

i have never loved valentine's day. it just seems way too consumer-ish and over-rated. i mean, cupid and arrows and roses? ick.

i want to love and be loved EVERYday. i don't need a DAY for it.

but...

it all started because the school my kids go to (which i LOVE) instituted a new rule that NO FOOD can be given out at school. NO food at parties. NO food in your valentine's day cards that you pass out. NOTHING. (it's a long story.) but it's the rule. fine. sad for the kids, but fine.

but the kids kept mentioning it. just in a "man, it really stinks that we can't put candy in our valentines and have a REAL party" kind of way.

so, i decided to go a little crazy for valentine's day. JUST BECAUSE I LOVE THEM LIKE CRAZY!

they normally pack their lunches. but i told them i would pack them for today...

and then i threw them a PARTY when they got home from school! it wasn't a surprise. they helped me decorate for it and bake for it the day before. i think looking forward to something fun is kind of the funnest part! our living room turned into a party room...

i even brought out our china (that we never use)

and just gathered all the valentine's day decorations from all over the house.

rebekah made some confetti for our blanket!

i even brought down the nets that hang over the girls beds and draped them up :-)

i also put all the family wedding pictures around - of pat and i, our parents, our siblings that have gotten married. our children have no idea how blessed they are to have so many HEALTHY marriages around them!

and the food! red velvet cupcakes, strawberry oreos, red jello, strawberry applesauce, strawberries and m&m's! (if you have a "thing" with red dye...you are probably dying about now. we are normally pretty healthy with our snacks. :-))

oh! and pink lemonade! bailey put sweet notes in each of our cups. and handed them out so sweetly to each person.

once the kids finished their homework, we woke the little boys up and gathered for our party!

i let everyone come up to the table one at a time and get their own food.

everyone settled in to enjoy our time together! in the days leading up to our party, my brain kept trying to come up with STUFF or a PURPOSE in our party (like, we should make valentine's for each other...or go around and say something we love about each other...or we should read 1 Corinthians 13). all of those would have been fine to do. but everytime i thought of something, it was like God immediately said, "NO. JUST HAVE FUN. JUST LOVE THEM BY BEING THERE." so i did :-) and, it sounds silly, but i really had to pray myself there! i tend to be so serious and always having to have a PURPOSE and be INTENTIONAL. i had to be intentional about JUST having FUN! :-) sad, i know...

{rebekah really WAS having fun! i caught her looking up at our decorations...}

in heaven :-)

notice the difference in sawyer and lincoln's plates. i think lincoln finished all his food in less than a minute.

sawyer and i threw a little paper airplane back and forth.

we got to hear all kinds of fun stories from school that day! WAY more than any normal day. it REALLY ended up being enjoyable and fun. i was prepared for things to not go well. any deviation from routine is hard for one in particular...and add a ton of sugar to it? could have been a recipe for disaster. but it was worth it to me to try.

this picture makes me laugh out loud. i mean?!?

and 2 seconds later i look over and he's finished his lemonade and had the handle of the cup around his index finger and was spinning it around and around and around.... !!!

sawyer shared his pinkeye with me...so i am sporting my glasses these days.

it was so fun. it truly was. i just love these kids SO SO much and i wanted them to know it.

{embracing the camera here...first time!}

we took rebekah to swimming and the kids ran around outside while we waited (running all that sugar off!)

pat walked in the door at 6:30 (which is GOOD!) and we all ate heart shaped pancakes together!

we'll just end the day there. and say it's a good thing that i don't have high expectations for valentine's day. normal life stuff took over and things didn't go as planned. oh well.