Valentine's Day

Ah, Valentine's Day.

First, read this, please. This post resonated with me because this day pretty much stunk for me for a lot of years and I know it still stinks for a lot of people for different reasons. And while I'm so, so thankful to God for the opportunity to love on my family on this day, it makes me sad that days like this are not happy ones for everyone. So I hem and haw and wait until it's almost not February before proceeding with posts like this.

So with that said...

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We celebrated a day early for a few reasons, but mostly because it just worked out that way with the kids' school schedule.

It started with heart-shaped pancakes for the kids' breakfast.  No pictures of the others because school mornings are harried as it is and making then serving heart-shaped pancakes almost did me in.

But this guy and I got to return home to seconds with the whole morning unscheduled ahead of us which was definitely alright with us.

Then the hubs walked in with these and this.  Because he just knows, you know?

The Pathlights (young adult) group at our church offered free babysitting that evening so parents with young kids could go out for an early Valentine's date. We don't often ask people to babysit for us because we know it's asking a lot to watch four kids, so we definitely jumped at this chance! They even fed the kids dinner so we didn't have to worry about packing food for them- yet another huge blessing to me.

So with kids dropped off into good hands, we scooted out and had an altogether lovely evening. This guy had made reservations at La Rive Gauche.

No kids means mama's gonna get a fancy grown-up drink.  ;)

These little guys and I meet again. But this time, they turned out to be delicious! Much better than the first one I tried.

The food was awesome. The decor though was very orange and grandmotherly. Comforting, in its own way.

Delicious bites eaten at a leisurely pace over even better conversation that came relaxed and easy. Feeling especially thankful for that last part having gone through seasons when talking to each other felt anything but relaxed and easy. Thank you, God.

Finished with this souffléd delight. And because we didn't specify that we wanted one to share, I got this puppy all to myself.

Thank you honey for being my Valentine for the last fifteen years and never missing an opportunity to make a night out extra special.

And thank you Pathlights ministry for doing this. We are so grateful and blessed by your service!

The Floats

In one of those moments of reminiscing, I asked Phil, "Do you remember when we went to see the Rose Parade floats when the kids were teeny?" We shared a laugh over it recalling that we very likely had more fun that day than the kids who maybe might have been bored out of their little minds.

In any case, we woke up the next morning and Phil decided we should go again and maybe the kids would enjoy it more now that they're older.

Famous last words.

Because seriously, what's there to enjoy when there's only stuff like this to look at?

A couple of birds, big whoop.

There was just a touch more excitement over seeing this float because 1) they saw it on tv the day before and 2) Trader Joes!

This was the only time that day where there wasn't a crowd of people around us so I grabbed a quick shot (still the Trader Joes float).

Not ten minutes there and already they were too hot. (Granted, it was a very warm day- the start of a very long heat wave with temps well into the upper 80s. In January! But apparently, these are beach kids who can only tolerate temps 75 +/-3 degrees.)

Not entirely pleased with Daddy's method of cooling him down.

Then they decided they were hungry. We thought this small Jonah-sized snack would tide them over. For a little while.

So we pressed on.

Like I said, it was crowded.

Thankfully, we still have the tank-like stroller that automatically creates space around us. Just the baby sitting on top of the stroller is different now.

But despite the heat, hunger, and crowds,

still totally worth it

to see all the different floats

 and so much creative detail in each one.

Depending on who you asked.

Paying homage to his motherland.

Do you hear the theme song in your head? No? Yeah, totally me neither.

Seriously people, what's not to love about this thoroughly enjoyable day?

A cute, crazy labor-intensive duck!

This sweet, I'm going to say, donkey, made of kernels of corn and red kidney beans among other things!

This big doggy looks like he's licking Jonah's head.  Har har.

This random bucket of potatoes among all the flowers that I still find puzzling now as I look at it again.

But no, none of my enthusiastic commentary or Phil's antics were enough to make them want to linger longer.

They were ready to leave.  Shocker.

Big brother lending a helping hand to his sagging little brother.  Anything to get us out of there faster.

He wanted to push the button and did it the way he's seen his siblings do it- with the back of his hand instead of his fingers. Illness averted. Well done, son.

The biggest smiles of the day? On the way running back to the van.

Hmm. It's looking like we'll not be back anytime soon. But give us another four years to forget the moans and groans, the heat, the hunger, and the crowds and we'll get to reminiscing again about how teeny they were and do it all over again.

Because you know, they'll be bigger then and would enjoy it more, right?

Right?

New Year's Day

I didn't make it til midnight this last new year's eve. It was the first one since I was maybe nine.  That's a lot of new years' eves. And I didn't give a hoot. Which was very unlike me. Just too tired. Which, unfortunately, is very like me lately.

But, we did get to celebrate "East Coast New Year" at 9 pm with friends from church which was just as good, when one reaches a certain age.

Anywho, it was a fun evening, we got the kids to bed at a decentish time and we got a full nights' sleep.

Worth it.

And in the morning, I came downstairs to find...

my boys cuddled together on the couch, poring over their new brother book.

Over the "look how little you were" pictures.

And the silly faces we made pictures.

And the "I remember when we went there" pictures.

And the laughing together over the last few crazy face pictures.

And whatever it was he said that really meant, "You're sometimes pretty pesky, but I'm so glad to have you as my brother."

And his shooting his finger gun at his big brother which really meant, "I feel the same, bro."

And the silly faces that never end with this one.

Yes. I'll take all of it.

So anyway.

From all of us to you...

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

(It's still newish enough, isn't it?)

The Boat Ride

We had bought a Groupon for a boat ride to see the decorated houses and boats in Newport Beach but we just couldn't fit it in before Christmas.  So, we went after.  And although we missed the decorated boat parade, we also missed the huge crowds and long, long lines.

So, still a win.

A nice guy offered to take a picture of all of us and even waited for a decorated house to appear behind us, so here we all are!

There was ample room for the kids to scamper all around the boat.  Except for this little guy who we were afraid was going to fall overboard.

With maybe a little help from Daddy.

Shrieks of scared delight and funny looks from strangers.  Sounds about right.

The Balboa ferry crossing.

And that wraps up our 2013.  Finally.  Thank You, Lord for the wonderful year it's been.

Now on to 2014!