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 Mustang

So after driving our Forester for twelve years, the husband went and got himself a shiny new car last month.  We're hanging on to the Forester for the time being- that faithful old car has been with us since very nearly the beginning of our married life together and has seen us through quite a lot.

Most notably, the birth of each of our kids.

All four were born in different hospitals, delivered by different doctors, in two different states, and went home in different infant car seats.  The only thing that's been the same (aside from having the same mom and dad, not a small thing in itself I suppose) has been the little gray Forester that Phil and I would get into on our way to the hospital and that brought each new little one home.

So no, we haven't said goodbye to it just yet.

But we did say hello to a new car in the driveway.

For as hard and as faithfully as this dear man has worked to provide for our family, I'm just really happy he's now able to do something nice for himself.  That I get to tool around town in the seat next to him is the icing on the cake.

As for the kids?

They each think Daddy's new ride is pretty cool. (Daddy took her to dance class in his new ride).

Especially when the top's down.

So when he says, "hey, wanna go for a ride?"

The answer is pretty much always yes.  Especially when there are built-in babysitters (Phil's mom and brother who stayed with us over Christmas) at the house.

We slipped out for a bit on Christmas day just us two.  Plus the Mustang.

Oh and he had ten days of vacation which always brings that smile back.

Cannot ever get the goofy outta this guy.

As close to normal as I'm gonna get.

Thinking deep thoughts.

Or maybe just wondering when I'll be done so he can jump back in to that car.

Happy for you, honey.  Love you.

Date Night

Whenever an opportunity to go out by ourselves presents itself, our answer is always YES.  Doesn't matter if it's just a quick lunch date, or errand running together, or catching a movie, or a whole weekend away, the answer is always YES.

For this I am so grateful.  Because to be able to go out together means that we still enjoy each other's company enough to want to be alone together.  It means that someone special is willing to care for our kids while we are gone.  It means we have enough to be able to enjoy a meal or activity together.  It means our marriage is still an important priority to us even after four kids and hectic schedules and sometimes overwhelming tiredness.

That's why our answer is always YES and why I will always love the time we get to spend together.

I left my camera at home since I just wanted to relax and enjoy our most recent night out.  But still ended up taking pictures with my phone anyway.  Something feels a bit off if I'm not taking pictures and I think Phil even feels it too.  So we had fun taking silly pictures of ourselves even if the quality of the photos weren't the best.

And I think that's what matters most in the end.

Phil's pick for the evening.

Per the menu- Baked imported brie cheese with arugula, pecans, cranberries and champagne vinaigrette.  We both really liked this even though Phil's usually not a big brie cheese fan.

Can't go to a French restaurant without ordering escargot.  At least according to Phil.

I braved the world of baked snails and powered down two before the realization of what I was eating sunk in.  Once the ick factor got to me, I could go no further so the remaining four were all for Phil.

The server had brought out a little sample of olives with grated parmesan cheese in these teeny tiny little bowls.  So of course we spent the rest of our meal pretending that everything we ordered came in teeny tiny little bowls. 

What?  Isn't this what normal, middle-aged (gasp!) adults out on a date night do?

But to be fair to Dominique's Kitchen (since we really enjoyed the food and service at this restaurant), here's Phil's real dinner plate.   Wild Boston sea scallops with crushed potatoes, shallots, parsley, garlic, lobster reduction au jus.

And mine- Slow braised beef short ribs with pinot noir, tomato, onion, garlic, vegetables and creamy mashed potatoes. Although I think I would go with the lamb next time.

And the light and lovely dessert- Panna cotta with berry compote.


An evening spent over delightful food and company, laughing and being silly together.  What a blessing it is to be married to my best friend.  Thank you Lord for sustaining our marriage, for growing and maturing us together, and for giving us these refreshing times to enjoy with each other.  You are so good to us.

12

Last month, we celebrated anniversary #12.  Since we got our little getaway back in June, we kept it nice and simple- just spending the day all together with the kids.

He slipped out in the morning and brought this home.

And that evening, he put this delightful seafood spread together.  That's bacon wrapped shrimp.  Anniversary celebrations were on his mind.  Specifically, our tenth one was on his mind.

We love celebrating big around here.  But sometimes, a nice and simple celebration is just what the doctor ordered to help us remember just how wonderful our life together has been and continues to be- past, present, and future.  Thank you Lord for blessing us with 12 years of marriage and we pray for many more to come.

Love you, honey.  :)

His Birthday

Our dear Jami and James agreed to drive all the way over to our house and babysit our four kiddos so that Phil and I could go out for dinner to celebrate his birthday.

What wonderful friends they are.  Especially considering how cranky Jonah had been that day (we later figured out he was miserable from Hand, Foot, & Mouth disease) and how it turned out the girls were coming down with it that night, too.  So all things considered, these two are indeed very good friends.

Jami even got a picture of us on our way out.  Thanks, Jami!

His dinner.  Land and sea.  Not bad for a free birthday meal!

My dinner.  Pork chop.  Not free, but still good.  :)

Always fun to have a night out.  Even if we did look a tad tired.

The birthday boy.

We headed back home in order to have dessert all together.

The girls weren't feeling too good by this point but managed to eke out smiles for the sake of cake.  They never seem to tire of it even though this was our fourth round of birthday cake in the span of a month.

Jonah's got this candle blowing thing down now, too.

Our friends' daughter made this cake for us in what else but UCLA colors!  She did a great job and it was enjoyed by all.


So happy birthday, dear husband of mine.  I am so blessed and thankful to be able to share this life with you.  May the Lord richly bless you in this new year and hopefully the many more to come!


And many, many thanks to you, James and Jami for being so great with our under-the-weather kiddos that night!  We love you!

Valentine

The day started off with a special valentine treat from daddy for each of the kids.

And I love that he's the kind of dad who knows it's Ariel for this one.

And Rapunzel for this one.  (And also that the boy's good with anything boy-related).

He had a little something for me, too.

He also planned a special lunch for just us two.

I love our little people, but man, do I love when it's a table for two.

Especially when it involves this cheese fondue.  With chorizo.

Followed by this chop chop salad.  So. Good.  Except we were getting full already.

But there was more!  A good ol' burger for him.

And a swordfish sandwich for me.  I was simply too full for even one bite of this so it got boxed up and became my Valentine's dinner.  Still really good even a few hours later.

Such a wonderful time with great food and even better company.

After lunch we took a little stroll around the hotel grounds.

And tried to make the moment last before it was back to the grind for both of us.

After we returned home, Phil had to leave for work and Lauren decided she wanted to make some Valentine cupcakes.

Good thing she has the perfect outfit all ready for just such an occasion.

Both girls had Valentine parties at their respective schools and came home with a bag full of cards and treats.  I was a little concerned that Mikey would feel sad and left out of all the festivities.

I needn't have worried.  He simply shrugged and said that since it was a day to do nice things for family and friends, he'd just go ahead and make valentines for all of us.

And that's just what he did.

And then decided he wanted to make little cards for all his small group buddies who would be coming over the next day.  He changed the wording since it was the day after Valentine's day.  ;)

Probably it also helped that both girls shared more than a few of their treats with their brothers, too.

And I didn't find this until a few days later in Allie's backpack.

"Love is being with my family."

Couldn't have said it better myself.

Although, "touching a soft dog" and "tasting mac and cheez" are definitely close seconds.

Hope your Valentine's day was lovely, my friends.