Valentines ~ A Little Chocolate and a Lot of Love

We don't usually make a huge deal of Valentine's even though Eddie and I do count it as one of our anniversaries.  We never really celebrated a dating anniversary because we had been hanging out a lot before we went on our first official date.  That was just how us broke college students did it.  Eddie proposed to me on Valentine's Day in 2002, and although it wouldn't have been my personal choice to become engaged on Valentine's Day, it was perfect timing for us, and Eddie "performed" perfectly.  I have shared the story of our engagement several times so I won't go into it again.  My very first blog post did a pretty good job of summarizing it.  This year like most years we just enjoyed using the day to show our love for one another in a little extra special way.  Yellow roses and chocolate are always a sufficient way for Eddie to express his love for me, and the boys love getting some candy, cards, and balloons from us. We especially loved celebrating our little man Mattox's first Valentine's this year.  Eddie and I got a little date night on the Friday night before Valentine's so we were okay with spending the majority of our Valentine's Day on Sunday doing our bi-monthly shopping trip to Super Target.

There was a lot of love in our house for Valentine's. 

You know we had to take some family pictures to commemorate the occasion. 

The boys weren't the most cooperative for this photo shoot.  Brody was the least cooperative and barely wanted to smile.  I don't think there was one picture where they were all looking at the camera and smiling.  But when you put them all together, I think there is at least one where each of them is cooperating. 

We were getting Mattox to smile with a stuffed animal so he was watching that instead of the camera.  I am okay with that.  To anyone who thinks that pictures aren't good if everyone isn't looking at the camera, I say "Bah!  You will never get any good shots if you think that!"  

We made Brody get closer and act like he loves his brothers.  Haha!

My boys were excited about their valentines. 

I just love how Mattox is touching Daddy's face while he reads his cards to him. 

Brody and Mattox got the sweetest cards from big brother Evan.  He is just the sweetest big brother ever!

Brody got a cookie card from Grandma.  She knows him well and that he is always making her cookies and treats.  Evan tried to bomb our sweet pictures by stalking and threatening us with his candy stick. 

Oh my, our Brody gives the best hugs and kisses!

Brody also made his own valentines this year.  Lately, he has been doing all his own crafts.  Ha!  I find the evidence of his work all over his desk area upstairs.  He especially loves cutting shapes out of paper.  I am just thankful he only cuts paper.  I think his kindergarten teacher will be impressed with his cutting abilities.  He also covers his papers with letters and draws hearts.  For some reason, as his skills with letter writing and drawing have improved, he has become less careful about coloring.  He just doesn't care about coloring in the lines.  He and Evan are complete opposites. 

And this sweet little Valentine has just been getting into everything.  He loves to take big brothers' toys.  

Daddy and I before our "fancy" date night. 

This boy and his brothers enjoyed a night with Grandma eating pizza and hanging out.  Mattox is like most toddlers and doesn't always eat well when someone besides mommy and daddy are feeding him.  Luckily for Grandma, he fell asleep early, and she just enjoyed getting to hold him a little longer while he slept. 

Eddie and I attempted to use the selfie stick to capture ourselves on our date.  I wanted to snap a picture of our delicious feast in the restaurant, but I was afraid it would be frowned upon.  I laughed that we were the only couple not leaving with a take home bag.  We ate all of our food.  We both enjoyed a 16 oz. New York Strip, and I had some grilled asparagus with mine while Eddie had a baked potato.  We both had some shrimp and lobster bisque with bread.  I had some chocolate covered strawberries for dessert while he enjoyed some New York cheesecake.  I was glad we had our date night on Friday night as this place would have been a mad house on Valentine's.  They had been booked solid for months.  After our dinner, we went to pick out Valentine's for our sweet boys and then went to a late movie.  We finally saw Mockingjay Part 2.  It was definitely not much like the book, but I guess it did a decent job of showing why Katniss decided to shoot the leader of the rebellion instead of President Snow.  I thought the book failed at that one part, but I am still not a huge fan of the end of these stories.  I guess I never really liked Peeta. I like my guys with a bit more toughness and courage.  Haha!