Our Valentine's Day

We had a pretty special Valentine's Day. It was different and kind of busy at first and kind of mellow later and involved a date with just the 2 of us and a date with all 5 of us. But above all it was special. My favorite. =)

Valentine's kicked off for us on Friday with Garrison's V-Day celebration at school. I totally forgot to make a picture of his Valentines this year but they turned out really cute... We did the first Valentine found here. Hope your Valentines Day is full of colorful fun. =) We only included a pack of crayons with ours due to sugar and candy overload being numerous without us adding a pack of skittles to everyone's treat bag. Haha. Plus we had already spent an adequate amount on packs of crayons for 24 Kindergartners. I think Garrison's Valentines were a big hit... especially with his teacher. =)

After school we went through all the treats and the boys got to enjoy a special Valentine snack. Terrell picked up pizza for us on his way home and then the big boys had a fun movie night. It was a great start to our weekend and kick off to V-Day.

Saturday morning came bright and early when we got everyone up and ready for a big and momentous occasion... the day we would purchase our new family car! Woohoo!!!! My parents kept the kiddos for us and we were able to hitch a ride with some friends (a co-worker's of Terrell's and his wife) all the way up to north Georgia where I had been wheeling and dealing with a salesman for what felt like months. Haha. It was really only about 2.5 weeks, but still. The process of finding this car was a long and stressful one. But we did it and are so thankful for this (literally) HUGE blessing!

We are sooo excited for extra space and the car we hope will transport our family from place to place til Garrison is 16! It's taking us some getting used to... we feel like we're driving around a tank, ha! But we love it! And the kids love it!! In Garrison's very deep and profound words his first ride in it... Mama, it's like a whole new world. Hahahaha! We're still playing musical chairs with seating arrangements for the boys (decisions, decisions) but we are just thrilled with this blessing!

Terrell and I had a lunch date at CFA (V-Day bonus!) on the way home and we finally made it back to town to pick up our babies on Saturday afternoon after naptime... and finally managed to get car seats situated in our new ride... and finally managed to get home to celebrate Valentine's Day as a family.

We let the boys play outside, did early baths, and made "love bugs" while Terrell grilled our dinner. They turned out cute. I did this with my preschoolers and thought my big boys would enjoy it too. Of course it involved a pattern and ordering from biggest to smallest. Of course. =)

We enjoyed a delicious dinner of steaks, baked potatoes, green beans, and garlic bread before sitting around the table and reading our "I love you because..." hearts. I think reading those hearts around the table was my favorite part of our day. It was so sweet and special. The big boys sorted the hearts by color and passed out all of them and I held Layton in my lap and we went around the table reading one at a time. Garrison would read one, then I'd read one of Austin's for him and one of Layton's for him, then I'd read one of my own, and then Terrell would read one of his. Then we'd start back over with Garrison's turn until everybody had read every single one. The big boys were so smitten over what mama and daddy and their brothers had to say to them. It was priceless! Our love tanks were FULL after reading all those sweet, thoughtful hearts. I smiled the whole time and almost shed tears of joy over what my hubby and babies wrote to me. I highly recommend this little "project"!

After reading our hearts and cleaning up from supper the boys got to go through all their cards they got in the mail (which also included some cash =)) and then they got to open their gift from us!

Meet the newest members of the fam... Rescue bots! The boys were in love! 

The boys had a little play time and then crashed early from their big day. The second they were in bed Terrell went out for our fancy dessert. A Valentine tradition. =) Don't worry, the boys got dessert before bed... Valentine cupcakes they made with Granna.

We curled up on the couch and ate our fancy dessert and watched our favorite shows. Perfection. The best way to wrap up our day. Such a fun, busy, tiring, special Valentine's Day with my guys. It really was a LOVEly day.

And here's what we were up to last year. Snowed in, exhausted, and in LOVE with our newest baby boy. =)