The Coffee Drinkin' Momma: Valentine's Day 2014

Yesterday was Valentine's Day.

It was the 8th Valentine's Day with Aaron, the 3rd with Hailey, and the 2nd with Madison.

They are, by far, the best Valentines I have ever had.

Aaron and I don't always do things for each other for Valentine's Day. We show love to each other in many different ways throughout the year, but this year he decided to go all out. So much so, I just had to share our day!

This story actually starts the night before...

Aaron offered to give the girls their bath and I gladly let him. I never turn down an opportunity to have a few minutes to myself. Madison has been sick (RSV again! Boo!) and so she didn't want to stay in the bath very long. In fact, it was only about 15 minutes and as soon as we got the girls dressed, we decided to skip reading and turned the lights off in the living room so Aaron could rock her for a minute to calm her.

At this point, Hailey asked if she could take me into the bathroom and show me the flower daddy was making for me. I said sure and we walked into the bathroom. I am totally clueless and not really understanding what she means. This, of course, isn't totally unusual seeing as how she is 2, but I tried to figure out what she was talking about. I thought maybe Aaron had made a flower out of the bubbles in the bath, but she quickly assured me that was not what she was talking about and just kept asking me to find the flower. I asked her if daddy had drawn a flower on the mirror in the steam (which, of course, was gone at this point) and, again, she quickly assured me I was wrong again. After a few minutes of this I just told her we would find it later after we could talk to daddy.

Fast forward now to when both girls have finally gone to bed. Aaron is sitting in our bed and I've gone into the kitchen to turn lights off, etc. As I'm walking out of the kitchen heading back to the bedroom, I see Aaron coming from the hall moving into our bedroom, which is slightly suspicious. I go to our bedroom meaning to get ready for bed and as I pass by our bed, I notice a flower made out of pipe cleaners sitting next to Aaron's bed. At first I kind of ignore it, but then I ask him about it. Turns out, during bath, Aaron was making me some flowers made out of pipe cleaners! Because Madison was just not feeling well and didn't take a very long bath, he only got one done, but that is what Hailey was talking about!

So I thank him and we have a good laugh about the fact that our daughter can't keep a secret, I get ready for bed, and I go into the living room to finish "The Taste" (my newest obsession). After I get done watching the show, I'm off to bed. As I walk into my room, I see two pipe cleaner flowers on my bedside table and there are also three flowers on our counter in the bathroom!

The flowers next to my bedside table.

Hailey and the flowers in the bathroom. (This is the next morning)

Now, as lovely as this is, this isn't the end to this story!

I tell him how much I love these and how talented he is, etc., and we go to bed. Now, I need to point out when I walked into our bedroom, I immediately pulled my glasses off and the only light on in our room was a small lamp that basically gives off enough light for me to see to get to bed. So, fast forward to the next morning. I wake and I notice something shiny in the middle of the flower.

You see it?

It is a Pandora charm for my Pandora bracelet!

I was so surprised...again! I felt really bad for not noticing the night before, but remember the lack of glasses and light in the bedroom. This one is purple...my favorite color!

I walk into the bathroom and...

...another one! This Pandora charm is clear with diamond shaped cuts and a white undertone.

I felt so very special! Though, Hailey had "tattled" on daddy and the making of the flowers, I definitely didn't see the Pandora charms coming.

My Pandora Charm Bracelet

...but, wait, that's not all!

So, fast forward to nap time. The girls are down and Aaron and I are catching up on a few episodes of "The Walking Dead" (yep - we like it!). We are talking about how unobservant I was and how it was because I was so tired, etc. He then says something about the fact that I've missed the flowers that are right behind me (I'm sitting on the couch and we have a table that is bumped up against our couch).

Roses and a box of Reese's Peanut Butter cups (my favorite!).

What? Apparently they had been sitting there most of the day and I had totally overlooked them! In my defense, though, let me just say that the normal decoration for right there is a really cool fake flower that I have, but yes, I really am that unobservant.

...but wait, there's more!

So, we ended up going to my mom's house for dinner and Valentine goodies last night. On the way home, Aaron said there may even be more that I'm missing! Now I'm really worried about me and my lack of sleep, but I'm thinking maybe there was something attached to the roses somehow that I missed. We get home and I'm off on the search to no avail! I can't find anything out of the ordinary anywhere.

It is late so the girls really need to get to bed so I decide the search will have to wait until the girls are in bed. Before we read, Hailey needed to go to the bathroom so off we go. When she is done, we head into the living room just in time to see Aaron coming out of the kitchen. I decide that I haven't looked hard in the laundry room so I decide to take one more look before we settle in for book time. I notice there is some ribbon that wasn't there before so I know I'm getting closer. I turn around and right there, on my counter in my kitchen sits:

Yep - a Stargazer Lilly (my favorite) and yet another Pandora charm!

Ruby colored Pandora charm

This Pandora charm is especially special because it is ruby colored which represents the month that Madison was born. I originally got my Pandora bracelet for my anniversary right before Madison was born. At that point, we weren't sure if she was going to be a July or August baby so we didn't choose a charm to represent her birth month. She is now 18 months old and we hadn't gone back to get one. So, seeing this especially made me happy because now Madison is represented on my bracelet as well!

...and let me just say that, in this case, I was not unobservant. Remember me telling you that Aaron was coming out of the kitchen when Hailey and I were coming back into the living room after she went to the bathroom? Yep - that's right. He was in the kitchen putting that one together! He hadn't put it out yet.

So while we don't always do for each other, when we do, it is very special.

Oh, and for Aaron, he got fly fishing gear that he had been wanting...and a picture card that I made for him. So, he didn't walk away empty handed.

The rest of our day was great also! I had an appointment in the morning for a teeth cleaning so we decided to do a special breakfast at Cracker Barrel instead of dinner out that night because we knew it would be super busy. After Cracker Barrel and my appointment, we went and said hi to Grammy and GDad at La-Z-Boy. Warning - Lots of pictures ahead!

Madison and GDad

Hailey and GDad

Grammy and The Girls

I especially love Madison's smile! When we say "Smile for the camera, Madison", this is what she does! Precious!

Close-up of Hailey

Close-up of Madison

At one point, we told the girls to hug because we were trying to get a picture of them together. The next group of pictures is what ensued...

Hugging and Laughing

Falling, but still Laughing!

Falling again! Laughing still!

Trying to hug again

The end result...on the floor!

We were unsuccessful getting a picture, but boy did they have a great time hugging each other!

When we visit Grammy and GDad at work, they always have to do a little work, too. I asked what they were working on, but they didn't want to tell me.

My Valentine!

Had to put this one in here because of that smile on Madison. Wonder where she gets it?

That night, we went back into town and had dinner at my parent's house. After dinner and baths, we got to have goodies that mom had gotten for everyone.