Valentine's Day

Amelia worked for a month on Justin's Valentine. It even has two sides! I let her use some rub on quotes from my scrapbook stash. She rubbed on "Who's Your Daddy?" as she rubbed she told me that Justin is her daddy. Now he knows. There is sparkly fabric, hearts, glitter glue, and stickers. She is a born crafter!

We had a really fun Valentine's day on Tuesday. We made a huge heart cookie to take to Justin's "ladies" at work. The kids picked out some balloons and bear for Dad, Phillip picked out a snack for himself (Reeces Pieces). The kids were beyond excited to visit Justin at work. We met him in the lobby then headed up to his office. The office was recently updated a bit so we enjoyed seeing the changes. Justin's posse crowded around the kids while Phillip passed out knuckles and high-fives. Amelia handed out some Valentine cards. Everett smiled and kicked around like a bird. The kids child-proofed Justin's office for a bit. Phillip went straight for the electronics and candy. Amelia went for the white board and markers. Everett drooled on Justin's important papers. We lunched at Pizza Hut for the fourth year. I wrote that this was the 3rd year but somehow miscounted! Time flies! The Grunig family sat next to us for a time. Phillip loves the concept of buffet style eating. He just wanted to fill plates and not eat. Once he tired of the buffet he focused his attention on the TV behind us (it was not wall-mounted). While sitting surrounded with our cute kids and exceptional husband the irony of life caught up to me. I shined a nice big smile Justin's way. It was a great time.

I hate finding babysitters. I have a hard time asking someone else to come care for my kids. Silly?! Not sure. The stars aligned and we actually got two sitters arranged to watch the kids while we had dinner. I don't think we've ever been out on Valentine's Day before. The place we wanted to go was out of reservations so we ran down the street to Dude's Steak House. We waited by the fire pit for an hour playing with my new phone and chatting. Novel idea, talking?! Our dinner was yummy. I had a filet mignon with shrimp, Justin a cowboy steak. Even though finding sitters is not so fun, going out with Justin is fun. The two even out in the end. LOL.

I think the art of babysitting is becoming a lost art. The skills and time I spent babysitting between 10 and 20 years of age are not as important anymore. I know this does not apply to all young ladies, but for the most part our society does not look positively on young girls who actually use their mothering instincts. It is better to have as few homemaking skills and get by on what your mother will do for you. I was shocked to learn that there is an entire generation who can barely sew on a button, clean decently, or tend a child. Instead of tending the kids, the cell phone or FB is earnestly attended. In many ways I feel more trapped because my trust in letting a teenager tend my kids for an hour or more is almost zero. I wish for those days when it was cool to be a woman with womanly skills. Thanks to my mom for kicking the feminist trash to the curb. She rocked my womanly education. Thanks, mom. Rampage over. Period.

PS: Phillip has grown 1.5 inches since Christmas. Amelia grew an inch. In less than 4 weeks is kindergarden registration. Heart palpitations! Time is racing by.

PSS: Yesterday we caught Phillip with a finger full of carmel dip. He was talking to his finger saying something like this, "hello! hello. Ha ha, I eat you. yummy." Sticks finger in mouth and eats the poor carmel.