A Valentine Tuesday 2012

We had a wonderful Valentine's Day this year, expressing our love to those in our lives.

We woke up to Daddy's "sweet" surprise. (I wish I had taken a picture.) He had cards placed on the table where everyone sits, with heart-shaped reese-cups underneath for the girls and a big heart for me, full of chocolates! What a thoughtful, sweet Daddy and Husband.

Needless to say, we all enjoyed a peanut butter chocolate heart for part of our breakfast. If you can't eat chocolate for breakfast on Valetine's Day, then when can you? :)

I then served heartshaped pancakes with strawberries and banana bites (that look like butter squares).

Here's what Mommy's Valetine Pancakes look like:

 

Then, we had an "I {Heart}You" lunch, consisting of hot dogs, kiwis, cheese and yogurt.

For dinner:

I thawed out the good salmon we've been saving for a special occasion. Then whipped up a big bowl of mashed potatos, broiled some asparagus, and some baked beans. Haha. Somehow, they just don't seem to fit into this meal, but we needed some protein. As much as I love fish, we don't eat it enough, so the girls aren't particularly fond of fish just yet. But they will eat baked beans on mos occasions.

We turned out the lights and watched "A Dolphin's Tale" as a family while we ate. I thought this movie was appropriate for Valetine's Day....as this boy had a love for a  Dolphin named Winter.  It was a fun night!

The weekend before this Valentine Tuesday, Renewal Church had a Marriage Retreat to Hendersonville, NC.

We had just left to go to the retreat. Can you tell we were giddy? The first marriage retreat in 8 years, since we were engaged.

Here Hugh and I were in the very quaint and snowy downtown of Hendersonville.

I absolutely loved walking around looking at all of the antique shops, except for the fact that the wind was so strong and so cold, I thought Hugh's ears and my nose were going to fall off from being frostbitten. I really enjoyed the snow flurries though. Can't wait to go back in the Fall to head to the apple orchard up there. :)

Unfortunately, while walking around town, I texted Nana to check in on the girls and found out Mattie had thrown up and had a fever of 102.

WHAT!?

I couldn't believe the timing. My poor baby was sick with a fever of 102.  That was difficult to be away from her while she was sick, and it was heavy on my heart and mind. I didn't even have a tylenol on hand at home that wasn't expired (because we don't use tylenol unless a fever is over 102, which is rare). Thankfully, Nana did a great job with the girls, and Laney was such a big help.

She had that high fever on-and-off for three days. Talk about stressing a Mama out. My girls have NEVER had a high fever for three days, so at the end of the third day, although the fever was a low 100 without meds, and I really thought the virus was on it's way out, I still took her to the Ped just in case. They pricked her finger to look at her counts, and sure enough, her wbc showed that the virus was on it's way out.

The next morning, Valetine's Day morning, she was truly fever-FREE. What a great Valetine present to us all. 

Whew.

I really cannot believe I didn't get this virus, with as many times as I helped her blow her nose and the countless times coughed and sneezed right in my face and mouth while holding her or laying down with her. 

Hope you had a great Valetine's as well!

I {HEART} my family and friends!