Valentine’s Day

Happy Valentine’s Day!  It was fun that Valentine’s fell on a Saturday this year.  I remember back in high school thinking it was terrible if Valentine’s was in the middle of the week.  I mean, you couldn’t go out with your boyfriend on a school night!  Now of course, that doesn’t matter as much.  We’re adults, we can go out whenever we want!  Oh wait, we have a kid, no we can’t. 😉  Nonetheless, it was fun to be able to spend more family time together to celebrate the holiday.

We started strong and exchanged cards and gifts at breakfast.  We don’t go big for Valentine’s Day.  Our anniversary is a month away, and really we don’t feel the need to buy big gifts for this one.  Although we do exchange something because I make us.  This year Pat got me some Peeps and Ben, Dagger, and I went in on some mini snickers for him. Yummy stuff.  After cards, Pat ran out and got us some donuts!!  Pat loves donuts.  I really think they may be his all time favorite breakfast food.  But, well, they are donuts so we don’t have them very frequently.  It was a nice treat to get them!  I made us some eggs in a basket, heart shaped of course, to balance out all the sugar.  Ben did not get a donut.  I am not handing over that kind of stuff until he can ask for it.  Even then it will be a rare occurrence.  I think this was probably one of the last times Pat and I could go all out with a sugary breakfast before we need to shape up for Ben.  Ben did get his own special treat, we let him try graham crackers for the first time.  He seemed to enjoy them!

I had to tutor, so Pat and Ben got to spend some boy time together.  After I got home and Ben got up from second nap, we headed out to celebrate.  Our first stop?  Walmart.

Yup, Walmart.  I have to say it isn’t exactly my favorite place.  But we really had to pick something up, and it is right next to where we went to dinner.  What did we need?  A new bed frame, as ours had broken the night  before.  Now, no scandalous thoughts, this is a family blog.  Friday night we were playing with Ben in our room before bedtime and one leg of the bed just bent.  I am happy it happened then and not in the middle of the night.  Pat tried to fix it, but we had to prop it up.  Unfortunately all we had in the house was a coffee can.  It worked for that night, but it was looking quite dented by Saturday.  I did not want to have the bed collapse in the middle of the night.  That would be annoying enough, but it would wake up Ben too.  No good all around.  Fortunately, Pat had Monday off since it was President’s Day.  Walmart has bed frames, hence the visit.  We also needed something sturdier to do under the bed in the mean time.  The only thing we could find was a cord of wood.  Eh, it worked.  Of course I thought this adventure would take a while, and it didn’t.  We had no where else to be, so we walked around Walmart for about an hour before dinner.  Pat and I really know how to play up the romance of the holiday, don’t we?  Luckily Ben loves riding in carts and looking at things.  He had a great time.

After we had made our purchases, it was time for dinner.  Valentine’s Day is the one time of year we go to White Castle!  Seriously, they really play it up for the holiday.  It’s sit down service, all decorated, and you have to have reservations.  As I said, our anniversary is a month after Valentine’s Day.  I like the idea of being taken out and treated on our anniversary, but I think Pat deserves to be taken out too.  I decided to compromise by having Pat handle anniversary plans, while I take on Valentine’s.  I think I got the easier end of that deal, since every year we do the same thing.  We started going to White Castle our very first married anniversary, and have gone every year since.  When we started going it was a fun and cheap way to go out, but not put too much pressure on the day.  We also thought it would be an easy way to add kids to our celebration.  So far, it has been great!

We had an early dinner, and Ben loved it.  He had a blast just looking around at everyone and everything.  There was a cute little girl at the table next to use who appeared to be about two years old.  Ben kept smiling and waving at her.  He knows what Valentine’s is all about.  After our dinner we grabbed ice cream for Pat and I to eat later in the evening, then headed home.  

Overall, it was a fabulous Valentine’s Day.  I got to spend it with my two boys, had some yummy food, and shared lots of love.