I Get to Be The One: Valentines Day

I LOVE love.

Love stories, engagement stories, weddings….you name it.

So, it is not shocking that I also love valentines day.

Yep, I totally buy into it.

We don't do flowers or cards (flowers because I complained once, and cards because we just don't do cards. Ever)

So what do we do?

well, this year:

Boxes (yes boxeS) of chocolate the night before

A trip to the doughnut shop in the morning

Truth: this was actually a night-time trip from a week ago, but it was adorable, so enjoy

For Rico:

A bouquet of man-gifts that included most of his favorite naughty things:

Pudding, Popcorn, A new IPA that just came out this month, Sunflower seeds, Racquetball equipment (he and his brother have taken it up, they play so intensely that he's been saying for weeks now that he needs a "headband" to keep the sweat out of his eyes. I think this was his favorite gift),

Eli also made him this:

…awesome penmanship Eli. He made similar valentines for all his grandparents and great grandparents- we had a good time delivering those (except for the one minor "I want to be in bed" meltdown)

Inside Rico's vase were more gifts…written on slips of paper in folded paper fortune cookies that included...

Eli missed the "paper" portion of the "paper fortune cookies"

a cookie cake, an ice cream cake, his ultimate meal of chicken tenders and tater tots (real deal- I didn't know where to buy them in the store. I wandered the freezer section. I had never bought them as an adult. Chicken strips are surprisingly expensive), and Whiskey and Coke (we have a TON of whiskey at the house, but we don't buy pop, so he can never make them). So, basically, crap food that we never have in the house…excpet ice cream, we eat a lot of that.

For me:

Rico hasn't been doing so hot on the gifts lately (it sounds harsh, but he'll tell you the same thing)

For example: I haven't gotten a Christmas present for the past 2 years. I mean, in theory I do- like the 12 months of dates (of which I got January and February)

This year he told me he would build me the mudroom wall I found on pinterest…but then we found a drying rack that would have made it a bit redundant.

SO…all that to say

I got freaking diamonds!

He bought me diamond earrings!

He knew how sad I was that one of the ones from our wedding day (from his mom) had fallen down the sink last year.

They were literally the ONLY earrings I would wear…

and that Rico didn't hate (he has a thing about jewelry, lipstick, and fingernail polish)

Plus, "Eli" got me a new cookbook (mine's spine is literally shredding) with Eli's hand prints in the cover "So you can smile whenever you have to cook"

It is even sweeter because he had to go to a million stores to find one.

I also got an owl necklace that I had found a couple of weeks earlier and texted Rico, "Hey, you bought me a $10 owl necklace for valentines day" because I wanted it. How's that for honest?

We went to lunch. Rico was hinting around to whether or not I would rather go somewhere fancy or somewhere new. I reminded him that we've spent the past 3 years or so at a bar on valentines day, so it would only seem fitting. His response was: "Oh, perfect, because the place I picked is a bar!"

To be fair: it was a nice bar

and the food really was delicious

and we got to be adults and drink with our meal

Eli:

What do you get a child that can't have chocolate (ok, besides the chocolate I let his tongue touch so I could take these adorable valentines day photos)

I considered filling a chocolate box with blueberries. I went on a trip to the toy store with Rico's mom (so SHE could try to find the solution to the same problem). We saw LOTS of crazy toys, including an Optimus Prime that was basically as tall as Eli

and Eli Manning. Here Eli is having an identity crisis.

Then...I found them.

Baby aviators.

Rico loved them too, so it was a double bonus.

Then, between the grandmas (ok, technically "grandparents") and great grandparents- he also got all of THIS…who knew valentines day could be a miniature Christmas?!

Balloons, his first wooden train (with animals hitching a ride), bath toys, valentines day books (grandmas that love books- melt, my heart), stuffed animals, money for his piggy bank, sweet cards, and even a way to get around the "no sweets" issue…dried fruit!

Eli also shared some valentines day love with his cousin, who came over to the house and got to be a part of our tradition of waiting for daddy at the window. He was SO excited to see her there...

Other Adventures in the life of Eli include:

A test to see how he would react to a cartoon. It was as expected- zombie like. So, that lasted all of the time it took to take this picture. We'll see how long I can hold out.