All You Need is Love!

I hope everyone had a great Valentine's Day whether it was spent with friends, family, significant others, kids, or all of the above!  I've always loved Valentine's Day but I know that everyone does not agree with me.  I know that it has become a commercial holiday pushing cards, stuffed animals, balloons, candy, and anything else red, pink, or heart shaped.  But when you really think about it, hasn't everything in our society turned to that?  

Everyone is selling or pushing something depending on the season or holiday.  You just can't let that become how you define your celebration.  I love Valentine's Day, however I don't really care for stuffed animals, balloons, candy, and I'm not even really a big card person.  I just like what it stands for...love...for anyone :)  I think a lot of people feel like you have to be "in love" to enjoy and appreciate Valentine's Day, while instead it should just be about celebrating the love for the people you have in your life.  And I know the "single person's" response to that would be, "Well yeah, that's easy for you to say, you have a husband!"  

However my Valentine's Day didn't involve a card, flowers, candy, or presents of any kind from Michael...and I still thoroughly enjoyed my day!  I get pure joy and happiness from picking out little gifts for Kellan, baking red velvet cheesecake brownies, decorating around the house in pink and red, and picking out cards to send to the grandparents and nieces and nephews.  

The other argument against Valentine's Day is "You should show your loved ones that they are important everyday, not just on one day a year!"  While yes, I agree, this is true...but do you?  Do you always take the time to write a note, buy a little gift, or send a card?  I don't think having one day set aside to remind us to do these things is bad.  Yes...stores have gone overboard with the amount of Valentines products that are available but that is true of every holiday and season.  You can't enjoy one holiday before the store displays are taken down and the next holiday's products go up.

Valentine's Day should be more about celebrating whoever it is in your life that you love.  Just because someone has a significant other doesn't mean that they are any more happy than someone that is single.  I have definitely had my fair share of Valentine's Days where I was "alone" a.k.a. "single."  But I wasn't really alone, there have always been people in my life that I love and that love me.  There were even years that I was happier being single than I was when I was actually dating someone...now THAT says a lot about the boyfriend!  I can even remember one particular year when all of my single friends were going out to a Mexican restaurant together and I was sad that I had to miss it to spend the day with my boyfriend!  

Life is what you make of it and this should be true of all holidays and how you choose to celebrate them.  No one is forcing you to wear red or eat a chocolate heart, so don't take away someone else's happiness if heart shaped balloons or huge gaudy stuffed animals makes their day.  You can still celebrate without indulging in all of the commercial-ness that this day brings...or you can choose to be unhappy and complain about everyone else's enjoyment.

OK, I'm done with voicing my opinion :)  Now here is how we spent our glamorous day...

I love to decorate for any occasion so of course this one was no different...

I love holiday dish towels....even though I pick them up off the floor a million times a day when Kellan pulls them down.  And see...I even enjoyed the day with a dirty floor!  Making homemade brownies is messy business.

We even indulged in Valentine's window clings...don't judge me...they were $1.

Michael's card from me...I love this quote.  Now you probably noticed that I bought Michael a card but he did not get me one.  This is because he tells me all the time how much he loves me.  I'm the one that needs the special holiday to remind me to do the same!

Michael's card from Kellan.

I love to bake so Kellan and I made red velvet cheesecake brownies one night while Michael was working late.  I used the natural plant based dye so the red color wasn't as vibrant but they tasted good :)  Here is the recipe for anyone interested.

My littlest Valentine was being very difficult that morning and kept running from me every time I tried to put his clothes on.  I just took his picture as he was and called him "My Little Cupid."

I finally managed to wrestle him into a red shirt and this is him after he refused a nap.

Michael has been working A LOT over the last few weeks.  If he is not actually on a job site, he is working at his desk at home, on the phone with customers, or meeting with customers.  He has had a lot of late nights lately so he took Kellan and I along for lunch with one of his salesman and Papa Mike.  Kellan making silly faces at Logan's Diner :)

This child loves butter beans!

Next we went and got a hair cut because it was getting in his eyes!  I didn't take any pictures at the salon because I was standing beside him with my phone playing an Elmo video so that he would stay in the chair.  

Afterwards we made a quick trip to the grocery store...did I not tell you that we had a glamorous day?

When we checked the mail we had all kinds of cards waiting for us from family :) Kellan even got $15!

Over the last few weeks I've been picking up things here and there for Kellan (mainly things that I wanted him to have) so I arranged it all for him to find when he woke up from his nap.  I order him new books regularly but I'm particularly excited about Five Little Monkeys Go Shopping,  Five Little Monkeys Jump in the Bath, and Gossie and Gertie!  I saw this really cute (and SO soft) blanket at Target and this wagon to hold his Mega Bloks.  Daddy insisted on getting him the golf set and Kellan insisted on the Elmo video when we accidentally went down the kids video aisle.  The best part of the day was seeing him run straight over to the loveseat, pick up his video, carrying it around saying "Melmo!  Melmo!"  Pointing and saying "Books!!", "Car!!", and then just poking at his golf clubs.  He didn't know what they were at first but he has been whacking golf balls (and other things) all over the house.

Daddy and Kellan totally engrossed in the Elmo movie.

The 5 Love Languages was my gift to myself.  I've heard lots of great reviews from friends that have read it so as soon as I am finished with my current book, I'm starting this one. 

We debated on whether or not to brave dinner out on Valentine's Day and decided to take our chances.  Michael suggested that we go to the Kennon House, a locally owned restaurant near Lake Gaston.  We had been before but it was a long time ago.  He made a 7:00 reservation and we figured we were going to escape the chaos of a bigger restaurant in Richmond.

They had a pre-set 4 course menu so we only had to decide on an entree and dessert.  The restaurant was definitely busy but not overwhelmingly so.  We are not sure if they were understaffed or didn't expect to be so busy...but dinner went on...and on...and on...

My big Valentine and my little copy cat Valentine entertaining themselves while we waited...

Mommy and her little cutie pants :)

My battery was already in the red but by some miracle it lasted all through dinner.  Thank goodness for Elmo You Tube videos and Apps for children!

I had almost eaten all of my appetizer before I remembered to take a picture.  It was shaved beef tenderloin with horseradish and chive cream cheese, on a crusty bread...delicious!  At this point Kellan didn't have anything to eat, so we were sharing with him too.

Our wedge salads were SOOO good!  Kellan ate some of this too.

Next came his own special treat.  He thoroughly enjoyed his own bowl of macaroni and cheese and even made several attempts at feeding himself.  He did a pretty good job of keeping the mess to a minimum.

We both chose the rib eye for our entrees...

However for dessert we are always different.  Michael chose the creme brulee and I got the chocolate torte.

Kellan eating the fruit off of Michael's dessert.

We had a fun but regular 'ole day that happened to end with a nice dinner with us wearing red :)  Maybe next year Kellan will be old enough to add some fun Valentine crafts to our day!  I will enjoy my Valentine's decorations until the end of the month and then it will be time to pull out my St. Patrick's Day dish towels and door hanging...

Here are a few Flashback pictures of last year on Kellan's First Valentine's Day: