Valentine's Day...

Hope everyone had a great....and romantic....Valentine's Day yesterday! What did you do? Anyone have a really great story, or surprise? I love romantic, and sweet stories about how two people show their love for one another. I always try to make our Valentine's special--and for the last few years we have all celebrated together as a family. Yeah, I know, real romantic...but our kids are the loves of our lives, too, and I always want them to know how much I love them. Usually I make a big meal, taking me hours to make; like last year I made scallops in white wine sauce with pasta, and they each received their own gourmet chocolate box from me. This year my goal was to make a chinese feast. It's our family's favorite meal. I didn't think we could afford to go out to our favorite chinese resteraunt so I decided to make it at home. Taking a family of 6 (with 2 teenagers and one preteen boy) is VERY expensive. To eat at a sit-down resteraunt it usually costs us between $80-$100! Insane!
So, yesterday, I woke up early and made my valentine's heart-shaped french toast for breakfast. I did make carmel rolls, but I think the dough was freezer burnt and they didn't rise overnight--so they did NOT turn out. :( That afternoon I made out my list for our feast, which actually wore me out. Just the planning made me tired. I knew that I would have to start cooking the minute I got home from picking up the kids from school. Most days I don't mind, but I had quite an emotional day yesterday. Lorrie, then, came to pick up Sawyer, and she said that she was picking up a heart shaped pizza from a local pizza place...cause it was her valentines day, too, and didn't feel like cooking all afternoon. O.k....she was a little contagious. I started thinking that that was a wonderful idea!! Why didn't I think of that?? The kids all had hockey that night anyway...and supper would have to be really quick. Soooo, Lorrie and I decided to make pizzas and homemade brownies with ice cream for dessert for our families. She relieved my stress...what are sisters for??!! I could have kissed her.
So, I ran around town picking up pizza, picking out a card for Chuck (which I bawled over in the store--did I say I was having an emotional day?), and picking out everyone's favorite candy; I then picked up the kids from school. After picking up Allison and her boyfriend--and trying to get her dozen red roses from him into the warm car quickly before the frigid cold could get to the soft petals--and dropping those two off at a local coffee shop, I headed home to make the brownies. Apon returning home--and giggling on the phone with Lorrie 'cause her brownie frosting was NOT turning out--Chuck came home and asked me what I thought about ordering take-out chinese for everyone that night for supper? Ummmmm......yeah....duh! He also decided that the boys coughs were too bad for them to be on the ice last night (wink...wink), so he called their coaches and told them they weren't going to be there. YAY!!! A FREE NIGHT! Soooooo....to make a long story short, we ended up having our Chinese feast last night--but, the best part was...I didn't have to make it! Sigh...that story took a lot out of me. We had a great conversation at the dinner table, too, and everyone lingered there for a good 45 minutes. It was great.
We quickly cleaned up supper, and snuggled on the couch in front of the fire to watch 'LOST'. I love that show...but, man, my brain hurt after last night's episodes. Way too much info. to follow. Can't wait to see how it all turns out.
I did end our night with another cry fest, though. For Allison's health class she had to write a letter to us as if she had made a bad choice and drove drunk and was killed in a car accident. It was supposed to be a goodbye letter to us, to make them really think about what they would say to us if they made a bad decision like that in their life. It was excruciating to read....mostly through my tears. I told her 'thanks a lot...now I will have terrible dreams'. She is a talented writer, that is for sure. That did not end the night on the romantic side like I had planned. It took a little bit to shake those images out of my head.
So...that was our day yesterday. My next post, I'll write about the most romantic thing Chuck has ever done for me. I wasn't intending this post to be so long, and I must take a break. :) I'd love to hear your stories of love (but keep it clean, people).