valentines day

It is a tradition at our house:

After a special family dinner, each person takes a turn to pass out their Valentines, and have them read. Then, starting with the oldest member of the family, we each receive one red or pink present.

This year was extra special - because it was the first Valentine's day that Rico shared with us. Punk's note to him was especially touching - actually, all of Punk's notes were beautiful - hand drawn charactitures of each of us, and a lovely paragraph about what he loves most about each person. Kooka's were hand-made as well - intricate pop-ups with dainty pink and red designer lettering. The kind of things I'll save forever.

Rico was the first to open his gift - a plush red, fuzzy blanket, perfect for napping by the fire. Then came me - a red crystal charm for my very favorite bracelet. Punk was next - and the look on his face was priceless.

He opened his gift to find a shirt that read "I love Mommy." There was borderline terror in his face, when I told him that I could not wait to see him wear it to school tomorrow. He didn't say no . . .he just kept saying "Thank you mom - it's great for wearing around the house." He was so polite about it, and really didn't want to hurt my feelings. "Is this homemade?" he asked with all of the fake enthusiasm he could muster. He only relaxed when I tossed him the bag of velcro letters that came with it. It was a shirt by "Shout Out!" - which is a company that sells the coolest customizable t-shirts ever.

Thankfully, by the time Kooka opened her "I love my mom shirt" she was in on the joke (though I suspect she would have minded much less about parading it around).

They both spent the better part of an hour rearranging their new gear. Punk has since switched his to read "This is what cool looks like" and Kooka's says "Almost Famous."

We finished the night with caramel brownies, snuggles, hugs, and sweet dreams.