Loving One Another

Since Jeremy's been out of town for work, I knew Valentine's day would pull my attention towards the other three, smaller men in my life. A few years ago I made the mistake of picking up a couple of toys for the boys to have on Valentine's morning and unfortunately, they relentlessly remind me each year that they expect this tradition to continue. Luckily, they have cheap taste. Monday night I prepared everything so that the morning would be seamless, however I did not realize the morning would begin at 5:45 am as Cameron went in and woke each of his brothers up to make me some Valentine's. While I appreciated the gesture, letting me sleep until my alarm at 7:15 would have been a more desirable gift. We had heart shaped whole wheat pancakes and the boys all headed off to school with their sacks full of Valentine's to hand out to their classmates and decorated brownies for their teachers. Mason chose Captain America cards with homemade heart shaped crayons, and Gavin chose Green Lantern cards with crayons as well. Cameron went with Star Wars and suckers, and each boy came home with a Halloween's worth of candy. I was thankful that we had planned lots of fresh veggies and fruits to dip in cheese and chocolate fondue for dinner as I hoped it would help even out all of the sugar they had been stuffing their faces with. At least it's just one day. A new tradition we started this year was a visit from the "love bug," a simple paper ladybug who comes to visit before Valentine's day and feeds off of love and service. If you find him on your pillow it means someone has done something nice for you and you must then choose another family member to serve. Anything to foster more kindness between the brothers is welcomed in this household. I enjoyed watching them each prepare to surprise each other and the warm feelings they felt afterwards. This needs to become more commonplace in our home. Thanks little love bug. I am so thankful that my Valentine returns in a few hours, we missed having him be a part in our big day. Lucky for him there is still plenty of love to spare!