Valentine's Day Eve

I left work a little bit early today to take Spencer to the dermatologist.  His eczema has flared totally out of control in the last 6 weeks and we needed some stronger medication so we can get it under control.  We got 2 new prescriptions and will go back for a follow-up in a month.  He was on one of these medications when he was 1 year old and it was amazing.  It's very, very strong stuff though so he can only use it for about 2 weeks.

 

After his dermatology appointment we went to his school for his parent-teacher conference.  Apparently, and this is news to me, Spencer has already mastered the entire list of Kindergarten sight words so his teacher, just out of curiosity, did the 1st grade list with him.  He got 58 out of 100 words on that list correct.

 

Hmmm.  Apparently all those hours upon hours upon hours of reading are paying off for us.  Go Spencer!

 

We got home just as the afternoon sun was beaming down on the front yard.  Small, fuzzy, pink flowers have been popping out on our bushes for a few weeks now but all of a sudden they blew up today.  It might have something to do with the afternoon temperature of 82 degrees.

 

They looked so pretty that I wanted to turn into a nature photographer for a few minutes.  Elliott and I headed outside so I could pretend I work for the Arizona Highways magzine.

Then I remembered that I am the mom to a cute 2-year old boy and he should make it into a few shots too.

I have always thought that Valentine's Day was a pretty stupid holiday.  I think Michael and I exchanged stuff for our first Valentine's Day and maybe our 2nd and then we quit after that.  Actually, I take that back.  For a long time we would buy new DVDs for each other, but we went to the store together to pick them out.  Anyway, I never felt like I needed some random day in mid-February to prove my love or to feel loved.

 

And then Spencer was born.  And nothing about Valentine's Day actually changed.  But the year that he was 3 and in preschool (2011) and aware of Valentine's day changed everything.  He started begging for a heart shaped box of chocolates since he saw them at the store.  Nevermind that he had never in his life had a box of chocolates of any shape, it's all we heard about for a month.  You can go read the post about that V-Day HERE.  It's a total blast from the past and I highly recommend it.

 

So, for the past 3 years we have turned into Valentine's Day celebrating people and this year is no different.

 

We have been writing love notes to the kids all week and leaving them in this mailbox on the kitchen table.  Elliott doesn't care, but Spencer has been getting a huge kick out of reading them every morning.

 Tomorrow morning Spencer will find a new book, a plush Darth Vader and a Darth Vader box of chocolates.

Elliott is also getting a new book, a box of chocolates (his first!) and 46 gallons of bubbles.

 

Michael is getting his traditional bag of Doritos and a box of chocolates.

 

I am getting a.....secret!

 

Ginger is getting a box of doggy treats.

 

And the biggest news of all!

 

Winston is back to spend the holiday with us!  He brought some chocolates from Santa!  I'm so glad that we found an elf that enjoys holidays as much as we do.

 

Tomorrow is going to be so much fun.  I haven't had sugar or grains or dairy since January 1st and I will be eating all three tomorrow.