This is what love means to us....

It might be time for an updated family picture:)

This is one of my favorite weeks of the year.  Dan and I got married 2 days after Valentine’s Day, so we get to celebrate both holidays in the same weekend.  I remember someone telling us when we got married that we would get jipped out of a holiday for the rest of our lives with them being so close together.  In an effort to make sure that doesn’t happen, we’ve tried to make a tradition of combining the two of them and going somewhere for the weekend, or at least overnight to take some time for just the two of us instead of doing gifts.  This year we’re keeping it simple and making an IOU for later in the year since we just got back from Disneyland, but it’s already been a wonderful Valentine’s Day.  One of the fun things about getting married so close to Valentine’s Day is that on a day when we celebrate love, we also get to think about celebrating our marriage, which was the beginning of our family.  I am so grateful to have a fun, dedicated, loving partner to share this adventure with.  As much as I am looking forward to a getaway in the future, it has also been fun to celebrate the love that we have in our family today.  My day started with my husband (who always goes in extra early on Fridays) waking up extra, extra early to bring me breakfast in bed.  It was a perfect start to the day, and I’m so grateful for the big and little things he does for me on a daily basis, even when he has so many responsibilities and so many things pulling at his time.  Today though, I’m realizing that in addition to the feelings I have for my husband, love is so much more.  Today I have realized that:

Love is…the genuine excitement that my 3 older kids showed last night in the bathroom when our youngest stood (for the longest he ever has without falling) in the bathtub. He was just playing in there with no water while the kids got ready for bed.  They have been anxiously awaiting some of these milestones.  Whoever saw it first ran to find all the others, and then they ALL ran to find me.  There was hooting and hollering, clapping, and squealing, hugs and high-fives.  I know Camden felt proud of his new trick and very loved by the smile on his face and the fact that he kept doing it over and over.

Love is… a 7-year-old boy who finished all his valentines and was left with 2 extra suckers.  When asked what he should do with them, I told them he could have them.  Instead, he made extras for his sisters, attached the suckers, and asked me to put them in a special hiding place so they would be a surprise for Valentine’s Day.  He was the first one awake this morning, and ran in my room first thing asking for his valentines so he could go wake up his sisters with them. 

Love is… an older sister who saved all of her money for a year, spent it ALL at Disneyland, earned $5 when we got home for a month of “babysitting” (really I just ask her to organize some structured playtime- I'm totally there if she needs me:) the younger kids for a half an hour every day.  (I know…I’m so cheap.  Please don’t tell her that:), and then spent it all on a Val-O-Gram at school to be delivered to her 7-year-old brother.  She loves to save her money, but we’ve been a little concerned lately that our always-smiling Broden does not seem to always be happy at school.  She wanted him to feel loved at school, so when the PTA started selling Val-O-Grams that would be delivered during lunchtime, she decided to buy one for her brother. It was completely her idea. She could’ve bought him a cheaper version, but instead she spent all of her money buying him the one that would come with a stuffed animal.

Love is… a 4-year-old who draws me the same picture every day: a picture of me and her with a heart between us.  It’s supposed to help me remember that she loves me when she’s not with me.  I love it, even though for right now she spends every minute of every day with me:).  I know someday she won’t, so for now those pictures hang shamelessly all over my bedroom walls with painter’s tape.

Love is… a little boy who cried this morning because the only thing he wanted for Valentine's Day was for his mom to come to his school valentine's party.  I'm pretty sure moms were only invited if they were volunteering, and as happy as they are to have volunteers in the classroom, volunteers + 3 additional small children in tow are not always as welcome:)  It pulled at my heart strings, but I'm glad that for now at least, this boy thinks it's cool to hang out with his mom.

Love is… a simple breakfast prayer where a young child listed everyone that she loved, and thanked Heavenly Father for a family that loves each other.

Don’t worry.  Every morning in our home is not like this.  Chances are I will pick the kids up from school, their blood sugar will be all haywire from all the candy, and they will be arguing about something before they get in the car.  But when they do, I will remember this morning and the days leading up to it and I will know they love each other. I will remember all of the mushy “I love yous” that everyone gave each other this morning, all of the spontaneous hugs, and know that they love each other in a real, genuine way, and not just in the “mom-and-dad-are-making-us-hug-each-other-because-we-won’t-stop-fighting kind of way. :)  Every night when I go to bed I think of a million ways I could’ve been a better mom.  I’m grateful that despite my imperfections, they know they are part of a family who loves each other.  As long as they know that, I will feel like we’re doing something right.