.: hearts day

We celebrated today in style with a pink breakfast, lots of sweets, and a candle lit dinner complete with heart shaped pizza.

morning breakfast.
and a banner in the upper left corner that
REFUSED to stay up.

gotta love mini blinds.
classy.
i'm such a good photographer.
always paying attention to details.

teacher gifts.
the kids made a list of their favorite things about their teachers.
some favorites?
-your pretty long white hair.
-when you don't be mad at me.
-the way your face looks when you smile.
-when you let me sit on your lap during story time.

yep, supposedly that is a heart.

i jump at any chance to use my crystal candlesticks
that were a wedding gift from
my great aunt.

And it wasn't just today that felt special and full of hearts and love. I was spoiled this entire week with handmade cards from my 3 little sweeties.
Just a portion of the cuteness, for your viewing pleasure:

first work of art by beckham hatfield.
'baby penguin.'
and one of my favorite gifts this year.

a watercolor dot to dot, dawson

happy valentine's day. I love you. from your lovely son,
dawson.
lovely?
what the...

thumb print art, beckham

marker drawing of a flower, harper

'picture of mom,'
harper.

'my family,'
harper.
seriously, how cute is this??

...and in case you didn't think the last picture was cute enough,
in the 'my family' envelope was also this.
a picture of penelope, by harper.

date 13th feb
mom you will allways be ther for me win I need it.
I love you and happy valentins day.
you take me fun places.
I well allways remember you.
from your lovely son
dawson.
again, with the lovely?!
he is so sweet...I just love that kid.

I hope they mean every single word in those misspelled little notes.

Also, a HUGE happy valentines day to this Charmer, who we missed so much today:

and by Charmer I mean the guy on the left.
aka: my arm candy.

The man who puts up with my obsessive furniture buying sprees and a garage full of half-finished projects.
The saint who willingly gave up his half of the dresser (and the entire closet) for my outrageous collection of apparel.
One of the only men on earth who I find genuinely attractive, and gets better looking each time he goes out of his way to make me laugh....which is no easy feat people. Seriously, I don't laugh much.
The guy who works his buns off all week, comes home on the weekends and still musters up the energy to be Super Dad and Super Husband.
My best friend. My favorite person ever. My main squeeze.
He really is one of the good guys.

And an official happy valentines day to these three crazies....just in case the breakfast, décor, gifts, notes, kisses, and hugs weren't enough.

beckham seems to really be enjoying himself.

They love me even in my worst moments. They celebrate the little things. They challenge me every day and force me to look at things differently.
They are responsible for teaching me what love really means:
Love is taking a quiet moment with a little girl on a busy day. It is ignoring the laundry, dishes, and cleaning to listen to slow stuttered readings of Dick and Jane. It is running warm baths at 3:30am and washing feverish tear-stained cheeks. It is being excited about loose teeth and putting band aids on the tiniest of cuts.
Love is challenging, imperfect, and hard.
It means putting others' needs first.
And often times means forgetting our own needs altogether.

But realtruehonestgenuineforreal love...
is SO worth it.
Especially if it's coming from these three.