Valentines 2018

Valentines day is one of my very favorite holidays. It’s up there just behind Christmas and my birthday and ahead of Thanksgiving and the Fourth of July. Valentines 2018 looks pretty different than it did four years ago before kids but I think I love it even more now! Here’s a glimpse at our day:

VALENTINES 2018

I started the morning off giving myself a little love by dragging myself to an early morning HIIT class before coming home to my babies. I don’t work out first thing every morning but my days just feel more energized when I do (note to self: do it more often).

Ben got the kids up and fed them breakfast while I was out (the other added incentive to get out the door is I know I’m probably only missing out on half an hour of sleep because Adelaide has been waking up EARLY). I only had about 45 minutes with the kids before our babysitter arrived. She’s watching them for two long days while I’m out of town next week so Wednesday acted like a trial day where I could be home to show her the ropes of life in our apartment.

I spent the morning catching up on a few projects before helping the sitter with lunch and naps and then heading onto campus to meet Ben for lunch. Our Valentines lunch date might have just been above-average Mexican food at a campus cafeteria, but when I took a step back it felt pretty magical to be there. This time last year we were dreaming about life at HBS (Ben had already been accepted) but the year before that I’m not sure I would have believed you if you’d told me how I’d celebrate Valentines 2018.

We chatted about school, summer internships, the kids, my work, and our plans for the weekend before heading down to the bookstore to pick out a few gifts. Each year (starting last year – but in keeping with a tradition my mom had while I was growing up) each family member gets a red item of clothing along with a few treats for Valentines Day. This year the kids were getting personalized love books (tutorial here) so I kept their clothing simple with matching baseball hats. Ben got a pullover and I picked out my first HBS gear.

I had another two hours at home to finish up a few posts and set up for our Valentines feast before the kids came home from the library and Ben got back from class.

I loved seeing the excitement in their eyes as Adelaide and Lincoln walked into our little apartment that afternoon and saw the Valentines decor. It was a little less elaborate than last year (it’s a bit harder to drive and get balloons here in the city) but just as magical …..and a great reminder that things are usually worth the extra effort.

We cooked a Hello Fresh meal together while the kids watched the new Valentine’s episode of Stinky and Dirty on Amazon Prime (Lincoln’s favorite show) and let the kids eat their handful of Valentines treats before they ate their dinner. During dinner we went around and all said things we love about each other (I should have written them down! Lincoln said something about how he loves when Adelaide does not make him sad :P).

Once the kids were in bed Ben and I worked on things separately before curling up with ice cream sundaes and some Olympic highlights before he had to get back to casework (a combination of snowboarding for him and figure skating for me).

Next year I’ll work on snapping a family picture too 🙂

^need to work on my self timer skills 😛