Remembering Love

Happy Valentine's Day!  Today has me thinking of all the ways love is shown and demonstrated by. I love my husband very much. We celebrated our first Valentine's Day together 15 years ago.  I cooked him a steak dinner and we watched the movie Casper. I gave him a stuffed lion with a heart around it's neck. Today, that lion is now sleeping with my princess.

My kiddos are having some rough patches right now. Despite that, I choose to put it aside and have one of the best weekend's that we have have had in a long time.  After going to replace the glasses that my princess broke, I took the kiddos out to eat at TGI Friday's.  I couldn't help but recall all the times my mother took me there for dinner. Ironically, my girls ordered the same thing that I used to... Chicken Strips!  Then we shook our "grove thing" to Target to pick up Valentine Cards. We also picked up the movie Garfield.  (I loved the comic strip Garfield growing up!) Then we shook our bon bons home and had an all out PJ party with lots of loud music and dancing.  We watched our movie and then camped out in the living room. The kiddos were so happy that I stayed out there all night too.

The next day, we woke up to pancakes. My 1 girl sleepover, turned into 2. By the time I had 3 - 4th grade girls, it didn't seem like a stretch to say ok to another 1st grade girl.  So five girls later and trips to ice skating and the YMCA youth night... I was feeling like "yep, this is exactly how I wanted to be as a mom". 

My mother may not have been around a ton, but she would let me have tons of sleep overs. She would drive my friends and I all around to various activities. I never forgot it. I was so lucky. Most of my friend's mothers wouldn't do that for their kiddos. I feel so lucky that I can do the same for my kiddos.

Love can be words. It can be actions. It can be doing things for others. It can be the hugs and kisses. It can be just a listening ear. It can be a person who laughs along side you. Take today to show love is in as many ways as you can.