For example... I was almost done making little "love coupons" for a scavenger hunt when they were all lost due to our computer updating... move on down to bottom of the list please.
Or the heart garland that I had looked forward to making with Alia... sadly, bottom of the list.
Or the "I heart it all food spree" where breakfast, lunch and supper were going to be served in the shape of a heart... supper got pushed to the bottom of the list, and never did quite move back up in time.
SO - plan B consisted of WINGING IT!
For breakfast we made pink heart shaped pancakes... original, I know! Probably half of the population did this, but the girls were pretty pumped, so it was a success!
Then Jon surprised me with a whopper of a gift after breakfast... and REALLY upped the anty!! A gift card for Tim Horton's and a little note that said something along the lines of... go out, kid free, with a friend. "Well now, that's sweet..." I thought! THEN... I read the next part. Two gift certificates for a massage, manicure, and pedicure... why two you ask? For me to take a friend along, of course!!! That guy... he knows me absolutely SO WELL! I was SUPER blessed and oh so giddy with excitement!
Now... my wheels were really turning with how I could make the evening more fun for our whole family. The original "I heart it all food spree" just wasn't taking shape (Ha!). Heart shaped pizzas have already been done in our family... so I decided to simply have a "best friends supper".
Alia decorated with some window clings she had been given...
and made Daddy a special valentine card.
Then we both ran upstairs to pick out dresses and get all prettied up. Alia chose a bright pink dress that she insisted on wearing backwards, and I chose the only red dress I own... simple enough! Larren wasn't thrilled with the dress idea and requested to wear jeans to the event. We graciously acknowledged her request!
Alia and I wanted to get a couple pictures of us together... but after like the third try she was getting a little sick of it! Can ya tell? :)
I even let Alia put on lipstick for the night... which made her little heart VERY happy!
Since we were having a "best friends supper" Alia and Larren were allowed to bring their buddies down from upstairs. A rare treat, indeed! Both Lukey and Percy were given a red ribbon to dress them up for dinner... and were allowed to sit beside their respective lovey girl!
**We'll be officially introducing Percy in his very own post here shortly so stay tuned! :) **
Supper was super simple (don't forget, we're winging it here!) and consisted of traditional lasagna (that I had in the freezer!), salad (bagged, I might add!), garlic bread...
and a glass of white wine for me.
We'd like to shout out a big "THANKS!" to Jeannette for the yummy chocolate truffles... those made for an excellent dessert! :)
The girls had fun and Jon was blessed that we made the extra effort to have a "Valentiney" supper! And since he walked in with a bouquet of flowers... I was glad we did SOMETHING out of the ordinary, even if it was just putting on a dress and a little lipstick!
My gift for Jon didn't quite top the gift certificates he gave me, but he was excited none the less! It didn't even matter to him that Alia spilled the beans long before the bag was opened! :)
Was it the "love day of all love days?!" Maybe not to some. But did each member of our family feel extra loved and appreciated for who they are? Absolutely!
So... mission accomplished!
Way to go Renee. You get mom of the year award. You've always got exciting, crafty ideas to do with Alia.
ReplyDeleteThanks Amanda... but goodness, Mom of the Year award is a long ways away!! :) Alia is now at the age where I need to PLAN stuff for us to do during the day... so I'm entering in to uncharted territory, but it's fun... and gives me an extra challenge or two!
ReplyDeleteI know you've said before that you don't always feel like you are a natural mom (or something like that). But I must say, I think you do a great job of doing special things with them, things they will have fun memories of, things that involve quality time. I think it's great! My cousin said one time that it was fun to watch her sisters parent, because they parent so differently from each other, but they parent so true to who they are (a bit of a paraphrase, but the idea is there)...when I think of you parenting (and I admit, sadly, I have not gotten a front row seat in real life...thank you for your blog) I think you parent so true to who you are...and I see that as a BEAUTIFUL thing as you have been a close friend because I love you as a person! Just saying.
ReplyDeleteRochelle... thank you. Thank you for the reminder that it's okay to parent differently than the people around us, because we're... well.. us! And thank you for the little "pat on the back"! It's on days like today... when I lost it a time (or two) on the poor little hoodlums... that Satan throws the whole "you're a horrible mother, you're not cut out for this, what in the world are you doing, yadi yada yada" stuff my way... and I need your encourgagement, A LOT!! And, lastly, thank you for reminding me of our friendship... it's a real blessing. A real blessing, indeed!
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