Valentine's Day & Birthday Fun

Valentine's Day is such a fun day because it gives us an excuse to celebrate! This year we decided to go to one of our new favorite restaurants, Perini's. We went there for the first time back in December and loved it. We went out last Thursday night for dinner. Before we left he gave me a sweet Valentine's Day gift, a charm for my new Pandora charm bracelet. It's called Everlasting Love. Then we enjoyed a delicious dinner. We started off with the fried quail legs. Then he ordered prime rib, and I got the vegetable plate. I know it's strange to go to Perini's and not get red meat, but I love all their vegetables, especially the hominy, so much! I got their amazing bread pudding for dessert. Thank goodness my husband lacks a sweet tooth so I didn't have to share! I didn't take any pictures at dinner but here is my cute gift wrapped up and what the charm looks like. I'm so excited about filling up this new bracelet that I got for Christmas.My birthday was extra special this year because my class at school did something very sweet for me. They planned a surprise party for me. It was so cute because they had been working on it for a couple of weeks (we're going to have to have a vocabulary lesson on the word 'surprise' because one of my little girls wrote about the party in her journal about a week before so I had a little heads up!). They had been planning it at recess, lunch, and after school. I got silk roses in a vase from one kid first thing in the morning. Then throughout the morning the kids came up to my desk and handed me other little gifts. Right before lining up for lunch they told me 'Happy Birthday' in unison. When I went to pick them up from the cafeteria, the lights were out and they surprised me again by shouting out 'Happy Birthday' and then one little girl handed me cupcakes for us to enjoy later. At the end of the day we had a small party while I opened the gifts and cards they had all brought. We enjoyed cupcakes and cookies that another little girl brought. The funniest part was when I had them go around the room and guess how old I was. The answers ranged from 18 to 72. Yikes-didn't realize I looked that old! (sidenote: this is an example of the lack of common sense I deal with from some of them everyday!) No one guessed my real age and of course I didn't tell them! It was such a special day because the kids planned the party on their own and they really put a lot of thought into it. I have a sweet class and I won't ever forget this party!

My husband finished my actual birthday off with a mint chocolate chip oreo blizzard from Dairy Queen and permission to go on a mini shopping spree. So I finished off the blizzard and then headed to Dillards and Kohls! I also got one more charm for my bracelet. It's a suitcase since we love to travel together. We celebrated my birthday on Sunday since we had just gone out for Valentine's Day the night before. We had a great late lunch at Abuelo's and then rented the movie, Couple's Retreat, which was pretty funny. Then he took me to get ice cream at Cold Stone Creamery. As you can see from the picture I just settled for the free tiny ice cream cup they give you on your birthday even though I was tempted to upgrade since I NEVER eat that small of a portion of ice cream! Then we came home and enjoyed some more Olympics. It was the perfect end to a perfect birthday weekend! I love all the little things my husband does to make my birthday special.

And finally, I couldn't resist this cute photo of Charlie all bundled up in his sweater with his favorite stuffed animal, Mr. Valentine. He's ready for the snow tonight!

Love this month!

If I could, I would write February a letter and tell it thank you for being such a great month. This week was the best week of all in February. It all started last Thursday with a nice little mini blizzard. It was so beautiful! Then came a little 2-hour delay at school the next morning...perfect way to start a Friday!
Then I got to do one of my favorite things on Saturday-bake! My husband wanted some sweet treats for his employees to enjoy on Valentine's Day. He is the general manager at a restaurant, so you can only imagine how busy that day is for them! He of course came to the right person, and I had a great afternoon baking up these Valentine goodies: heart-shaped brownies, peanut butter cookies with kisses, and frosted heart sugar cookies. Oh, and if you're worried about where the scraps went from the brownies after I cut out the hearts and the leftover frosting, let's just say I had to do a little more Wii this week than I would have liked!
Because of my husband's job, we didn't celebrate Valentine's Day on the actual holiday, which is fine with me. Restaurants are crowded then anyways. I did get him his favorite Starbuck's coffee and his favorite breakfast from Burger King to start his day off right. We both had a great day even if we were in separate places. He had a record-breaking weekend of sales at his restaurant. I enjoyed a relaxing day of watching the Olympics/NBA All-Star game, and I finally started a scrapbook I've been meaning to start since December.

And finally I want to thank February for President's Day because I didn't have to go to work! Sleeping in was so nice and then we went to our favorite spot for lunch, the MCM Elegante. They have a fantastic lunch buffet that we try to go to anytime we're both off on a weekday.

I just love February...and I'm not even done with all the good February celebrations...our Valentine's Day celebration and my birthday celebration are still to come in another post!

Happy Valentine's Day!

I made this slideshow for my husband back in October for Sweetest Day (yes, I celebrated that), and I thought I would edit it a bit for Valentine's Day.

I have an amazing husband who loves me very much. I am so proud of him and how hard he works. We have the most fun together, and I'm looking forward to what the future holds for us as we start eventually planning for a family. Happy Valentine's Day!

Make photo slide shows at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Love this weather!!

I know most people will disagree with me, but I LOVE this weather we are having!! I love cold nights at home snuggled up on the couch with a big blanket and a mug of hot chocolate (especially hot chocolate with 2 peppermint kisses dropped in and a big scoop of whipped cream on the top!).

I love the feeling of getting in my warm car in the morning after it's been warming up in the garage for me. I love eating a big bowl of hot soup for dinner. It's fun to have that anticipation of a snow day, even if it never happens. I love all the holidays associated with cold weather. I love being able to see my breath outside. I like wearing gloves and my big heavy winter jacket. There are just too many good things about cold weather!

I know a lot of people are dying for spring to get here, but I have to admit...I'm secretly glad that groundhog didn't see his shadow ;)

P.S. One thing I DON'T love about this weather: no recess makes for a long day at school!

3 Things that start with A...

So one of my sweet coworkers informed me that Avatar was a really good movie. I wasn't too excited about it because I'm not into movies that can't really happen in real life. My husband really wanted to see it though, and when I mentioned that to her, she reminded me that he did send me to Minnesota. So all that to say last night my husband and I went to see it.

Here are my thoughts:
1. It reminded me of how we treated the American Indians and I feel bad about that even though I wasn't alive when it happened.
2. I'm not going to lie-I got a little teary-eyed any time a creature died.
3. I thoroughly enjoyed the entire bag of large popcorn that we consumed not once, but twice compliments of the free refills :)

On to TV...I discovered a new American Idol judge tonight. My dog! He was laying down next to me while I was watching it, and I noticed he would only look up when someone awful was singing. So he clearly has an ear for good talent! I wonder if he could be the next guest judge? If he looks up at you, you're going home. If he keeps sleeping, you're going on to Hollywood!

My husband may have to pull a Noah and build us an Ark!! It's been raining all day without stopping and it looks like it's going to continue all night and all day tomorrow. Which is a good thing...if you can just stay home, get under the covers, and get a good book. It is a bad thing if you have to go to work, take a class of 20 children on a field trip, and then go back out in the rain to get your hair cut-only to discover your appointment wasn't until next week. Oops!