Valentine's Day

Back in the pre-children days, I always liked Valentine's Day. Joel and I would do something romantic, go out to dinner or something, but little gifts for each other...a very nice day. Then we had kids. Now the idea of Valentine's Day is just annoying. I love my husband very much but it's rare we get a day without the kids to go out to dinner or something. So for Joel and me to feel like we have to come up with any sort of special plans or ideas for each other is just exhausting.

This year we were fortunate enough to have my parents available to watch the kids for a few hours so Joel and I could go out to eat. Granted, we went out for lunch rather than dinner so we wouldn't have to wait for a table and there wouldn't be such a crowd. Then instead of going to an afternoon movie or doing something romantic, we went shopping...for the kids. That was our Valentine's Day. But I must say, I enjoyed that day more than many other dates Joel and I have had. It was nice to spend time with just the 2 of us, holding each other's hands and not Hannah's hand or Noah's car seat, or a sippy cup, or some other random child's item.

We spent a few hours just walking around the mall then had the genius idea to go into a Hallmark store. It was packed with people (mostly men) buying V-day cards. I told Joel it would be dumb for us to spend $4 each on cards we'd just throw away so instead, we picked out the card we would have given to each other, let the other read it, then put it back. We had a great time picking out the cheesiest, sappiest cards then laughing before we replaced it.

So that was my Valentine's day date. It was actually pretty fun. It may be a few months before our next chance to have a day with no kids so I'll have to keep replaying the day in my head.