valentine happenings

Valentine's Day has come and gone. Eddie has turned one year older. And a lot seemed to have happened on this 14th day of February.

Chris and I were alone at the beginning. Actually, we weren't completely alone. Chris' sister was with us. Chris and Suzanne ran a half marathon. I invited myself to tag along. We traveled to Myrtle Beach, had dinner, got to the hotel and they made me go to sleep around 10:30pm. Marathon runners are not too fun the night before. I couldn't sleep. Chris and I were in a double bed. Together. We usually sleep luxuriously together in a king size. It's bliss. I usually can turn my head and not smell his breath as he breathes. That isn't possible in a double bed. I had to cover my face with a pillow. Sigh.

The night before the race I didn't want to move because I didn't want to wake the boring runners. And then as I lie, wide awake at 3:30 in the morning, I remember I had turned the volume off of the iphone that Chris had set to wake them up. I lie there, with visions of one runner shooting up out of bed and it's 6:45am...too late to run the race. So, I woke Chris up. He had to turn the volume up. If I had gotten out of bed, I would have woken him up anyway asking him how to turn the volume back on. This way I didn't have to get out of bed. So, finally the alarm goes off at 5:15am. I had just fallen back to sleep, dreaming of late runners. Sigh.

After we woke, the on time runners took off, and I was alone. Until the clock read 7:25am. Chris had mentioned he would be passing by our motel around 7:30 or so. I had my camera ready to go. I'm standing outside, waiting for the elevator on the 7th floor, and I'm pretty sure I see the top of Chris' head pass by! Dang it! I try to take a picture of the head shot, but it won't work. I think maybe it's not his head. I hope it wasn't his head. Sigh.

Now it's about 8am, and I'm watching all the runners run by. I'm thinking that maybe Chris is a bit slower than he wanted to be. I'm looking down at my camera, trying to figure out why it won't take any pictures. And I'm sitting there, looking down, thinking of all the fun and loud things I'm going to shout as the runners I know personally, pass by. "Hey, can you hold this for me?", I hear. I look up and it's Suzanne. She passes me her power gel so she won't have to carry it as she runs. "Did you see Chris?", she asks. "Umm, no. I was hoping he hadn't passed by. I do think I saw his head though." "He definitely was ahead of me." she said. "Darn. I missed him." I said. And then she runs off into the herd and I think that if she hadn't had the extra package of gel, I would have missed her too. Sigh.

After the race, we come home. All the children greet us. Chris' parents were willing to watch them as we were gone. Me to Noah- "Did you like the book I got for you for Valentines?" "No, not at first I didn't. I really wanted a Bakugan and you didn't get me one. But then I did." he replied. "Lana, did you like the Junie B. Jones I got you for Valentines?" I asked. "Well, actually, I had one already. You already gave me that one." she said. Sigh.

The runners needed major naps, and the grandparents needed a major break, so I decided to take the kids to a movie. "Hey, let's get ready and I'll take you to a movie." I say. "No thanks, I prefer to stay home." replied Ceily. Eddie and Lana and Noah came with me. I made Eddie cry on the way there. He said I was being mean to him on his birthday. Sigh.

We came home. The camera is still not taking pictures. I hand it to Chris to see if he can figure out the problem. He did. (I had forgotten the memory card. Sigh.) Eddie got his presents. A bike and an air soft gun. Money. itunes gift card. And a package of practical jokes from Grandma. Fake blood. Fake poop. Fake throw-up.

We all went to dinner. Came home, had cake. Eddie got a fake bloody nose as he put the fake safty pin through it. He then got a fake bloody finger. We then tried to put all the kids to bed. It was a circus.

And then I'm in bed, finally, and I hear Eddie scream extremely loud, "NOAH JUST THREW UP ON ME!!!" I just stayed in bed. I wasn't going to fall for it. Remember? He had received fake throw-up as a gift. I completely ignored the screams. Until Noah came through my bedroom door, yelling, "I HAVE TO THROW UP! I COULDN'T HOLD IT!" He runs to the bathroom and finishes retching cake for real. Yes, he had really thrown-up. All over the bed. All over the extremely shaggy shag rug. All over his brother's bed. I do a load of laundry. Sigh.

Hope everyone had a wonderful Valentines.
We Love You.
xoxox