Happy Valentine's Day!

I'm not usually really big on Valentine's Day.  It's too close to the biggest event of the year to get psyched up about.  I just finished celebrating Ellie's birthday, I've started planning Caden's birthday and as I said, the Big Day is only 4 days away.  (You know the one.  The schools are closed.  Banks and government offices shut down.  You don't get mail.  EVERYONE is celebrating February 18th--my birthday!)   For some reason, this year I feel a little more in the Valentine Spirit.  It might have to do with the fact that I had to plan a Valentine's Day party for Ellie's kindergarten class, but I decided to buy a Valentine for my husband and small boxes of candy for my kids with teeth.  I dressed every in red, got up early and made pink pancakes (with pink food coloring, not the good ones that I make with beets) and for dinner I'm making a special meal with each family member's favorite food.  Evan get's the main course (grilled chicken marinated in Italian dressing) Caden chose the vegetable (carrot sticks)  Ellie gets her favorite rolls (crescents) and Vince told me he wanted to eat the TV when I asked him what he wanted, so I chose baked sweet potatoes.  Just doing those few little things really has made the day more of a holiday.
I love my family so much and I feel like I spend most of my time nagging, herding, fighting and feeding them to actually focus on just LOVING them.  I tell them I love them so much, that I don't think it even registers with them anymore.  So between homework tonight and dinner and girl scouts, I hope my family can see that I love them by what I do, not just by what I say.

I said I was going to add more pictures to my blog and since there isn't really one that goes with this post, I thought I'd just do the latest one of Olivia that I have.

In other news, I've been so happy with the results of my Christine Project that I'm thinking about doing a project every month.  I'm sure each project won't be as measurable as what I did with my electric bill, but as I've said a million times, I need to keep pushing myself to make small  in my life and home to keep GOING greener, not just staying green.  Project suggestions are greatly appreciated!