Lovey

You guys, Valentine's day is a big deal around here.  It has long been pegged as my favorite holiday, and Sir O seems to love it even more than me.  Probably because he associates Valentines Day with scissors and glue, and the kid loves nothing more than decorating for a holiday.

It's also a big deal because Valentines Day figures prominently in the love story of Mr Renn and me.  We started dating just before Valentines day in 2003, and that first Valentines Day was such a flop that it nearly did the relationship in.  Luckily Mr Renn was persistent.  And he's felt pressure to perform every year since then.  (He'll probably still never live it down, because it's going to come up every time someone asks us how we me.)

This year wasn't our best Valentines' performance ever, but it was really a lovely little day for our family.  The day before I happily stumbled upon a free train table, so we had a fantastic gift for the boys (that they have spent every spare moment with since then).  We spent the days leading up to Valentines day making sugar cookies and constructing ridiculously complex Valentines for the boy's classroom exchanges.




Somebody needs to tell me "Step away from the Paper Source Catalog, Emily." No child of yours wants to spend 10 hours making Valentines."

Mr Renn surprised me by coming home from work early with these:




Which I promptly turned into 3 arrangements to cheer up the house.



Then we left the boys with my cousin and a heart-shaped pizza and went to the Valentines Dinner at the Clarion, where the food is always good.  Bunny didn't quite cooperate with our attempt at enjoying dinner together, but we sure enjoyed it in shifts!



And for my gift?  Mr Renn picked up on my not-so-subtle hints and got some of my collection of floral paintings on canvases stretched and framed.  I told you, getting art on the walls is going to HAPPEN this year.

   

I also, coincidentially, got this Pascal Campion print framed for Mr Renn.  We'll call it romantic multitasking.