Heart Day the Buss Way

Asher with her card from Great-Grandma Gus that looks a little too much like her.

Matt and I had a great Valentine's Day. It's fun to think about how our Valentine's celebrations have changed over the 10 years we have been together. In the beginning, we were both working every Valentine's Day waiting tables and wishing we could celebrate. When we got real jobs, there were a couple of years when we actually went out, once to Hudson's on the Bend, and spent money we didn't have, but pretended we did. It was fun to go out to a fancy dinner, buy each other gifts, and even flowers. Once kids came along, we stopped going out to dinner and instead Matt made me dinner each year. He has made steak, shrimp, fondue, stuffed tomatoes, wonderful salads, and bought vanilla ice cream with chocolate hearts to name a few. He has even created menus of what that nights meal will include. It has always been very special. This year we are still trying to get out of debt, so we decided not to do actual presents. We did cards, as we always do, and then decided to make 5 coupons for each other. Matt was so creative and even drew a cute picture on each one using Aidan's markers, and then made an actual perforated "coupon" that detached from the sheet using an exacto knife. To others that may seem silly, but to me that just reminds me of how thoughtful and wonderful my husband is and how he is very creative. So, back to this Valentine's Day...

Since this was the first year that Aidan actually is getting the holiday stuff, we celebrated with the kids by having a bag with some goodies for each and a huge singing card. After breakfast we got ready and decorated some gingerbread cookies with frosting and red and pink sprinkles (Aidan picked gingerbread due to learning about the gingerbread man at school) and delivered them to Great Grandma Buss and Grandma and Grandpa Buss in Georgetown. Aidan loves "playing" the piano at Great Grandma's house. After naps and dinner for the kids, as well as a trip to the store for Matt, we put the kids to bed around 8. Then we finally started our Valentine's Day...

Aidan and Asher at Great Grandma's

Earlier, Matt had cooked some crab cakes and served them with a homemade cocktail sauce while I was feeding the kids so I wouldn't be starving. First we exchanged our cards and coupons. This will now be a Buss family Valentine's Day tradition. It is what it is all about! We made the coupons for things we knew the other would really appreciate. One of mine was to clean out both cars for Matt, and one of his was to bring me lunch up at school. They were thoughtful and really fun and best of all FREE! I loved it! Then together we prepared this awesome chicken Parmesan with fresh mozzarella cheese and kalamata olives. It was wonderful! We ate our yummy dinner in the living room and watched Definitely Maybe, a really great movie loaned to us by my brother Jake, the movie guru. I actually stayed awake for the WHOLE movie, which is actually a miracle. It was a really great night, and the kids actually went to bed pretty well and stayed asleep once we laid them down which was huge! We discovered today that Asher is cutting all 4 of her canine teeth, which explains the past week and a half of very fussy baby and bedtime struggles.

In closing, I love my husband. I love not having to do some fancy schmancy Valentine's Day thing. To us it is special being low key, yet very thoughtful, and having a fun night together. Hope you all had a great heart day too...

XOXOX