My Valentines :)

Since we spent our entire Valentine's Day traveling home from our Key Largo vacation, we didn't really "celebrate" so much. We were so weary and worn down and beat up from carrying our babies and all our luggage around that we barely made it home before just falling into bed.

However, even though our "romantic Valentine's Day supper" ended up being corn dogs, mashed potatoes, a salad and some chicken from Cub Foods with two rowdy toddlers, I wouldn't have traded it to spend it anywhere else.

Mark and I haven't ever really been really big Valentine's Day people. When we were dating or newly weds, Mark would buy me flowers because he thought I wanted it, but I called bull not too long after and said, "Stop wasting your money!" and since then we've made meals at home and gotten each other cards at most.

My heart will always belong to this man, who truly shows me how much he loves me every day. It's the little things: Like doing 80% to my 20% many days. Giving me breaks when I need them and challenging me when I need to be challenged. He pushes me to be the best me that I can be, and when I'm weary and beat down and exhausted, he lifts me up.

I know not everyone knows Mark like I do, but there's a reason I put him on a pedestal, and it's because he not only does the basic every day stuff that you would expect from a man, but he rises above (even when he doesn't feel like it) and is the best husband and father a person could ask for. He's not perfect, but he's perfectly chosen just for me.

My two newest Valentine's, however, make my heart beat on a whole other level :) These are the two little guys who can make me grin ear to ear even on the worst of mornings. Their smiles and laughs are just contagious.

Their outlook on life is just refreshing, and they make me want to be a better person and a better mother. They may drive me nuts throughout many points of each day, but it's telling when an hour after they fall asleep, all I want to do is go pick them up and snuggle them.

These two have drastically changed my life for the good, even if it's sometimes hard to remember that when I just want to be able to go to a restaurant and sit down and not pretend like it's some version of American Gladiator. They bring color and excitement to our lives, and I just can't even imagine our lives without them :)