Valentine's Day!

We had  lovely Valentine's Day celebration last night. Trying to re-create the wonderful Valentine's Days of my childhood, when Mom decorated the dinner table, bought us presents and made a special dessert, I instructed Drew to buy cupcakes from St. Cupcake, our favorite cupcake place (I was too busy to make some from scratch, alas), and I set out red placemats, white plates, lit a candle and strung a red garland of hearts Drew bought around the window and put up a heart garland on the wall. I had bought Rachel a little stuffed pink hamster at the Hallmark store where we bought wrapping paper for Drew's gift ("Seattle socks" from Rachel because his socks have holes in them, and a rugby shirt from me, both from Eddie Bauer) and some candy hearts from Willamette, where the students were selling them for a fundraiser. Rachel was delighted with her gifts, as Drew was with his -- and I got a gift certificate for a massage that I plan to use in two weeks.

Rachel gave me a valentine yesterday morning and a card with an envelope that said "Mommy" in tipsy capital letters. She gave both of us lots of hugs last night until we had to urge her to finish her soup so she could have her cupcake and get to bed on time. At one point she said dramatically, "I'm LOST for words!" and we laughed. Then she said, "Happy Valentine's Day, everyone! Happy Valentine's Day FAMILY."

She also tried to give me one of the two dozen or so valentines she got at school. When I protested that they were hers to keep, she said, "I have plenty of valentines and you have only one. So I'm giving you one of mine. And that's that."
 
As I was getting ready to read to her, we pretended that her stuffed hamster, who she named "Hanny," kept thinking I was its mommy and Rachel was its grandma, which caused Rachel to crack up repeatedly -- it's amazing how easy it is to make her laugh -- and we all agreed it had been a fantastic party. I'm already thinking about how much more elaborate it'll be next year!!