Happy Valentine's Day

***This post was started yesterday, Valentine's Day, but I completed it today, sorry it's late.  But better late than never, right?***

Today is Aiden's last first holiday.  I can't believe he will be a year old in two weeks! This past year has really flown by.  I also can't believe this time last year we were busy bees working on this house day in and day out getting ready for the big move and Aiden's arrival.

Today marks 7 years since Bam and I had our first 'date.' We were sophomores in high school, so a date back then would have had to be something silly with parents driving, ya know?  So he went to Atlanta with my family and the Gabriel's for this huge antique show that was going on.  That's right, our first 'date' was spent in the car with my family and friends, listening to my mom screaming with excitement over a phone call from Uncle Dan announcing that he and Leslie were engaged as of that morning (great first impression, Mom), and strolling hand-in-hand through a huge antique show getting to  know one another.   Valentine's Day has always held a special place in our relationship.

Since I was working out of town (an hour there and an hour back, yuck!) yesterday, I wasn't able to post the book that Bam and Aiden shared, so here it is:

And today's book is:

I saved this one for today since it's also Aiden's first Valentine's Day.

We couldn't afford to buy any decorations or gifts this year, but here are a few ornaments I found at Christmas time which seemed to double over for today nicely:
On the mantel

And I transferred a small candelabra from a book shelf to the dining table and added more of the heart ornaments to the chandelier:

Yesterday, when I got home from work, Bam surprised me with an early Valentine's gift of cleaning the microwave out to perfection and fixing all the kitchen cabinet doors.  It was so sweet of him to do those, finally, lol. 

Aiden and I had as special date at the Memorial Zoo where they were celebrating the bear's birthday with a party.  They had little stations where the kids could make special birthday hats, draw pictures and special birthday wishes on the sidewalks with chalk, get bear shaped balloons, pin-the-tail-on-the-bear, and a moon bounce.  There was a big announcement at 4:45 when they talked about the bears individually and served the bears their cake (chicken baby food with cream cheese, YUCK!) and then served human cake back near the moon bounce.  Aiden and I shared a small piece of cake and wandered through the zoo just a bit longer before taking a long stroll around the lake to get back to the car. 

Bam and I had a lovely evening in with a nice dinner for two and quite a few laughs after taking a quick stroll down memory lane. 

All in all we had a great Valentine's Day and we hope you did, too.