I tell my Husband and sons that I love them, multiple times a day.  We say it when we part ways, when we meet again, and when we say good night.  But sometimes between going to work and taking care of the kids the words “I Love You” lose their substance.   For me Valentine’s Day recharges our love and reminds us how important we are to each other.

Many people claim they hate Valentine’s Day, and it’s not just single people I have heard this from.  These people feel it is too commercialized and that we shouldn’t need a day forcing us to love each other.  Those Valentine’s Day haters are right, it shouldn’t be this way.  In an ideal world I would be able to love all of my family members and friends with 100 percent effort all the time, but “life” gets in the way.   So I welcome the chance to recharge it.  I don’t want sickness or death to be the only times I am faced with the realization that I should have loved more…  So, I look forward to days like Valentine’s or Anniversaries, and it’s not about extravagant Hallmark gifts.  It’s about putting your love out there so your loved ones can truly see it.

This is how our Valentine’s Day went…

I woke up to my husband giving me a single rose and wishing me happy Valentine’s Day with a kiss before leaving for work.  But as I got the boys ready to take Xander to school I started finding mini roses all over the house strategically put in places I would find them. Places like my son’s shoe and the refrigerator, and as I went about my morning, each one made me smile and the kids had fun looking for more. When we got out to the van, I found a bouquet of more flowers on my seat and chocolate in the boy’s seats.  I don’t normally give my kids chocolate at 8:30 in the morning but they really enjoyed their surprise treat.

As a gift for my husband, I framed two of my favorite pictures that he captured last year and hung them in our bedroom to surprise him later when he gets home from work.  So, while Xander was at school I went to work at putting them up.

Xander had written out valentines for his whole pre-k class. This is his first year in school, so he was very excited to give them out.  He proudly came home with a glittery valentine made special for him, from his friend Kayla.

My mother came to visit with more treats for her grandsons and later tonight we are taking the kids and going to see the new Lego Batman movie.

A pretty simple Valentine’s day for us, but instead of doing laundry or dishes and editing photos, I am putting those things off for another day, to celebrate LOVE.

I did however, stay up late last night editing some Valentine’s portraits that I would love to share.

I had this amazing kissing booth custom built last year by Williams-Home-Improvement but I have yet to figure out the best way to stage it because it is pretty big and my backdrops are all too small.  It will work great outside this summer and hopefully by next year I will have a bigger backdrop for it.  I purchased some great Valentine’s overlays from RStudioDesign  so I was still able to spice up this Valentine’s Day session.

 

 

We took some quick photos of my boys as well and Xander put his photo in the valentines for his teachers and class mates.

If you enjoyed my last work-in-progress photoshop video, here is another:

I hope you enjoy hearing about my Valentine’s Day,  please share yours on our Facebook Page.   If you like reading this please share it with your friends!

~Tracy

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