Valentine's Day Meltdown

I never really cared for Valentine's Day. I'm not a bitter old hag or anything, I just hated that Hallmark says we should force ourselves to be romantic on this specific day. Don't get me wrong, I've always celebrated, but mostly because I want an excuse not to cook. I started to get on board a little more when I worked at a flower shop a few years ago. I loved how on the days leading up to Valentine's Day the shop was packed with more flowers than at any other time of year. It seemed liked flowers were crammed everywhere! Then, the shop closed and I started to lose interest in the holiday again...but I still didn't cook. But, now we have Lilly and she loves to celebrate. She loves to give gifts, decorate cards and make cupcakes. She is excited to celebrate every holiday and everyone's birthday, she looks forward to each birthday like it is her own. Now, Valentine's Day is just another special day to share with her.
Lilly and I made cupcakes on Saturday and her and Bryan decorated some cards and boxes for her friends and some local family. Today, after weeks of cold weather, snow and ice and days of below zero temperatures, it was 45 degrees and felt down right balmy. So, we bundled up and headed out to deliver some of those cupcakes and cards to people within walking distance. Our walk was much more chaotic than we planned...does anyone ever plan for chaos? We stopped to deliver a cupcake to our neighbor and I had to run back in to the house to grab Lilly's hat and gloves. *Please Note: Lilly had on mittens and a hood. She needed gloves and a hat.
Falling in the snow.
Putting gloves on Lilly is what I imagine it would be like to try and put a live octopus in your evening bag. When I said we delivered cupcakes to everyone within walking distance what I should have said was: We delivered cupcakes to Avery...and Miss Eileen, our neighbor, but Lilly only cared that we were walking to Avery's house. In fact, when we rounded the curve and saw Avery's house Lilly began to run. She then got distracted by a puddle, but we got her back on track.

Nathan was kind enough to take a family photo. It is rare that you get all five of us in a picture together. It is also very rare that Hank ever offers to take a picture. Curious.

More chaos. I wanted a nice picture to prove that I exist and that Jack was on the walk too. So I took Hank, handed Bryan the camera and smiled for a picture. Then, Hank went one way and Lilly went the other...so this is what I got.

Considering I was wearing Jack, it was hard to get a picture of him that wasn't an extreme close up. No, he's not cross eyed, but when the little red light on the camera indicates the flash, Jack can't help but stare at it.

Happy Valentine's Day to all of you outside of walking distance.