LOVE

Love is any of a number of emotions related to a sense of strong affection^[1] and attachment. This is the first sentence that Wikipedia uses to describe the word LOVE and exactly the way I would describe our Valentines. Strong sense of affection and attachment. And of course, tons of loving, warm and fuzziness. What a feeling to have. The bond between us is stronger than ever and grows and grows. It's the best thing ever!

This year, Valentines was not about gifts or romantic things. It was about the deep love we have for our daughter and about being a family. We started the day by visiting the Thai temple and met some wonderful people. It was so nice to be immersed in Thai culture and Ruby seemed very comfortable there. There were 3 other kids there for Ruby to play with and we all had such a nice time. One sweet boy (about 5-1/2) took her under his wing and gave her some of his paper and markers. It was so sweet. Another little girl had a pretend microphone and let Ruby play with it. She was singing into it and having a ball. We met a nice couple that started a Thai community website called www.Thainepa.com. A lovely couple. She is Thai. He is American. Their organization is planning a big Songkran festival in April and we can't wait! Spent a good few hours there socializing and eating then headed home.

Later, we took Ruby to dinner at our favorite sushi/habachi restaurant - A1 Japanese Steakhouse. It's such a great place for families to go. They have a fish pond and waterfalls that kids love and a big drum to bang on in the waiting area. Ruby is so used to eating out that she does really well, but that night she was especially good. So happy and just bouncing around and smiling. She looked so cute in her Valentine's tutu! I'd love to tell you she just was dying to wear it, but in actuality I had to bribe her with her Valentine's goodie bag to get her to wear it! I had it custom made (look for Trinity Tutus on Etsy.com) and was far more excited about it than she was. (Ordered a back-up dress for her b-day since she may not wear the bday tutu). Still, she wore it and once I got it on didn't think twice about it. So back to the restaurant...while waiting for our table, she kept banging the drum and greeting people as they came in. Hi! Hi! Oh, she is such a little social bug. Cracks me up. We had a super nice love day and a whole weekend of fun with her.

She is talking even more. Coming into her own. Even more loving and giving random hugs and kisses. She will call us out by name now. It still warms my heart when she calls "Mommy" from the other room! She is playing more on her own and being creative with her toys. She is funnier than ever. She was having a tea party the other night and kept bringing Daddy and I refills. At one point she spotted the dog and stopped dead in her tracks. She said "OH! Chlo-LEE! Cup!" And ran off to get one for the dog. She was not pleased with the dog, however, when she did not play along! Ha! She is taking care of her dolls more and singing more. Every day is an adventure and a blessing. I could go on and on. I just want to document every sweet little thing but there are far more than I have time to write. Let it suffice to say LOVE is alive and well and living in our hearts. And it is a beautiful thing. Mommy & Daddy love you so much, Ruby!!!!!

My attempt at a heart shaped b-fast. Stole the idea from somebody's blog. You take a cookie cutter and cut out the bread and then cook the egg and bread just like that. It turned out a little messy so I used ketchup to reinforce the heart shape. With the cut-out piece of bread I just toasted, buttered and sprinkled with red sugar crystals.

Both sets of Grandparents sent Ruby adorable Valentine's cards. And great minds think alike, cause both included stickers that Ruby LOVED! We took some to the restaurant with us on Valentine's and she decorated Daddy's arm with a bunch!

This is the card we made together last week for Daddy. Obviously, I helped a lot, but she placed most of the stickers and colored on the left side of the page. She colors lightly so you can't see it a lot in this picture. But I love that she wanted me to help trace her hand. She loves to do that since I taught her over Thanksgiving. And how cute that we have a keepsake with her sweet little hand on it! Daddy just beamed when she proudly ran up to his office and gave it to him. It's been on his desk ever since. :-)

I hadn't thought about it at the time, but Valentine's was the perfect day for us to have such a nice family day. That day marked exactly 5 months as a family. Five months since the day we met the little girl that would change our lives forever!