St. Valentine's Day

On saturday, we went shoppping at Sam's club, and when we were bringing all of our groceries in the house, I saw Ben bring in a jewelry bag. So I hurried and got his gift from my purse and gave it to him a day early. My plan worked, and that prompted him to give me my gift early too. Of course after that we had to let the girls open their gifts as well. Here they are on the couch starting to open. Kar wanted hers, but didn't want Kiersten to get anything. It was a not very nice moment for her, but she got past it quickly once there was a gift bag in her hands.

Kiersten was so excited to get a ni hao Kai-Lan see and say. It's amazing how just a few dollars can go so far to impress them. They also got some new barbie clothes. I have been having such a hard time finding regular barbie clothes. I've looked several places, and it seems barbies are just dressing slutty these days. So ben has been calling all the short strappy dresses pajamas. This inspired Kara's barbies to have a pajama party. it was cute, except when her "boy barbie", as she calls them, asked cinderella if she wanted to sleep with him. Of course Kara had no naughty intentions, so I just let it go, but said, "make sure they each sleep in their own bed". kinda silly, I know. Kara loves this mickey and minnie puzzle. She's already put it together several times.

They also got these cute suckers. They were soft marsmallow ones, kinda like peeps on a stick. The girls really liked them, but I thought they kind of tasted like play-doh.

my gift from Ben was a new pink saphire ring with small diamonds and heart shaped earings to match. I was surprised to get jewelry, and very happy. I totally just expected flowers or candy this year, but I love a good surprise!

a close-up. I know it's horrible my nails aren't done, but I've been really busy lately! I like to think the ring can outshine my dry, wintery hands, anyway.

Ben's gift was candy, and some new shorts. He also got to get some new shirts and ties at Van Heusen. The last few weeks, he kept saying, "we don't really plan on doing valentine's gifts this year, right?" or, "didn't we say we weren't really gonna do valentine's this year?" I realize he was trying to trick me, but I really did go low key because he kept saying that. And he actually was really glad because he would rather just spend money on things when he wants them, instead of hoping that I'll get him a gift he wants. So it all went well for us this year. And I have no problem with being the spoiled one, after all.