First thing in the morning, Ben individually asked each of his girls to be his Valentine with a card and a gerbera daisy. The first three each said, “Yes!” and took their flower and gave him a hug. Things went south when he asked the baby, “Glow, will you be my Valentine?” while holding out the flower and card. Immediately, she said, “NO!” and pushed the flower and card away. He asked her one more time and she gave him the same refusal. Ben and I were just laughing at the spunk of that little girl. Oh well! Ben even asked me to be his Valentine with some flowers from the garden (those are my favorite kind) and of course I definitely said yes! Four out of five ladies isn’t bad I guess.

Since the girls had the day off for the President’s Day holiday weekend, they spent the whole day making gifts for each other. It was the sweetest thing! They had already been working on it during the week, but the still managed to spend another whole day making more things. These girls are extremely thoughtful towards each other and us. I spent the day baking some treats for them and trying a new recipe to make for dinner that evening.

Ben came home and we had our room ready for our celebration. True and Brave hung up the gold glitter garland I got from Minted, along with their heart chain garland, I had our cinnamon roll cake on this pretty cake plate ready it was calling out all our names (Glow kept dipping her finger in the frosting)… it looked so yummy. Presents were strewn all over the bed and everyone was buzzing with exciting because we just like celebrating!

We all sat down on the floor of our room as the girls ate dinner and we all opened presents as they ate and talked about everything they made. They made so many cute and creative gifts for each other, and it kept on going and going and going. They had boxes full of handmade goodies! After they passed out their presents, Ben and I gave them our presents for them, which were personalized journals (from here) and walkie talkies. Then we had them all hop into bed to light the heart sparkler on the cake (bought from Danni’s shop). Glow was petrified of it, but the other girls were loving it. We all indulged in some deliciously gooey cinnamon rolls, gave more hugs and kisses, and then it was off to bed for the kiddos because Ben and I needed our own special time to celebrate each other.

It was definitely a good day of celebrating our littlest loves and our love for each other! I’m thankful for the sweet hearts of my girls and Ben. I’ll share what Ben and I gifted each other in another post tomorrow.

2008. True and I made cupcakes together, and I made love notes for Ben to find all day long.

2010. Ben made the day quite special with all his kisses.

2011. Another Love Day filled with surprises he left all over the house, and I made us a teepee where we ate our special dinner and cuddled.

2012. Another year that we were spoiled by Ben.

2013. Grandmama was in town, so she got to celebrate Valentine’s with us. It was a super busy time for us last year, but Ben still made sure to display love towards all his girls. I’m almost sure I totally didn’t do anything for him at all.

I’m thankful for the blog because it’s fun to be able to look back and see how our family has grown and the different ways we have celebrated. I’m not sure what happened 2009, but I couldn’t find a post on it or pictures on my computer. Maybe we fought?! HA! February 14th also happens to be my mom and dad’s wedding anniversary, so maybe we did something with them. A couple things have been consistent throughout the years… Ben always gives all his ladies flowers and we always have sushi for dinner.

Oh! Now I remember 2009! We were so busy that day that we decided to go out to eat sushi, and (crazily) thought our favorite all-you-can-eat sushi joint shouldn’t be that crowded. Yeah right! That was a bad idea and we learned never to eat out on Valentine’s Day again. We know it’s a totally commercialized holiday, but it’s still fun to use that day to show our loved ones how much we love and appreciate them. Celebrating love is always a good thing!

We’ve been doing our NYE dance party for a few year’s now. I think when we started it was just True and Brave. This year, the girl’s requested we do a theme inspired by Jem and the Holograms. They had wanted Ben and me to dress up like Rio and Jem for Halloween, but things were busy that we never got our act together for it, so they asked if we could do the 80’s Jem and the Hologram party for NYE, so we happily obliged.

We gathered wigs during Halloween time and I found my hot pink (way too tight) one shoulder dress at the thrift store. I think our getup looked 80’s enough. The girls just wore their “fancy” dresses from Soul’s birthday (from FabKids); a couple of the girls got side pony tails and tada, we were ready for the 80’s! Last minute, I ran to the dollar store, picked up these star mylar balloons and funky glasses and we were set. Plus, we already had a strobe light and fog machine (yes, we really already own those things from previous celebrations) and we were definitely going to have a rockin’ new year’s eve celebration.

Ben made us our traditional NYE black eyed pea dish and spicy garlic shrimp. We all had a nice sit down dinner first, then after, we cleaned up and got ready to party. The girls had a blast with the loud music we were bumpin’ and they danced the night away. Glow was a little apprehensive about the weird lights and fog that she just sat on the side and didn’t really want to get into the action. We kept dancing, and dancing, and dancing, and the it got so foggy that we set the fire alarm off! Despite the constant ringing, the big girls kept on dancing (with their hands over their ears), while Ben tried to air out all the smoke. It was pretty hilarious, but the party must go on! After we were all feeling pooped out, except that Brave because she can keep going, we called it a night and put on our pajamas. Ben and I tucked the girls into bed (this is all way before midnight, but it had to be midnight somewhere right?!) and we settled in our room for a movie. Ben and I did manage to stay up just until midnight, gave each other a kiss, then went to bed.

We took video of the girls going crazy with their dance moves and I love watching it over and over again. They are so funny! We asked Brave, “Brave, where did you get your moves?” She replied, “From me.” That’s our girl, just so matter of fact.

How did you ring in the New Year? Do you still wait up until midnight or are you already snoozing before the clock strikes twelve?

On Christmas morn, Papi Claus surprised the girls (and Ben’s mom and sister) with a visit and joined us for all the merry festivities! He came in the room with sleigh bells jingling (from his iPhone) and was the one to pass out the gifts to the family. It was absolutely hilarious! Plus, Papi Claus was cracking lots of jokes, so we spent a lot of the morning just laughing and laughing. Glow was a little nervous, but she did eventually make her way to him, and Soulie was completely convinced that Ben was in the shower the entire time Papi Claus was with us. Believe it or not, the big girls were fooled too and didn’t realize it was Ben until his hat fell off.

Ben had been wanting to dress up as Santa for a few years now, but every year, we never remember to buy a costume until the day before Christmas, which is too late to get one by then. The local Japanese dollar store had the costume for only 5 buckaroos, so when I saw it, I scooped it up. This year, we were prepared! The costume isn’t the best quality, but it did the job, and it’s still good enough to last us a couple more years (and maybe more!). The big girls went hunting for the costume after Papi Claus left, but we hid it, and it won’t make another appearance again until next year when Papi Claus comes back to town. It was absolute fun to have Papi Claus join us that I think we just started a new family tradition!

What are some of your family Christmas traditions? Anyone dress up like Santa?

Ben turned 39 and we had a simple celebration. He got served the traditional birthday breakfast in bed, but his breakfast request was his normal everyday breakfast… 1 cup of oatmeal, 23 almonds, 1 scoop of protein, 1 banana, and covered with milk. He’s very specific. It’s a boring meal in my opinion, but it’s what he wanted. This dietitian really lives what he teaches his patients. Of course, the girls made tons of handmade cards and presents, and even gifted things that were already ours (like a lint remover). Ben went off to work and I cooked up another birthday request for dinner, this time it was much fancier than his breakfast request. That night we all watched a movie and sang the birthday song with pie. I used the oatmeal pecan recipe, but this time added more oatmeal and just used 1/2 cup of granulated sugar. It was a low key day with Ben going off to work, but I think next year we are going to make sure he takes the day off so we can do a whole day of celebrating because that guy of ours deserves it.

By the way, the girls kept asking why I put 39 on his card because according them, he’s 23 and I’m older than him. Oh that Ben is telling those girls lies!

Soul’s main birthday request was a “make-up” party, so earlier in the day, she got her mini spa treatment (done by mommy), and so for her birthday dinner, she got to get even more dolled up. I gave her a touch of blush (barely touched her cheek), she kissed my lipstick lips for lipstick, and I curled her hair. I was totally imagining doing this again for her for a school dance, which I hope doesn’t come too soon. She completed her fancy look with her special, fancy dress. The moment I saw this dress from the FabKids holiday collection, I knew we needed that for her “fancy” dinner! Plus, I saw this sparkly shift and this jeweled out top and skirt, and that would totally put all the girls in the fancy mood! Glow even got glammed up in her vintage velvet dress and gold shoes. Soul was absolutely giddy about the whole dressing up process. I think that about fulfilled her make-up party wishes.

Of course, we didn’t want her to be dressed up with no place to go, so we semi-transformed our dining area into a little “fancy” dining area just for them. Ben even dressed up to play the part of the “butler.” The girls were loving that idea! They all came downstairs dressed up in their party garb, and we had them wait in line, so the “butler” could escort them to the table. It was so cute! One by one, Ben took their hand, led them to their seat, pulled it out, and once they sat, he scooted them in, and kissed their hand. Oh those girls were giggling each time he did it!

He took their drink orders and we even had sparkling juice (and water) for the occasion. This is a water only house, so having juice was a big deal. They loved getting fancy glasses and True even led them in a toast. Seriously, these girls are so freakin’ cute to watch (and yes, I know I’m totally biased). For appetizers, they were served “fancy” cheese and crackers and some chocolate covered strawberries, and for the main course, I made each of them their own mini pizza. They were loving how Ben was serving them and how they were able to order things. We closed the dinner with a birthday song and a double decker chocolate cake for our birthday girl. Everyone had a slice or two, and then we put on some music and had ourselves a tiny dance party (it lasted about 10 minutes).

We were all tired by the end of the evening, and Ben and I kept hugging our birthday girl. I say we pretty much made the birthday girl’s wishes come true. Can’t you tell by her adorable little grin?! Now, her request for next year is a princess party at a hotel! I’ll have to figure out how to translate that into something, but you never know, she may change her mind, so I have some time.

We love our Soulie. She has such a special, sweet and fiery spirit. Thank you Lord for giving for giving her 4 years thus far and we’re praying for many more to come! Love you lots our little Soul! 

P.S. In case you’re wondering, the tall taper candle was moved once they all sat down, but we did leave the low little one. The girls never touched it (we told them not to and they obeyed) and Ben was nearby the whole time. If we didn’t think they could handle it, it wouldn’t have been there.