Family Traditions #18: Valentine's Day 2013

"Family traditions give identity and belonging to each member." - James Dobson

This Valentine's Day was kind of off. I feel like we are living in disorder and limbo until we move. We are kind of half in San Pancho and half in El Chal. Hopefully we will move this Tuesday and I can get organized again!

 We all were sick the 14th with some type of stomach bug too. On top of that it fell on a church night, so we were kind of rushed. So I have pretty pictures and there were bright spots here and there, but as a whole it was pretty icky. We do all love each other very much and that was what we celebrated!  

The boys thought the day was great! They got Valentine's from their Grandmas!

 We had pink heart pancakes for breakfast!

The boys had made Valentine's for their Grandmas back in January and I think they both arrived right on the 14th!

{Jonah having fun painting his hand. He said it tickled!}

This year I made sure they made an extra one for their mommy to keep!

After breakfast we drove to the island of Flores for lunch. We ordered our shish-kabobs and then got on a boat to take us around lake Itzá while we waited... roughing it I know! 

{Me and E waiting for the boat}

 Jonah and Silas had been looking forward to the boat ride for days! They enjoy them too.

Silas, my little ham, thinks tummy shots are funny... so do we!

The boat ride was a bright spot! Our meal was delicious as always.

It's a tradition for the boys to feed their leftover tortillas to the fish!

 We had some other things planned, but there were some stomach issues by that time, so we headed home. 

Before we left for church, I gave the boys their big chocolate chip cookies, which is a recipe from Jimmy's Grandma. Daddy got one too this year!

Jonah and Silas love anything with their name on it!

I was going to make pretty cookies for church, but I got over it and just picked up 2 cakes from the bakery. They were really cute! 

I am SO thankful that the lady at the bakery convinced me to get two because we ran out and the last couple of people had to share a piece. We had a great turnout that night for our midweek service. 

Being with our people was another bright spot!

This was the first night that we started splitting the adults into 2 groups on Thursdays. All the singles meet with Juan on the patio and the married couples are inside with Jimmy. They are teaching on some very important topics specific to those groups. This was a great night to kick it off. 

We have been having kids choir on Thursday nights too!

It was a good day I guess. Stomach bugs just aren't very romantic! Jimmy and I did some evaluating of our quality couple time too like we do each year. Eden's crib has been in our bedroom since her birth last March which isn't very romantic either. Once we move she will have her own space, Jimmy and I definitely need ours! We haven't done a couples devotional together since she was born. We found a new one last week! Balancing children, ministry, and together time is very delicate. You just have to be intentional I guess. We are intentionally working on that now!