Life with boys...

Be my Valentine or I'll rip your arms off and feed them to you for lunch!

My guys still look forward to Valentine's Day, even if the days of school valentines, tissue-paper covered card boxes, and Kindergarten "I love my mom" crafts are over. Each year at our house, after a fancy-pants Italian dinner together (complete with candles and wine glasses and semi-civilized family-style dining), we break out a big box of art supplies and make valentines. Old school! It's been our tradition for a few years. And despite the machismo now budding in our home, they all happily got to work making cards for each other.

As if I didn't have to tell you already, boy cards are NOT NORMAL. There was a three-eyed heart monster. A drawing of the Eagle Nebula. People falling to their death from a deformed roller coaster. A possessed and drooling baby doll named "Gaa-Gaa". Spacemen. An unreasonable amount of tape. Pop-up effects. And quite a bit of over-achievement with a hole puncher.

But somehow, in some strange testosterone-laden language, this communicated love. The time spent together being silly was fun. But even more precious to me was watching my boys express to each other that they are KNOWN. Each card they made was tailored to the person they made it for. They knew exactly what would make the other laugh (and laugh hysterically!). They knew who their brothers are and what they like. Nintendo characters and all. And they were excited to show each other that love.

Just one of the many reasons that life with my boys is pretty awesome...