Valentine's Weekend

Our weekend started on Friday, with Jeff & Jake coming home. Our whole family loves Fridays, it is usually a time for celebration and excitement because Jeff comes back from OK and Jake will return from college. This Friday the 13th was especially powerful because it was the first week Jeff was away from Jackson. So hard! It was an emotional week for him, he was sad being so far away. I did post photos and he got to hear him on the phone "talking" in his little babbling way, but it isn't the same. Friday the 13th's are very special in our family. As most of our family knows, Jacque was born on November 13th (1988) and whenever a Friday the 13th would come up on the calendar, she would grow in excitement... no superstitious behavior or negativity for her... Friday the 13th was Jacque's LUCK DAY! So, even though I was REALLY excited for Jeff to come home, I was finding myself a bit sad, missing Jacque. Not that I don't miss her every day, because I do miss her every single day... but special days are sometimes much harder... surprisingly so... no matter how much time passes, it is still hard and I still wish her here. So, we celebrated Friday the 13th with Mammie & Poppie over, some take out Chinese, and lots of love for Jake and Jackson. Janet & Howard also arrived from the OC (in CA) to meet their grandson for the first time. So, we had quite the crowd Friday night and lots of stimulation... which put Jackson EXTREMELY out of sorts and Mr Cranky Pants became hysterical... not a good thing. Poor guy was fit to be tied!

On Friday night, Jeff took all the baby shifts and my gift for Valentine's Day was SLEEP. I woke up so rejuvenated on Saturday, I was helping Jake with the bacon, scrambling eggs, prepping lunch, and baking cookies all before 930am!! Valentine's Day for us started with Jake making his famous biscuits and gravy for breakfast... I like to think he make them just for me, but Hannah came over and I know he was just doing it for her... welcome to the world of Jake, as he wears his very shiny silver basketball shorts, combat boots, and a sleeveless shirt with his hat to make that breakfast... so redneck. I mean, you do have to dress the part, right? After a totally yummy breakfast, Janet & Howard joined us for a walk at the local park... it was a great day for a stroll and Jackson slept through the whole thing. We had a vegetarian lunch and then I made an awesome mushroom risotto with scallops, shrimp cocktail and a huge salad. We didn't even have room for the Italian Cream Cake.

On Sunday afternoon, after church, breakfast, and saying goodbye to Janet & Howard, we went over to the Panahi's house for some homemade pizza. Hannah's dad is amazing, he made six homemade pizzas... he got up early and made the sauce from scratch, the dough had to rise all day, and we had a large assortment of toppings to choose from. We pretty much ate ourselves into exhaustion. It was a good time and the Panahi family is so wonderful and it was so great to have the day off from cooking and cleaning! That was a fabulous gift... as you can see by the photos, eating that much just wore Jeff and Jackson out. That brought a very happy end to a wonderful weekend... sad to see it end and Jeff return to OK and Jake to Jacksonville, TX. Here it is Tuesday morning and I miss them all so horrifically already!