week of love

What can I say about Valentine's Day? It's one of my favorites. It's simple, it's all about love, and there's looooots of chocolate. What more is there in a holiday, really? After a long and tiring week, I am so happy to relax today, have fun with my hyper fifth graders (when the cafeteria announced that they were serving strawberry milk for Valentine's Day, the cheer literally echoed through the halls haha), and celebrate the people I love most.

This week on instagram, I participated in a #sharetheloveweek contest. Each day, I instagrammed one thing I love. Here's a little recap:

day 1: Jason and Sam. It's crazy living with two brothers who I swear are identical twins born 12 years apart. They crack each other up, they communicate telepathically, and they ALWAYS make me smile. I love my two boys!

day 2: FOOD. Honestly I almost did this for day one, but I figured I probably should put at least one thing before food on the list of things I love :) Fresh fruit makes my world go round (why do I have to crave it so much in the winter when it's more expensive?) Sitting down with that bowl of fresh strawberries on a Sunday afternoon was heavenly.

day 3: Photography. I know I'm still an amateur, but I've loved taking pictures since I was little (ask my dad how many rolls of film I used up taking pictures of the same household object). I love that it captures emotions, moments, light, and moods. I constantly look at pictures I take and treasure the memories they create.

day 4: teaching. I don't know where to start with this. Teaching is the hardest, and best, thing I have ever done. It is the most meaningful thing in my life, and I love being able to spend my days and energy with such a creative, receptive, talented, brilliant group of children.

day 5: day 5 never got posted. It was a LONG day of parent teacher conferences, and then in the evenings I finished up a few Valentine's day things, and some other things came up. At the end of the day though, I am so grateful for my relationship with Heavenly Father. He is my calm, my guide, and my ultimate source of happiness.

day 6: Valentine's Day! We celebrated Valentine's Day early last night with Jason (so I can have a hot date tonight with my facial-haired man). My mom always put on a dinner for the kids that consisted of a heart-shaped pizza, jello and cool whip trifle, and chocolate.

day 7: baby girl. Sometimes I get too afraid to post about pregnancy, because I don't want to offend any of my dear friends who aren't pregnant right now but wish they were. But I am so so grateful for the little ball of human genes growing inside of me! I can feel her kick all the time now (as long as I'm sitting or laying down), and it's so amazing. I'll love her no matter what, but personally I'm hoping for her daddy's curls and athletic genes.

I hope everyone has the greatest of days today. Tell your dog, your downstairs neighbor, your kids, your mom, your roommate that you love them!