To my husband: 10 Reasons I Adore You

This April, my husband and I will be married for 15 years. It seems like yesterday when I met him at our mutual friends house as a "set-up". I still remember how nervous I was that evening and how I kept thinking "say something, you dumbass, he's going to think you're a mute" and worrying that if I did, I'd say something that would totally turn him off. When I was brushing the snow off my car before leaving and he came up to me and asked if I'd like to have dinner some night, I was so nervous I was worried I'd throw up my dinner if I said something.

Now, in honor of the upcoming Valentine's Day, I list the top 10 reasons I love my husband...

1) When my tires are low on air, you snag my keys and go put air in my tires because you know I have tirephobia..the irrational fear that my tire is going to explode if I try to put air in it myself.

2) When there's snow on the ground, you always grab my hand as we walk through it because you know I'm a klutz and I'll fall if left to my own devices.

3) You know I don't balance the "household" checkbook that I am responsible for so you secretly check the account balance and issue dire warnings when I'm dangerously low and close to overdrafting...again.

4) When I do overdraft, you don't yell at me. I can live with the eye-roll.

5) You laugh at all my stupid jokes especially when I pretend to have vast amounts of sports knowledge. I don't, you do. I'm impressed by all those stats you can rattle off; who went to college where, who won what SuperBowl when. You'd think that after living with you for 15 years, I'd at least acquire a smidgen of sports knowledge, if only by osmosis. It's apparently never going to happen and you don't care, you love me anyway.

6) You think I'm beautiful even when I'm wearing my ugliest pair of sweatpants, a ripped t-shirt and my hair is standing up on my head like Jimmy Neutron. I know I'm not as thin as we were when we met; there's some saggin' in the wagon and the girls have lost their "perk". You've never said one negative word and you still tell me I'm beautiful.

7) In keeping with #6, it doesn't bother you that I have the world's shittiest teeth that require monthly dental visits and vast amounts of our money. You understand and you always find a way to make sure my mouth gets taken care of.

8) You have a job that I couldn't do. I could never work outside in the cold all day. I was built for comfort, not speed. Even when it's freezing outside, you still get up at 1:30am and go to work. You never call off sick. You never stay home because you don't get paid. When I ask you to stay home and say "If you love me, you'll stay home" your answer is "I do love you, that's why I go to work".

9) You treat your stepsons just like they're your own. You may not be their biological father, but you are their dad. When they need money, it's you they call. Why, because they know you are soft and want the best for them, even if that means you take the birthday money you got from my mother and send it to your stepson. It's never a sacrifice with you because it's just "what dads do".

10) Because you think I'm smart and you're my biggest fan. Whenever I want to do something, you always defer to me and do your best to make sure it happens. Those times when I doubt myself, all I have to do is talk to you. You hate it when I'm sad, it bothers you when you can't make my world cupcakes and rainbows. Thank you for making sure I never fall into a black hole of despair; sometimes I un-sad myself just for you, so you won't have to work so hard to make me happy. Thank you for that.

Every day I'm thankful that you came into my life, just when I needed you the most. You are generous, kind, smart, funny, responsible, handsome, and you have more heart than anyone I ever met; I'm glad your heart is mine.

Happy Valentine's Day to The Goob

I clearly remember that Valentine's Day when my daughter was 5 years old. I remember her being upset because Daddy bought Mommy something for Valentine's Day but she got a rock from her parents. Oh, she got those cute SpongeBob and Barbie valentines from her classmates along with a gross of cookies and candy; but she didn't get anything from her Mom and Dad. Bad Mommy. Bad Daddy. I remember standing in front of the Grand Inquisitor pleading my case: Valentine's Day is a Mommy-Daddy holiday. I was holding a leaky bucket; it wasn't holding any water. Her answer was "Isn't Valentine's Day about love, Mommy?". To that, I had no answer.

Since then, we've made a stink over Valentine's Day. She's 12 now and she still looks forward to Valentine's Day. I don't think she'll ever stop loving the holiday and my greatest wish for her is that when she's all grown-up, she'll find someone who loves her and continues to make a stink over her; not just on Valentine's Day but all the days they are together.

As part of From Dates to Diapers and Beyond's Ipod Touch and $10 Walmart gift card giveaway sponsored by Walmart and the ElevenMoms, Christine is asking for ways you include your kids in Valentine's Day celebrations.

So how do we celebrate this holiday of love? Well my daughter's school decided that sixth grade is "too old" to exchange Valentines (kill-joys) but before that, we always tried to decorate our Valentine's Day box that she took to school in something unique. One year we decorated a shoebox in a monkey theme. I got some great monkey wrapping paper from Walmart and we wrapped both the top and bottom of the box separately. We also bought some glitter letters and not only decorated the box with her name but added "I'm going APE over you". I had a tough time finding Valentine's Day exchange cards with monkeys on them; the trick is to shop early before everything is picked over.

Every year my daughter looks forward to our baking day. A few days before Valentine's Day, my daughter and I break out the cookie cutters and bake away. I always let her do the final decorations. We bake enough for the classroom party as well as a special bag of cookies for Daddy from "The Goob".

I no longer have to help her make her own Valentine's Day cards. She always makes home-made cards for her Dad, Me, her grandmother and her brothers. I've saved these over the years as well as taking a picture of her every year on Valentine's Day in her special dress-up outfit for school. I've saved my cards and pictures and someday I'm planning on making a Valentine's Day scrapbook for her and I.

And every year now, her dad and I buy her a special Valentine's Day gift from both of us. It's never something big, but just a little token of love for Valentine's Day. This year, we bought her a pair of dangling heart earrings from her favorite store, Claire's. She has a dance to attend on Valentine's Day at school in the evening and I think she'll wear these with her new dress. This is her first pair of "dangley" earrings. It's also her first boy/girl dance; her father weeps in the corner as we speak.