Cupid, Clean Water & Kids…

So Valentines Day came again and I’m reminded of that fat little guy with wings that shot me in the booty with that arrow. Correction, I actually believe that he had to shoot my wife since she’s so easy to love, but enough with the sappy stuff. This year we decided to do things a little different. You see I believe that we need to bless our brides on Valentines Day however, just as Evan Courtney said earlier via twitter:

“Valentine’s Day is only for the chumps that haven’t done anything for the last 364 days. So they try and make up for it.”

So I try to do things throughout the year to honor her (and not just when I get in trouble either). So on sunday I bought my wife some flowers, not roses, just a colorful bouquet of fresh smelling goodness. I hadn’t even thought about the fact that Cupids day was lurking just around the corner. But riddle me this batman, does anyone else notice that things get a little ridiculous around valentines day. Yeah I know call me a cheap skate but for the bouquet I got on Sunday was $7.99 today that same bouquet was $39.99. Sometimes I think we become so used to the way consumerism works that we don’t even realize or notice the drastic measures they take to get our money. I digress, the reason for this post is simple my wife came home tonight to what I thought was a pretty nice dinner. Some pasta salad and Apple Almond Stuffed Pork Tenderloin with a glass of her favorite Apple Cranberry Sparkling Cider. Tomorrow morning she’ll wake to the breakfast me and the boys will prepare. French Toast, Freshly Stirred (they’re 8 & 6 that’s the closest we’ll get to squeezed) orange juice, Sausage and Hash browns. Not to mention the Anointing of the french press that will be thoroughly enjoyed.

As I was purchasing the ingredients for the Valentines Feast i noticed some candy bars being scanned. You see my boys felt it necessary to throw some candy bars in the mix when I wasn’t looking. When questioned they said “but it’s mom’s favorite“. So needless to say that along with the kit kats they threw in for themselves they made the cut. After putting away the groceries, I had a chance to catch up on some of the blog posts still sitting in my reader when I read an amazing post by the creative guru Brad Ruggles when my kids so the accompanying video. That’s when our Valentines Day gift got interesting. Moved by the idea that every 15 seconds a kid dies from not having clean drinking water, resulting in over 6,000 kids a day they decided that they’d like to donate in their mom’s name. So off to the bank we went where they each withdrew some money out of there accounts. So mom gets home to candles, dinner and an e-card saying that the boys donated in her name and that some kids are gonna get clean drinking water for the next 20 years. Needless to say Mom was moved to tears and I couldn’t be prouder…

Got any gift ideas for Valentine’s Day? We do. from Angel Mission on Vimeo.