I suppose all children call it “Valentime’s Day” at first. Then they get to a certain age where they realize, “Hey, it’s actually called, ‘Valentine’s Day.'” And then they start saying it correctly, much like when they make the transition from “libary” to “library.” I’m not about to correct Samuel and Levi on either word just yet. There’s plenty of time for that. And then there’s a final correction they’ll need to learn when I tell them it’s actually “Valentino’s Day,” but that’s another post. 😍
Last night we had them over for pizza-movie night, and we told them we would decorate, set out some candles, and have a special dinner for them (although they absolutely forbade us from making any food substitutions for the pizza). They got so excited for the holiday special that they insisted on wearing their nice outfits we got them for Christmas Eve, complete with bowties.
It was an overload of cuteness. This morning they opened their gifts and had a marvelous time. A Valentime. One to remember. Below are some pics and vids from the past couple weeks.
The table is set for the Valentime special.All of us dressed up for the occasion.Two weeks ago we had fun painting.Levi painted me a red picture because I’m a Phillies fan.
Levi painted his arm, too.The fireplace is ready for indoor S’mores.Trying to make the marshmallows golden brown.Last week we made Valentime cookies.Lots of hearts and lots of flour.And a turkey pot pie, too.Water and food coloring are the ingredients for ice blocks.And now we let them freeze.And then we build our building with the colored ice bricks.The foundation is set.And a snowman in the front of the house.Fun on the furniture.Getting ready for bed at our house.But who wants to go to sleep?
Learning the Cha Cha Slide for Uncle Tino’s wedding.A Valentime treat this morning.
Just popping in here for little bit of silliness on this special day that everybody mispronounces. 😊 Then it’s back to the dissertation grind and off to teaching a fun class during our residency week here in Myerstown, Pee-yay.
I did a quick search of the top love songs of all time, and Whitney Houston’s “I Will Always Love You” is routinely at the top of the list—or at least in the top five. So here it is for your listening pleasure. (My, oh my, what that lady could do with a syllable!)
And (just because I’m enchanted with her stuff) here’s an Enya love song, too. But best of all—speaking of love—below is a brief clip of our little Bubby. SamJam has gotten his first phone. I hope he calls me later today to wish me a Happy Valentino’s Day. 😊
His rhythm is a whole lot better than mine! 💙
P.S., Why is my second dissertation taking so long? Several reasons:
First, my literature review involves surveying 2,000 years of commentary and theological reflection. That takes a while to process, systematize, and chart.
Second, my work so far contains eight languages besides English (Greek, Hebrew, Aramaic, Syriac, Latin, Italian, French, and German), all of which I have to translate and verify for accuracy.
Third, my methodology involves a full biblical theology approach (i.e., a Genesis-to-Revelation analysis) rather than a simple exegesis of a few relevant texts. That’s a lot of ground to cover.
Fourth, my study would not be complete without a deep dive into the relevant intertestamental literature. That corpus is likewise vast and sometimes complicated.
Fifth, I am dual-employed (happily so) as a pastor and as a professor. Multiple hats on one head can be a balancing act sometimes.
Sixth, my mother-in-law lives with us, and she is in the seventh and final stage of Alzheimer’s. That can be quite challenging to handle, and it’s getting harder by the day.
Seventh, I spend as much time as I possibly can with my little SamJam. As readers of TNL already know, I’m totally smitten with him! ❤️
So, yeah, this is taking longer than I wanted, but I love my topic, and I really like how it’s turning out so far. More on that later. Probably much later. Haha! 🙂
All of my previous Friday Fun posts have had a paragraph or two of introduction, but I know better than to write anything on this particular occasion. It’s from the folks over at Good Housekeeping, and I’ll just leave it right here.
As a bonus, here’s a Valentine’s Day related segment from “Ask Steve.” Again, no comment on my part. 🙂
And please try to remember, it’s actually “Valentino’s Day.”
