For Valentine’s Day, mom and dad joined Desmond at preschool for a special pizza lunch. Let the shenanigans begin.

Coloring is now a spectator sport apparently

There’s metaphor in there somewhere…

Pizza Hut pizza, just as good as you remember it 😉

Dad’s a very traditional colorer, mom’s more of the free spirit (or was it “color by committee?”)

Desmond has been here for longer than he can remember. It’s a joy to watch him in his natural element-

Opening cards was certainly a crowd favorite

It is a day based on love and reading as well as giving and sharing. And the books that they read and give are loved and received. And through this giving and reading and loving and sharing, we too can share and love and give… and read.

A new tradition begins: the kids each received a book for Valentine’s Day. Ella was shriek-and-giggly happy to read her new Little Owl Colors book (thanks again aunt Kellie for couriering!)

Desmond intensely flips through each page of his new Star Wars storybook

While mom and dad traded in their tradition of watching gangster flicks on Valentine’s Day, another new tradition was born: let the kids pick the family meal. Since Eleanor is still holds a non-voting position with sibling votes, Desmond got to pick. His response of “SOUP!” however bordered on curiously reflexive…

Eleanor is in her newfound happy place: eating (arguably the best homemade ever) tomato soup. She’s demonstrating impressive usage of a spoon with challenging contents. She also instinctively dipped her grilled cheese sandwich into to tomato soup with the facial response suggesting, “Been doing that all my life.”