Earlier this week, we were invited to visit a local T.V. station.  A mutual friend of my sister and I thought we might want to bring our collective group of six boys for the recording of a show about animals.

And not just any animals.

Reptiles.

Yes.  As in lizards and snakes.

Of course we were going to come. We have boys. Boys like that stuff.

We, however, do not.

So, being the moms who were desperate for a day out, awesome homeschooling mothers that we are, we loaded up our boys and drove an hour away from home to give our those little guys a memory, some exposure, and a chance to see some creepy, crawling things up close.

And get up close they did.

Photo Feb 13, 6 51 04 AMDon’t miss how my six year old is giving that snake the “side-eye”.  

 Photo Feb 13, 7 28 02 AMCheck out ScalyAdventures.  It airs every Saturday on Daystar!

Never.

And I mean never in my wildest dreams did I ever envision a day in my life where I’d be taking children to a T.V. station for a fieldtrip to learn about or wrap a slithering creature around their shoulders.

Never ever.

But I love those boys and I knew this would be something that they would enjoy doing.

So I did it.

I did this too.

joelsnake

I never was actually supposed to touch the snake but my 6yo was a little skeptical about the “joys-of-boys-and-snake-handling.  Because I love him, I was trying to do my part to encourage him to hold it or at least touch it.

We ended up holding it together.

Then… as soon as my sister took the picture, he bolted and left me holding the snake.

Just call me Sister Snake Handler.

Photo Feb 13, 8 01 07 AM

Oh the crazy things we do for love.

In the picture I’m smiling but I’m not really smiling.

My mouth is open and my teeth are showing.

Because that’s what you do when you are trying to capture a moment in pixels and you want to remember later when you are old and senile that you lived a daring, brave, and exciting life.

But really I was totally terrified.

And isn’t that the story of love?

Love can be terrifying.

Love can be take us to places we never expected and find us doing things we never expected to do.

Love can make us daring, brave, and give us new and exciting places or experiences to call our own.

But most days, love is not daring, brave, or full of crazy.

We just plug along… doing love, showing love. Most days, there is nothing daring or exciting about love.

Love is showing up and doing the regular stuff, the hard stuff, the redundant stuff. The stuff that makes us want to pull our hair out or scream or run from boredom.

Love is the stuff that makes us stop and wonder at times if we made the right decision marrying that man or having those kids but we still keep showing up and doing what needs to be done because even on our worst day of wondering…

We.

Still.

Love.

Them.

And sometimes we stop the crazy, the daring, the boring, and the regular to just look each other in the eye to say I love you.

Tomorrow is Valentine’s Day and, of course, because I’m me, I’m still trying to figure out exactly what I’m going to do to make it special.

Because honestly, it’s a Saturday.

A Saturday where I have nothing really planned to do.

That’s special for ME.

And if the truth be told, I want do keep it that way – full of absolutely nothing.

But no can do.  I’m a Mom.

And just because I took my boys to hold a snake  a few days ago, that will not alleviate my responsibility in their eyes of celebrating V-day.

So even on a day where there is absolutely nothing to do. There will be something to do.

Because when you have kids there is always something.

And it’s Valentine’s Day so of course because I’m a glutton for punishment a good Mom, I will figure out what I can do to make the day seem special for THEM.

Today, I wrote over at TheBetterMom.com about 10 Simple Ways to Show Your Kids Some Love. If you are like me tend to wait ’til the last minute to think about holidays or special celebrations, then this post is for you. You will find some memory-making-tips for last-minute-Moms for celebrating Valentine’s Day.

10 Ways

 

I’ve already been to the dollar store and sent my kids to their homeschool coop yesterday with a handful of goodies slipped into a brown bag with their name written in black sharpie surrounded by a bunch of hearts – also written in black sharpie.

I know you are not impressed.

That’s OK.

I’m a bit underwhelmed too.

I’m underwhelmed anytime I take the plunge and browse through my Pinterest feed to see all of the over-the-top Moms who seems to have some gene that I didn’t inherit for creativity and fun.

But you know what?  As Dr. Laura Schlessinger says, I’m my kids Mom. I’m the only mother they will ever have so I try to do give this mothering gig my best effort.

So, I shop my brains out at the dollar store…

dollarstore

 

And on occasion I hold snakes.

Photo Feb 13, 6 49 19 AM

There you have it.

Boring, regular, uneventful, right next to crazy, daring, and exciting.

That about sums love up.

Happy Valentine’s Day to you and yours.

 

I’d love to hear from you!

What are you doing for Valentine’s Day?

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