Valentine's Day photo shoot in park!

Since I had to work during the day Valentine's Day and Michael had to work that night (we celebrated with dinner the Saturday night prior) I promised girls we would go to park for picnic! They 'of course' chose McDonald's for dinner! And I 'of course' thought it was the best time to get some updated pictures!!
So here they are, Valentines Day, Feb 14th, 2011!
Abigail 1 month shy of turning 8, Aaliyah 5 1/2, and Maggie and Madison 16 months!

How do you know love?

*Monday for Valentine's Day I had to work :( Michael and the babies surprised me at work with a visit bringing flowers, balloon, and a card with a gift cert. to ebay, and Victoria Secrets!!! Totally surprised me! We were really busy so I didn't get to read card until he left. And I seriously almost cried! It was so sweet!! It was the BEST Valentine's ever =o)*

So as I am sure most of you know from following me on Facebook, Michael was out of town this past weekend visiting his Grandma, in his home town, Three Rivers, Michigan. Michael's grandmother is his world. She is closer to his heart than I believe I could ever be. Closer than his own mother, by far. We got some bad news about a month ago. Granny was in the hospital (ICU to be exact) for shortness of breath and blood pressure issues. She only spent a few days, but with that episode everyone came to realize just how precious her life is now a days. This past Feb 16th, she turned 91. With several children, and probably hundreds of grandchildren and great grandchildren, she has lived a very fulfilling life. Michael's mother is the youngest of her children, making Michael like her own son, they are probably closer than anyone in the family is and she practically raised him. I know any good advice or words of wisdom he repeats always are passed down from something she has said, or something his Aunt and Uncle have taught him!
SO needless to say, I knew right away that Michael needed to get up there and see about her. The past 2 years we have vacationed in Michigan during the month of February. But this year decided the snow is a bit much for 2 1 year old, and we were going to wait for the spring. Although I have faith his grandmother will be on the earth a bit longer, I knew Michael would never forgive himself if something happened and he didn't see her again.
So I booked him a flight. He left for the airport Wed night after work, and flew out Thursday morning to Michigan. I took the day off work to stay home with kids.
Immediately I started missing him. He wasn't even on the plane yet, but just knowing he was going to be gone a few days made the pit of my stomach ache. I knew it was for a good reason, and it wasn't practical for us all to go with him, but MAN I wanted to be there with him.
Thursday I relaxed a little, babies take at least a 3 hour nap a day, so I decided to start cleaning up and catching up on things. Michael normally sleeps during the day on days he works night, so I can never get everything done during the day like I should. This was the perfect opportunity to do that. Plus it kept me busy to not think about him being gone.
Even though I am used to him being gone at night, it was still hard to sleep alone knowing he was across the freaking country. What if something happened, and no one could get in touch with me? What if What if What ifs drove me crazy all night.
Friday my cleaning rage continued, I probably did 8 loads of laundry, folded, put away, and cleaned out closets, and drawers for everyone! lol. Rooms are spic and span now ;) The babies were SO funny! They would go in my room and look around for him, and say "Da da" "da da" lol. They enjoyed talking to him on the phone. Whenever he would call, I would put the phone on speaker and their face would light up hearing his voice. Abigail and Aaliyah missed him too, lol everyday they asked me if that was the day Michael was coming home or not. After only being gone a day, he was already missed SO much!
As the weekend carried on, we kept quite busy. The weather was beautiful! But no matter what I did, Michael was on my mind the whole time. Luckily he did call me 50x a day! I talked to him ALOT, which was awesome! And I knew he missed home.
He is not a facebooker, at all, but while gone he actually updated his status about missing home! That made me feel good!

His flight was scheduled for Sunday leaving Detroit at 7:30p and arriving in Atlanta at 9:30. Well before he left for airport it started snowing and roads getting icy. His Aunt and Uncle were in a car accident as he was trying to leave, then he hit traffic bc of ice and snow, everyone was either driving 25mph or in a ditch! When I talked to him at 7pm, the gps said he was still 30 min away. Luckily his flight was delayed until 8:05 pm, giving him some time to make it. But after turning in rent-a-car, and checking in airport, he was 10 min late, and missed his flight :( I was so disappointed. I had set up for my mother to come over and get kids to bed for me, while I went to airport to get my baby! But instead had to spend another night alone. But at least I was home in a bed. Poor Michael got stuck in the airport ALL night. They couldn't get him on standby until 6am! He spent 10 hours in airport, tired and bored!
Monday (luckily I had taken off work due to kids getting over pink eye) I got up, got kids off to school, and me and babies awaited his call for the go ahead to come get him! He arrived in Atlanta about 9:05am, and we picked him up at Marta in Doraville at 10:15a! It was the longest 4 1/2 days of my life.
Michael said his Grandma was OK, seemed well, and of course was VERY excited to see him!!


But that whole experience taught me ALOT. You can question love as much as you want. Wonder if it is real or not, wonder if you really have it or feel it, wonder if you will ever have it. But the answer is simple. If you are questioning love, then you don't have it. Love is love. Love makes you smile just thinking about it. Which I am doing right now. Even though I knew it WAY before this past weekend, I know 100% how much I really do love this man. And I don't EVER want to imagine life without him in it.
I am so glad he had a safe trip, got to visit Grandma, and made it back home to me.

In case you couldn't tell, I love him!