My Sweet Valentines

I have 2 very sweet men in my life. First, Aaron took his own money to school Monday morning so that he could buy a gift from the items available from the student council for me and Sadie. He remembered to take money, even though it had been since Friday that he had been told about it. He didn't mention it to me, until I caught him going through his piggy bank, fishing out quarters. He also took money to get something for Sadie, and was going to get something for Toby, but Toby told him to save his money. He kept the gifts hidden from me and Sadie, and was very excited to give them to us, bright and early this morning (he really wanted to give them to us last night, but I assured him he could wait one more day). He's so sweet, and I love him very very much. Sadie got Aaron 2 packs of caps for his cap gun. He was very excited about that...

My other sweet man is, of course, Toby, the love of my life. I was surprised that he got me more than just candy this year. You see, although Toby is very loving, he feels that Valentine's Day is just a commercial holiday, invented so that men would have to buy cards, flowers, candy, jewelry, etc. And I agree with him, and never really expect anything from him. He does usually at least get me some candy. He has learned over the years not to waste his time w/ those heart-shaped boxes of assorted chocolates. This year, he got me a heart-shaped box filled with chocolate covered caramel hearts. He is learning.

But, he surprised me and got me jewelry. When I first saw that it was a jewelry box, I was thinking that this man does not know me well. I am not really a jewelry person, and the jewelry I do wear I am pretty particular about and he knows to let me pick it out. So, I opened the box and it was a Pandora bracelet, which is a charm bracelet. I tried to get a good picture of it, but couldn't get our camera to focus well on it, or the flash to work well. So, instead, I have copied and pasted pictures from their site. Here is the bracelet:

Here are the 2 clips he picked out. The clips lock in place over the 2 areas of the bracelet you can see on the back that look a little different. These don't move, they lock in place. That's good for me right now, because I only have once charm, and it keeps things well spaced.

And here is the charm he picked out:

I really love my bracelet. I never had a charm bracelet back in the 90's, or whenever it was that they were popular (was that the 80's?) Whenever it was, I never had one, and I never would have thought that I would be so excited to get one now. I absolutely love it, and am looking forward to adding meaningful charms to it as the years go by. Toby is excited, too, because part of the reason he bought this bracelet was because it will give him something "easy" as a gift for all future occasions. So there was some practicality in this gift, but also lots of love.

I love you, Toby!