“I love your love.” --Alex

Ah, Valentine’s Day. Yet another Holiday where we let ourselves eat all the junk food we want and pretend it doesn’t count. This year was definitely full of love with my little holiday enthusiasts, not to mention they are a pretty cuddly bunch most of the time anyway. They were beyond excited to pick out their valentines from the wide variety at Target. Alex chose Superman (was there ever a question?), Angry Birds caught Bennett’s eye, and Ruby didn’t surprise me at all by choosing Disney Princesses. No homemade valentines here! As cute as all those ideas on Pinterest are, there was no way I was going to make it any harder on myself than writing names on all the cards my first year of three kids handing out valentines to classmates. THAT was even almost too much for this mom. And no, I didn’t sit there and prod them to write their names on all of them. We did that for the teachers, and that’s all. Kept it easy on everyone. The kids couldn’t have been happier about them, so I say it’s a win win.

We had a festive week leading up to the 14th, and made homemade cinnamon suckers with my mom’s molds. Still so happy that I snagged those! They kids were thrilled to make them with me again. They were so interested in the process, and were truly helpful in putting the molds and sticks together. They were so quiet as I was pouting that extremely hot sugar, and I heard Ruby Whisper under her breath, “Look how gorgeous that is.” Wonder where she gets that appreciation for the art of food (; ?

Another day we were heading to a friend’s house for dinner and were bringing dessert. I stuck with the theme for the month, and made white chocolate raspberry cheesecake. This little heart swirl was a cinch with the new medicine dropper I bought!  Thanks again to an internet stranger for that tip. Bad lighting didn’t make for the best pictures, but it was a fun little project that I hope to try again one day and fine tune the technique.

They got to celebrate with their class a day early, since they don’t have school on Friday. We dressed up in Valentine appropriate clothes for fun, and since they are hardly all ever looking put together all at once, I made them do a little photo shoot for me, which only happened with the promise of not one, but TWO heart suckers. Alex and Bennett were happy to oblige, and even did poses together all on their own. Those hams of mine. Ruby was less excited, but we got a couple smiles out of her anyway. (Btw, I know almost nothing about photography or editing. I usually just point and shoot and post. No judging.)

Even better than the pictures than turned out are the outtakes.

They had a cute little party at school, during which I didn’t have a camera. Alex was slightly confused about why he was giving away all his Supermans! He thought as they were going around to all the decorated boxes and bags, that they were supposed to take one OUT instead of putting one IN, not realizing a bag was getting filled up for him as well. Oh, four-year-olds. It took some conversation in the corner, but he finally came around, and they were ecstatic about their loot. I let them eat all they wanted, and they even shared with me! And it was a Twix, no less. The ONLY piece of chocolate they got! I was honored.

On the actual day, I got an early start making a fun crepe breakfast for everyone, complete with cream cheese/ pudding filling, and raspberry sauce. Of course the kids didn’t appreciate it, but it started the day off in a festive way, so it made me happy at least.

We met some friends at the park to take advantage of the gorgeous weather, and then headed to the dollar theater for some Frozen fun. They were perfect little angels watching that show they love so much, and getting so excited when a song they knew came on. During the closing credits, the kids just started to dance and sing their hearts out to “the different Let It Go”, (their name for the pop version of the song) and not only was I watching and laughing as they danced, but they had a good portion of the audience watching and laughing as well. Love that kids are just so carefree. And those kids can dance, let me tell you. After splashing in the puddles from melting snow, we went home and made pink (cherry 7up) slushies, and had some nice down/snuggle time.

That night, we put the kid to bed early after some pizza, and we enjoyed some delicious sushi, and watched a great Redbox choice, Enough Said, all in the comfort of our own home. Oh, and we polished off an amazing pint of Blue Bell ice cream. We bought a new TV over the weekend (our gift to each other), so we could move the one we had upstairs, so it was a fun little date enjoying that together.

I loved this day with all my Valentines. These are my favorite mommy moments, starting traditions, and making my kids happy with little things like heart-shapes peanut butter sandwiches. I remember my mom doing things like that to make life fun, and I love that she passed that onto me. It really doesn’t take much to make my kids happy. Teaching them how to cute hearts out of paper practically made me their hero. This is a fun time of life, despite all our chaos. I love remembering times like this.

Now the kids are already well into the spirit of St. Patrick's Day. Another festive month, coming up!