Happy Valentines!

I double heart love Valentines. Its one of my very favorite holidays. The way that we celebrate it in our house is a little different than the way it is commercialized, though. For us, Valentines is about celebrating LOVE, more so than romance. We celebrate the love that all four of us have for each other. A Mother's love, Father's love, sister's and brother's love, son and daughter's, and a Spouse's love. Of course, romance does come with being in-love with your spouse, so I do make an effort to make time for a little something special for my hubby, but that has never been the focal point of Valentines for us.

On February 1st of every year, the kids put out their little mailboxes.

Each night Daniel and I take turns leaving the kids a "love note" in their mailbox.

We also leave a small treat of some sort.

Every morning, the kids run into the kitchen and check for their "mail."

They love the notes as much, or even more than, the treats!

On valentines day itself, we ham it up all day long with a sappy, lovey dovey, mushy gushy appreciation for all things love.

We started the morning off super early this year. Daniel needed to leave for work by 6:30. The kids and I woke up at 6:00 am to have Valentine's breakfast with him. I'm so not a morning person, so this was really a sign of my love to him, lol!

We had red velvet pancakes, fruit salad, and a chocolate covered strawberry.

Then, I got Dylan ready for school. He and London both had the cutest valentines for their friends. I'll have to post pictures later because I can't seem to find them at the moment. But this is what Dylan took to his teacher, Mrs Lindemann. He decorated the envelope and was very proud of it. I put a gift card to Starbucks and a note that says "Love you a "latte" in it.

London and I surprised Dylan at school for lunch.

After lunch I went to his class room and helped all the kids make ice cream sundays.

The school decided to not have a Valentine's party, but the 1st grade teachers decided to let the kids have a little ice cream social. They asked the room moms to just drop the stuff off and they would handle it all. Well, Dylan's class had a Sub for the day, and I was so excited when she asked if I could stay and help her!!!

When Dylan got home, we spread out all his valentines and looked through them. This is always one of my favorite parts of the day! And London was asleep, so we had a little Mommy-Dylan time.

Dylan was very proud of his bag that he decorated.

Then, he and I made some mini red velvet cakes...

shaped in a heart, of course!

London woke up while the cakes were baking,

so she was able to help us decorate them.

Okay. Here's the deal with crafting, baking, decorating, or creating with kids.

All expectations of final product must be thrown out the window.

And then, its a beautiful, magical experience with a crazy looking product! haha!

But its made with love, and that's all that matters!

Here is my little cake...

And here is Dylan's.

London gave up on her's so I finished it for her.

Grammy came over, and once Daniel got home, we had our traditional valentines dinner. Sort of.

We usually have mini burgers and curly fries. When I went to the grocery store (on Valentines day, of course) they didn't have curly fries. I almost had a panic attack. And then I realized how silly I was being. This is what it sounded like in my head... " Who cares!? We'll have waffle fries! On to the bread isle... Nothing to use for mini buns!!!! Are you kidding!? Okay, I'll go to another store. But shoot! I don't have time. *Sigh* Okay, at least it will be burgers and fries still. I don't think it will scar my kids for life. Will it!?"

Its crazy in this head of mine sometimes.

*You should also note the balloons in the background. Dylan has gotten the same balloon tied to his chair for Valentines day since he was one year old. And London has had the same balloon since her very first Valentines. (I love a tradition, ya'll!)

We continued with our sappy-sweet tradition of going around the table and saying what it is we love about each other. It is so sappy, and to be honest,sometimes it feels a little silly to look someone in the eye and say what it is your really love about them, but I think its so important. I never want to wonder if the people I love in life really knew how much.

I hope each of our family and friend who read our little blog, know exactly how much we love you too!