Valentine's Day post

Getting to make cut out cookies for the first time this week. I've never attempted them by myself but they turned out chewy and a little crispy on the edges-perfect!

And a date night with the hubs was fabulous.

And my loves got little gifts 

Love Day

I kinda love to celebrate in our home...like a lot. There's almost no month without something to celebrate in our home. Between birthdays, national holidays, Christian holidays, Jewish holidays and cultural holidays, we have something almost every month. I think the only month we don't have some reason to celebrate in this home is August.

So, I adore Valentine's Day...always have...even in the years when I was in high school and college and wanted a boyfriend to celebrate with, I still bought cards for friends and family. I just love spreading the love.

Having children makes Valentine's Day for me even more fun.

The kiddos had parties at school leading up to the day and there were some snow days that week so FJ had time to work on his valentines during one of those days.


Here are lots of photos related to all things Valentine's Day-
Miss A's box she created herself for her party-

 FJ hard at work-

 Daddy/Daughter Dance-

 Making valentines at the retirement/nursing facility during our church's dinner with the residents-

 I hosted a Valentine playdate here and there were delicious snacks and a story time and a craft. My friend from church, Laurie, is so creative.

 

Valentine's snacks-

 Miss A before she went to school on the day of her party-

 Her loot-

 Making valentines and cut-out cookies at Gramma's that weekend (Gramma spent lots of time putting out all of these great materials for them to decorate their valentines and spent lots of time getting cookie dough for them to cut out and decorate. It was so organized and well thought out!) The kiddos really enjoyed this-

  

 From our valentine's day breakfast-

 Homemade berry sauce used for pancakes and for "pink milk"-

 L getting to open some of his first valentines-

 My main squeeze on our brunch date. We had the most amazing couple from church watch our kiddos for 6 1/2 hours!! We did some shopping and had a long leisurely brunch that was so wonderfully yummy.

 My littlest peanut-

 My littles and me-

 Miss A's paper from school. The last line. That is all.

 These hearts we put up each year as a countdown to Valentine's Day. Each heart has a verse from Psalms and each one contains the word-love.

 A most tasty little loaf of bread/cake we got as a parting gift from our brunch-

 Our little dudes checking out their valentines from mi mama-

On Valentine's Day, I hug my husband extra tight...so thankful to have a special someone on that day to celebrate and to have that kind of love to celebrate too.
I hug my children extra tight...so thankful to have little ones to hug and cuddle and open red and pink cards with and smile and laugh and giggle with on that day.
I send our extended family valentine cards to let them know we think of them so much and that we are always sending our love.

There's so much bad in the world that on a day to celebrate love...why not do it with gusto? Why not let everyone you love, know you love them even if they have heard it a couple thousand times? Why not let those you love, know you love them even if they have not heard it from you very much?
There's no better time than now. Do it.

Snow and Love

On Valentine's Day Eve we got at least 13 inches of snow which meant two days of snow days for Miss A.
She was thrilled.
Miss A out on the deck-

 Rosie was too scared to venture out...

 The snow was so high it was difficult for them to sled....

 So they buried their legs in it instead-

 My fantastic hubs shoveling our driveway-

 Content to stay in the Cozy Coupe

Before the big snow, Miss A and E went to a Daddy/Daughter dance in our neighborhood-

Miss A worked on her valentines box and valentines for school-

 They were sent home with labels from school to glue on to each valentine.

Because of the snow, there was no school on Valentine's Day and thus no party so her party was this past Thursday on the 21st-

The morning of Valentine's Day, my husband made a special breakfast for all even when I had planned to make (canned) scones...so it was quite the delicious breakfast:

 Then one gift and Valentine for each kiddo...this was the biggest gift for Valentine's Day they have ever received-

 Because Miss A already has an umbrella, she got Queen Elinor-

 Valentine we sent out to family-

 Made baked some Valentine (pre-cut) cookies-

 Played in the snow with neighbors because it was 45 degrees that day so it wasn't terrible outside-

 My beautiful roses from my husband-

 Cards and decorations-

 Our countdown to Valentine's Day Bible verses about love-

 Family photo op taken by the babysitter before our Valentine's date out-

 Delicious gelato dessert-

 Lovebirds-

 I absolutely love getting to go out with my husband and especially on Valentine's Day. We make it a point each year to go out on Feb. 14th no matter what day of the week. We are always blessed with a babysitter wiling to sit for us on that day. It can be hard to find a sitter for that day as you can imagine.
If you do not go out with your spouse on or around Valentine's Day, I encourage you to do so...to remind yourself why you decided to do this whole family thing in the first place.  Plus it is so refreshing and such a wonderful way to connect.