Valentines

As I always say, I love celebrating holidays and Valentine's is no exception. I've had an awful head cold for over a week now and can't smell or taste so I refused to go out to eat and spend money on food I couldn't enjoy so we stayed home and kept things pretty low key but I think everyone felt very loved. Neil stayed home in the morning for breakfast which is always a treat. He had tied 9 mylar heart balloons going down the stairs to represent our 9 years of marriage and he had fun love songs blasting from the stereo that we all woke up to. It really created a fun atmosphere. We decorated the table with valentine decor and each of the kids got a box of chocolates and a series 6 lego minifigure. They were very happy. I made heart shaped cinnamon rolls for breakfast with hot chocolate and that was delish. Who knew Valentine's Day was all about the candy and sweets. We had made sugar cookies on Monday which were also so good. Here's my new favorite sugar cookie recipe. These were so thick and so soft they melted in your mouth. I didn't have a lemon so I just added extra almond extract, my favorite flavoring. Neil and I don't do gifts but I saw these decorated cookies on this blog and couldn't resist making them with a little suggestive note.
I secretly snuck them into his lunch bag hoping that he'd pull them out in the lunch room surrounded by coworkers and suffer a little embarrassment but no he saw them as he was walking to work. He did text me to let me know he had just eaten a butt cheek.

Look what I saw as we were decorating our cookies. Remind me to throw those sprinkles out.

Conner had to add his little touch to the festivities so he disappeared downstairs for awhile and came back up with this sign. I had to get a picture before they left for school, which made them late. But aren't they so cute all in red. They all wanted to wear Valentine shirts.

Being the frugal mom I am I bought star wars candy canes after Christmas for $.25 a box to make hearts out of for their Valentines. Second year in a row and it's always a hit because you get "2" candy canes. I found these cute Star War printables online and just printed them out and it was easy peasy lemon squeezy.

I had high hopes for our Valentine's dinner but we had people over for dinner the night before and the kitchen never got cleaned up and then there was the mess from the cinnamon rolls and lunch and I just didn't have it in me to go all out for dinner. I was so sick of sugar by lunch I just couldn't make dessert when I still had a plate of delicious cookies on the microwave just calling my name. So at the last minute I put aside my plans to make a gourmet dinner and made everyone a heart shaped pizza and we all made our own love potions to drink. Simple, delicious and the kids loved it.

I saw this technique for making layered drinks and couldn't wait to try it out. It is so cool. You put the highest sugar (30g) drink on the bottom, a middle sugary drink in the middle (15g) and the least sugary drink on the top (0g). If poured slowly the layers stay separated. It is great fun. I wish I would have gotten a white drink for the middle then you could have really seen the difference in the red and pink layers. I can't wait for 4th of July. Red, white and blue will be awesome. Our drinks were our own very own love potion.

Pizza Supremo. Neil loves taking pictures of me with my mouth full of food.

Since we had finished Narnia we decided we'd have a love fest in the bedroom and all snuggle on the bed to watch the movie, a real treat on a week night. We need a king sized bed. The kids loved it! It made for a late night but so worth it. I think everyone felt very loved. I sure did. I love my husband and family!