Valentine's Day

My oh my has time gotten away from me.  I have had every intention of posting, but each night I find myself far from the computer.  So today, here are our Valentine memories.

We began the morning by having strawberry milk.  Sweet Pea, who doesn't care much for milk, asked for seconds.   While the older kids were at school, the girls made cut-out heart cookies.  They turned out really cute.  I'm not sure why I didn't take more pictures of the day, but this is what I have.

We also made these yummy treats.  Thank you Pinterest!  We took waffle pretzels and added a Hershey's Hug to each.  We baked them for a few minutes and then pressed an M&M on them.  The combination of salty and sweet was delicious.

Our Valentine tradition of the last few years has been to have a pork-chop dinner (Monkey Toes favorite) and then give each of the kids a small gift.  This year we gave Sweet Potato a Cross Word Puzzle book, Honey Bunches received a Paper Airplane Kit, Gummi received a Word Search book, Cucumber excitedly opened up a Kindergarten Workbook and each of the babies (I know, they're not really babies anymore) were given a Lenticular Puzzle.  We did well in selecting these treasures, as they have kept the kids entertained all week.

We ended the evening with individual Cheese Cakes.  Again, another of Monkey's favorites.

Valentine's Day is one of those "holidays" that I (we) enjoy.  The focus has completely shifted from the stress of trying to find the right gift or sentiment for Monkey Toes, to making it a fun family celebration.  As usual, the kids enjoy the little things about the day.  They bring treat bags home from school whose contents rival that of Halloween and have fun reading each of the cards/messages from their classmates.  The little girls make their own cards for me & Monkey and now Grandma.  The kids look forward to Monkey coming home from work so they can shout "Happy Valentine's Day Dad!"  We read our last scripture verse from our Valentine Chain, which the kids let Pumpkin remove and then repeat from what I whispered in her ear.  Eventually they all came down from their sugar high and had a restful night's sleep. 

This day that we celebrate LOVE, is a day that we truly love.  Although we should be mindful of how we talk to each other and how we treat one another every day, it is a good reminder (and helps us put into practice) the importance of telling those close to us how much they mean.  How appropriate, as St. Valentine is the Patron Saint of greetings.  Wishing you all, hearts filled with love!