~Valentines Day~

Valentines Day may be a silly holiday, but I'll take any excuse I can get to celebrate, love on my family, and eat chocolate cake.  Like many other holidays, I've decided Valentines Day is better with kids.  Though I never documented it, we spent hours upon hours making homemade valentines for the kids classmates.  We made pink sugar cookies with white frosting and red hots for friends that came to visit that day, and we made m&m cookies for family night.  Perfect.  The kids got valentines in the mail from loving family members and were so excited for actual Valentines Day to arrive!

 I kept breakfast simple, but still made it fun with pretty yogurt parfaits.  The kids were super excited for their chocolate hearts and books.  I love finding excuses to get my kids more good books. :-)  Then the kids were off to fun preschool parties while we had Cooking Club at our house.  I taught everyone how to make spinach fritata.  It's a staple recipe in our house.    

 I was excited to have dinner with all my favorite Valentines.  We had butternut squash ravioli (covered in red stripes), heart shaped raspberry jello jigglers, strawberries, a lovely salad and some bubbly with cheers all around.  I can't even tell you how many times the kids gave me hugs and kisses and wished me a happy Valentines Day.  For dessert I made a delicious flourless chocolate cake with whipped cream and strawberry sauce.  So rich and sooooo yummy.  Everyone enjoyed it.

The kids finished out the night with lots of silly Valentine stories.  They had so much fun.  When I put Elyssa to bed she asked "Is Valentines Day really over?  That was a short holiday!"  

Nick and I finished out the night cuddled up on the couch eating chocolate covered strawberries and popcorn while watching "Midnight in Paris". All around it was a fabulous, low expectation, happy, fun filled Valentines Day.  

What a nice way to break up February.  

Now we look forward to Spring!