Valentine's Day Fun

We had a fun filled Valentine's Day weekend.  I love Valentine's Day and making it a special day for my kids.  When we were young my mom always made a fun dinner

 and made it a day we always looked forward too.  I wanted to follow suit and have it be a special day in our house too! 

We talk often in our house about Jesus' love for us and about loving others.  This holiday always seems to heighten the kid's awareness about showing love and the

different ways we can show our love to others.  Today as we were coming out of church Eric held the door for a man in a wheel chair who was on his way in.  Emma was walking beside Eric back to the van and said, "Daddy, that was sure nice of you!! That was showing love to that man wasn't it!"  I love it when they get it and see the importance of showing Christ's love to others around them. 

 

Eric and I were able to go out for Valentine's Day on Friday night!  We had a wonderful dinner and enjoyed our time reminiscing over the past year and talking/dreaming about our future. We especially are excited for our 8 day get away together to the beach in 5 weeks, not that we are counting!  I love it that we have made our relationship a priority and try to have date night every week.  I love it that I never tire of spending an evening alone with my husband! I love it that after 10 years of marriage we keep falling deeper in love with each other.  I love the way that we continue to grow as a couple as individuals and as parents. 

When we got home we had a little surprise waiting for us.  The kids had made us these darling cookies.  I think Shane was waiting to fall asleep until we got home so he could tell Eric that the 2 little cookies he made for us but the big one was his.  I have to brag on our sitter a little.  Tanea has been babysitting the kids for 5 1/2 years.  She is like part of the family and truly loves our kidos.  We feel so blessed that we can leave them with someone and not think twice about them or worry.  She often does something fun with them like bring hot cocoa, whip cream and sprinkles or like Friday night she brought stuff to make cookies.  To top it off she always has the house spotless.

   

Saturday morning we started Valentine's Day with some heart shaped pancakes with some of grammy's homemade raspberry jam  on them.  They were yummy! 

We had heart shaped sandwiches, strawberries and veggie chips for lunch.  

We also did some Valentine's Day baking! I love this picture of my girls with their missing front teeth! 

Shane doing some mixing! 

Adding a couple eggs! 

Look at that yummy heart brownie with cream cheese and strawberries!

Daddy brought his girls some flowers and Shane got a frog balloon!

We finished our Valentine's celebration with a Valentine's Day dinner with some chicken Parmesan, heart pasta and homemade apple sauce! 

We went around the table and told each person something we loved about each of them.  It was so cute to hear the kids tell each other the things they love about each other.  They would grin from ear to ear when it someone was telling them the things they loved about them.  Note to self ... we need to do this more than just on Valentine's Day! 

The kids opened a little gift!

We decorated cupcakes and ate some for dessert! 

Hope you had a Happy Valentine's Day!