Valentines Weekend

I'm kind of sad that Valentines is over, because it's really one of my favorites... but I'm also starting to get my fill of hearts and pink and candy. Well, maybe not the candy part...haha. Becca and Jake went to Bellair playgroup for their Valentines party - they exchanged some valentines and colored and decorated yummy cupcakes - and ate them of course. They also had a darling little red frame and some props for taking some Valentines pictures outside - we gave it a try and they are pretty cute considering I'm not a photographer and I don't have a fancy camera (anyone want to buy me a fancy camera?... ben?!)




On Friday, Ben and I celebrated Valentines together - he made dinner reservations and I got a sitter... those are usually our assumed tasks when it comes to dates. We ate at Tutti Santi, a place we've dined at before, but many years ago - Ben enjoyed lobster ravioli and I loved my homemade gnocchi. I love Italian food! Ben spoiled me with 2 dozen lovely roses and some fancy chocolate truffles. They were all gone within 24 hours, enjoyed by yours truly. One of the many reasons I love Valentines. :) Well, I mostly love it because of Ben... he is wonderful.


On Saturday, we didn't do any Valentines activities, but it was very busy with family fun. The kids spent a small portion of the morning finishing up their weekly chores so that they'd be ready for Family Movie Night. Our current chore system continues to be successful, but it's definitely just as much my responsibility to remind the girls continually of the jobs they need to do, as it is theirs to actually get the chores completed. A lot of it is teaching them how to even do the chores and what the expectations are for it to be considered complete. Emma found that sweeping the back patio is much more fun while wearing roller skates. :) And Becca discovered that the vacuum is much bigger than her.




After chores, we packed up a lunch and headed to the Anthem outlets to play and shop around a bit for Emma birthday gifts and Ben clothes - Ben is all of a sudden skinny and nothing in his closet fits... it's been a constant process to try to restock his closet with new smaller clothes... probably not the worst problem to have however - haha.






When we finished up shopping, we headed straight to the movie theater... we decided that instead of watching a movie at home, we'd go see Gnomio and Juliet for our Family Movie Night. It was a cute movie! And we love when kids movies are just as entertaining for the adults. :)

On Sunday evening we had a Valentines/birthday celebration at Ben's parents home. Emma and Peter share a birthday (Feb 16th), which Emma loves! So, we were spoiled with Valentine gifts and a delicious red and pink dinner, and then Emma and Peter got to open some great birthday gifts and blow out the candles on a delicious chocolate cake made my Aunt Emily. Emma got some darling dresses, books, and doll house accessories from Grandma and Grandpa Dangerfield - the Lee's got Emma a new Fancy Nancy book and cute pj's. Oh, and Grandma and Grandpa Szymanski got Emma a Connect 4 game for her b-day while they were up visiting. She LOVES to play it! Emma has the greatest aunts, uncles, and grandparents... what a lucky girl!






On Monday (Valentines Day!), I got out the heart cookie cutter and made some heart shaped pancakes for breakfast. It's amazing to see how much more excited the kids are when the pancakes are shaped like something other than a circle. :) The girls then headed off to their Valentine parties at their school classes. Since I got to go to Becca's Christmas party, I decided that it was Emma's turn for me to visit her. I brought Jake along, which I thought might be a recipe for an early exit, but he did well and even got to decorate and eat his own Valentine cookie. He loved that! I love how excited Emma gets when I come to her classroom. She's such a cutie!


I checked Emma out of school about 20 minutes early so that she could just come with me to pick up Becca from preschool instead of having to take the bus home. As I pulled up to the home that Becca does preschool at, Emma and I both quickly laughed at the line-up of minivans waiting for their little ones. As a mom (especially a Mormon mom), this is the world I live in now... minivans everywhere! haha.


When we got home from school pick up, we did the same valentines lunch we had last year - heart shaped pb sandwiches, strawberry smoothies, and a handful of m&m's (for good measure). The kids were quick to dump out all their valentine loot from school and pass around their cards and treats... Jake collected a large amount of suckers from the girls and he sometimes would have 2 in his mouth at once. I dare to say that Jake loves Valentines day. ;) We also finished up our Valentine collage on the fridge from all the mailbox exchanging this month....


The girls helped me make sugar cookies (that we later decorated that night for FHE) - Emma was excited to wear her new apron set she got from Grandma Dangerfield for her birthday! When daddy came home he brought the girls their traditional valentine gifts of balloons and chocolate - can you tell they were excited?! We had a lot of cookies leftover too, so I packaged up some extras to take to friends. Oh, and the REALLY big balloon that Becca is holding in one of the pics, was given to her free from the Fry's play area... since it was the day after Valentines, I'm guessing they were trying to get rid of them. You should have seen her face when I picked her up after grocery shopping! That balloon is bigger than her!