My Little Valentines

Valentine's Day is one of my favorite holidays. I'm not really sure why...I'm not big about gifts or grand romantic gestures or any of that. It's probably just because red is my favorite color and I'm a sucker for love and all things cheese. (Not literal cheese. Who am I kidding? Literal cheese, too.)

Here's how we celebrated this year:

I took the kids to Chick-fil-a for breakfast. If your kids like to play at Chick-fil-a, I'm telling you it is a brilliant plan to go in the morning versus at lunch when it becomes a crazy mad house of loud, obnoxious, and dare I forget germy brats. Not that my kids are ever loud, obnoxious, germy, or bratty. Nope, never.

my little valentines

It was a great trip. We had the place to ourselves. They behaved perfectly and ate all of their food and were being so sweet.

I could seriously just eat this little girl UP.

"Happy Valentime's Day!!"

See? So sweet.

After Chick-fil-a we headed to Target. It was totally the kids' idea. I don't even like the place. We were on a mission to get their daddy a little something for Valentine's Day. As you can see, I am making it a priority to teach them important principles such as giving and procrastination. :)

If Harrison had it his way, Rick would have ended up with either a vacuum, a baseball bat (MUST. BE. BLUE.), or a big dump truck. I have no idea where the vacuum idea came from but I sure hope the boy improves his gifting ideas before he gets married one day. We ended up compromising on a Jason Aldean CD which is perfect because he's Rick's favorite. Next to Kelly Clarkson anyway...but he's in luck because Jason and Kelly did a duet on the CD we picked out. Score! (Just ignore the fact that he loves girl pop). :)

Bus drivers

Next up was Petco, where Harrison asked/begged/pleaded/bargained no less than 1,403,938 times for a "pet fishy." He and Rick went fishing a couple of weeks ago and ever since then alllll I hear is, "I just miss my fishy so much. Mommy, can we get some water at our house and bring the fishy home with us to our family? Pretty please with a cherry on top? It's my special really big fishy that my daddy and I caught together and I just miss him so much." (whine, boo hoo, whine. All day long.) He's good, too. I actually found myself considering it. But then I remembered that we live in a zoo and if one more living thing requires me to take care of it I will officially lose my mind. So yeah. No more pets. But I do love that he's an animal lover!

Silly boy

Then I decided to treat myself to a car wash...at the expense of this poor little girl. Whoops! I guess if I washed my car...I don't know...EVER...I would know she was deathly afraid of them.

No! No! Go! Go! GO!

After that trauma, we came home for some lunch. Harrison helped me cut out cheese and lunch meat while I made their pb&j sandwiches. Not sure why silly things like this make me so happy but they do. It's all in the details.

Then it was time for Valentine's arts & crafts.

This girl loves to paint and draw...

And this little boy loves to destroy! :)

finished products

When Rick got home we exchanged gifts. We usually don't do gifts for Valentine's Day but mixed it up a little this year. The kids got board games and Rick got the CD from them and Uno from me. I am a big spender. Be jealous.

Rick got me a gift certificate to a spa and a gorgeous bouquet of flowers. I should point out that it's the second bouquet of flowers in a week...I think he's trying to make up for working 392 hours a week for the past month. ;)  I'm also thinking I should have also gotten him a gift certificate to a spa instead of Uno since he is wearing himself completely out. Hopefully things will balance out soon because we miss him and I know he's exhausted.

I didn't take any more pictures but we got to go on a date tonight! He made us 8 o'clock reservations at Birra Poretti's and arranged for my mom to keep the kids. Was SO great to have a meal with just my hubby.

Harrison's mad photographer skills. And proof I own a dress.

Here are the kids' Valentine's goodies I made for them to give to their classmates:

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I leave tomorrow for a weekend youth retreat with my 6th graders. Which means I should be packing or at least sleeping right now instead of blogging...but did I mention that I might possibly have an issue with procrastination? :) I've never been to church camp before so I have no idea what to expect. But I'm really looking forward to it. Not only will I get to bond with my girls but I will not have to cook or clean or wipe noses and tushies for 2 glorious days! I may be sleeping in a cabin in a sleeping bag but it is going to feel like a spa vacation. Ha! I am going to miss my crew but I'm glad Rick will have a couple of days to hang out with the kids just the three of them. I'm sure they will have a great time and make lots of memories...and my hubby might just have a new appreciation for me upon my return ;)