Valentines Sweetness

Jason and I have always enjoyed celebrating Valentines Day and love it even more now that we have our children to celebrate with.  What a fun opportunity to share a little love around our circle. We decided that we would have our traditional red Valentines supper on Friday evening since we were sending everyone away for the true Valentines Day so we could have about 28 hours of quiet and rest.

  

I had fun decorating and playing with the table getting ready for everyone to get home.  Pizza (red sauce) and cherry Kool-Aid were on the menu so the preparation was not extensive.  :)

Earlier that week we handed out Valentine cards to some elderly folks in Cartersville and on the way home I took the kids by Agan's Bakery to pick out a few cookies.  Somehow the sweet little bakery stop I envisioned in my mind ended up in the kids arguing, getting in trouble and not being able to actually eat the cookies.  I, at least, got an A for effort out of the deal.  :)

  

Our red meal tradition stems from when my Mother would do the same thing...all red items for our Valentines meal.  Just makes it a bit more fun!

  

On a whim, I picked up some fun balloons for the night and everyone was thrilled.

  

The entire day was absolutely magical as I worked in the Keeping Room and decorated in the Kitchen because the back wall of windows in our house displayed the magical winter wonderland the Lord was creating for our family.  It was beautiful.

  

Doster and Mary Anna's first experience in a real amount of snow and they had such a fun time.  Mary Anna was a bit hesitant, at first, but she was perfectly content being entertained by all the commotion from the kids.

  

  

  

Our next door neighbors, Shawn & Emily, make the perfect playmates for our kids and they all had fun making snowballs, snow angels and getting oh-so-cold together.

  

Puzzle and Piece

  

 

 Mary Anna opened her first Valentine and found her first cowgirl hat.

 

Doster was next and was thrilled to find money, a new shirt and a picture frame.  The shirt was to be worn on the date he was going to take Mommy on, with the money, and the frame will hold a picture of the two of us that night.  He was so happy with his promised Valentine date with Mommy!

  

Caroline's gift was a date with her Daddy to the Daddy/Daughter dance the next weekend.  She received the skirt she would wear as she twirled around the floor in her Daddy's arms.

Our Zoo

 

The next morning we all loaded up and went to Grandpa and Grandma's to use all of their snow.  At this point, Jason and I were really hoping that the roads would be clear and that everyone would be able to make it to the grandparents' the next day.  We were really looking forward to our quiet time and, although we love snow, we'll take alone time instead any day!

  

Burying Grandma in snow.

  

Making chocolate snow-cream.

  

  

  

  

We warmed up with some hot chocolate and decided to come back to our house to sled on our big hill and make a snowman.  Denver was excited to join in the fun.

 

Mary Anna gets so so excited around animals.  She just can't get enough of them and is so upset when they leave.  I often find her banging on the window calling to our cat, who is laying in the sun outside, trying to get to him and touch him. 

 

Good ol' Daddy carrying the sled to the top of the hill each time.  

  

My Sunshine

 

Grandpa and Grandma with the kids and their snowman.


What a sweet treat this snow weekend was for our family. We had so much fun, it cleared up enough to travel on Sunday and all three kids had a fun overnight trip to their Grandparents while Jason and I rang in Winter Break with a quiet respite, alone in our home.