Happy Valentine's Day!

Kaitlin's birthday party was on the 11th.
The 12th I spent doing some errands with Mom that she wanted to do in Portland.  We returned home at 6pm.
The 13th found me scrambling to get ready for Valentine's Day!
We literally bought Matthew's Valentines the night before Valentine's Day.  He wasn't interested in anything homemade &cutesy, and that was not a problem.  He opted for some store-bought "cars" Valentines that he quickly addressed and was done.

I'm going to do a short little post on putting Andrew's valentines together.  But Kaitlin's valentine's provided us with the first opportunity to have her write her name.  (I admit, I've never worked with her on this.  The sad reality of being the third child!)  Thankfully, her small motor skills are developing much easier and she sat down and with a little guidance (telling her what letter to do next, and a little help with the "k" which proved hard for her)  she wrote her name!  This was her best one....



Her "E" is my favorite. Always two lines close together at the top and one far down at the bottom. :)  She has easy letters in her name, so it wasn't too difficult.  She was SO proud and excited about this accomplishment, calling to Dan, "I wrote my name!  I wrote my name!!"



Matthew put the hearts on this valentine to Andrew because he loves him and gave him not one treat like everyone else, but TWO.  :)



This was our first year of 3 sets of school valentines!

In the morning, the children woke up to heart shaped cinnamon rolls (out of a can)  I was thinking as I was putting this little breakfast treat together, that if you have red food coloring, some heart shaped doilies, cookie cutter and some heart sprinkles you can throw valentine's day together pretty easily!



That was about the only sweet part of our morning!  It was a rough one.  Matthew & I had an issue (which I think was a lot due to my own fatigue & impatience, which I'm not very proud of), then after dropping him off I was nearly to the highway when Andrew told me he didn't have his shoes on!  I had to drive all the way home and so Kaitlin was very late for school and I was completely frazzled.

But it's hard to stay grumpy long when you're surrounded by cute little 3 & 4 year olds.
I was very happy to stay and help out in Kaitlin's class.



Craft time!





By the end of class Grace & Kaitlin had little bags (that they made) full of Valentine's from their classmates.



Whenever Kaitlin talks about Grace she never calls her "Grace" she says "My best friend."  I took these little cuties home, got Andrew off on the bus, and got to work!



I finished making a cherry chocolate chip cake for dessert.



Kaitlin approved. There were little swipes of the frosting that proved it. :)



I set the table so that when the boys came home it would feel special.  The big boxes on the table held new art supplies ~ markers, paints, sidewalk chalk, etc.  My kids craft a LOT and all of their supplies were drying up/running out, so I purchased them during a great sale over the holidays and put them away for valentine's day.



I picked up the boys and they were so cute ~ talking a mile a minute about their parties and valentines and putting pieces of candy in their mouths as we drove home.  I sat back and enjoyed listening to them.



I made a light beef stroganoff recipe and it was really good.



We sat at the table over dinner and exchanged valentines.  Dan is reading his valentine to Andrew in this photo.



And this was Andrew's response.  So sweet.



And this was Kaitlin's card opening routine.  Looking...



Then,  "Awe, that was so sweet!"



"Thank you!"
I have to say, this was one of my very favorite Valentine's Day dinners.  The kids were so sweet, and are at really fun ages.



After dinner the kids were excited to finally see what was inside those boxes!



I bought them their own ream of paper so they would stop stealing mine out of the printer!  Matthew was especially excited about this.  He loves art and can be found making books, drawing pictures and writing daily.



Andrew was happy he finally got to eat one of his suckers.



And just in case we hadn't had enough sweets, I had made some Valentine's Chex mix as a movie treat.(Again, Pinterest) ~ it was really good & very addicting.  We watched "Mr. Poppers Penguins."  Well, that is, the rest of the family did.  I was so tired from all my my birthday/holiday shenanigans that I was asleep on the sofa by 7:15!  I had the most delicious snuggle from the Bug ~ it was just the perfect way to end the day!