Valentines 2014

John laughs at me for going so overboard with Valentine's day.  I will admit that I'm a bit over the top but lets reflect on just how many Valentine's Days I spent single with no boyfriend/husband/kids and then we will come to realize that I'm perfectly balanced in my gift giving - festivity celebrating hoopla.  ;)

This Valentine's Day was quite fun.  I had THREE kiddos to surprise with trinkets and goodies and love and such.  One may argue that Brooklyn was only 7 months old and she won't remember it and doesn't need anything.  To them I say poppycock.  Pictures are taken to document the day and I wouldn't dream of hearing her say "Mommy, where were my goodies?"  When she looks back on them in her older years.  Okay, she may never say/do that but it's more fun to indulge everyone in heart-day goodness.  Especially when it's soooo fun to do it!

Here's a glimpse of what was waiting for them for breakfast.  Valentine's is the perfect day to stock up on the cheapy toys in the dollar bin that become clutter and trash within one week after they are given.  Happy Heart Day!

The V-Day table at a glance.  Pre-kiddos.  That's a whole lotta love - and the kiddos haven't even entered the picture yet!

Zoom in on Brooklyn's trinkets.

Zoom in on Jonas' trinkets. 

Zoom in on Addison's trinkets.

And look at those happy faces.  You can't tell me she's "too young" for the hoopla.  She is loving it. 

Addison is in LOVE with Frozen.

Happy Jonas with his loot.  He's too cool to look at the camera I guess.

Breakfast candy.  One of the few holidays a year that I say "Sure!  You can have all the candy you want for breakfast!  Dig in!  (Honestly, it makes my job easier anyway.)

Of course, we celebrated V-day with heart-shaped donuts for breakfast (thank you Krispy Kreme!), Chick-fil-a for lunch, and a heart-shaped pizza for dinner (thank you Papa Murphy's!)  My gift to myself is that I don't cook and I let others do the creative cooking for me.  It's totally worth it and one of the many ways I embrace the reality of my life with three kids age 4 and younger.  John also bestowed gifts on us.  One was joining us for a lunch date at Chick-fil-a.....so romantical.  And of course he provided us girls with a bouquet of baby roses.  I got most of them since I'm the Mommy, but Brooklyn and Addison each got one to put behind their ears.

The whole week prior to Valentine's Day we had lots of celebrating to do.  Mostly just Addison with her preschool festivities and card-making and parties to attend.  She was pretty excited since she actually understands the details on holidays.  However, Jonas was definitely interested in what was going on and wasn't enjoying being in the "spectator section" to her parties.  He wasn't grumpy by any means but it wasn't fun for me to watch the little guy just go along for the ride while we did everything with Addison.  Luckily, we had a fun play-date planned that was during Addison's preschool so this Mommy braved the chaos that is 20 toddlers under one roof and toted Jonas and Brooklyn to the party.  We didn't get to stay too long since we were rushing for preschool pick-up with Addison and meeting Daddy for lunch shortly after but it was SO worth it to see this little guy have his very own party.  The squeezy little smile on that guy's face says it all.  He had a great time with his friends and they even got to exchange their own valentine's to boot!  So grateful for fun friends and fun playdates and the fact that our ward has a gazillion little kids in it so we always have friends to do fun things with.  I'm also grateful that this little guy is ALWAYS so nice when he plays with friends.  He's a sweet boy and never gets rough or hits or gets rambunctious.  I never have to worry about him causing trouble.  Thank you Jonas!

Jonas and his very own Valentine party.  He loved it.  And I love that little 'crinkle-nose grin.'

And last, but certainly not least, Addison got to have her own Valentine celebrations.  I think she had at least two parties to attend (one with preschool of course) so we had to mass-produce some pretty cute little Valentine's for her to hand out.  She's obsessed with the Disney movie FROZEN lately so I found a cute valentine idea on pinterest.  Once I showed it to her she didn't hesitate to approve that baby and we got to work.  It was fairly easy and such a good craft for her to help be involved in.  She practiced LOTS of counting by the time we were done with it.  I cheated and made Jonas' myself when he got bored with the process by the time we finished two of them.  

Addison showing off her festive Valentine's she made for school.  Of course, they are FROZEN.  Are you surprised?  

All in all, Valentine's was a success.  So many fun things to do, so many fun memories made, and so much time spent around the ones I love most.  I did spend many years of Valentine Days all by myself before I was married.  However, if I had it to do all over again I would if it meant spending the rest of them with my lovely family.  I'm very grateful for every one of them and want to show them my love all year long.

HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY!!