The day before Valentine’s day I found out that our Valentine’s babysitter wasn’t going to be able to make it (for my husband and I to go out to eat) so I changed all my plans and decided to put a positive spin on it rather then be upset. I knew I wouldn’t be able to find a babysitter for the busiest night of the year last minute. I had seen so many fun and cute things on Pinterest and I decided to be the mom who goes all out.
BREAKFAST:
First we started with breakfast- Land ‘O Lakes- French Toast with Strawberry Butter- the strawberry butter was so yummy and definitely worth it! I used Texas Toast and cut each piece into heart shapes- actually I cut the toast into hearts for the kids and then got tired of doing it so my husband and I got square pieces of toast. We topped it off with powdered sugar and strawberries and a family favorite strawberry milk. The kids got cute Valentine’s Day shirts, balloons and stuffed puppies before they left for school. For my little boy I got a cute green stuffed Alligator but he hated it. It was so funny all day people were trying to hand it to him and he just swatted it away or took it from them and threw it on the floor. I’m not sure what his aversion to it was but he doesn’t like it.
They went to school with cuter hair then they have in this picture but I didn’t snap a picture of that- this is them just rolled out of bed, hey at least they’re dressed!
LUNCH:
Kid’s Lunches- for the kid’s school lunches I made peanut butter sandwiches and used heart shaped cookie cutters and then dipped them in melted chocolate chips. They also got a slice of cheese cut in the shape of a heart, strawberries and little heart shaped treats (store bought). I totally forgot about their drink but luckily they didn’t finish their strawberry milk at breakfast and had that in their backpacks so they were covered.
DINNER – VALENTINE’S PARTY:
For dinner we had a big Valentine’s Party that I spent the entire day preparing for. It was quite a bit of work especially with two little ones at home that were demanding of attention all day but totally worth it!
My four year old and I spent the day cutting our hearts and hanging them up, blowing up balloons with our helium tank and decorating the table with lots of cute accessories.
Brown Sugar Blondies – I used dark chocolate Valentine’s themed M&M’s
I decided to do something fancy for drinks so I bought these martini glasses at the dollar store put a little red sprinkle sugar around the rim, attached a strawberry and made strawberry lemonade- my husband’s favorite! (We aren’t alcohol drinkers so it always takes a little bit to try and get creative.)
The kids were so excited for dinner they were jumping with energy from the sugar they had at school and then to see a table full of sugar just made them crazy- we definitely paid for it later. I love this picture of my daughter and little boy, he’s blurry because he was excitedly waving. The kid’s special drink was Strawberry Jones Soda. We don’t drink soda in our house either so this was a huge treat!
Oh and the girl’s little plastic cups were full of goodies. Valentine’s pencils, a fun straw for them to use to drink their Jones Soda, a box of sparkly conversation hearts and a little coupon book I made.
Heart Shaped Pizza from Papa Murphy’s – only $8 – well after the substitutions I made (1/2 pepperoni and 1/2 pineapple it was $9)
Cheddar cheese and Monterey Jack cheese cut into heart shapes and cucumbers cut into heart shapes for our salad. That little metal heart shaped cookie cutter served quite a few different uses for today’s celebrations.
Our store bought treats- chocolate strawberries for the kids and an éclair for my husband and I to share. Some things are just better store bought because it’s less stress for me- however my sister-in-law’s éclairs are to die for- much better then these ones from the Fred Meyer bakery, even though they were good.
And of course just had to share this picture of my daughter in her cute Valentine’s Outfit being silly.
I also made chocolate sugar cookies with pink frosting that the girls were going to decorate for an activity after dinner but I was so tired from my day full of craziness that we decided to save it for tomorrow when the girls get out of school early. Oh and that recipe for chocolate sugar cookies- I’m not a huge sugar cookie fan, except for the soft ones you can get in the store with the pink frosting those are yummy- but the dough on these chocolate ones was SO GOOD! I haven’t tried the cookies yet but I’m sure they’ll be way better than any sugar cookies I’ve ever made.