Happy Valentine's Day!

The kiddos had a great day being loved on by mommy and daddy:). It started with red velvet pancakes with homemade strawberry 'syrup' and pink or purple smoothies with red heart 'ice' cubes. Brian got me the pretty tulips that are on the table...along with another vase full (my fav flower:).

after school they came down to a Valentine lunch of pears with craisin hearts (yep...i used a knife to dig out a heart shape then molded the craisins into it), pink yogurt to dip them in, a heart shape kashi bar (which i molded with my fingers), string cheese xoxo, and craisins. They also had water with their pink juice cubes in..which they LOVED because it melted and turned their water pink:). they couldn't BELIEVE i had gotten a heart into their pears:). This was definitely a last minute thing as I had no idea what I was giving them for lunch and just dug around in the pantry and fridge until I thought it was "Valentinesy" enough.

Then we headed outside in between the rain for a quick photo shoot and a game of tag.

I LOVE books and we read all the time around here. My kids read all sorts of books but I still have a section of the house dedicated to seasonal books that get changed out accordingly. Today we read all of our Valentine's books before Ephram's nap. They LOVED the 'library' time all together so I'm gonna have to do that more. Usually I read separate chapter books to the two oldest, then different ones to Kinsey, and Ephram has board books or Kinsey and Ephram read picture books together with me.

When the kids woke up they found they had a "heart attack" on their doors! They were so happy and loved all the 'love notes' that I wrote for them. We also surprised the Morgan's with a 'heart attack' on their front door last night:).

The kids have been making crafts over the past few days and today I took them all and strung them together to hang up in the doorway. They loved it and couldn't wait to see Brian's face when he came in:). They also made their Valentine's hats today...I LOVED seeing all their different personalities come out in how they were decorated:).

they BEGGED me for pictures after our crafts were hung and I actually cut them way down. i think there were at least 30 just in this position of each of the kids, then each of them together, etc. they LOVE being behind the camera and they are starting to really request pictures with each other (like Cailey and Braden, etc.).

While they were occupied with piano and awana I decided I would make a scavenger hunt for them to do together after dinner. I wrote the clues and got them hidden before Brian got home:). LOVE this picture of me and my babies!

dinner was heart shaped pizza with heart shaped pepperoni (yep..i did cut them:), cheese pizza for those who didn't want pepperoni, and veggies...shaped like a heart. truth moment: as soon as the picture was taken I just dumped the green peppers on top instead of arranging them pretty:).

and homemade strawberry cake that cailey and i made yesterday for dessert! everyone LOVED everything! cailey has always loved strawberry cake/ice cream...it's always been her favorite. she decided tonight that she wants this to be her birthday cake every year starting now instead of having a 'themed' cake. everyone else loved it too and since it's a sheet cake it'll be easy to make for her! i did tell her that if i mail it to her in college that she'll have to frost it because it would be too messy and needs to be refrigerated! (since mom always mailed me my favorite pistachio pound cake for my birthday).

Next up I surprised them with the scavenger hunt which they were SO excited about!! We don't usually give Valentine's gifts but instead I spend time making them special things throughout the day. Since Cheryl had just delivered the Girl Scout cookies that each one of the kids picked out I decided to make that their treasure. (They had no clue we had them out on the porch and even forgot they asked for them a month ago:). While the pizza was in the oven I snuck away to my room for the first time today and wrote on the boxes for each child and put pretty ribbon on them before hiding them in the last place.

they were hidden in the back of the pantry. after they found them everything kind of came to a crashing halt when I asked them (along with Brian who also got cookies:) to pose with their cookies for a picture. ephram started throwing up ALL over and just couldn't stop:(. he was holding his box and threw up all over those too. he had been coughing since he woke up from his nap and was hot...and didn't eat much dinner so I didn't think he was feeling good but he just went with the flow. poor baby!! he was resting and we were TRYING to give him liquids (though he was adamant about not having anything) then he popped up about 15 minutes later asking if he could have one of his gookies. we had to tell that sweet pitiful boy that they would be waiting for him when his tummy was better. thankfully he took the news well. other than the sickness we had a GREAT day sharing love with each other!! praying that sweet Ephram feels better tomorrow!