Our Valentines

 We had a very nice family Valentine's Day.

Several months ago I found heart shaped molds and small heart gift baskets, so decided we'd make heart crayons for Aubrey's preschool valentine exchange.

A few days before Valentine's, the girls had fun making the crayons. 

Here the girls are taking off the papers and sorting the colors.

Here are a few of our crayons.

The night before Valentines Aubrey said, "Mom I remember last Valentine's we had heart shaped pancakes for breakfast. Can we have them again this year?" That girl forgets nothing! I make a yummy and really filling oatmeal, whole wheat pancake. Here's a link to the recipe.

Here she is happy to have her heart pancakes. While we were eating breakfast Aubrey asked, "Do we celebrate anything about Jesus on Valentines?" I answered, "No not really". Then she replied, "I know, we can celebrate that Jesus loves us!" What a little sweetheart she is!

My winking Brookie bug!

Two happy girls! They just LOVE special days!

Aubrey had a preschool Valentine party and Brooke and I went to a toddler art class at the museum.

Afterward we stopped at the store to get the ingredients for a Clean Chocolate Cake I wanted to try out. I found it in my Clean Eating Cookbook, but also found it posted on the web. Here's the recipe. 

Here's my finished cake. It turned out divine!! I didn't get a chance to go to my health food store and the regular grocery store did not have real coconut extract or unsweetened flaked coconut. So I just left those ingredients out. For the frosting I used the recipe from my favorite Clean Cupcakes. You just melt some bittersweet chocolate with milk. I just winged the amounts. I'm pretty afraid to weigh myself tomorrow though because I ate most of this cake myself, since the rest of my family got other Valentine treats they were eating!

 After Brooke's dance class the girls helped me make a scavenger hunt for their Daddy's presents and they also hid the several valentines they had made for him. (Have I mentioned how much my girls LOVE to make valentines?!)

Then they made their heart shaped pizza. This is the whole wheat pizza crust recipe that I use and it is delicious! I forgot to get a picture of my pizza, but this is the recipe to my Spinach and Chicken Sausage Pizza. 

For Jeff and the girls pizza I buy a organic, sugar free pizza sauce at the health food store. Then they top it with mozzarella cheese and turkey pepperoni. 

Here they are with their finished pizza ready to cook!

After Daddy got home and while the pizza was cooking I ding dong ditched the girls valentine presents (as is tradition.)

I got some killer deals at Ross so the girls got a lite bright, (a blast from the past!)

And a Zooble nursery with a Mom and two zooblings. I couldn't decide which to give to which so they were presents for both to share.

 Then the girls gave their Daddy his clue to his scavenger hunt.

After several clues, he found his present.

The girls are always happy to help Daddy open his gift!

Then I hid the treat Daddy brought home and a little treat I had picked up with some homemade Valentines Jeff and I made for the girls. I sent them on their scavenger hunt to find them.

We ate our yummy heart shaped pizza, fruit and heart shaped chocolate cake.

Brooke had an awesome chocolate goatee!

Then we all played with the girls new Valentine toys for a bit.

We played a couple of games and then sent our little ladies on to bed. What a nice Valentines we had.

A few days earlier Jeff gave me the best Valentine's present ever. He took me to a ballroom dance class. We learned the Tango. I absolutely love to dance and Jeff absolutely hates to dance :(. So we have never gone dancing - ever. I had lost all hope, until Jeff shocked me by saying he would take me dancing for Valentines!! Yipee! He also brought me home a rose bush and he and the girls planted it in the front yard. I love flowers and am excited to see the roses growing in our yard!

It's nice to have special days to celebrate with our families. I know people complain about the commercialism and that it is superficial to have to show your love just because the calendar says it's valentines day, but personally I feel those people are missing out! It's so easy to get in a rut in our routines and to take our loved ones for granted. Having a day set aside to do something special and to show our love to those we care about only makes life more meaningful. I don't like to miss out on any opportunity to make life just a little more memorable and to participate in important traditions that bring us closer as a family. And sure I could pick any day to do that, but it sure is nice that there is a day already scheduled on my calendar!