Valentine's Day

   Valentine's Day was extra special this year because it fell on a Saturday.  Usually the kids are in school or daycare so they don't get to spend the entire day with us.  Since it was on a Saturday, we decided to cram as much fun into one day as we could.  I have never been a huge fan of Valentine's Day, but I do enjoy spending the day as a family and showering one another with lots of love and mushy sentiments.   We try to keep it special, yet simple. 
    We started the day with a very special breakfast.  We had heart shaped french toast with Nutella.  It was so delicious and a very sweet way to start our day.  Dawson liked it so much he asked, "Can we have this breakfast every day Mom?" 
    We were extra blessed with some beautiful weather that day.  We knew we had to go outside and take full advantage of it.  We went to the park near Ashlyn's school.  I just love that park and we always have a great time there.  Two of Ashlyn's closest friends were able to meet her at the park for lots of play.  We stayed at the park for quite awhile and just soaked up the warm weather and had a great time with friends. 
    We spent the afternoon relaxing and hanging around the house.  The kids and I got out the Valentine's Day decorations and started to decorate for our special dinner.  We have made it a tradition now to eat in the formal dining room and decorate. It makes it feel special and it is way better than going out to eat.  The kids got to have a special heart shaped pizza from their favorite pizza place.  Joey made us some wonderful steaks topped with mushrooms.  It was delicious! 
    After we put Gracie to bed, it was time for some fun!  I had found some Minute to Win It game ideas on Pinterest.  We played several different games with candy.  We did boys against girls.  The games were a lot of fun.  In all the games you had one minute to see who could complete more of the task.  We stacked conversation hearts, tossed marshmallows into a bowl, carried conversation hearts across the room with a spoon, and picked up candy with chopsticks.  We had a blast and we laughed a ton!  The score ended up being a tie. 
    After all the fun we had playing games, we were ready to end our night with something sweet.  We had brownies topped with cookie dough ice cream and hot fudge.  A perfect ending to a very sweet and perfect day! 

Poor Gracie only got Cheerios for her breakfast

Yummy French toast

She loves books these days.  This is her favorite. 

She also loves cucumbers and loves to run around munching on one. 

Entering the park

Swing time

Loves the swing

Sisters

The dining room all decorated

About as fancy as we get around here

Yummy pizza

Daddy and his sweethearts

Mommy and her special boy who was pretending to be a monster. 

Kisses for my special boy!

We made Shirley Temples for our special drink

Gracie enjoying some pizza

He is such a silly boy

Stacking hearts

Picking up candy with chopsticks

Here they were trying to toss marshmallows into bowls

Scooping up hearts with little spoons

Time for dessert!