Valentine's Day
It's been so busy around here- an abundance of soccer, dance, volunteering mixed in with the multitudinous events that need/ should occur every day. I've had little time to justify writing about anything- much less about the banalities of a low key holiday like Valentine's Day. However, I took some cute pictures and we had some good times associated with Valentine's Day so I'm going to take the time to document our day/ the season a little bit.
I always decorate the house a little bit for Valentine's Day. This year, I decorated our dining room for Valentine's Day which I'd never done before. A couple of inspirations for decorating the dining room were 1) the dining room looked so bereft of cheer after I took down the Christmas tree that I'd had in the dining room for Christmas that it made me a little bit sad and 2) I decided to keep the hot cocoa bar in the dining room that I'd had set out for Christmas. Obviously, I couldn't have a Christmas theme hot cocoa bar in January so decorating it for Valentine's Day made sense. Also, it appears that I had more spare time in January to devote to such a task as I do now. I'm thankful that I had the time because our dining room decorated for Valentine's Day brought me some joy and it brought candy in the candy dish for the kids so it was a win-win (not sure what Donnie's thoughts were on the Valentine's decor in the dining room- he's both pretty laid back and super busy at work, the combination of which rendered him free of strong opinions regarding the decor in the dining room :)).
Here's what the dining room looked like in January after the Christmas decorations were down and before Valentine's decorations were up:
For the Valentine's Day themed hot cocoa bar, I bought a small heart garland, a couple of adorable pink heart shaped mugs (I love them more than anyone should love mugs) and this little table runner from Etsy. I also love the table runner more than anyone should love a table runner. The other items on the table were items I already owned. I thought the whole table/ tableau was adorable.
Aren't these mugs PERFECT???
Valentine's Day fell on a day that I was responsible for bringing dinner in to Abby's dance studio. Four of us moms bring in a meal every four weeks for each others' kids since they are at dance for so long in the evening. I just *had* to take advantage of my week falling on Valentine's Day. I put together sandwiches and cut them into heart shapes, bought a taco dip from the deli at Kroger and then placed it in a heart shaped pan when I got home, made Rice Krispie treats in the shape of hearts, and put grapes in a heart shaped bowl. Abby didn't die of embarrassment so there's that :).
Jacob and Alyssa love my homemade chicken pot pie but Abby doesn't like it. So it was the perfect meal to make for J and A on Valentine's Day since Abby was gone. Donnie doesn't care for it either (how can one not like chicken pot pie??) so I made salmon for him which he likes. Alyssa helped me roll out the crust and we couldn't help but incorporate some heart/ love with the excess dough we had. We had enough extra dough to make more cut out dough hearts that I baked.
Little dough hearts ready to be baked
Alyssa and I loved these heart shaped dough bites (Jacob likes homemade crust but he doesn't love it like Alyssa and I do :). Donnie and Abby don't even like homemade crust).
Our final Valentine's Day inspired activity was decorating sugar cookies. The kids and I decorate Valentine's sugar cookies every year. This year we didn't do it until the Monday after Valentine's Day because of how busy we were the days in and around Valentine's Day. The kids had Monday off of school so it was the perfect day to bake and decorate cookies.
Alyssa lamented the lack of chocolate in sugar cookies. I told her we could do something about that...
Ready to be baked...
Baked
The kids all like frosting from a can. You know, the kind that you buy in the grocery store. The kind that has all sorts of preservatives in it and has that chemical aftertaste? Yes, that's what I'm referring to. The kids prefer it to my homemade icing. I don't capitulate to their preference. I don't do canned frosting. I have standards and those standards take precedent over the kids' frosting preference :).
Ready to decorate...
One of the sugar/ chocolate Kisses cookies...
Alyssa said it wasn't chocolatey enough for her :). Here are some of the other cookies we decorated.
I mentioned earlier how busy we've been lately. My own sweet Valentine and I have not been able to connect as much as normal due to an unusual assortment of activity. On Valentine's Day evening, I was in charge of the dance meal so I took that up to dance and spent at least and a half hour there. Thursday evening, Alyssa's soccer team had an *extra* practice down in Cincinnati. Alyssa and I were gone a good part of the evening for that. Friday evening, Abby had a dance competition in Dayton. She only performed one routine on Friday and it wasn't until after 10:00 pm so Donnie didn't come to the competition. But, Abby and I were gone almost all evening so we could support the dancers who danced earlier. Saturday, Donnie had a board meeting in the morning. In the early afternoon, Alyssa had soccer game in Mason. After that, I hurried to the grocery store to get finished in time to pick up Alyssa who'd gone to a bounce place after soccer with one of her soccer teammates. Shortly after I picked Alyssa up in West Chester, Donnie and Jacob left the house for a UD basketball game. Sunday, Abby and I were at the dance competition in Dayton from 10:20 am to 8:30 pm. Donnie and family came to watch Abby dance but they left after her last dance. Monday late afternoon/ evening I volunteered for a soccer event in Mason and then came home only to leave 15 minutes later for Alyssa's soccer practice in Cincinnati.
I know this season of busyness won't last forever. My Valentine and I will have a lot more time to ourselves in a few years. In the meantime, we'll enjoy spending time with the kids knowing that our time of shuffling them to and fro places, cheering them on, and spending time with them will diminish in the future. I'm grateful for all of Donnie's hard work that makes our busyness (not to mention random items that strike my fancy to buy like heart garlands) possible.
I always decorate the house a little bit for Valentine's Day. This year, I decorated our dining room for Valentine's Day which I'd never done before. A couple of inspirations for decorating the dining room were 1) the dining room looked so bereft of cheer after I took down the Christmas tree that I'd had in the dining room for Christmas that it made me a little bit sad and 2) I decided to keep the hot cocoa bar in the dining room that I'd had set out for Christmas. Obviously, I couldn't have a Christmas theme hot cocoa bar in January so decorating it for Valentine's Day made sense. Also, it appears that I had more spare time in January to devote to such a task as I do now. I'm thankful that I had the time because our dining room decorated for Valentine's Day brought me some joy and it brought candy in the candy dish for the kids so it was a win-win (not sure what Donnie's thoughts were on the Valentine's decor in the dining room- he's both pretty laid back and super busy at work, the combination of which rendered him free of strong opinions regarding the decor in the dining room :)).
Here's what the dining room looked like in January after the Christmas decorations were down and before Valentine's decorations were up:
For the Valentine's Day themed hot cocoa bar, I bought a small heart garland, a couple of adorable pink heart shaped mugs (I love them more than anyone should love mugs) and this little table runner from Etsy. I also love the table runner more than anyone should love a table runner. The other items on the table were items I already owned. I thought the whole table/ tableau was adorable.
Aren't these mugs PERFECT???
I bought each of the kids very little for Valentine's Day- just small things to brighten their day. Candy, of course, does the trick very well for my sugar lovers.
Valentine's Day fell on a day that I was responsible for bringing dinner in to Abby's dance studio. Four of us moms bring in a meal every four weeks for each others' kids since they are at dance for so long in the evening. I just *had* to take advantage of my week falling on Valentine's Day. I put together sandwiches and cut them into heart shapes, bought a taco dip from the deli at Kroger and then placed it in a heart shaped pan when I got home, made Rice Krispie treats in the shape of hearts, and put grapes in a heart shaped bowl. Abby didn't die of embarrassment so there's that :).
Jacob and Alyssa love my homemade chicken pot pie but Abby doesn't like it. So it was the perfect meal to make for J and A on Valentine's Day since Abby was gone. Donnie doesn't care for it either (how can one not like chicken pot pie??) so I made salmon for him which he likes. Alyssa helped me roll out the crust and we couldn't help but incorporate some heart/ love with the excess dough we had. We had enough extra dough to make more cut out dough hearts that I baked.
Little dough hearts ready to be baked
Our final Valentine's Day inspired activity was decorating sugar cookies. The kids and I decorate Valentine's sugar cookies every year. This year we didn't do it until the Monday after Valentine's Day because of how busy we were the days in and around Valentine's Day. The kids had Monday off of school so it was the perfect day to bake and decorate cookies.
Ready to be baked...
Baked
The kids all like frosting from a can. You know, the kind that you buy in the grocery store. The kind that has all sorts of preservatives in it and has that chemical aftertaste? Yes, that's what I'm referring to. The kids prefer it to my homemade icing. I don't capitulate to their preference. I don't do canned frosting. I have standards and those standards take precedent over the kids' frosting preference :).
Ready to decorate...
Alyssa said it wasn't chocolatey enough for her :). Here are some of the other cookies we decorated.
I mentioned earlier how busy we've been lately. My own sweet Valentine and I have not been able to connect as much as normal due to an unusual assortment of activity. On Valentine's Day evening, I was in charge of the dance meal so I took that up to dance and spent at least and a half hour there. Thursday evening, Alyssa's soccer team had an *extra* practice down in Cincinnati. Alyssa and I were gone a good part of the evening for that. Friday evening, Abby had a dance competition in Dayton. She only performed one routine on Friday and it wasn't until after 10:00 pm so Donnie didn't come to the competition. But, Abby and I were gone almost all evening so we could support the dancers who danced earlier. Saturday, Donnie had a board meeting in the morning. In the early afternoon, Alyssa had soccer game in Mason. After that, I hurried to the grocery store to get finished in time to pick up Alyssa who'd gone to a bounce place after soccer with one of her soccer teammates. Shortly after I picked Alyssa up in West Chester, Donnie and Jacob left the house for a UD basketball game. Sunday, Abby and I were at the dance competition in Dayton from 10:20 am to 8:30 pm. Donnie and family came to watch Abby dance but they left after her last dance. Monday late afternoon/ evening I volunteered for a soccer event in Mason and then came home only to leave 15 minutes later for Alyssa's soccer practice in Cincinnati.
I know this season of busyness won't last forever. My Valentine and I will have a lot more time to ourselves in a few years. In the meantime, we'll enjoy spending time with the kids knowing that our time of shuffling them to and fro places, cheering them on, and spending time with them will diminish in the future. I'm grateful for all of Donnie's hard work that makes our busyness (not to mention random items that strike my fancy to buy like heart garlands) possible.
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