I really enjoy Valentine’s Day! To me it’s just a low pressure, fun holidays. I can do some cute, simple, creative things to show love to my husband and kids, but I don’t have to stress. I think part of the reason I enjoy it is because I don’t expect any over the top crazy expensive Valentine’s Day gesture. Instead I really love the simple (maybe even free), creative, fun, meaningful and sincere romantic gestures that come from the heart. Easy, simple, fun = a perfect holiday!
I’ve been thinking back on the many fun Valentine’s Days I have spent with my husband over the years, and I realize I need a better memory! It all fades together over the years, but I do remember some! The first Valentine’s Day we spent together was right after Mike got off his mission. He actually got home in March, but I love Valentine’s Day so much that I decided to “reschedule” Valentine’s Day that year, and we celebrated it in April I think. We had such a fun day. We made breakfast together, played at the park together and had a picnic lunch, and ended the night by having a candlelight dinner on the track at our high school where we had met 5 years earlier. It was so fun! Another memorable year we went around to places that held special memories for us and took pictures of ourselves, danced, read journal entries, and other similar things. I’ve decorated Mike’s car at work, left gifts around for him to find throughout the day, and snuck into his work the night before to decorate his office. He’s taken us to the top of the mountain to watch a sunrise, and we spent it in the hospital when I was pregnant with Pres. We’ve danced in our living room, made dinner together, gone on overnight getaways … the simple fun memories go on and on (if I could only remember them all!)!
This year I had all sorts of ideas on things I wanted to do for the kids and for Mike. Unfortunately, I have a beautiful young daughter that takes a lot of my time and energy these days, and I just didn’t do much. But isn’t she cute in her Valentine outfit from Aunt Liz?
The plan was to wake up early to make heart shaped cinnamon rolls for breakfast. Of course after being up all night I couldn’t drag myself out of bed early enough to get them done, so they were only half risen when everyone had to leave. Good thing it’s a low stress holiday, eh? So Mike quickly whipped up pink pancake batter to make heart shaped pancakes instead. The cinnamon rolls made a great after school snack, and /i even took Mike one at work. Once everyone got on their way I scrambled to hurry and make heart shaped bean bags and get everything ready for the preschool Valentine Party… which was fun as always! I usually help with the parties at the elementary school too, but didn’t want to take Olivia into the germ fest there, so preschool was the only party I did this year. Zach had to bring a decorated Valentine box to school, and of course we couldn’t do anything simple. He wanted to make a volcano… of course. So he did it all by himself. I told him how to make salt dough, but he measured and mixed it by himself, made the volcano, painted it – everything. I was pretty proud of him! The only thing he didn’t anticipate was how heavy it would be! It was awesome! Before school I was teasing Zach about all the cute girls in his class, and I asked him who his Valentine was. He giggled and said, “You are Mom!” Awe… what a way to warm a mom’s heart! I gave him a big smooch and told him not to forget that!
The preschool party was as fun as always! We played games, read Valentine books, decorated boxes, passed out Valentines, and decorated cookies. That afternoon Ky opened up the front door and yelled, “Happy Valentines Day everyone!” He’s lovin’ this holiday!
After school Preston was telling me all about his Valentine party, and he got this cute embarrassed grin on his face, and he said, “Mom! Eden called me a cutie pie in front of the whole class! It was so embarrassing!” Hehe – I love kids! That night Mike had school, and I was fortunate enough to have three other very handsome Valentine dates! (Mike and I had gone out the weekend before). We had a very romantic candlelight dinner – yummy pink chicken alfredo. During dinner Mike texted me, and I texted him back. Preston looked at me and his eyes got big, and he said, “Mom, I thought you weren’t supposed to text on a date! I thought it was bad manners.” I told him he was right – it was very bad manners, and I apologized. He’ll make a great date someday!
Once Mike got home we had a fun mini at home date (with Olivia along of course), and called it a night! It was a perfectly fun, simple day! I love all 5 of my Valentines!
