Love this goofy little man...

I made a late night run to Target yesterday to grab some Valentine goodies for my kiddos and a card for Kyle. I found myself thinking that I should have perhaps made the trip earlier as the aisles were clearly combed over and I was left with candy scraps...aka...not much. I did what I could and brought home some Hershey kisses in the appropriate Valentine colors, some candy corn in pink and red (slightly frightening) and some Brach's candy hearts which seem oddly thicker than normal, but no less delicious. They remind me of those double-stuffed Oreos. Those were truly more for me than my kids. I. Love. Candy. Hearts. 

*not sweet-tart hearts, though....this must be clarified.

I also bought 2 little cutesy cereal bowls in which to place my candy stash for the kiddos. Look at me thinking ahead for future use!!!! Oh, and a card. 

I was so proud of myself! I know that there are moms who go way over the top and incorporate Valentine's into every aspect of their day, and this would be so nice. Heart-shaped waffles sound so yummy, but I neither own a waffle-maker nor have the time in the a.m.to do that! Nor did I have the foresight to incorporate all manner of Valentine's Day activities into our homeschool. Not so much. Maybe next year! 

I do fully intend to bake sugar cookies with B this evening and possibly cut them out into heart shapes. There may even be red and pink icing involved. 

But I will say that I'm particularly proud of what I had the kids do for their Daddy.  They each made him a card (handwritten by EACH kid, except Dorien) that says, "Happy Valentine's Day!" Ok, B's actually says Valeentine but she was just so caught up in the beauty of her E that she did a second. And I was fully intending to write August's message for him, but I'm quickly learning that one just does not DO anything for him. He must do it all by himself. So with my guidance and a written example, he wrote out all by himself all 18 letters. And did a stinkin AWESOME job. For a 3.5 year old, he is catching on fast! (We use Handwriting Without Tears as part of our school and it has been great at teaching them their letters..)

I even let them decorate the cards with glitter glue, sequins and other fun stuff. For me, it was huge. I didn't even squawk when B dropped her card and got glitter glue on the floor. I swear, for a second, I even admired how pretty it was before cleaning it up!

 And the kids were fantastic. We all got so caught up in the creativity of the moment that we almost forgot lunch.  

Also, I should point out that right now, Brooklyn is standing by me looking through my Pioneer Woman cookbook picking out what she wants for her birthday meal this Saturday. So far, we're up to: beans and cornbread, mashed potatoes, meatloaf, meatballs and some marmalade muffins. I think she must be hungry.

Happy Valentine's Day to all. We love you!