I Heart Valentine's Day!

I really LOVE Valentine's Day...it might be my second favorite holiday with kids! This year I was pinspired to have a countdown to Valentine's Day. 

source: The House of Smiths

The kids LOVED opening their little treats daily. We chose to count 1 to 14 but you could count back, too. I just used dollar items or small snacks/treats for something LOVELY. I can reuse the bags for next year, too! We ended up moving them to the little kitchen area after the bottom row of bags kept falling. I think there were some heavy bags or the cat was playing with them? Plus, it wasn't very safe to light a fire. 

Hugs are always nice! See the bags on their kitchen?

We LOVE decorating around the house, too. As soon as the Christmas ornaments are packed up, I get excited about the pink, red, and white that we will use. I must really LOVE the word "LOVE" because I have a lot of LOVE signs.

The kids and I crafted recycled heart crayons for Jackson's Pre-K valentines. They were a lot of fun to make and kept my little helpers busy while I prepped dinner one evening. Riley was especially great at carefully removing the paper off the used and broken crayons. Jackson enjoyed breaking them into small bits and arranging them into pretty colors in the heart molds--purchased at Target last year in the $1 bin. I knew those would come in handy! I think they are maybe jello or ice trays? They worked perfectly!

 Rubber cement worked the best at holding the hearts in place!

On Valentine's Day morning the kids found some special gifts and so did I! I was surprised that my favorite valentine remembered me! And shocked he went to the mall and into Victoria Secret's all by himself! My gift is the gift that keeps on giving. Wink! Wink!

I made the kids a special heart themed breakfast and then we went to my workout class with some pretty healthy cupcakes for the trainers (if you didn't eat the frosting). We also sent some to work with Daddy. They are really good if you like banana and the kids had fun mashing bananas as part of the recipe process.

Riley is an expert mixer now!

Source: Lil' Luna

Riley with her choice of  Pre-K valentines.

On V Day evening, we opted for a family date night at the Brigantine. We sat in the family friendly bar at 5:30 p.m. and were finished by 6:30 p.m. Fancy, I know! 

I think something else I LOVE about V Day are the cheesy sayings to match the valentines. My favorite idea came from Mommy Prep School. Virginia is so crafty!

I also really enjoyed these from Plucky Momo! It's where I saw the cute crayon idea, too. 

Hope you all had lots of hugs and kisses spread out as you counted down to Valentine's Day! 

xoxo