love day.

In keeping with my year of simplicity, we kept Valentine's pretty low key this year. Last year it was quite the event, and I think it is easy for me to get carried away. This year I pretty much just completely avoided Pinterest. On Wednesday we enjoyed our annual Valentine's cookie decorating playgroup. On Thursday Carly had her school party. They sang a cute little song about love and had food and played Bingo. She has a sweet little friend (who is a boy) who always gives her big hugs and says "I'll miss you!" when I pick her up from school. We were putting her Valentines together and she said "J* loves me." I paused. "He loves you?" "Yeah, he likes to play with me a lot." Ok, 4-year-old friendship love I can appreciate. "Good," I told her, "It is fun to have nice friends." That afternoon we made a super sugary Valentine treat mix and watched a movie (Carly's first Redbox: "That's pretty cool how it just makes the movie!").

[What a perk to be born with a built-in Valentine.]

Valentine's Day arrived. The kids woke up to new books, and we indulged on Nutella strawberry pancakes (but don't you worry, the kids' were whole wheat). We played in the snow and painted and played in our basement playroom. A sweet and fun and very normal day. We enjoyed a fancy dinner of Cottage Inn pizza on paper plates in the candlelight. We kissed our sweet Valentines goodnight, and ate Dairy Dan's ice cream and watched the Walking Dead (so romantic!). It was a most lovely day.

Chris and I have never been real Valentine's people. We prefer to celebrate our anniversary, a day special and unique to us and without the insane crowds. But, like every holiday, Valentine's sure can be fun with kids. We had a Family Home Evening where we wrote things we love about each other on hearts. It is sweet to see my kids love for each other, and I hope they always see the love between me and their daddy. Because even though we aren't Valentine's people, I sure do love my man. Nearly 8 years later, I still feel a thrill when he walks in the door (and not because it means I have someone to help with the kids, though that is nice too). 

Somehow, a tradition of photo Valentines to our families has stuck. This year's idea was my brain child, and I dare say it turned out pretty cute. Though, the bloopers are my favorite. I kid you not, I took exactly one picture of John by himself. He sat down, held his list up perfectly, and gave the most adorable smile. In the end I realized I wouldn't get all three of them holding their lists and smiling, so yay for picture collages.

The final product:

I certainly love my four people.

It was a sweet and simple celebration.

xoxo.