Valentine's Day 2014

Yesterday was our 3rd annual family Valentine's Day celebration and it was so much fun! You can take a look here and here if you want to see what we've done in the past.

Before I start on yesterday's festivities, I wanted to share a picture of the gorgeous flowers my hubby sent me on Monday. I love that he sent them early so I got to enjoy them on my desk at work all week long. I'm not particularly a fan of roses, but these beauties are so classic and elegant.

But back to Valentine's Day - I kicked it off by making Cruz's favorite coffee cake that he's been asking me to make for a couple of weeks now. It's actually a mix in a box from Trader Joe's and he's a big fan. I baked it in a heart-shaped pan for the occasion :)

How fun is this pan!

Coffee cake and strawberry smoothies

Since I'm the kindergarten class room parent, I also got to plan their Valentine party. I decided to make mini strawberry and cream muffins and individual snack mixes for the kids to munch on. The muffins are perfectly sized for their little hands and as an afternoon snack. I kept the snack mix pretty simple with just pretzels, plain Chex cereal, mini marshmallows and Valentine M&Ms.

Strawberry & Cream muffins

And of course, what's a class Valentine's Day party without some Valentines to pass out? Cruz gave all his friends one of these cards and a small box of temporary tattoos.

Power Ranger themed cards

Delivering his Valentines

My co-room parent had a great idea for the party activity: the kids each made their own bird feeder using a heart-shaped piece of cardboard, smeared with Crisco and then dipped in bird seed. We added a piece of ribbon and the kids had a bird feeder ready to take home and put out for the birdies! I love being able to participate in his class parties and to see Cruz as a student. It makes me realize how independent he's become and how he's found his own niche among his peers.

After school, Cruz and I headed over to his pal AJ's birthday party. After a couple of hours at the party, we skedaddled back home so I could get started on our V Day dinner. Earlier in the day I stopped by the store and picked up some mylar balloons to decorate our dinner table. Cruz set the table with our Valentine plates that we reuse every year - I love their bright colors and how they help set the atmosphere. I bought the boys each a book and a small candy treat, and I put these at their seats.

Feels like a party!

After decorating, I got started on making our dinner - braised short ribs and polenta, plus heart-shaped pasta for the kids. Once I got the short ribs in the oven to cook for the next couple of hours, Cruz made one of his favorite desserts - brownies! With sprinkles!

Chocolate lover

Here's a picture of the short ribs after I took them out of the oven, after 3 hours of braising. I wish you could smell this picture, it was so fragrant and mouth-watering just looking at it. To die for.

Heaven in a pot

The short ribs were delectable, tender and melted in your mouth. Who says dinner at home has to be boring? This is what I would want to eat if I was at a restaurant on Valentine's Day, so I made it myself. Lawd have mercy, it was good! You can find the short rib recipe here.

Brownies taste better when they're shaped like hearts

My loves

Peek-a-boo!

 

I told Cruz that Valentine's Day is all about celebrating our ability to give and receive love. I hope Cruz and Lucas know how much they are loved by so many people, especially their mama. I hope you all had a great Valentine's Day, however you spent it!

A LOVE breakfast

In my life B.K. (before kids) I wasn't huge on Valentine's Day, despite having had a significant other all these years. After the first few Valentine's Days, Randy and I decided that we didn't care about exchanging gifts but we just wanted to spend time together on the "holiday". Now that we are parents, we want to continue that line of thinking with our sons. I know there are lots and lots of people who think it's a fake holiday, created by Hallmark, but I don't even think about those things. I choose to focus on the message that it's a day to celebrate love. I have no doubt that my kids know they are loved every single day of the year, but what's wrong with having another fun celebratory day? Spread the love I say!

Last year we had a Love Dinner and it was a big hit with Cruz. I didn't buy any toys, candy or stuffed animals, it was just simply a dinner together as a family with some special touches. This year I decided to do a Love Breakfast since Randy and I had dinner plans for just the two of us. When the kids went to bed the night before, I decorated our kitchen table to set the stage: balloons, heart-shaped doilies strung together on ribbon and the same plates I bought last year. It looked so festive that it probably wouldn't even matter what we ate!

Ready for breakfast

I didn't get a picture of their faces when they saw the table, but they loved it. Lucas pointed and "ooohhed" and made a beeline for the balloons. Cruz just gasped and smiled excitedly - made it worth the little bit of effort.
In keeping with the theme, I tried to serve pink or red foods: strawberries, raspberries, strawberry milk, iced sugar cookies (it's a party after all) and used my cookie cutter to make heart shaped pancakes. I also made scrambled eggs and bacon -  party or not, we need protein!



Mini puzzle and a love note

Listening to Mommy read the card for him and Lucas

My Valentines

Bon appetit!

Lucas-size pancakes

Pancakes are always a win situation

I received so much enjoyment from putting together this simple little breakfast and it was even more satisfying when Cruz and Lucas loved all the details. I don't care what anyone says about Valentine's Day - if it means I get another opportunity to create memories for my family and remind them how much I love them, I'm all for it. I look forward to continuing the tradition for years to come.

Valentine's Day

Since Randy and I have been together since (gulp) high school, we've run through the gamut of Valentine's Day gifts. We finally figured out that we were tired of drinking the Hallmark kool-aid and didn't enjoy how commercialized the day had become. We decided that moving forward, it would be more about time spent together rather than stuffed animals or heart-shaped boxes of chocolate. Suddenly the holiday became so much more fun as each year we chose fun things to do together: a trip to the Monterey Bay Aquarium, watching the Phantom of the Opera, having dinner on the Napa Valley Wine train. It is so much more rewarding to spend Valentine's Day creating memories than just exchanging cheesy gifts!

Now that we're parents I want to pass this on to my kids - Valentine's Day should be a day to celebrate love and those we care about in a fun way. This is the first year that Cruz sort of understands what Valentine's Day is and I noticed that he associates the heart shape with the holiday. I thought it would be fun to use the heart theme for a Valentine's Day dinner for Randy and Cruz. But first, since Cruz eats breakfast at daycare, I made him his favorite blueberry muffins but this time heart-shaped:

For dinner I made "Love Pasta" with adorable pink and white heart-shaped pasta that I found at World Market.

I served it on festive plates from Target that now we can use every year.

Cruz is his mother's son and loves chocolate so I made brownies and cut them out into hearts, and served them with strawberry ice cream.

Despite being simple, every day kind of food, making everything heart shaped made it look and feel special. I had so much fun making this meal for my family and I think they enjoyed it too. I always say "food is love"...Valentine's Day or not!

My 3 Valentines: