This year was one crazy Valentines Day!! I say this for many reasons. One, the weather has been crazy! A few days ago we got a bunch of freezing rain, yesterday (valentines day) it snowed. sleeted, and the wind blew so hard all night long, and today we are getting several inches of glistening, fluffy snow! The biggest reason why this Valentines day was crazy is because it was the first Valentines day EVER that Andrew and I have not been together. It made the day a little sad, but for myself it was made easier because I was surrounded by my three little valentines, and friends who risked getting out in this crazy weather to bring us lunch! Even though Andrew and I were not able to be together, I still felt very loved and blessed this Valentines Day.

It has been several years since we have seen an actual…well, anything winter weather related. The kids were amazed at the ice on the ground. This was their expressions when we first went outside. 🙂 Samuel especially was not sure about it. Once we were out onto the street and was able to “skate” on the ice, they loved it. I am excited to see their expressions when we are able to go outside and play in the almost foot of snow tomorrow! Too bad it’s a powdery snow! I don’t know if they will be able to build a snowman, but they probably won’t care.

We made Valentines Day sugar cookies on Saturday. I love making sugar cookies with the kids! They love cutting the shapes out, and then frosting the cookies. My favorite sugar cookie recipe is from Sally’s Baking addiction. I love how soft and fluffy they are. I don’t use her icing recipe, mainly because I know the kids are going to be decorating and I don’t really want to go to all that trouble for kid frosting. I use a buttercream frosting and the kids color it with food coloring. Emma likes doing the food coloring. The last time we used the food coloring I got the lid for the yellow and red mixed up. OOPS! I had intended on having pink frosting, but we ended up with red because we had to use enough red to cover up the yellow we accidently put in first. 🙂

We had a lazy Valentines day morning, and the kids wanted to watch cartoons with a valentines day theme. We watched the Curious George Valentines day episode, and the kids saw that the man with the yellow hat made heart shaped pancakes and waffles for George, so the kids wanted some heart shaped pancakes too! 🙂 Who am I to disappoint?! I got into the kitchen and whipped up a batch of pancake batter! I used the NYT everyday pancakes recipe! I used self rising flour, and substituted a cup of the milk for buttermilk. They tasted amazing, and were so fast and easy to make! I broke out my heart shaped cutters, and pretty soon the kids had their heart shaped pancake breakfast!

A few days prior I had received my traditional Valentines day gift from Andrew. We have a thing where every year he buys me one of the gold plated roses from I Hate Steven Singer. 😍 I believe this is my seventh rose! 🥰💐 It’s really beautiful! The kids and I sent Andrew a care package/Valentines day gift as well. We mailed it last Monday, but to our disappointment he is still waiting for it. It will be a nice surprise next week when he returns from field training!

Friday we had to make a break for the grocery store in between weather, and while we were getting groceries we passed the valentines day card display. David stood there looking for a few seconds and then comes up to me and says, “I want to buy this card for you, but you can’t see it!” He shows me the back of the card so I can see how much it costs. I, of course, say ok. He carries it all through the store, and at the check out asks the lady if he can have the card back after she scans it. He was very careful to not let me see his card until Valentines day. He was so sweet! I have to say, David did a great job picking out his card! 😂 Emma painted me a wood heart envelope, and then made a picture of us at the beach she says. 💌 🙂

The kids usually get their valentines day candy from outside sources! I try to buy them gifts without sugar, as we generally have already made cookies and such. David wanted more Pokémon cards, Emma got a pup pad from her favorite Paw Patrol show, and Samuel got a cool light up spinning top.

My three little loves! They made my day special, and a lot less gloomy!

I am feeling very blessed for this crazy life we are leading. We all miss Andrew terribly, and being far apart on Valentines day was difficult, but we have so much crazy love to be thankful for!

PK