Happy Sweets for you all!

Today is Valentines...an admittedly commercialized version of what the holiday once was, as I was reminded last night in Wal-Mart at 10pm with the amount of people angling to snatch up chocolates and cards out of the middle aisle. (and, no, that's NOT what I was doing there!)

Yet, it's still an opportunity, albeit sanctioned by Hallmark, to tell those in our lives that we love them. Our little family secret valentines didn't work out so well, but maybe next year. We'll definitely try it again. I was able to take advantage of our built-in babysitter and go to a yummy Black Angus dinner with my hubby.

Unfortunately, I only sent about 1/4 of the valentine's cards I'd made a month ago. We did hand-make McKenna's valentines, though, complete with paper doily hearts.

And, I still enjoyed leaving little trinkets and sweets on my kids' pillows. I sent some love and received some love. All in all, pretty successful, I'd say.

And here are more wishes of love-- may we be surrounded by those we love and know it, and appreciate it, for that is precious above other things...Happy Valentine's Day!

Secret Valentines

This year I was in charge of a Valentine's Tradition class for our Relief Society Enrichment, and realized we don't really have any as a family.

As a child, I always loved coming home from school on Valentine's day, and my mom would have put some sweet item and love note on each of our beds. The last several years my kids and I have sat down and handmade their valentines to exchange at school. That's been our only real constant. Over the years I haven't been able to keep anything else up often enough to call it a "tradition." I mean there were years when Dennis wasn't even on the same continent to have a date night. So, this year, in my research for the class, I saw an idea where you exchange names like a secret Santa, and do things for your "Secret Valentine" for the week. This idea involves secret acts of kindness every day that I planned to culminate in a great "unveiling" on Valentine's day at a special family dinner.

So, great idea...in theory, draw names from a basket. 5 year old McKenna comes and asks you if "m-o-m" is mom. Next, Sabrina gets "Hayden" and says "is this rigged? Can I have someone else?" Next you realize that realistically for the 5 year old to pull off any secret acts of kindness, she's gonna need help. Then, Hayden proceeds to start a list using clues from people and comes up with the entire, now not-so-secret list of who has who. So much for the "SECRET valentines" project.

Oh, well, at least we can still do nice things for each other and enjoy the love shared all week long. Again, In. Theory. I found out today that every day when I've made Sabrina's bed, so she had a nice fresh one to come home to, she just assumed she had done it herself. Maybe next year we try a new tradition....

Feelin' the Love...

Ok, so last week wasn't at the top of my list as far as "fun" goes...but days like today make it all worthwhile. Not because I got extra love from my honey...because, yes, he's still gone. But, after a cozy little Valentine's party with friends Saturday night, I was ok...the holiday come and gone.

But, this is what I came downstairs to this morning. Actually, McKenna let the cat out of the bag when I woke up...said they were downstairs making pancakes...and "all getting along." That is probably the best part of all. Happy Valentine's Day to me! So, when I finished dressing and went downstairs, the table was set with a heart-shaped pancake on each plate.

How cool is that? First, that my kids are old enough to make breakfast (and there was very little mess, to boot!). Second, that they wanted to surprise me with a special treat....and got along doing it. I love my sweeties!