Sweetness Of Valentine's Week

I grew up making sugar cookies for nearly every holiday. Mom made sure to give them to friends along with her piano students...among many others I'm probably leaving out! Valentine's Day seemed to be the biggest one for giving out these cookies. I have done this for ALMOST every Valentine's Day since I had an apartment in college. (I'm sure there may have been a couple of years here recently I decided not to take the time.) Anyway, this is one of those traditions I like to continue, but I never realized what a saint my mom was for doing this with us until trying to be patient with my own kids while cutting out cookies. :) This year seemed the least stressful and I tried to just take it all in stride and both kids did really well. They loved doing this and I loved their enthusiasm.

We started decorating the cookies after nap. Lorelei was very adamant that her dad get the biggest cookie and she decorated it all by herself. Who else could get THAT many blue sprinkles onto a cookie? :) She said he deserved the cookie for getting his new job. :) So, she delivered her special cookie to her Daddy.

That is a smiley face, complete with a layer of chocolate on the top for hair. :)



For me, Valentine's Day is really an excuse to have some extra goodies around the house. :) Had to show Lorelei with her chocolate-covered cookie. Her cookie decorating plan usually involves putting as much chocolate as she possibly can onto her cookie. She also decorated some specifically for Uncle Bob and Auntie Di. I was amazed at how good she was at decorating this year! :) Makin only decorated his personal cookie which he wanted to cover with M&Ms. :) I also tried out a scone recipe with strawberries and chocolate chips. They were yummy but the kids didn't want them! :) During school on Tuesday, Makin and I went over to the Hughes house for M&M to decorate V-Day cupcakes. They loved decorating and eating their own cupcakes and then just ran around having fun the rest of our visit.

Our first year doing valentines for school!!! Kind of a momentous Valentine's Day moment when you actually have to make a batch of valentine's to give out to the class! And to top it off, they even made their own box at home to take to school to put their valentine's in. Brad and Lorelei worked to cover the box in all pink (I think Lor only lasted helping with the glue for a couple of sides and Brad finished it later.) and then Lorelei had fun putting on any and all stickers and pom pom balls she could to spruce it up. The valentines we made this year were a bag of Teddy Grahams and Gummie Bears with a card that said, "Bear Hugs From Lorelei" with the other side decorated by Lorelei with stickers. And we went all out for her hair as I had a new hair-do idea off Pinterest to try since we already had ribbon that matched her shirt. :) And of course, had to get a pic with little brother in the before-school photo shoot. :)

We are so blessed with these two beautiful kids and the love they give us every day.  Not much can beat their sweet hugs to make you feel loved to the moon and back. :)

Happy Valentine's Day! :)