Valentine's Day 2013

The night before Valentines Day the kids watched a movie in a fort.

 Then I tried to be all cutesy and have them wake up and run through red streamers. Instead they came to my room to wake me up in a huff saying "Mom why did you boobie trap us in?" "We crawled under it." "You didn't even really trap us!" They didn't see the treats they just thought I was being mean. I was half asleep and laughed my head off that they thought I was trying to tape them in when I thought I was doing something fun. Lesson learned.

Then we did heart shaped pancakes.

The kids have a favorite Valentine book (okay our only Valentine book) where two bunnies throw a party for their families. They leave a trail of hearts for their parents to find their homemade valentines and then they put on a puppet show to the nursery rhyme of "the Queen of Hearts". So I cut a  million little hearts and they put them in a trail all over the house for David to come home to. At the end of trail they did their play. The pop tarts were the "tarts" that got stolen. Clever huh?

Next we had a candle lit dinner of homemade heart shaped pizza and frosted sugar cookies. David and I have had pizza every single Valentine's Day since we've been married. Sometimes I make it sometimes I order it. But we love this tradition and prefer to stay in.

Ashton was so distressed that I forgot to draw his mustache that we performed the play again. This time I recorded it and it was spectacular.

Mallie was the perfect Knave of Hearts. She is always swiping things and putting them in random places. So I had them all practice bowing together and then separately when I called their names. I always called Mallie's name last because she would bow and then keep leaning over until she did a somersault while we were clapping. I was hoping she'd do it in the real performance and she did for David it was unscripted and hilarious. David and I being as low key about holidays as they come saved our taped season premiere of Survivor and ate butterfinger hearts together. We're one of those cliche couples that think Valentines Day is just another day to love eachother like we already do.

What did I learn from trying to be cutesy this year for the kids? There is no use trying to make things look pretty and perfect unless you are a happy mom doing it. Half way into cutting cookie dough and paper hearts and trying to keep the house clean I was over it and just wanted to play with the kids and make them the crowns they were anxiously awaiting. Next year I'll stick with the easy stuff that matters most. Take that pinterest. Performing a Valentines day play? Definitely the highlight of the day and will be around for many years to come.