then i made everyone a special lunch with their favorite sandwhiches, love notes and really yummy sugar cookies. i was tempted to cut the sandwhiches into heart shapes but then thought of my poor boys having to open them in front of peers and co-workers and decided against it - you're welcome boys. i cleaned the whole kitchen after everyone left, shoveled the snow - no comment, and then cleaned the entire house! yup, i rock, it looked awesome for about four hours. i started lisa's killer jello salad to get ready for red dinner and helped ethan get his play group valentines ready, he was more interested in the candy.
i checked the mail was so happy to get my LOVE SWAP package from ashley - so cute, she did a great job including things for each letter of LOVE, an idea that i quickly abandoned for the package i sent off! thanks ashley!
i got ethan and i ready to go to the grocery store, got to the garage and realized my van's battery was dead! CRAP! so lauri saved me with a jump and i should've taken a picture because we felt like powerful women with the car hoods open and cables running to and fro. at the grocery store i was like a machine - i LOVE this feeling of getting in and out of there fast, this is usually thanks to a good list. at the grocery store the manager was randomly passing out single roses to all the women and wishing us a very sincere happy valentine's day. i could tell he really meant it, something in his sparkling smile that told me he was having a ton of fun. 
it was kind of a pitiful looking rose on thursday, but it's starting to open and today it's making me feel so happy! i delivered cookies to allie's class party and then bolted home to work on more dinner prep. one of our favorite things to eat around here is my sister-in-law jen's chicken parmesan recipe and since it's red, well that worked out nicely for the evening's plans. (this is before it went into the oven)
some how after school and before dance, the kids and i managed to frost and deliver over NINE dozen valentine cookies to neighbors - this is actually the only tradition (before today) that we have, it's so chaotic but very fun. 
every year taylor makes this huge mess and complains about not being able to lick his fingers, funny kid. 
ethan "helped" by eating one and making a big mess. 
he decided that he didn't like getting the frosting on his fingers so he took to eating it like a puppy would. wierdo.
spencer was the delivery boy, and i neglected to get a pic of him. after dance my mom came for red dinner - my dad had stake basketball responsibilities - on valentine's day - what the hey?
it was so fun! lauri had this really cute idea earlier in the week to make cherry cool-aid heart shaped ice cubes to put sprite over.
i couldn't resist copying her idea, and since she doesn't ever look at my blog i could've taken credit for this cute idea, but she's my bff so i have to be nice. this pic does not do it any justice, seriously, they were so cute. her husband works for coke, so she couldn't buy cherry 7-up for her daughter's class party, but there's no such thing as cherry sprite. so this was her solution, love it! we'll definitely do it ever year. note: she used metal heart muffin tins to freeze her kool-aid and i used silicone. we decided the silicone was the way to go because the metal tins ended up making it harder to remove the cubes in one piece. at dinner i gave everyone their own box of chocolates and a kiss. my mom stayed and chatted, it was great fun to have her over. yesterday i got a be-lated valentine's day gift from patsy, these adorable note-cards from the good things stationery place we both love, plus her cute card knocked my socks off! i was just looking at the MS good things crafty for kids! i'm so excited to find a fun crafty idea for play group in here!
this thoughtfulness totally made my day, yesterday (friday) for whatever reason, was a bugger of a day and this really made me smile - thanks patsy! by the end of the day, poor ethan had been drug all over kingdom-come and only fell asleep at the grocery store in the truck/cart thing that he loves to ride in for about ten minutes (i was kicking myself that i didn't have my camera). he was especially wiped after waking up before the sun that morning and i had to laugh when i found him like this. 
he was trying to climb up on the couch and couldn't stay awake for another second! funny, this is exactly how i felt at the end of this very LOVE-ly day! but it was worth every last bit of energy that it took. i will definitely be making it a big to-do every year. happy valentine's day to all!*is valentine's day a big deal at your house?*
*are you a machine at the grocery store?*
*do you have a love affair with personalized stationery?*
*do you know how to jump a car?*
