Happy Valentine's Day!

What a day! It was a fun, love filled day. Not a down moment to spare :).

We started off the morning with "egg in a heart" for breakfast. We had just had pancakes for dinner last Sunday with the missionaries, so we decided to change things up a bit. The kids loved waking up to their surprises and valentines. I love watching their faces. First groggy and tired... then they realize... "Wait, it's Valentine's Day!" Those tired faces are quickly replaced with mounds and mounds of excitement and smiles beaming from ear to ear.

Abigail wasn't too thrilled that she had to go to school. She didn't know if they would be celebrating Valentine's Day or not (poor thing). But she still took her valentines in hand wearing her love shirt :).

I think this was one of my favorite things I did for the kids this year. Who knew Christmas wrapping paper and coloring books could make such fun valentines.

I wasn't very good about taking pictures throughout the day. I really wish we would have gotten a couple more... oh well, maybe next year.

After breakfast, Abby headed to school and Dad headed to work. The boys and I assembled legos and played for a bit, mixed together some sugar cookie dough, and we quickly got ready for the day and headed to one of our favorite bakeries - Two Little Red Hens. We were so happy to find a small line there (I was expecting a much bigger crowd - like I saw on Christmas Eve). After grabbing some cupcakes we headed for Midtown to surprise our Dad.

We definitely took the wrong bus - the local is MUCH slower than the express. Lesson learned. But we still made it just in time to have lunch with Dad. I felt really lucky. John doesn't always get lunch and to arrive at the exact time that they were just breaking for lunch... miracle :). So we enjoyed a yummy pizza/salad lunch at Patsy's. Yum. But the best was surprising our Dad and getting to spend time with him.

John headed back to work with cupcakes to share in hand and the boys and I jumped on the subway (hoping that would be faster than the bus). When we walked in the door we had 35 minutes to bake a couple trays of cookies and make frosting before heading over to a friend's house for a little Valentine's Party. We made it - only 5 minutes late. The boys had a blast decorating cookies and eating frosting until their tummies hurt :). They weren't too happy when I told them we had to go. We were only there for about 45 mins, but we had to hurry to get Abigail from school.

By this point in the day I began to question why I bought them candy and debated how much I should really let them eat in one day. Soon I gave up the fight and agreed to just about as many sweets as they wanted for the day. It's a holiday ... they're allowed... right??

With homework, picking-up and reading done, we enjoyed some heart-shaped meatballs with spaghetti. But I think dessert was the most fun. Fondue. We love fondue.

Don't you just love all those chocolate faces? I do.

This little boy was covered with chocolate. He thought he was so funny.

And even Owen enjoyed his 1st fondue experience. Chocolate covered bananas. Yum.

But I think one of the best parts of the day for me, besides the smiles on my kids faces, was this sweet card from John. I love his cards. They are the kind you save forever. The kind you pull out of your sock drawer on "bad days" and read again.. and again.. and again. I truly love this man. And can you believe it? John bought roses this year!!! I was SO surprised :).

I hope you all had a great day filled with love from special people in your life.

A special thanks to all those that sent their love our way.

Thanks for thinking of us.

We truly love all of you.