Valentine's Day has always been one of my favorite holidays. I know some people are not such big fans, but I've always loved it. I love making home-made Valentines. I love making heart sugar cookies. I love doing something special with friends, or my husband, or know my two girls. And I love that it provides something to look forward to in the midst of the bleak mid-winter.
This year Valentine's Day was on a Friday, and it was the last day of my maternity leave. So it had some extra special meaning for me this year. I had such a wonderful maternity leave, and so loved soaking up all that time with my girls. So for my last week, we did lots of fun Valentine's Day activities. Madeline and I made lots of home-made Valetine's cards that we sent to people. We put up heart decorations around the house. And probably Madeline's favorite, we made heart cookies! I have such fond memories of my mom making heart sugar cookies when I was a little girl. She would always put them in our school lunches with a little note. Sweet memories, and now I get to create traditions with my little girls.
Madeline was involved with each step of the process. She helped me make the dough, roll the dough, cut the heart shapes, frost the cookies, sprinkle the cookies, and she was quite skilled at eating the cookies.
On Valentine's Day morning, we gave Madeline a little gift bag. Somehow she's gotten into Minnie Mouse lately - I think I've let her watch a few episodes of Micky Mouse Clubhouse. In any case, Target had a bunch of little Minnie things in their dollar bins - a water bottle, stickers, and a magic marker coloring pad. She was pretty happy with her Valentine's bag!
I did a little "photo shoot" with the girls in their red outfits. It is always so funny to me to see their little expressions. This is way more pictures than necessary, but the grand parents never complain.
This last picture of Isabel I snapped on Valentine's afternoon while Madeline was napping. Isabel just slept in my arms for almost two hours, and I spent much of that time just praying for my girls, and thanking God for their lives. James and I both often stop, even in the midst of chaotic moments, to comment on how grateful we are for these girls and the love they have brought to our lives.
James and I also had a great Valentine's weekend. We had two date nights in a row - sweet! That hasn't happened in a LONG time. Friday night we went to a ballroom dancing lesson, and Saturday night we went for a 3 course meal at Meson Sabika - Spanish Tapas. It's one of our favorite restaurants in the area, and Lois and Bob had given us a gift certificate earlier this year. One of the best meals we've had in a long time - it included steak, lobster tail, bacon-wrapped dates, cheeses, and chocolate. It was a perfect Valentine's Day!
No comments:
Post a Comment