Love day

I want to be a traditiony family. Who knows how well it'll go, but we're starting them young and we're sure gonna try!

I'm sure there may come a year when Paul and I have the time/energy/money to have a nice Valentine's dinner out, but this year, we spent it with the kids. And in the years to come, if Paul and I go out, and if we even let our kids date and THEY happen to have Valentine's dates, I still want to have a fun family dinner sometime near the 14th.

This year we had pink alfredo with steak and spinach. I put a little food coloring in the sauce and in the water that I cooked the noodles in so everything turned pink. I made raspberry jello and we had salad, bread and pink lemonade, too. It was an easy dinner, and I'm learning that if I want to keep up the fun times around here, things need to be easy.For dessert we had chocolate fondue. We had strawberries, bananas, marshmallows, rice crispy treats, pretzels, and sponge cake. Also easy because I even bought the cake and rice crispy treats already made. (I'll probably make stuff like that if we do this again. But I baked, frosted, decorated and boxed over 325 mini cupcakes for work on Valentine's day too, so I had to keep some things simple.)Garrett's favorites were jello and strawberries, but he ate more pasta than I expected, so that was good.I felt spoiled this year. I kind of always make jokes about wanting a lot for Valentine's day because my birthday is just a few days later and I like to tease about making 2 separate wish lists. But really I don't expect much, for either. But Paul got up an hour early and made me a breakfast burrito. On his lunch break he brought me a dozen red roses. And after dinner he gave me a Hobby Lobby gift card, AND he wrote me a poem!All I got him was this stuffed lobster...that Garrett picked out...that Garrett thinks is his...that probably is his... But you know that episode of 'Friends'? "He's her lobster!" (Youtube it) See? I'm kind of thoughtful...Anyway, we had a nice day. I love Paul and I love my kids...more and more everyday. And that night while bathing Garrett, he blew me a kiss. And when I tucked him in bed, he reached up for a lip kiss. Both without me asking! Priceless.And here are some fun little collages of pictures I took of the kids a couple days before to send to the grandparents. (The ones of Garrett kissing Addison are my favorite.)