Valentine's Day Fun

We started off the day with a fun heart shaped breakfast, cranberry orange muffins, pancakes with yummy syrups and fresh fruit & yogurt parfaits.

The elementary school started a new tradition, no card exchange but a 'pajama academic field day'.  Jake wasn't a fan of the the pj's idea, but Hayley loved it.  They each brought favorite books and Hayley brought books to read to the kindergartners, her favorite part of the day.  Jake did love the giant tent his teacher had set up in their classroom so they could read by flashlights.  It was a pretty fun day, even without the valentine treats.

Luke had a fun Valentine's preschool and gave his classmates crazy straws with little "Sip Sip Hurray, it's Valentine's Day!"  cards found here that he colored and made sparkly with glitter. There is something about glitter and 3 years olds.  It always sounds like a good idea at first...I think it is all finally cleaned up :)

While Luke was at preschool, I went and donated platelets - woohoo!  Nothing says love like giving the gift of life. Then Luke and I were able to do some surprise rose deliveries to some of the older women in our church congregation.  Crazy story, a couple in the ward got a delivery of 200 roses from in error from Sam's Club, who told them to keep them.  So they donated them to the church to distribute to the widows and other sisters.  It was so fun seeing the looks on their faces & spreading the love around.  One of the best parts of the day for sure!

Valentine's evening we had our mystery menu dinner.  Each person fills out a menu with their mystery choices and the meal is served in several courses. They pick 3 or 4 mystery items for each course, everyone having all items by the end of the 3rd course.  We did it last year with a Rodeo theme last year.
The kids were super excited about it.  It is getting a little trickier each time as they are getting better at trying to guess the mystery menu item.  Some examples of this years menu include - Rising Love (roll), Love Trouble (Strawberry Jam), Tug on My Heart Strings (pasta), Girls Best Friend (carrots), Cupid's Arrow (toothpick), etc.  It is always fun to see them eat with a toothpick or have a course of jam, a knife and a napkin.  

Don came home with some leftover cupcakes from work which is always great.  We ended the night all together with our traditional homemade chocolate covered strawberries.  In order to eat one, you had to tell something you loved about someone at the table. It was a great ending to a busy Valentine's Day!