Valentine's Day

We didn't do much for Valentine's Day this year. Matthew was out of town at a coaching clinic until Saturday afternoon, and Sunday didn't even feel like Valentine's Day to me. Most people fall into one of two camps when it comes to V-Day, with one being those that love the holiday, the candy, the stuffed animals, the sappy cards, the over-priced flowers, and the generally forced expressions of love. And the other camp is those that don't go for any of it or even think it's a real holiday. I'll let you guess which one we're in : )

Mattie and I, however, did put out a little effort for her valentines she exchanged at school. Honestly, I have been slacker mama since she started preschool this year because for every holiday they've had, I've had my hands full with a newborn, and have skimped on the effort. So, I asked her what she'd like to do for her friends, and she said "let's make them some cookies!". So, that's what we did. We actually made the cookies on Wednesday night, and decorated them Thursday night, so it really wasn't that big of an ordeal. I did get stuck staying up by myself to bag them all up and tie them up with her valentines. And...I started out a little too ambitious...originally, we were going to put everyone's name on their cookie. But once we got to "Mackenzie", I realized that everyone's name wasn't going to fit neatly. So, we shortened it and put Mackie on hers, and everyone else got their first initial. Mattie let me do most of the decorating, but she picked the colors and sprinkles she wanted everyone to have.

Here's the fruit of our labor:

And here's a few of them bagged up to take to school. She got some really cute stuff in return too. We did have to make her a cookie with an "M" on it, because she didn't really get the exchanging Valentine's concept at first. She was afraid everyone was going to have something but her.

And here's my two Valentine sweeties! Mattie is very "smell sensitive", and Presley had JUST spit up. She really cannot stand the smell of Presley's formula, much less her spit up. Mattie was D-O-N-E after this, so this is the best picture I got of them in their Valentine's shirts:

It was ten years ago this Valentine's Day that my very nervous boyfriend put a ring on my finger and made me his fiance. Nine years of marriage later, and I would have to say I haven't had a Valentine's Day yet that topped that one. I guess back then we did think of it as an actual holiday worth acknowledging, or at least Matthew did. Hope everyone had a great one!