all you need is love

Ry was working in Belgium all last week, so I decided to make Valentine's Day extra fun for the littles in order to distract myself from feeling alone and lonely on the day of LOVE.  Here is a run down of our fun...

A little lunch box surprise

Dutch conversation hearts!

Heart shaped pb&j sandwiches

 Dressing in their heartsiest duds...

K's cute outfit even has embroidered hearts on the collar.  Can you say Valentine's chic?

Elsie girl

Silly Ava

Heartsy Twinners

Lovely ladies

Too cool for hearts

I had a little activity table setup for after school.  Each kid got a heart-shaped lollipop and a valentines coloring page printout of their favorite character (dora for the girls, hello kitty for k, and batman for carv).  I also blew up a bunch of heart-shaped balloons for them to play with.

K came home last week from school and taught the kids the Beatles song "All You Need is Love" since she had learned it that day in music.  The next day I heard little Ava busting out this remix.  I guess she got the tune confused with "All the single ladies…"

I have to include this next pic too.  They needed moms to bake cookies for Kaydree's school for a Valentine's treat - heart cookies and hot cocoa.  I volunteered because cookies are easy enough and they even handed out the recipe and specified NOT to decorate or frost the cookies.  I guess they thought the hot cocoa was sweet enough, so the blandish butter cookies (not even sugar cookies) would be a good compliment (funny, because Americans would never think this way…bring on those soft lofthouse sugar cookies with the thick layer of buttercream icing from walmart, right?)  Anyway, these cookies ended up being a lot more trouble than I thought.  It turns out trying to bake without any of your usual stuff (ie: kitchenaid mixer, rolling pin, etc…things I didn't haul over to europe with me) takes a lot of time.  Props to my grandma, she probably rolled out sugar cookies with a tall glass on the kitchen counter all the time…not me.  Here is the masterpiece...

When Ry came home from Belgium, he brought me a box of delicious Belgian chocolates.  He wants a fat wife, apparently.  He says that he thought I could eat them one by one and make them last, but he knows I'm more of a eat-the-whole-box-in-one-sitting type of girl.  At least they are no longer around to tempt me…

For the record, I sent Ry off on his trip with a package of his favorite treat (salted cashews) and a huge Cola Light, his favorite drink.  When he came home, he suggested that we go out on a fancy date since we usually try to go out for dinner on V-day.  But rather than spend a load of cash on an overpriced and overrated Dutch meal, I suggested a far better idea: pottery shopping in Delft.  I will probably forget the meal, but won't forget a handpainted Delft blue plate hanging on my wall that I can pass down through the generations.  And because he is the perfect man for me, he agreed…with a smile on his face.  Pottery post to come.