Happy, happy hearts 2011...

The prep for the big V-Day looked a little like this...

Jack painted some pictures...

...while Emily died coffee filters (thanks for the idea Deanne!)...

Then we hung them to dry on our make shift clothes line in the kitchen using the pennant lights...

We painted some clothes pins for a later project...

That evening the paper was finally dry so Emily cut out some hearts, punched holes in them and added some fancy glitter...

When they were all done Emily helped me string them up and use them as garland for the fireplace...

A few days later Emily came home from her Preschool Valentine party and was ready to keep celebrating.  We decided to add one more tradition to our list of V-Day traditions: decorating bags for each member of our family... 

When we were all done we placed them on the mantel and got to work on making Valentines to put inside them...

On Sunday Grandpa Jim and Grandma Patti stopped by with some early Valentines Day presents.  Daddy was super happy with the pizza they brought and I was equally happy that I had a night off from cooking dinner.  The kids each got a bag of gifts to enjoy as well.

A few treats and a new bear that was quickly named Lotso (from Toy Story 3).  Emily convinced us all that this Lotso is a NICE bear because he has hearts all over him and if you smell him he should smell like strawberries as well...

Jack got a John Deere lunch box to store all of his trains in (we call it a man purse)...

And Charlie got some new truck shirts...

Charlie was still feeling a little under the weather and slept the entire visit but Emily and Jack kept them entertained the entire time....

On Monday, the real Valentines Day, the kids got up early and were itching to open their bags but I did my best to hold them off.  Every year (2009, 2010 ) we generally employ the same Valentines traditions... 

Heart-shaped pancakes with syrup for breakfast... 

 Heart-shaped grilled cheese for lunch...

 Then presents from Grandma Emily...

 ...and presents from Mommy and Daddy (the present thing is new but we have VETOED all candy and treats from the house so it is our new alternative.  Emily is learning about healthy habits at school and we are practicing modeling it for her at home.  I have to say we do a good job never watching TV in front of the kids and eat healthy meals but we definitely had to work on the treats.  No more candy, less juice and lots of healthy exercise (she does my morning workouts with me when I get around to doing them).

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I never made it around to taking pictures of dinner but the meatloaf looks the same every year.  While I am not a huge meatloaf fan it is a special request of my husband and if that is all he wants for this special day I  then I am  sure happy to do it.

On Tuesday we had quite the day.  Charlie had been up all night so I rushed him to the doctor early in the morning.  The poor little guy had croup so they fixed him up with a dosage of steroids and sent us home.  I hurried back home, packed up bags for the day, picked up Emily from preschool and then Bryan and I took Charlie down to Swedish Medical Center for different appointment for Charlie.  It was a long afternoon and when we finally arrived home at 4pm our house was spotless (thank you mom) and presents had just arrived from Auntie Jenny.  I don't know what I would do without these two women!

Auntie Jenny and Uncle Zach got the notice that candy was off the list but filled the bags up with a generous amount of gifts instead.  Holy moley they outdid themselves...

All of the gifts, kind notes, decorations and delicious food are all a lot of fun but what I love most is knowing that it doesn't take a special day like this to remind me how much I love my family.  Bryan, Emily, Jack and Charlie make every minute of my life the best that it could possibly be.