Happy Valentine's Day

We love you, our dear friends and family.

Ben took these cards to his staff.

Meilani, the rebel, was not cool with the family lollipop valentine plan, and had to design her own card on a free photo editing website. I was pleasantly surprised to find this cute picture of her from the twenty or so I took of her crying, pouting, and refusing to cooperate. I'll have to post some of the crying shots sometime. It was pretty hysterical!

And Liam's first attempt at writing his name (with a little help). Precious. I bought some alphabet cookies the other day and Liam keeps fishing out the "L's" saying "this spells my name!"

We had a very pleasant V-day breakfast. More often than not, when I try to plan a special meal or event, I'm left disappointed because the kids cry or complain, or things don't quite go right, for whatever reason. Well today, breakfast went just as I had envisioned! I made breakfast cake and ham and cheese muffins, homemade, and we all sat down at the fancy dining room table and enjoyed one another's company as we shared what we each love about one another. It was down right magical.

Ben's view from the other end of the table.

Everyone had a turn practicing their bottle blowing skills.

Daddy gave horsey rides while Meilani and I worked on her science fair project (aka, punishment for parents) and Seth napped. We finished off the day with a trip to the movie theater to see "Gnomeo and Juliet." On the way home I had to run into Walmart to get more card stock for the science project, and grabbed new shirts (on clearance) for everyone (except Ben, he got a KitKat). I'm learning that spontaneous expressions of love are just as good, and much more easy, than the planned out, stressed over variety. Alas, we survived the day of love with minimal arguments and frustration. It was lovely indeed. We never did get around to making heart shaped sugar cookies though. I guess there's always next year.