Valentines Day

I LOVE Valentine's Day! And this year we got to celebrate all week long because Doug had to leave town for an Ortho conference. I hated that he was gone for the actual Valentines Day/weekend, but we sure made up for it with all our fun activities. 

~Our Date Night~

It was Doug's year to plan our date night for Valentines & planned he did. He got Laura to watch the boys so that we could go out to dinner. Right before leaving he had Gavin & Liam give me these gorgeous flowers & some Godivia chocolates. 

We went downtown Fort Lauderdale to Las Olas to eat at Big City Tavern.

Doug's been before with some classmates, but this was my first time & it was really good. We ordered these Parmesan cheese fries that were soooo tasty for starters & then we each ordered our own entrees. That may seem odd to declare that part, but let me just say that it's worth declaring. Doug & I NEVER get our own meals. We ALWAYS share an entree for money sake & no left overs sake. So you know it's a special occasion when we both get our own. Haha!

We sat out on their patio street side because it was so nice out. It was fun being able to people watch & just enjoy one another. After we finished eating Doug surprised me with a little box holding this beautiful diamond heart shaped necklace.

I was completely surprised & even had to question him on when & where he had the time to get it etc. Haha! My man sure did good & spoiled me. I felt very loved!

Horrible pictures, but so glad to capture moments like this where we get to be together. I love my valentine & am glad I get to keep him forever!

~Family Valentines Dinner~

Both Laura & Doug were leaving town so we did our family V-Day celebrating early as well. It was a lot of fun preparing all the food & setting the table all festive.

I put little love notes on each setting for my valentines. Laura gave us that chocolate milk which Gavin was so excited about. :)

 On the menu: Heart shaped meat loaves, pink garlic mashed potatoes, Parmesan asparagus & pink soda.

 I have to admit that everything turned out perfect! That is not always the case for me. I was delighted in the cuteness of the heart meat loaves. Seriously, how cute are they?!

 

 Gavin painted valentines magnets for Doug & had a hard time containing his excitement as Dad opened them. 

 Sending out the vibe in these Love Shades!

 We all couldn't resist trying them on, but they just don't have the same effect on us grown ups as the little ones. haha!

 I love him! That's my man ladies...back off! ;)
Cheers! Gavin was very amused by making 'cheers' with his fancy glass & did it over & over & over again.

 {DESSERT}
 For dessert we decided that it was finally about darn time to break out the fondue pot that we indeed received for wedding over seven years ago. *eek!* I knew Gavin would have a hay day dipping food in the chocolate. Okay, I'm not going to lie, we all had a hay day dipping the food in chocolate.

 I of course went way over board with the food & we had a TON! But it was so yummy having such a variety of goodies.

 Aunt Laura being silly with a mess all over her face. In our family, where one goes, we all tend to follow...

Liam thought we were being pretty weird, but we gave him a good show anyhow. 

It was such a fun family dinner & I think we've started a new tradition in our house.

~February 14th~
On the actual day of Valentines me & the boys still continued to celebrate. We started out the morning with some tasty heart shaped chocolate chip pancakes & bananas.

Then I baked up some goodies for our playgroup.

{Cherry Chocolate Pretzel Bites}

{Peanut Butter Kisses Hearts}

After Liam's morning nap we went to a friends house for a Valentines Playgroup. The kids got to decorate little mailboxes & eat some goodies. And then everyone got to pass out their valentines to each other. It was a lot of kids, but a lot of fun!

 These are the cute valentines that Gavin & Liam handed out.

 Gavin & Owen checking out their valentines.

I just love Gavin's shirt that I found from Target. When ever someone would ask what it said, Gavin would ramble off the phrase under his breath. So funny!

 Me & my valentines

I couldn't resist snapping some photos of my boys together in their red. Of course it's always much more of a challenge to get them to both look at the camera. But I think I captured some pretty good ones.

After all the celebrating during the week & all the cooking & baking that I did I was not about to do more when it was just the three of us. So....I ordered us a pizza from Papa Johns. Yes, I paid more to have it in a heart, but I couldn't resist.

After the boys were in bed I had myself a little date of my own with these fine folk.

 I'd say it was the perfect way to wallow in my 'singleness' for the night don't you? :)