Valentine's Day with my Sweeties

I love holidays.  To me, it is fun to get out some special decorations, make cards and do a little baking.  Of course I love to spoil my kids with little treats too.  I usually start preparing them for a holiday by getting out any books we have about the upcoming holiday.  This is the teacher in me.  I have my books categorized by holidays, and I bring them out at that time of the year so they are special and not just another book on the shelf.  We have been reading about and talking about Valentine's Day for the past few weeks.

I came to find out, here in the U.K., Valentine's Day is only celebrated by spouses and significant others.  Children really do not celebrate Valentine's Day.  In fact, I could not find one valentine card for a child or a grandparent.  They do not make the small valentines that kids exchange at school.  They do not decorate tissue boxes to collect their valentines.  There were no conversation hearts.  The stores had a very small section that included mainly just chocolates and sweets for adults.  What a difference from the store aisles in the states with valentine stickers, stuffed animals, books, and candy galore for KIDS!

So we got out construction paper, scissors, glue, heart stickers and markers.  It was fun making valentines with the kids!  I love watching their creative minds at work.  They had a reason for each little mark they made or heart they glued.  Here are some of the sweet valentines they made for our family...   

Amelia helped me bake some heart-shaped cookies.  She loved putting on the sprinkles (which ended up everywhere in the kitchen, but that's what the Dyson is for.)

I kept some of the cookies plain so we could decorate them over the next few days.  What a treat!  The kids loved putting on M&M's and sprinkles!

Here are some pictures of our Valentine's Days in the past.  Wow, time goes SO quickly!

2012

2011

2010

2009

2008

2007

Eric and I really do not do much for each other anymore on Valentine's Day.  He has been SUCH a big help to me over the past few weeks.  He has shown his love through countless house projects, grocery shopping, and giving the kids a bath for me to have a little break in the evenings.  I probably do not need any chocolate at this point anyway.  Just more weight for me to lose after the baby is born!

Hope you all enjoyed Valentine's Day with all of the sweeties in your lives!