A little love is in the air!

I was going to save the best for last, but I just couldn't wait!!

This is what my sweet husband gave me for Valentine's day. I am a very practical person and don't like all the frivilous fuss of holidays like Valentine's day (if I need something, fine. Go ahead and buy it. But if I don't I would rather not waste the money...ya know?). But Brandon said he has always wanted to give me jewelry--and so this year he did!

To be honest, I was so excited...I was giddy all day looking at the ring on my finger and thinking about him and our years together. I love him more and more each day and am so happy to be with him for eternity!

(the ring picture is also what I used for the mission 24 blog challenge. If you are still interested in joining our bi-weekly challenges, it's an open invitation and you can start anytime! Just let me know...)

We really did have a good Valentine's Day--woke up and made heart shaped pancakes with sprinkles...

And as soon as we got ready, we dropped Jenna and daddy off at Lowes for their free Build and Grow Program. Jenna got to make a jewelry box with Brandon's help--it was a great daddy daughter date and she was THRILLED with her new work goggles and apron, and of course her creation! If you are interested in this program, you can go here for more info.

While daddy and Jenna were on their date, I took the boys with me for our own little date. HOWEVER, our original plan didn't work out and our little date kind of flopped. It ended up being me trying to grab a couple clearance clothing items while they behaved crazy. :) Needless to say it wasn't my most brilliant idea, and was short-lived. But we ended up loving the idea of a daddy / daughter and mommy / son date for Valentines day and hope to make it a tradition!

We made up for the flop of a date by all of us going for Pizza at Cici's buffet.

The kids love pizza. LOVE. LOVE. LOVE. They would eat it every day if they could, without ever tiring of it.

The picture below makes me laugh. Spencer...so serious. :) But he was all smiles when I wasn't holding the camera.

And Jenna has started doing this funny thing. When I am trying to take a picture of her, if she doesn't think the camera is pointed at her, she will move every which way to get in the view. :)

And this picture...really no reason. I just thought it looked really neat...

When we came home from pizza, we set out our little gifts for the kids. Jenna had been very concerned that she would have no jewelry for her new jewelry box, so while I was shopping with the boys we picked up these pieces of jewelry on clearance for $2.

I bought this cars Doodle pad for Kaden last summer (for $2.99 at an outlet store) and have been saving it for a rainy (or snowy) day. It was the perfect love day surprise for him.

And so that Spencer can be like the big kids, he got his own toy dinosaur.

Clearly we didn't spend much money on their gifts, but we wanted them to feel special...I hope they did...

Jenna really was happy about the jewelry--she just looks a little dazed here. :)
Kaden was thrilled!

And Spencer instantly let out a ROAR. :)

Dinner was a tough one. We wanted to do something fun--fancier than normal--and so we chose fondue. I found a really good recipe for a parmesan fondue and we made heart shaped meatballs, cut our red peppers into heart shapes and had some other veggies along with some toasted garlic bread.

(I know the background in this is so distracting, but I had about 2 seconds to get a shot of everyone together!) :)

It was such a fun dinner! The kids had a blast (especially when they discovered that their fondue forks could double as Heman swords.) For dessert I made a bouquet of chocolate covered strawberries. I originally wante these to be in a vase standing up, but I realized I was out of skewers and couldn't do that--so I just set them in there. :) Nobody could tell the difference! (that's the best part of serving stuff to little people.)

But probably the sweetest part of the day of love, was at bedtime...when Kaden climbed in Jenna's bed and they laid there together snuggling and laughing...it was so precious.

Great day....great weekend (minus the big water leak that sprung in our basement and rains whenever the shower is on...) :) Love was in the air!!!

.....And we're ready for the week ahead! :)