I wanted to do a fun themed breakfast but we were supposed to attend the Gilbert Temple Open House on Valentine's day in the morning. Phil ended up working until late afternoon and I opted for simple and made a cute little heart lunch instead. Note to self: Simple wins every time!
Peanut butter with raspberry jelly and a sprinkle heart. The kids were thrilled. Note to self: Sprinkles win every time! :)
Then we cut out hearts and wrote Valentine's to our friends and neighbors. I made sugar cookie bars, ate too many and then we gave the rest away.
When Phil got home from work we headed over to the temple. Kate was so excited to visit it! It was the last weekend of the open house and it.was.slammed! SO busy. Phil started muttering about the crowds as soon as we turned into the parking lot and I reminded him that this could very well be a once in a lifetime event and that we could do it. It happened to be at least 85 degrees that day, three o'clock in the afternoon and I didn't bring an umbrella to protect Carson from the sun. We trekked across the crowded parking lot with our little crew and found that just to get into the Stake Center building was at least an hour outside. From there we were to watch a nice video and then get into another long line to enter the temple. Again, at least an hour wait outside in the sun. No bueno.
We called it; accepted our current lot in life with 4 kids ages 4 and under and admitted defeat. I was bummed, Kate was sad and cried. We went over to the grounds and just looked at the nice water feature for a few minutes and pretty much left. Sad day! Phil assured me we were fine. We can obviously go together as a couple and the kids will just have to go through the temple when they get older, just like we did. He was right. Plus, good grief! Wearing a baby on your chest in the blazing sun is no fun. We would have never made it!
For preschool Kate was festive and I did her hair in the shape of a heart. She loved it!
At the kids' preschool party they exchanged cute Valentine's, which I now realize I never took a picture of them!, and we made a cute craft together. They love when a parent comes to their class and it was fun making this craft with them.
I posted the above picture on instagram with the following caption:
"It's after the crazies have gone to bed and the house is quiet that I can reflect on our day. I check on each of my sleeping children and their sweetness and innocence is so endearing. My heart swells with love and I vow to do better tomorrow. To love more, be softer, kinder. To slow down and just be. It's easy to get caught up in the mad dash of mothering, to only get by with the physical needs-I'm certainly in the thick of that!- but it's the little things like preschool crafts that my darlings made, and are so proud of, or the way Kate is sleeping with her bear tightly clutched in her arms, and how she wanted to sleep in her heart hairdo... These small and seemingly insignificant things stop me and make me remember what truly matters. THEY do! And they are precious little people with feelings and they deserve to feel loved every day."
Consider that my Valentine to my kids.
For the Valentine's that they passed out to their preschool friends we chose the non-candy route. Kate passed out applesauce pouches and Max little animal figures. Each with a crafty saying thanks to Pinterest.
We also went to the Valentine event at the Mesa children's museum. Remember last year's fiasco meeting of Curious George? When all three children were screaming and crying in fear? This year only Max was brave enough to approach the giant Daniel Tiger. Kate started crying as soon as she walked in the door and spotted him. Rhett shyly said hi from a safe 6 foot distance. Progress! At this rate we will be ready for Disneyland in 10 years.
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