Valentine's Celebrations

We had a fun time celebrating Valentine's Day this year.

The kids looked festive headed to church the Sunday before Valentine's Day

Matt was going to be out of town on Valentine's Day, and since it was on a Thursday anyway (a crazy day for us with after school activities), we had our family celebration a few days early. We have a fun tradition of a Valentine's Day scavenger hunt and a fondue dinner. I really love this tradition, because I feel like it's unique to our family and something we all look forward to. I know my kids will remember our Valentine's celebrations for a long time.

This year we started with our scavenger hunt. I made the kids run all over the house to find clues.

They found their gifts in the toy box this year. The boys got new switch games, Elisabeth got a gymnast Barbie and Kate got books.

After the treasure hunt, we had dinner. Cheese fondue is a favorite among everyone in our family. I love those dinners when everyone likes it and eats it, ha! During dinner we all went around the table and shared reasons we love each person in our family.

After dinner the boys tried out their new games.

Then we took baths and made dessert- chocolate fondue.

I'm raising some chocolate lovers like me :)

We didn't do much for Valentine's Day this year. The kids all had school that day. But I did make heart shaped chocolate chip pancakes for breakfast and packed their lunches with some extra Valentine's Fun.

They were all excited for Valentine's parties at school.

Elisabeth had an ice cream sundae party, and the girls and I ran to the boys' parties that afternoon.

Their parties are always crazy and hectic, but I know they appreciate me being there, and I'm grateful I can share some of their school fun with them. My favorite part of their parties were the moments of thoughtfulness toward their sister. As soon as Samuel got in line to get snacks, he raised his hand and asked his teacher if Elisabeth could have snacks too. And then at Nathan's party he offered her most of his decorated cookie. Those moments are so sweet. I know at Valentine's Day there's a lot of words about how we love each other, but I loved getting to see my boys show love with action toward their little sister.

I hope my kiddos and Matt feel loved all year long, but it sure is fun to spoil them with extra love and hugs on Valentine's Day each year.