I've always thought Valentine's Day was a bit over-rated. I've never been a huge fan of it, and when I was single, it never really bothered me to not have a "Valentine" to celebrate with. It's simply a silly holiday that puts way too much pressure on everyone - men, women, parents, kids, teachers. And, honestly, every day should be a day spent telling the ones we love just that - that we love them! But... the silly holiday certainly gives us a good reason to have a fun play date. So, this year, we had:
Banner's Valentine's Day Bash
at his "bachelor pad." We invited some of his age-group friends to share in a play date at our house with a few treats to honor the day of love. And, while I still think the holiday is unnecessary, the play date was nice and gave us a good opportunity to see some friends at our house. Here are a few pictures from the day's events.
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| "CHEESE!" |
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| "How many more times do I have to say CHEESE!?" |
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| Ella going in for a kiss! |
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| Sami, Zeina, and Adam were our first guests! |
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| Play time break for some berries |
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| Banner & Ella |
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| Miss Myka |
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| Cousin Brycen showed up in the same outfit! |
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| "Why are you wearing what I'm wearing?!" |
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| CUTIE! |
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| My giggly boy |
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| Brayden & Myka enjoying a lunch date |
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| Shootin' some hoops |
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| Just checkin' out what Myka's eating for lunch |
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| Play time outside! |
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| "Wee!" |
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| Brayden |
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| Shayna |
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| Myka |
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| Brycen |
After the play date, I headed to the hospital where my mom was just being moved to the recovery room after a surgery she had today. Sam had been up there while I was entertaining, and once he got home, I spent the afternoon waiting to see her. Thank goodness her surgery went well, and she was in good spirits this evening. Hopefully, she'll be home tomorrow afternoon, settling in at home and feeling well. THAT is my Valentine's Day wish!
Once home, Sam, Banner, and I enjoyed a delivered meal from our favorite Chinese restaurant. No clean-up, no hassle, and no worrying about what to make! Great V-Day gift for me! Then, Sam gave me my Valentine's Day cards - SO not expecting this. I told Sam I had not even thought about cards and that I felt badly for not getting him or Banner anything. He, sweetly, told me that the play date today was my gift to Banner, and that was enough for him, too! Oh, how awesome my husband is!
Later, Sam and I had our "traditional" chocolate fondue dessert after Banner went to sleep. We were out of regular chocolate chips, so we improvised with left-over Hershey's Kisses from the play date. We decided this was the best chocolate fondue recipe we've used. Here's the recipe:
5 oz of Hershey Kisses (yes, we unwrapped each one as we weighed them out!)
1/4 cup of half-and-half
1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
*Melt Hershey Kisses in bowl over boiling water. Stir in half-and-half. Once blended and melted, remove from heat and add vanilla extract. Stir well and go to town with your favorite dip-ables (marshmallows, strawberries, bananas, pound cake, etc)! YUM!
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| My cards from Banner & Sam |
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| From Banner |
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| Unwrapping and weighing the Kisses |
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| One of the worst pics of us, but at least we got one! |
I hope you all had a great Valentine's Day! Over-rated or not, it's a good
reminder to keep telling all those special people in your life that you
love them! And, oh, how I love my family and friends!
