Life is like a box of chocolates

Before I even get started on Valentine's Day 2014, it's always fun to look back at pictures of the kids from previous years.  So, here is a little reminder of what they looked like and what we were up to in 2013 and 2012.

Now that we have that little walk down memory lane out of the way (fun to know I've been blogging for two years now!), let's focus on this year!  I had a bit of a jump start on Valentine's Day because I made some cookies for Lindsey to take with her on her trip up to FW.  Unfortunately for her, the weather was making the roads too dangerous for driving, so she stayed here (and so did the cookies … I don't think Charlie minded not having to share!!).

And then I got started on the cookies I wanted to make to share.  I had seen two styles of 'boxes of chocolates' on Pinterest and decided to give them both a try (neither of which I had the confidence to even attempt a few months ago when I originally pinned them!).  One was to make a single cookie look like the inside of a box of chocolates and then to create a 'lid'.  The other was to make many, many (MANY!) little look-a-like chocolates to box up together to look like an actual box of chocolates.  I used a brand new recipe for the chocolate cookies and chocolate royal icing and was really pleased with working with them both.  I got rave reviews on the flavor of them, so I am thrilled to have a new option to go along with the vanilla sugar cookies and royal icing that I already make.  I also did a few other designs for some more variety when sharing.  I boxed up oodles of the cookies to share with lots of friends and sent some with Roy to a work meeting as well.  I was rushing almost every time I made up a box, so I didn't manage to get pictures of them all, but you will get the idea!

And then it was time to get things ready for the kids for Valentine's Day!

For Leighton's Valentines to pass out at school, I had Roy print these off for us, and then Leighton put the glow stick bracelets through and signed his name.  I was so impressed because I accidentally cracked two while putting the little connector pieces on and he didn't crack any!

For breakfast, I made heart shaped Nutella and strawberry French toast and pink strawberry smoothies (in red cups with red straws, even!) for the kids.  Riley actually had plain, but Leighton loooooved the Nutella and strawberry!  Riley did like the smoothie so much that she asked me to make her another for lunch though (I think the last time she even wanted to drink a smoothie was this time almost 2 years ago!  Man she made a mess that day!!).

Funny little fact about the Nutella … I was trying to limit my grocery store visits and was able to get everything I needed at Costco so decided to just grab the Nutella there instead of making an additional stop somewhere else.  Well, as you all know, everything at Costco is big.  BIG.  So now we have TWO large jars of Nutella with about 2 Tbsp used so far!  I once made some self-frosting Nutella cupcakes, so I might make those again, and then I will be searching for more inspiration on Pinterest (just as I did this morning for ideas to use up the box of 9 mangos I got there, too!).

And then this was Leighton's lunch and snack for school.

Riley made me this Valentine with her new stickers and ribbon:

And we made some hearts for Leighton's buttons because it was 'wear hearts to school day' and he doesn't have any shirts with hearts.

While Leighton was at school, Riley and I made some pink/red m&m cookies for his class.  And she drank her smoothie in her pink tutu that she got from Ava and Samantha the week before.

We took the cookies to the school, and Riley was surprised with lots of extra Valentines that the kids had brought in.  She was SO excited!  (And notice that little miss always wants to wear pink chose blue for Valentine's Day!)

And then dinner was red and white heart shaped ravioli (thanks, Costco!), grape tomatoes, red peppers, and raspberries.  On red plates :)  And we were lucky enough to have Samantha and Ava join us while Roy was out of town for work.

And while I am posting pink things, I will add in some cupcakes I made for a friend hosting a Bunco party a couple weeks ago.  I even made all those cute little dice out of fondant - the only downside of them was that the black dots looked WAY better with gel coloring than with my food marker, so that meant some VERY black teeth when eaten!