So this blog post is one of those last year versus this year posts.
2013 versus 2014.
Valentines times two.
As I mentioned, in my last post, February was a very busy month as we had JUST received our household goods and moved into our new place on the fourth. Still, we had to do something special for my little guy. We surprised him that morning with some balloons, a color-your-own cookie (I can only imagine how bad that thing is for you) and m&m pancakes.
This picture is not the greatest but I had to post it to show you just how crazy our house was that day. Oh, and the kitchen was the first room I tackled. This was GOOD. The rest of the house was baddddddd.
Later that day, Fin colored his cookie and then helped me bake up a big batch of oatmeal raisin cookies. I would have loved to make heart shaped cookies, but I still hadn't found 1/2 of my kitchen supplies, including my cookie cutters. You'd think that moving box labels could be a LITTLE more specific than "misc." But I digress...
We are not very tidy when we bake.
Not very tidy at all.
As a side note, this batch of cookies was the first of MANY goodies that we would share with our new neighbors Dick and Shirley. Fin and I decided it would be nice (since there were so many) to bring a few over as a "Happy Valentines Day" treat. I had no idea what a fun food exchange this would turn into. Since that day, Shirley and I share almost everything that comes out of the oven. If it's got sugar in it... we share. We send a few cookies on a plate over to them, and a few weeks later, they send the plate back with a couple pieces of cake for us. It really is a lot of fun. We lucked out big time with our neighbors, but that's a whole other blog post. :)
Ok, one more thing about Shirley. She was actually the one who gave me the idea to turn my meatloaf that evening into something much more fitting for a Valentines dinner. Ironically (VERY ironically) she was making meatloaf that evening as well, and suggested I shape it into a heart. I think we might have a new beefy valentines tradition. :)
So that was 2013. Now onto this year. Since we weren't being swallowed alive by a mountain of cardboard boxes, we had some time to make Valentines. While Kai took his morning nap, Fin and I worked tirelessly (for days) on Valentines for Dada, both sets of grandparents and our neighbors Dick and Shirley.
This year we were actually able to make those cute heart shaped sugar cookies. :) And of course, we brought a few over to our favorite neighbors.
The card holding dog made an appearance again this year. He's cute. He makes an adorable little "grrrrwoof woof" sound when you take the card out. Of course, Fin's still not that into cards, so we shoved a matchbox car in his mouth. Not into cards, but definitely into matchbox. Left this little set up on the table for the boys to find in the AM. There were a few small things for Kai and even our hairy four-legged boys received a little Valentines love.
"Woooah, wat is dat?!!"
We had pancakes again this year, but had to up my game a little. Strawberry-banana heart cakes with chocolate chips. Nom nom.
And then came the big surprise. Actually it was a fairly last minute decision! A couple weeks prior, I had emailed the local fire department, asking if they ever held open houses or allowed kids to see the trucks/station. They were great and responded that we could come by anytime! So, I called that AM JUST to make sure it was a good day, and they said come on by! When I told Fin we were going to see the fire trucks... he was VERY excited. :)
Running into the station.
Scoping out the gear.
Looking at all the buttons and gauges on the trucks.
"CHEESE!"
He didn't smile much while we were there. I think he was in disbelief that this was all actually going down.
The guys and gals at the station were absolutely great with us and it really made our Valentines Day 2014 extra special.
