Valentine's Day fun

Every year I have high hopes for the extravagance of whatever holiday (or quasi-holiday, if we must) is approaching. I intend to make it big and fabulous and super ridiculous family! Sometimes we get close. Sometimes we miss the mark entirely. With the help of so many days off of school, we got pretty close this year!
The kids were off of school most of last week because of the snow. They went back on Thursday after two days off and had their Valentine's parties. Sam and Jake came home SOOO excited! They had tons of candy yeah. (insert sarcastic cheering here) and lots of fun cards. They were not entirely in the giving mood, as we discovered on Friday morning when Jack came asking for $1 so he could "buy" one of the little candies from Sam or Jake. (It is tough to be so close to school and yet so far!) After some calm, non-emotional discussion about sharing and not teasing and not being mean to our little brother, the day progressed rather nicely. The kids had off of school for a teacher in-service, so we enjoyed another day together. Friday we began working on our placemats for Sunday morning. We cut tons of hearts out and glued them to our construction paper. It is so nice that the big kids are getting old enough to make their own. Even Sydney colored and glued hers! Joshua refused to participate, choosing instead to try to eat everything. But what do we expect, that kids a slacker!
Saturday began with the usual slacking that only Saturdays can bring. Most of us stayed in our pajamas as long as we could. For Jacob and Jackson, that typically isn't very long. They are in a stage where they like to get dressed as early as possible. For Samantha, Sydney, Sean and I it lasts as long as we can possibly drag it out. And Josh is flexible in that regard. Although he would generally prefer to just be naked all the time so he could hold his little friend, but I digress...
So Saturday we finished "laminating" the placemats with contact paper (only high quality here!) and watched the Opening Ceremonies of the Olympics. Yes, I know it was on the night before but we missed it so we DVR'd it when they rebroadcast it at 2am and watched it later.
Saturday night we went shopping for a new blender and an exercise bike... oh, and new glasses for Sean. When we went to Meijer Syd, Jake, and Jack each got a sucker. It was dark when we were driving home and Jackson dropped his on the floor in the van and started crying. We promised to rinse it off when we got home and told him he could still eat it. All in all not a funny story until he started crying harder and told us he couldn't eat it. "It will have hair on it". Sean and I laughed and I got to add it to my mental list of things to write in my blog.
The best part of my Saturday was spending alone time with Samantha. She and I went to Caribou Coffee that night and read. We didn't do a lot of talking but sat next to each other in comfy chairs and each read our books. It was so nice to be with her. I keep thinking this time will end sooner than I am ready!
So that brings us to Sunday. A day full of food! The kids woke up to a decorated table and fun V-Day gifts (fruit snacks... gotta love that those are still considered "gifts" at my house!). We (and by we, I mean me) made a fantastic breakfast of cinnamon vanilla french toast with a maple cream cheese spread on top. It was yummy! Then we cleaned the house (kind of) in anticipation of our friends arriving! We always enjoy the Mason's coming over and it was made even sweeter this time by the really cheap ham that I found on sale on Friday night. Good friends and good deals. Nothing goes together better! Megan brought fantastic home grown green beans and I made ridiculously good homemade brownies. All in all, a food night to love!