Valentine's Day!

Okay, I just have to say I felt soooo bad for Cooper that morning! He went skiing with his Dad and brothers a few days before Valentines day. It was the first really sunny day when they all went skiing. So they all got burned but Cooper got the worst of it! He woke up that morning with huge swollen eyes. I felt like a terrible mom, but honestly it's the middle of winter, I wasn't thinking sunscreen. I knew your lips could get burned but I honestly had no idea that your eyeballs can get burned too! At church the next day a neighbor, who grew up in California and was always around water, said that if you put a few drops of milk in each eye, it makes them feel a ton better, it won't make the red go away but at least it will make them feel better. I am so glad that she told me that! Anyways, I thought I'd surprise the boys with "red" heart shaped french pancakes. They loved them! Strawberries and Whip cream would have made them even better, but I wasn't that prepared, I was just glad I had enough eggs to make the pancakes.

I Heart all of my BoYs!
The big night. We were going on a cruise the following week so this year I wanted to celebrate Valentine's day with all of my boys (I was the lucky one with 5 dates). You know it's a BIG deal when I break out the nice table clothe and the boys helped me make these lovely puffy tissue balls as a floating centerpiece (fishing string would have been better, but I couldn't find any, imagine that). The boys patiently waiting for dinner and wondering why the table cloth (they are typical boys).

Me and 4 of my dates. I did the sides and dessert and Brooke did the grilling. It is the sexiest thing when a guy can cook! It wasn't over the stove kind-of sexy cooking but I'll take it over the grill.

These little hearts have, "gifts of freedom", I got the idea from secrets of a super mommy blog. Basically each of the kids and Brooke had a couple of big hearts on their dessert plate. Each heart had a certain freedom, even Brooke (I won't mention his). I think Rustin's gift of freedom was to be able to eat whatever he wants for dinner (one heart is only good for a one time use). They loved this one, having 6 people in one family means that different people like different things and I am not about to make 6 different meals!

At our house we have 2 dinner rules:

1. Take it.

2. Leave it.

And I do not budge.

I'm not heartless, I do make things that are, "kid friendly" as well as something Brooke and I will eat too!

So I thought this was a good one for us, to just give them the freedom, if only for one night to just say they would like something else (looking back I should have given them a coupon book of it, they would have loved that even more).

I loved the gifts of freedom tons. It was easy, fun and cheap. Most importantly, I just wanted to "give" my kids something without it being an actual present. To me it just seems like literally every holiday gifts are exchanged and I just wanted my kids to enjoy the holiday for the meaning behind it and not for what they get.

Dinner was wonderful, we actually took some time to talk to each other and laugh (usually dinner is a rush and since I am the server I usually eat while everyone is in the shower).

Remember the Christmas story, the part where the kid is eating dinner with his dad and brother and he says, "My mom hasn't eaten a warm dinner since...". Yeah that's our house and I'm sure many other homes.

But that night we did play one fun game. We went around in a circle and we had to say what we loved about the person sitting to the left of us and then the next round was to say something we loved about the person sitting to the right of them. This was a good one since our boys sometimes have a hard time showing their love for each other.

After dinner while the boys were doing some schoolwork I got the dessert table ready.

Notice Cooper's lovely vase with "flowers" in it that he made at school (I was glad that we had a place for it all through dinner, it made him feel so special and I loved it).

Basically I just made mini brownie's and topped them with chocolate ganache and a raspberry and littered the table with chocolates and red candies, the candy was a bigger hit with the kids than the brownies. I figured as well that's why they were mini's.

Some Big Hunk candy bars for some of my big hunks (b.t.w. they don't taste good, but what a cute name).

Take 1: Easton discovering the Dove chocolates.

Coop's dream, a table full of chocolate and candy.

Take 2: Easton realizing he really likes the Dove chocolate.

Rustin, finding another use for the raspberry, rather than eating it (that's what olives are for).

take 3: Easton HOARDING the dove chocolate. I'm sure he thought there wasn't going to be any more left. He was too busy stuffing his face with chocolate that he didn't notice us laughing at him while he ate.

To make a very long story short. This was really the best night ever! We ate, laughed and just enjoyed eating as a family (we usually eat at the island). I knew my night was a success when Elijah asked while I was cleaning up dinner if we could do this every year.

We ended the night with one of the Rocky movies (they used one of their gifts of freedom cards and stayed up 1/2 hour past bed time). Romantic I know, Rocky on Valentine's day, but what do you do when you live with 5 boys. So happy Valentine's day to my 5 loves and to all of you!