valentine's day 2014

i LOVE valentines day. i've come a long way from hating it as a single person, to tolerating it as a married person, to now pretty much being obsessed with it. i was offended this year by friends who thought it was silly to treat it like a major holiday (even b questioned me when i asked why people had to go to work that day) but hey. having kids and making valentines has turned me into a valentine zealot and i am perfectly fine with that.

we kicked off valentine week by decorating sugar cookies in memory of my dear friend jen who recently relocated to nor cal. she used to host a cookie party each year and i miss her, plus i love cookies, so friends came over & we did our own this year. yum!

jack's awesome preschool had a little party the day before v-day, so we spent one very chaotic morning putting the finishing touches on his valentines (free printables from the internet with dollar section pencils washi-taped to the back, thank you very much -- practically free) and cranking out jello jiggler hearts before dropping it and him off at school. he is the cutest.

our actual valentines day was kind of crazy. i made a valentines day breakfast before we skipped off to seattle -- a friend had called late the night before to offer us tickets to the seattle symphony's kids series, so i couldn't pass that up! we enjoyed a valentine safari from orchestra members, then headed back for a play date, target run, lunch date and doctor appointment (hudson had an ear infection).

by the time we finally got home we were all wiped out, and b worked late, so i scrapped my v-day dinner plans and we laid low. not super exciting. but my FAVORITE part of all this year was the valentine swap i host on my stationery blog. this is the fourth year i've done and this time was by far the most successful -- more than 300 people signed up from all around the world and everyone seemed so enthusiastic. i always add my address when i send out swap partner information, just in case people have an extra val to send me, and i got a tonnnnn of valentines in the mail this year. it was so delightful to open my mailbox every day and find a stack of pink, red and gold envelopes with my name on them. i don't have good ideas very often, but this swap thing is definitely one of my better accomplishments.