Valenstein's Day

Annika made it "Valentein's Day", but I think we need to take the germanification of that word one step further - "Valenstein's Day". Oh, yeah! That makes it fun!

Anni made some awesome cards this year. I thought they were all very imaginative, and accompanied by very heartfelt wishes for love and joy in our lives (and chocolate).

This one had 2 snakes in a heart. The cover showed a sea snake meeting a garter snake - from different worlds, yet their love found a way. ...it was for James.


I think this was for Sofia...


...because her Lunar horoscope is a rabbit....not because we discourage breeding like rabbits (but not too young, right?)

For me, I would say Valenstein's Day was a semi-fail, semi-success.

Nobody thought my boo-bees card was funny. (Get it?) It's always fun having your teenagers roll their eyes at how immature you are!


...but the gift enclosed in the card was a total success. Membership to a shooting range. Tony was mystified as to how I even knew he wanted that. (Because I am su-smart, S-M-R-T...like Homer Simpson...right?)

The cute valentine containers for the kids never got even close to finished....


...but I got them each a little gift they liked.

Tony came through big-time. He made a heart cake with the littles.


For FHE, he helped us make our own "edible arrangement".


I never knew that mint chocolate and pineapple went so well together. Yum!


No one was injured by the pokey sticks.


(Those are my Valentine flowers in the background....but not the pink ones...those are Lilly's.)


(If you can, take note of Cozy's adorable shirt, which I made...too small....so you'll never see it again.)

(Single) people (Sofia) love to whine about what a pain Valentine's Day is. Fine. Ignore it. We don't always do big things for Valentine's Day, but we DO always see it as an opportunity to express love for our family...in our own individual ways.
SO, HAPPY LATE VALENSTEIN'S DAY YA'LL!