Last year's Valentine's Day was rather depressing, and so this year I was determined to make it fun.  I had been planning it for a few weeks, and since Kevin and I had our Valentine's date on Monday, today was all about Lily.  Last night I stayed up late getting everything ready – and I even pulled out some of my old V-day decorations from when I taught school :).  And so it all started with breakfast . . .

 Lily woke up so excited for the day, and was even more excited when she saw the decorations!  "She yelled out, "Mom, somebody brought me a Valentine's poster!!"

Our apartment complex was doing a "drive-thru breakfast" this morning, and so after we were all dressed, I put the kids in the car, and drove to the gate where they were set up.  They gave us donuts, juice, a bag of candy, and a red carnation.  Lily thought it was the best ever!  After breakfast we made cookies, because Lily had been talking about making heart shaped cookies for days – and like I said, it was all about her today :).

 For lunch, we had a visitor.  Lily's friend Kylia came over, and they got to watch a few Valentine shows (which I had tapes so Lily and Derek could watch them throughout the day).  For lunch I made grilled cheese sandwiches, but I used a cookie cutter to make them heart shaped – to go along with the theme.  Then we ran some errands, and Lily got to get a free heart shaped Krispy Kreme donut.  She was pretty excited when she got to pick it out.

Later in the afternoon, we finally decided to frost the cookies we had made.  Lily had so much fun, that she only got to frost 3 of them.  She would put the frosting on, lick it off, and then add some more.  Once I caught her eating the sprinkles directly out of the jar.  Sadly, Derek was not having a good day, as you can tell by the pictures.  His teeth are really hurting him, and even his very own donut hole wouldn't help.

Dinner was another fun adventure.  I made heart shaped pancakes, along with heart shaped bacon.  Kevin thought I was insane – which is pretty much true – but Lily loved it.  Plus, it was so easy to do!

After dinner began our last and final adventure . . . Lily's treasure hunt!  I had printed a Valentine's puzzle off the Internet, cut it up, and wrote clues on the back of each piece.  It sent her on a mad dash around the house finding her clues.  (Check out her finding the clue in the fridge – he he!)  It eventually led her back to the kitchen table where all our Valentines were waiting to be opened.  Then she put the puzzle together – it was an ice-cream sundae – and she got to have her own sundae for desert. 

Oh, and last, but not least, I can't forget the chocolate heart she got. It was even "wrapped in red foil."  It is from one of her favorite books, Lilly's Chocolate Heart, and it is a tradition to make sure she has her own on Valentine's Day.  It was a wonderful day, and probably the only chance I'll have to do this much of an adventure for Lily without the distraction of other things.  After all, she only stays little for a very short time.

PS.  Like I said earlier, Kevin and I celebrated Valentine's Day on Monday.  Our friend Maria watched the kids and we went out to this amazing and romantic Italian Cafe in Savannah, called Bella's.  It was our first real celebration of the holiday since we were engaged, so it was long over due :).  We had such a great time remembering what it is like to be "us."