How We Celebrated Valentine's Day 2012

I think Valentine's Day is one of the most perfect holidays.  

It's a holiday centered on LOVE!  Is love not one of the most important things in the world?  Some might say it even makes the world go 'round.  It's a one-day holiday which means I don't feel obligated to burden myself excessively on decorations or party planning.  It's for everyone (you don't have to have a "special someone" to celebrate.)  And who can resist a holiday that lets you go overboard on pink and red with hearts all over?  

Valentine's Day is also the perfect opportunity for me to emphasize to my boys that the true source and example of love comes from our One and only Savior, Jesus Christ. 

"This is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins."  1 John 4:10

My boys helped me make this paper banner last year.  We saved it and hung it up yesterday.

And when you're celebrating Valentine's Day with little boys nothing says, "I love you," like Darth Vader holding a bag of candy.

The mailboxes are a tradition I started a few years ago.  The boys know that they are going to wake up to their mailboxes filled with treats at the breakfast table.  This year I filled it with "kisses" from mom, Hershey's kisses.  (Their names are written on their mailboxes.)

Breakfast was a small yogurt parfait with strawberries and granola, and heart shaped english muffins with homemade strawberry jam.  Yum!  I made some for myself too.  Somehow english muffins taste better when they are shaped like a heart.

After school was finished we got to work on our special dinner treats.  I had picked up a chocolate cake mix and sparkling pink lemonade from Traders Joe's on my last grocery run.  The Free One made the cupcakes all by himself with some help from his little brother.

Here is the finished product.  I whipped up some pink frosting and sprinkled them with pink sugar.  I got the cupcake holders and picks from the dollar section at Target.  (cha ching!)  

And those lovely flowers in the background are from my very own handsome valentine, Mr. Incredible.  He called me at around 10:00 that morning to let me know that my flowers were in the car and that he had forgotten to set them out that morning because he was running late.  How romantic...  and I'm not kidding.  He never calls me from work!

Last, but certainly not least, we each had a very special envelope that contained the "love letters" that we had all written to each other.  We read all of them out loud during dessert.  In this picture, The Free One, is reading his letters with all seriousness and I can tell they meant a lot to him.  He may or may not have even started tearing up.  I hope this will be a tradition that will be in our family for years to come. 

But the real reason for this post, on this day after Valentine's day, is that I want everyone to know everywhere, that our family is extraordinarily eloquent in professing our love for each other.  We really know how to proclaim our affections in exquisitely sentimental ways.  I will now share with you but a few illustrations of our amatory articulateness.

From The Anchor to The Free One:  "I like watching a movie with you."

From The Free One to The Anchor:  "I like your furry skin." 

From Mr. Incredible to The Anchor:  "I had fun wrestling with you."

From the Free One to Mr. Incredible:  "I love you because you share the sodas from your truck with me."

From The Anchor to Mr. Incredible:  "Thank you for letting us watch T.V."

From The Anchor to Mommy:  "Thank you for Darf Vador..."

From The Free One to Mommy (this is all he wrote to me):  "I ♥ you"