Love and Candy

I agree with a good friend's sentiments that Valentine's Day is overly-commercialized and no less romantic than any other day. Still, I would like to think that between all the pink and red, the chocolates, candies, character laden Valentines, teddy bears and flowers that there really is a message - that any day is a good day to remind those you care about and love how much they mean to you. And that is the message I tried to explain to Jake as he opened his new Transformer race car and handmade Valentine from Mommy and Daddy. I tried to convey the message the day before while he was eating cupcakes and receiving a goody bag at our playgroup's Valentine's Day party and again the next day when I picked him up from his preschool party where he could barely carry all the loot he came away with. Both Jake and Jadyn made out like bandits reminiscent of trick or treating on Halloween with more candy and trinkets then they know what to do with. But I have to say that I love the cute holiday themed clothing, the crafts, the small tokens - I guess I am saying that although I realize what retailers are doing (ie trying to get us to spend money), I totally buy into it anyway. And for what it is worth, it at least presents a good photo op. LOL!

These are the pics from Wednesday, after returning from our playdate party:

Here is the loot (and this does not include what they got at their school parties the next day). The bear Valentine holder was a craft we did the week before at the playdate I hosted. Of course, the kids did not put them together. In the end, Joe had to help me do them with Crazy Glue.

Valentine's Day morning, here are the kids opening their small gifts - a transformer for Jake (we just watched the movie over the weekend at Big Bear) and a new bear for Jadyn.

Ever since the year we spent in Okinawa and did not go out to dinner on Valentine's Day, it has become tradition for me to cook spaghetti for dinner on Valentine's. So here are the requiste messy spaghetti face pics of the kids:

Sorry for the picture overload. Hope everyone had a nice Valentine's Day!