our valentine's dinner

So... I forgot about Valentine's day. 

We spent the night at my parents' for Superbowl snacks (that's what I attend for). While everyone else watched the game in the man cave, my sisters and I watched three episodes of Love is Blind which took a total of six hours because we like to pause it every five minutes to psychoanalyze the characters cast members. I ended up going to bed at 3:30 in the morning and getting about three hours of sleep between that time and eight in the morning, when the baby decided it was time to get up for the day despite both of us getting a horrible night's sleep.

I woke up with heavy eyes and a fuzzy brain, but somehow scrounged up the energy to enjoy an almost four-mile walk with my mom before heading home that afternoon. Apparently that's all I had the energy for, because for the last three days my kids have done nothing but watch TV. Oh, how I wish I was exaggerating!

Okay, they have gotten a significant reading done, and they did play some math games on Prodigy, but Netflix and Disney Plus have really been pulling through as excellent babysitters. Homeschooling, what's that? (Between the lack of sleep and having a sick baby for four days, I am spent. I haven't had a week like this in a while, the kind where I just lie in bed watching TV while my kids watch TV. I'm choosing to not feel guilty about it. Tomorrow will be better.)

Back to Monday. I didn't realize it was Valentine's day until my mom and I came back from our walk and I saw that my dad had left out boxes of chocolate on the counter for us all! My parents always get the kids boxes of chocolate, but I was especially grateful for it this year because I failed to deliver. I told my kids the truth: I stayed up too late, was too tired, totally forgot about Valentine's day, and we would have our own special day tomorrow night. They were satisfied.

The next afternoon, I was trying to figure out how to acquire candy to leave by their dinner plates, but I just couldn't justify an unneeded Instacart delivery for cavity-inducing treats, especially after they'd eaten about 20 mini Reece's in the last 24 hours. I remember we had a bag of heart-shaped pasta I happened to buy a couple weeks before, as well as some strawberries and chocolate chips. What is more fun than receiving a holiday treat when you're a kid? Making your own!

I boiled the pretty pasta and made some Alfredo sauce, which I made fancy by adding a couple of drops of red food coloring, and heated up some jarred marinara for the weirdos who prefer it. The kids were so surprised to see pink swirly pasta sauce and festive pasta! Mom. Win. (I mean. I don't want to toot a horn here. But I should forget about holidays more often.)

 

You can't see the color of the Alfredo sauce, but it totally had pink swirls and was actually really pretty!

I told them that after dinner, I had a couple more surprises planned. Not anything super special, but just something I think they'd like. Then I busted out the fresh strawberries and melted chocolate chips, and we made our own chocolate-covered strawberries! The quintessential Valentine's dessert. I also had them make their own chocolate-filled croissants. Super easy - just pop open a tube of croissants and place a few chocolate chips between each layer as you roll it up. So simple, and so fun for the kiddos. 

We ate our treats while we watched A Charlie Brown Valentine. We ended up having so much fun. I really lucked out with all the food I had on hand - strawberries, chocolate, croissants, and that heart-shaped pasta. I don't normally keep croissant rolls on hand, or heart-shaped pasta, for that matter. Between luck and quick thinking, I am reminded that we don't need cheesy, cheap toys (like the unicorn stuffies I bought them last year... of which they reminded me and asked if I would be gifting them something similar) or tons of candy to celebrate a fun day. Don't get me wrong, I still plan on absolutely stuffing their Easter basket with cheap toys and candy. Balance, and all that.