14.2.14

Friday Favorite: My Hearts

Just keeping it real.  Today is not my favorite holiday.  But it's become a lot more fun with these little loves.  It was difficult getting pictures today.  You'll see what I mean at the end of this post.  I have no idea what Seth was doing behind me, and I probably don't want to know.  But it worked!

We made these cute little Valentines for Mason and Hannah Kate to take to their class parties at school.  Nothing here is original.  It's all Pinterest.  Of course, Hannah Kate was very quick to remind me that, "But we aren't allowed to have gum at school, Mama."  She is such a rule follower.  But so am I.  For teacher gifts, we put "mini smores" (teddy grahams, mini marshmallows and Valentine M&Ms) in a Mason jar and stuck the tags on the front.

Ellie loved the mini smores.  Somehow she managed to get this perfect pink M&M dot on her little nose.

And speaking of parties, this is what Seth found in the bottom of Mason's backpack today after school.  I thought he was going to stroke out!  I'm not sure where he's been the last few years.  This is nothing compared to the number of empty candy wrappers I usually find after a class party!  It must've been a slow party!

And, of course, we celebrated with our annual Valentine's Day tradition of eating supper from our wedding china in the formal dining room.  I picked these pretty flowers up yesterday.  Not bad for $9.95 at the grocery store! 

I had a hard time deciding what to cook this year for our meal.  I always try to do something new, something we haven't had before and something a little fancy.  I really wanted pasta.  Because nothing says love like pasta!  But Seth isn't a huge fan.  I decided I'd do tuna steaks.  But then I changed my mind at the last minute (yesterday) to salmon.

I started with this Butternut Squash and Shrimp Bisque.  After 13 1/2 years, I realized today that I do not have soup bowls in my wedding china pattern!  I'm not sure how that happened.  And I'm not sure why it took me 13 1/2 years to figure it out!  (Mama, I'll be updating my gift list now!)  So I had to improvise.  We ate our soup from the coffee cups!  It really was good.

Our main course was salmon with a cucumber dill salad and steamed asparagus.  This was the first time I'd ever cooked salmon.  My husband has never really liked salmon.  He says it's too fishy.  Yeah, I don't get it either.  I mean, he has a point.  But then again he doesn't.  It doesn't get any fishier than crawfish.  Anyway, he had salmon a few weeks ago, and he said he liked it.  It was okay.  I don't think he liked it very much.  It was cooked perfectly, and it had a great flavor.  But most times after I cook, I'm really not interested in eating what I cooked!  I want something different!  And that's what happened tonight.  Of course, it didn't help that just a few days ago we enjoyed a wonderful meal prepared by a professional chef!  Next year we will definitely be having pasta.  Or pizza!

My most favorite thing of the night was dessert!  I love to eat dessert.  But I don't much care to fix dessert, mainly because it never turns out right.  I prefer to buy dessert.  This year I had a little help from Whole Foods.  I picked up these delicious mini cheesecakes (plain, chocolate and raspberry) and cupcakes for Mason and Hannah Kate.  And they did not disappoint!  Even Seth ate one!  And he never eats dessert.  He originally told me he was only going to eat half of one.  That was fine with me because I was going to eat mine and then finish the half he didn't eat.  But there was nothing left on his plate!

Yes, it was difficult getting pictures today.  Ellie wasn't exactly feeling it.  But this is us! These are my hearts, and I love them to pieces!

This man right here is my favorite heart!  We are a little (or a lot) tired these days.  I'm so thankful for him, and there's no one else I'd rather do life with!