My funny valentine

Zoë made pancakes for dinner on Friday evening—picking one of Daddy's favourite foods to celebrate his homecoming. But she made them special by drawing little hearts on them for Valentine's Day.

Sweet Zoë and Alexander woke up early on Saturday morning to heart attack our bedroom door. They've done this for a few years in a row for me. 

And this year I did nothing for them. 

They were sorely disappointed to wake up to no elaborate Valentine's Day set up on the kitchen table. 

I'm kind of hit-or-miss when it comes like things to this...and this was a miss year. I just didn't have it in me. My bad for overloading my academic schedule (seriously...I will never take this many classes at one time ever again while also working and homeschooling five kids...this was...a lot). 

Andrew made up for it by picking up a few Valentine's Day treats when he went to the store to grab a few groceries. I also made some heart-shaped Rice Krispie treats. And Grandpa came over with donuts to celebrate Valentine's Day and Grandma's birthday. So it's not like they were completely neglected!

Here's Phoebe feeling so excited about her lollypop:

She chose her outfit based on heart-shape status, wearing this unicorn shirt (with hearts on it) and leggings that didn't particularly match (but also had hearts) and socks that also didn't really match (but, yes, had hearts). I neglected to take a picture of her entire outfit, but she's cute no matter what she wears.

Now, after telling you that we had candy and Rice Krispie treats and donuts, I think it is funny that when Rachel texted us to tell us about her gal-entine's day celebration with her roommates, she texted me this picture of a healthy dinner (though I do notice the lack of vegetable on the table, Rachel):

Meanwhile she sent Andrew this picture of their fondu dessert tray:

She wanted Mom to know she was eating healthy and Dad to know...she was enjoying herself? I'm not sure why she sent me dinner pictures and him dessert. But, anyway...he was rather tired (from a day of traveling and some jet-lag) by the time she was texting us and he was struggling.

He said and typed, "Why? Just for fun?" before I could even stop him.

"Because it's Valentine's Day!" I told him. "That's why I asked you to get valentine treats for the kids while you were at the store! Rachel's obviously doing a little roommate gal-entine's party!"

"Ohhhhhh!" he said (and typed). "ITS VAENTINED SNSDAY!"

"It is valentined snsay yes," Rachel responded.

Hailey, Rachel, Lizzie, Elisha, Margo

Here are the cute roommates together (one of them had other plans, so there's only five here—Rachel is second from the left, Hailey is on the far left, Margo on the far right, then Lizzie in the middle, and Elisha in the floral print (how did I do?)):

I thought their table setting was so cute and a little bit...funny! First of all, I only see four plates (so who didn't eat at the table?) and then I see a number of fancy cups but also a Mason-jar mug (too funny)!

That's college life for ya! 

We joke that Hailey, Rachel, and their friend Corbin are an inseparable trio—like Harry, Ron, and Hermione. So we were curious about what Corbin did for Valentine's Day without them. 

Keeping parallel to the girls' Gal-entine's Day celebration, Corbin decided to celebrate Corbin-tine's Day. He spent the day with himself, riding Front Runner from end to end (spending about six hours on the train total), making stops to go to the temple, play a few rounds of disc golf, and go for a little hike. 

And that about sums up our Valentine's Day celebrations this year.

Though on Sunday Sister Carroll surprised the primary by bringing in some delicious heart-shaped pumpkin bread for everyone. She put a little message on each loaf, thanking all the teachers for their hard work. Mine said, "You make our hearts sing!"