love

What better way to celebrate the day of love than with the people you love?

Our valentines started on Saturday.  We met up with some great friends at Cheesecake Factory for a delicious meal.  Loved the company; loved the food.

...and gotta love having the kiddos at home with the awesome babysitter(s).

 side note: Cheesecake factory was one popular place that night.  Good thing we got there early to get our name in!  It was an hour wait so we had fun strolling the mall and nearby shops. 

 We met up with the rest of the gang afterward for dessert and some serious valentine fun.  Jamie decorated her house so cute for the occasion.  

(by this point, 7 little cuties were all sleeping upstairs)

Games included: writing down a reason you love your spouse and then we guessed who wrote what

and the infamous newly wed game.

 There were some debatable answers, but we were able to come out on top for the win!:)  It was a great way to get to know each other better... not only our spouse, but our friends too!

and get this: all 12 of us coordinated outfits purely by coincidence. 

Thanks to the Thompsons for a rockin' V-Day party!

 On the actual Valentine's Day, Jaden was so excited to open his card from Grandma.  He loved it!

Then it was breakfast with Mr. Bear.  Yes, this boy loves (seriously LOVES) his bears.  They are definitely his valentines this year.  He insisted Mr. Bear stay nearby so I set him up on the chair next to Jaden.  He tried feeding him his breakfast and was SO thrilled when I finally let him snuggle him after he was cleaned up.

Then he put them all under his picnic table/kitchen chair for a pow-wow of some sort.  He chatted and snuggled with them.  (p.s. It was quite the task helping Jaden squeeze under the chair.  He worked so hard to get them all under there, I didn't want to disappoint him by not letting him join.)

we call the big one Mr. Bear (a.k.a. Beh Beh) and the smaller two Baby Bears (a.k.a. Bee Bee)

No, it doesn't stop there.  He had two bites of his snack and then brought his bears to the table to join him.  Then he ate two more bites and had to make the rounds to be sure each bear had his share of snacks.

Pretty sure the love of the bears will last a long time, but he sure showed them extra attention on Valentine's Day:)

We also had fun hanging out in the kitchen making some yummy heart-shaped scotcharoos.  We decorated a few of them for Daddy.  Can you tell he liked them?!

I made a special candle-lit dinner to surprise Cody when he got home, and he surprised me with a beautiful bouquet of flowers:)

side note: those rose petals are from the night Cody proposed (February 2007)

Happy Valentine's Day 2011 (our 5th one celebrated together)!