Valentine's Day 2014 Recap!

Happy Valentine's Day!

I went all in this year.  I had the time and I finally had the motivation to be one of "those" moms.  The moms I see on Facebook and Twitter.  The moms who make every little holiday a huge, over-the-top celebration.  The moms who I kinda hate, but secretly want to be like. OK, I really admire them.  How do they do it?!

I made three trips to Target and two to Michael's to get all the things I wanted.  I made special gluten-free, heart shaped chocolate chip pancakes and heart shaped bacon.  I got up at the crack of dawn and decorated with heart shaped placemats, red charger plates, personalized chalk boards and fake rose petals.  I wanted this day of love to be a day to remember.

My husband kept the kids upstairs until breakfast time and everything looked great!  I even had their vitamins and juice all prepped and ready to go.  Their eyes gleamed and they squealed in delight at the small treasures I had also bought for the day.  They opened their cards and enjoyed a fun breakfast before going to school for Valentine's Day parties.

They came in and ate in less than thirty minutes.  Days of preparation, hours of cooking and prepping and a really early morning of putting it all together for just about thirty minutes of enjoyment. *sigh*  It went by really fast.  As soon as they were done, I was stripping down the table and putting everything away wondering if all that work had been really "worth" it?

On the plus side, I loved spoiling them all.  I loved showing them in my own way what special Valentine's they all are to me.  To see them enjoying this all was a great reward to me.  Loving them is always "worth it".

On the other side...WAAAAY too much work.  I completely outdid myself.  Honestly, I don't know if I could do that every year.  Is this going to be something they expect for every holiday?  With my work, their school and outside classes, this was a TALL order to handle.  What if I disappointed them by not having a big celebration?

While I cannot guarantee that next years Valentine's Day will look anything like this years, I know my kids loved their morning.  They now have a special memory that they will keep with them forever.  That made every effort TOTALLY worth it!!

Next year, Valentine's Day is on a Saturday.  I told my hubby and kids that I get to sleep in and they can spoil me!

Here are some shots from V-Day 2014:

Table setting for breakfast

Love is in the air

Uniquely hers!

Review: Angie's Valentine Kettle Corn

Fun to look at and fun to eat!

As a mom to a child with Celiac, I always want to be ahead of the curve for food when it comes to school parties.  Knowing Valentine's Day is just around the corner, I went over to my local Target for inspiration.

Among the class size bags of over-sugary and overly artificial snacks, I found a new unique product called Angie's Popcorn in some delicious sounding flavors.  I found their Sweetly Vanilla Cupcake Kettle Corn and Smoochy Tutti Frutti Kettle Corn.  What kid-at-heart wouldn't want to try those?

I was completely sold on trying them once I saw that it was not only gluten-free, but has no high fructose corn syrup and is non-GMO verified.  The ingredients are simple and all natural consisting mainly of the popcorn, sunflower oil, sea salt and evaporated cane crystals.  They are also kosher and dairy/nut free too.  This is perfect for our class party since we have so many children with different allergies.

There are 16 individual bags for easy sharing in class.  My daughter has a large class, so we picked up two of each flavor and dug in to taste them! (quality control you see).

The kids couldn't wait until we got home and they were already opening their Vanilla Cupcake bag in the care on the ride home.  My car never smelled so sweet.  The first comment I heard was a muffled, "Oh my gosh! These are so good!"  I got a piece away from one of them and yes, it was delicious.  Delicately sweet, not overpowering in its vanilla flavor and highly addictive.

The Tutti Frutti are reminiscent of a salty version of a classic bowl of cereal that a certain toucan loved to eat.  I was not expecting to like this one, and I have to admit it is my favorite!  

The only downside to these snacks is their limited availability.  It is only available this season only.  I hope Angie's Popcorn and Target team up again to carry a regular supply of these kid-allergy friendly snacks year round in kid-friendly flavors.  These snacks are a perfect addition to any kid's Valentine's Day class party and we are going back tomorrow to stock up for school lunches!