love is in the air.

Everywhere I look around...feel free to break into song. Love is, in fact, in the air. From the dozens of heart-shaped balloons filling the grocery store aisles, to the commercials urging men that "every kiss begins with Kay," it's clear that February 14th is upon us and far be it for retailers to not capitalize on such an opportunity.

I had the distinct pleasure of attending a little pre-Valentine's day celebration of sorts. There were only three guests, but two happened to be my most special valentines. We started off our night of love making homemade dough for our pizza dinner. Both Haylee and Meredith got in on the action and after insisting on getting their hands on the dough, quickly realized it was much too sticky. Haylee opted to promptly wash it off, whereas Mere thought licking her hands was a much more expedient solution.




While we waited the 45 painstaking minutes to let the dough rise, we wasted no time in whipping up something sweet to go with our savory offering. In anticipation of our pre-party, their mommy dutifully purchased a gourmet package of none other than Valentine's funfetti cupcakes. With the girls each holding my hand as I combined the ingredients and beat that batter into submission, we finally managed to get the cupcakes in the oven. The cupcakes might have come from a box, but not to worry, my strong convictions wouldn't allow me to take the easy way out on the frosting front. I mixed up a lovely pink buttercream to top our funfetti creations.




After the girls scarfed down their pizza in record time (it's amazing how quickly you can get kids to comply to eat their dinner when the intoxicating scent of fresh baked cupcakes is lingering in the air), I let them decorate their own cupcake with an inordinate amount of pink, red and white heart sprinkles. Once the pale pink frosting swirls were properly coated, they dug in (Haylee head first) with sheer abandon. There may or may not have been streaks of pink frosting in Haylee's hair when it was all said and done, but watching her attack that cupcake was so worth it.




Love Himself was present throughout our time (in between me telling Meredith "no" and "yelling" at the girls to be nice to each other) and it sure beat any cheesy box of chocolates (most of which I wouldn't like anyway) or cliche bouquet of roses.

Happy Valentine's Day! I hope your celebrations involve the same spirit of Love...and of course, some delicious treats.

“To love at all is to be vulnerable. Love anything and your heart will be wrung and possibly broken. If you want to make sure of keeping it intact you must give it to no one, not even an animal. Wrap it carefully round with hobbies and little luxuries; avoid all entanglements. Lock it up safe in the casket or coffin of your selfishness. But in that casket, safe, dark, motionless, airless, it will change. It will not be broken; it will become unbreakable, impenetrable, irredeemable. To love is to be vulnerable.”
― C.S. Lewis, The Four Loves