Mom, you never do stuff like this!

I'm not a minor holiday celebrator.

We do Halloween and Christmas and some stuff for the 4th of July, but most of the other holidays march by without a lot of fanfare.  Oh…better include Thanksgiving.  We're totally into that one as it includes turkey!

But back to the forgotten holidays at the Dixon house and how Valentines Day is one of them…until this year.

I must have been feeling lovey.  Or maybe I just wanted sugar?

Who knows why, but I got into it a little this year and my kids noticed.

It started with frosted heart shaped sugar cookies.  

(I included the gluten at no extra charge.)

I made these as a belated anniversary present for Steve.  These are his favorite.

Then for breakfast Valentines morning, I left out a Costco sized box of sugar cereal for the kids with this totally-stolen-from-the-internet idea about how I 'Cereal-sly' love my family.

(We are big cereal fans and my kids are dying that there are Froot Loops in the house!)

Then sometime between the hours of 6 and 7 am I pulled together handmade valentines for the four oldest children. 

WHAT?

6-7 AM???

I must be losing my Valentine's mind!

"Who are you and what have you done with my mother?"

She couldn't have been happier even though this picture doesn't show the smile she cracked when she first saw her Frozen Valentine.

Nasty, disgusting, and right up a 13 year old's alley.

Carter was not shown with his Valentine due to the overwhelming force new Legos have on a ten year old boy.

The night previous I personally bribed him with with Lego $$ if he wouldn't fuss when Steve pulled a tooth.

The bribery worked.  The tooth is gone.  The money is spent.  The Lego set is built.  The end. 

 But the Valentines fun didn't end there…I went all crazy and cut hearts out of the peanut butter sandwiches served for lunch.

This is when Colby said, "Wow Mom!  You never do stuff like this!"

He's totally correct.  I hardly ever do fun stuff because I am a big fat holiday Debbie Downer.

Little did they know it was me just keeping their expectations low for the last 13 years so when I finally actually did something creative…they REALLY appreciated it!

Oh yes, and here is my littlest Valentine.

(Yes, that is a tube of athletes foot creme in his hand.  We keep it really real around here.)

Happy Valentines Day!

Don't get your hopes up for anything spectacular next year!