i *heart* "balentime's" day

me and the boys had a fantastic "balentime's day" as jonah pronounces it. the boys woke up to the classic heart-shaped box of chocolates and a super sweet breakfast to follow. with norah jones for ambiance, me and the boys gorged ourselves on our favorite french toast and homemade buttermilk syrup topped with "snow" (powdered sugar) and chocolate-covered strawberries. mmm...mMMm. then we threw our syrup-covered boys in the tub and all my boys obliged me to dress them in their new valentine's t-shirts. soon after that we gave daddy a ride to work and left him with a plethora of kisses. but apparently jonah didn't get enough because he cried as soon as we drove away saying he needed to "kiss daddy's face" until i turned around and let him blow 5 or 6 more kisses to daddy through the window. when joe returned from work, he and i decided we would rather spend an evening at home rather than go out to eat. so we cooked a new dish together that we hadn't had before while the boys took a convenient afternoon nap. cheese stuffed chicken with tortellini, green salad, garlic bread and apple-pomegranate martinelli's to wash it all down. it was a very romantic dinner for two, with candles even, until monsters 1 and 2 joined us. it was then a much noisier and messier meal, but still the enjoyable chaotic meal we've grown accustomed to. after bath #2 for our marinara-covered boys, we all dressed in our pj's and opened valentines from oma and opa. letters from them always make us smile. and like any perfect ending to a very sweet day, we had a finale of italian gelato and ikey's favorite peanut butter kiss "tookie" then fell asleep watching classic romance movies- joe was the first to fall asleep.

sunrise - norah jones