Gorsch Moment in Time: A Heart-Filled Day

I have always liked Valentine's Day, but I think I enjoy it even more being a mom! I love celebrating the love that our family has for one another and I also enjoy coming up with ways to make the day special. Here's a look at Valentine's 2011 for the Gorsch Family:

The kids started the day by finding these balloons tied to their chairs. Sadie come up to my room to wake me up early (typical for her) and said "Mom! I love Macey's birthday balloons!" She was even more excited when I explained that they were for her and Kinnick. (We were at a surprise b-day party Saturday night and towards the end they started handing out balloons to all the kids. Sadie was so disappointed when she didn't get one... so when I saw these in the dollar tree the next day, I had to get them!)

We had big plans to head to Bloomington and meet friends, so I needed a quick a breakfast. I made the kids heart-shaped toast with pink sprinkles and pink milk/apple juice.

Our plans were to try a new place I'd heard about called "Make-A-Mess". We were meeting the Downings and the Humistons. When we got there, we were all having trouble finding it so I called only to find out they had recently went out of business. (Steph did find the building...) We were bummed, but we improvised. Chuck E. Cheese it was!

Me with my three little Valentines...

I don't know if I've mentioned it before, but a week-day morning is a perfect time to go to Chuck E. Cheese with little kids! They were pretty much empty which gave our little ones more freedom to roam (and gave us a little more opportunity to visit--although not enough!)

The kids napped on the way home, so when we got home I loaded them right into the stroller and off we went delivering cookies to the neighbors.

Back home to read Valentine books and start on our special dinner...

We had a "fancy" dinner--china, candles, sparkling grape juice in a bucket of ice, toasting glasses (that Marc picked out), flowers (from Marc), and music playing. We made fettuccine Alfredo with grilled chicken and mushrooms, sauteed green beans, garlic bread, and salad with olive garden dressing! For dessert we had warm chocolate mini-cakes with cream cheese filling and a chocolate glaze (I will for sure be making those again!)

My best valentine... (I had some special surprises for him too!)

I had planned a scavenger hunt for the kids, but it got to be too late (and a school night) so we postponed it until the next evening. I remembered this idea from an episode of John & Kate (I used to love that show!) I picked up a few goodies from the dollar store and Target Dollar spot and also got a few candy treats. I hid all of the treats and let the kids listen to clues to find them. They loved it!