a heart shaped day

Valentine's Day...not my favorite holiday but one that Olivia was very excited about this year. She started talking about making and handing out valentines weeks before, so when she found out there was going to be a valentines party in her class we immediately got to work. Olivia has been working on learning to write her name in school. She is doing a great job too. Luckily most of the letters in her name are quite easy to write. She is still struggling with her v's and a's, but overall she is making great progress and it is looking more and more legible each day.

She signed 17 valentines for her class. I was very proud of her. We almost thought the Valentine party was not going to happen because of the snow we got that week, but they were back in school just in time. That day she came home with a box full of valentines and treats. She was super excited! We also took a big tray of homemade Valentine sugar cookies to school, made by Mom, for Olivia to share with her friends. Olivia tried to take credit for the cookies by telling her friends that she made them herself. I think it was pretty clear, by the look of the cookies that a 3 year old did not make them. I wish I would have taken a picture of the cookies because they were so cute. That Saturday Todd and I went out for our Valentine's dinner and Todd's Mom came over to spend the evening with Olivia. Gangy had a wonderful Valentine's gift that she was dying to give her. The first gift contained an adorable little outfit with hearts all over it, that will fit her perfectly next year. She immediately tried it on.

After she was all dressed she was instructed to open the next box, which contained a Madame Alexander doll with a matching outfit. It was the cutest thing. Olivia and her doll "Natalie" looked so adorable dressed as twins. It was a very thoughtful gift and I am sure next year Olivia will love getting dressed up for Valentine's day, just like her doll.

The next morning, which was actually Valentine's Day, I made a special breakfast of heart-shaped pancakes. It took forever to make them, but they sure were delicious. My theme of heart-shaped food continued throughout the day, but more on that later.

After breakfast we all got dressed to head out for a bit. Of course Olivia had to wear something red. Look at this diva. She is too much in her sunglasses! Looks like she thinking, "Stop in the name of love!"

We thought we would check out the Fort Wayne Food Expo that was going on that day, but it turned out to be pretty disappointing. Instead Olivia thought she would burn off some energy by running around our nearly empty Coliseum for a good 3o minutes. She had a blast! She was up the stairs, she was down the stairs. There are a few statues that she was quite fascinated with and most importantly there was plenty of room to run, jump and skip.

After wearing herself out we decided to head home for lunch. Olivia decided she felt like having a peanut butter and jelly sandwich (big surprise). So to make it a little more exciting I of course cut the sandwich into a...you guessed it...heart! I forgot to take a picture of it, but I think you've got the idea. Lunch was topped off with a few Valentine's sugar cookies made by my Mom...yum! After a nice long nap for Olivia and myself (Happy Valentine's Day to me!), it was time to start pulling our ingredients together for our special Valentine's dinner. We decided to make homemade pizzas so I sent Olivia and Todd to the store while I got started with the dough.

By the time they got home I had Olivia's heart-shaped pizza all ready for her to start preparing. We did this activity earlier this winter and she really enjoyed it. She very carefully covered her pizza with the sauce, pepperoni, mushrooms, olives and cheese. It was funny watching her concentrate as she tried to create a perfect pizza.

After a few minutes in the oven our pizzas were ready to eat. I think we all enjoyed our special Valentine's dinner. It was nothing fancy, but we had fun and enjoyed spending time together. We all exchanged small little gifts and lots of kisses were handed out that day! I think Olivia's favorite part was the red and pink jelly beans we gave her for her jelly bean machine. Nothing better than candy to make your day a little brighter! She had so much fun getting ready for this holiday and we made sure she had a memorable day. I look forward to continuing all of these little traditions with her again next year.

So a few weeks ago our wonderful Indianapolis Colts headed to the Super Bowl once again. We all went to my Mom's to watch the game and we were all decked out in our Colts gear, hoping it would bring good luck. Well not this time. They lost, but we had a fun night. I even think Olivia(sort of) enjoyed watching the game.

Not much else going on with us right now. We are starting to get a little bit of cabin fever here in cold Indiana. As much as we would love to take a trip to somewhere warm, I think we would just be happy to get out of town for a night. We are thinking of taking Olivia to the Indianapolis Children's Museum. I think she is at the right age where she will enjoy herself and appreciate it. Plus, it is something different and a change of scenery for us. Check back soon, as I will probably have some great pictures from our trip to the museum.