Target has already stocked their dollar spot with spring decorations and St. Patrick’s Day and Easter decor and I’m sitting here typing up a blog post about Valentine’s Day. But since they still had Valentine’s Day stuff on clearance in the back of the store, I’m going to say that it’s not too late to post this blog post. And don’t you dare try to judge me for using Target’s marketing timeline to my justify my blogging timeline. Don’t. you. dare. (Also, I posted a new vlog at the end of the post!!)
Before we had kids, Valentine’s Day was never super exciting to me. I was never one of those that totally opposed the holiday but I also never really did much to celebrate it. Once the kids started getting old enough to understand holidays a little better, I fell in love (pun absolutely intended) with Valentine’s Day. Now we are all about the hearts, red, pink, and love love love leading up to the big day. We usually like to make sugar cookies but since we just did some for Christmas (and the fact that Liam and I don’t even care for them) we decided to do cupcakes this time around.
Not just any cupcakes–cupcakes from an Aldi cake mix. Because, hey, I have 6 kids and sometimes that’s what you get. Plus I thought it would be fun for Liam to read the directions to everyone and they could make them by themselves (with a little help from their mom—sung to the tune of the Beatles’ song.)
When I wasn’t holding Clem, I was videoing on the GoPro so I didn’t really get many pictures. But I’m sure you really don’t care to see 30 pictures of the kids gathered around the Kitchenaid. And no boxed cupcakes would complete without store bought icing! I totally prefer homemade but this was wayyyy easier.
Desmond woke up from his nap just in time for the cupcakes to be iced. We put him on a chair and he immediately grabbed an uniced cupcake and tried to take a giant bite out of the paper. He quickly found the right way to eat and devoured it in minutes. They weren’t the fanciest cupcakes in the world. But the kids had a ton of fun making (and eating) them and that’s really all that matters.
And Clem just watched with that sweet face of hers. I just can’t get over those cheeks and that face.
and a few Valentine’s related iphone shots…
And look at this sweet watercolor portrait of Clem by Painted Truth Co. on instagram. She has an etsy shop and does custom portraits. She just happened to find Clem’s pictures through instagram and painted a couple. They are so so adorable!
This picture was way harder than I expected without Don at home. I had to fix Evangeline’s hair, hope she didn’t move, then I had to fix my own hair with the boys holding my phone over my head to see myself. Then I had Kai (6 years old) take the picture all while I was suffering one of the top 3 worst headaches (migraines?) I have ever had in my life (after we took the picture I couldn’t keep my eyes open anymore because it got so bad.) Oh what I do for a picture sometimes haha.
So blurry, but so cute! And look! They are all smiling….at the same time!! It’s a Valentine’s miracle.
We went out to get donuts for Valentine’s breakfast.
And I made the most delicious cookie cake for dessert that night. This picture is so blurry but they wanted a picture with the cookie cake so I obliged. Also, anyone want the most amazing recipe in the world for cookie cake? It far surpasses store bought–like, I can’t even eat store bought because the quality is just that much worse. If a few people are interested, I will put together a post to share the recipe.
I hope you had a happy Valentine’s Day, however you celebrate it!
Make sure to check out the video of the kids making the cupcakes!
