Valentine's Day Plans Were A Blast!

We woke up to a party yesterday!  We had heart-shaped waffles, chocolate covered strawberries and an apple covered with caramel and pink sprinkles.  My little people had the best time.  They had presents to open from their grandmother and special cards.  But the biggest hit was a gum ball necklace.

There were giggles and squeals of delight from one little gal and grumbles and grunts from another that was not quite awake.  The grunts turned to giggles with a bit of gum ball necklace delight, though.

After the breakfast party, I was lucky enough to be a mommy helper at 1 of 3's school Valentine's Day Party.  After school we had a playdate and then rushed off to yet another Valentine's Day party.  It was a busy and GREAT day!

 So here is the run down on all of our Valentine's Day plans.

The play dough was a huge success.  We had a friend over to help make play dough and all 3 girls couldn't get enough.  They loved measuring and mixing.  Really proud little girls.  And after the hard work of making the play dough, the girls played with it for 2 hours.  And since it was so successful I didn't dare move them on to painting the canvas.  We'll get to the heart art another day.  The next rainy day we will be making play dough again!  Note to momma's:  it was MESSY, MESSY, MESSY!!  Did I mention it was MESSY?  It was but so worth it!!!

The paella and the salad were out of this world!  And I have to mention that both were easy and should have been quick.  I used long grain brown rice and it took forever to cook.  Next time I will try a different rice. We love the dressing from the salad recipe so much that we made it again today.  My husband said that he only wants this dressing for the rest of his life.  Didn't make the chocolate dessert yet.  I'll try it soon.  Did make the coconut bark.  It was okay.  Next time I would use equal parts coconut oil and dark chocolate chips (both melted) and then add the toasted coconut and macadamia nuts.

And as I mentioned earlier, my daughters LOVED, LOVED, LOVED the gum ball necklaces.  So much fun and so super cute.  I think I'm going to make these for party favors for their birthday too.  Again, really easy and brought big smiles.

Valentine's Day 2011 was just the BEST EVER!