Happy Valentine's Day!!!

We had a low key Valentine's Day.  It was exactly what we all wanted. For breakfast Scott took us all out to IHOP.  The kids picked their own breakfast and ate it all!

Chocolate chip pancake for Katie with a silly whipped cream face on it.

A waffle with regular syrup for this guy.

I was still feeling queasy at night so didn't feel like bracing long waits and big crowds to pay for an over priced and semi okay dinner so we grabbed a huge filet tenderloin and fresh lobster from Stew's and made a feast for ourselves at home.  We threw a few candles on the table and the kids drank out of wine glasses and thought it was so fancy.  Eventually our dinner turned into a science experiment as the kids dissected the lobster.  The way they were acting, you'd think they have never seen a lobster before.  It was pretty funny and Scott and I had a good laugh at how our Valentine's Day dinners have evolved over the years....and we are perfectly happy with how we celebrate it now.

Scott was so thoughtful and came home with roses a few days before V-Day so that they would be perfectly bloomed on Feb. 14th.

I love my flowers.

The kids both celebrated Valentine's Day by having parties in their classrooms at school.  Mikey's class was asking for parent volunteers to help at different stations set up during the party.  I jumped right in and offered to take care of providing treats for the kids to decorate because frankly I don't want my kids to just eat crap ( like store bought cookies) and I figured there were other parents out there who like me would appreciate my approach to providing a healthy treat to their little ones.  I ended up making these (black bean cupcakes) and told the kids they were chocolate cupcakes.  No one could tell the difference.  They were moist, fluffy, chocolaty and not overly sweet.  They are high in protein from all the eggs, have no white sugar and no flour.  I made two different 4 ingredient frostings for the kids to pipe onto the cupcakes....a vanilla and/or strawberry flavor.  After adding a dash of Valentine's sprinkles to the top they were all ready to be eaten.  I also made two batches of rice crispy treats for the kids to decorate in case they didn't like chocolate cupcakes.  No need to worry about your child having a sugar crash from these puppies.  I even had enough batter to make 3 bigger cupcakes and made sure Scott tasted it.  It completely baffled him that they were made with black beans and has even requested I make these for his birthday.  I followed the recipe but added 2 tbsp of cocoa to make them a strong chocolate flavor and added about half of the honey it called for.  Please try them!!!

Mini cupcakes cooling for tomorrows party at school.

Don't they look like your normal flour cupcakes?!  These are definitely deceiving.

I was in charge of the treat decorating station.  I was given 3 kids at a time and between deciding what they wanted, helping them pipe the frosting on and making sure they didn't dump a whole container of sprinkles on top it was plenty of action for me.  I barely got in one picture of Bly and Savannah.  Phew.  The kids did this so fast and I had lots left over that we ended up having a second round of treat decorating.  I was exhausted after this!!!

Katie checking out her loot.

Mikey got lots of valentines too.  I appreciate those that didn't hand out candy.

Sucking on her Mickey lollipop.