Will U B My Valentine?

In true blog fashion, it appears that I am quite behind on posting anything! This also goes for commenting. This hasn't been intentional, but Scot has been working uptown Charlotte at an event all weekend and so there hasn't been as much down time for me to shower, much less blog! I will be so glad when the weekend is over and I have my husband to myself again. I gotta say, I may complain from time to time when he has to work weekends or go out of town on business trips, but I am fortunate that this isn't often. I truly depend on his help with the kids and find myself counting down the hours until he comes home! This is mostly in part to the fact that Brynley is so.fussy! Like literally yesterday I went in the closet at one point and screamed because my prayers weren't working and it was a pretty rough day. But I've sidetracked from the point of this post, which is all about our Valentines Day! 

We were pretty festive all week, between making Valentines for Ryder's classroom at his preschool to making them for our little group that formed from MOPS. We were supposed to get together for a "Charlie Brown's Valentine" themed party for the kids, but unfortunately two of the kids got sick so we weren't able to go. Ryder and I still had fun putting together his Valentines for his class though! I don't think he really understood that he was to make all of the cards out for his classmates, and in return he would come home with a loot full! That was until he got home from school and was smiling ear to ear!

For Ryder's class party, I decided to make Chocolate Cherry Kisses cookies. I found the recipe online, but I liked that it was pink (I used too many drops of red food coloring so mine came out more red but still tasted yummy!). Ryder is always eager to help me bake and I really look forward to making fun things with him. He's actually become very good at listening and helping than he used to, so I actually let him dump in the flour this time, with some assistance of course!

For the recipe:
1 Cup Powdered Sugar
1 Cup butter (softened)
2 tsp maraschino cherry juice
1/2 tsp almond extract
few drops red food coloring (again, I did too many so you probably just need 3 or 4)
2 1/4 Cup all purpose flour
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 Cup maraschino cherries, drained and chopped
48 Hershey chocolate kisses, unwrapped

Directions:
Preheat oven 350
Combine sugar, butter, cherry juice, almond extract and food coloring until well blended. Stir in flour and salt. Mix well. Stir in cherries. Shape into 1-inch balls and place 2-inches apart on ungreased baking sheet. Bake 8-10 minutes until edges slightly golden. Immediately press 1 kiss onto each cookie and remove from baking sheet onto cooling rack.

My sweet Valentines!

My how the years have changed from having kids! It became a joke after Ryder was born because my mom always offered to babysit overnight but would get sick last minute and our Valentines Day plans would change so we just got to where we realized this is our life now and there are plenty of other days for romance and dates! We still had fun by getting takeout from a local Italian restaurant. Yes after eating my weight in those Chocolate Cherry cookies, and then fettucini alfredo, I can feel the pounds just adding up! But that's what fun holidays are all about right? It actually ended up being a very fun night as a family of four and Scot and I even had time to chat and drink red wine once the kids went to sleep. How was your Valentines Day?