Valentine's Day

This year I was the one in charge of the Valentine's date for Nathan and I, and as I was thinking about what to do (during the cold, dreary month of January when I needed something to look forward to) I thought it might be fun to do something with the other couples in our neighborhood. I brought up the idea and everyone was interested in doing a progressive dinner together. One neighbor offered to have the kids all hang out in their basement and she provided pizza for them. It was pretty easy to plan and it turned out really well! Everyone had a great time and a couple people mentioned to me later that they'd like to do it again.

I delayed us a couple times. Yes, I spent most of the day getting ready for the evening and, yes, I was still late to the first house. Ugh. Then when we came to our house I had prepared the main course and it wasn't finished cooking like I'd hoped (but then, I tried a new recipe--because I always try new recipes when we have company!--and it took longer than expected). Oh well. Everyone shared their story about how they met and got engaged. Our neighbor played the piano and sang for us, and then I had Nathan play his guitar and sing as well. It turned out really nice. We had delicious dessert crepes at the last house. I think everyone had a great time. It was fun going to each house and it was a good size of a group, not too small or too big.

On the actual day of Valentine's Day I made little scavenger hunt for S with a treat and hearts with notes on them at the end. She loved it. I made one of Nathan's favorite dinners for him with chocolate peanut butter cheesecake for dessert. After dinner, we visited my mom and sister and then Nathan's parents. It was a very nice day.

All of us at the progressive dinner (first house)

progressive dinner (at our house)

The scavenger hunt begins

...and it ends at her dollhouse

chocolate peanut butter cheesecake...yummm