Valentine's day

I have been making the kids a "special Valentine's breakfast" for a while now. It started small with a pretty simple breakfast like pink muffins or heart shaped pancakes that was pretty normal but jazzed up a little and served at the bar but with fancy dishes and their own personal valentine.

Every year I would change it up a little bit and serve something different.

A few years ago when valentine's day hit the weekend, I started setting the table and Mark was finally able to join us. We all really liked having him be a part of it too so we try to make it work with all of our schedules.

Since then, I've served it at the table with tablecloth and candles. I've been collecting glass dishes at Savers and DI because it's fun to try to use all glass plates, goblets, bowls, etc. They don't all match but who cares!

The kids still think it's fancy.

Last year I hit upon a menu that I think is a keeper. Some of the kids said "Don't tell me what you're going to do" (they like the whole surprise element of it all) "but are you going to do that breakfast casserole again??????? .... and those heart sausages were really cute. I really like sausage......"

(I could have just used my pictures from last year... they look the same!)

So I decided I'd better stick with those 2 elements of my valentine breakfast. I decided to try the "Night owl sweet rolls" I've been reading about for years. I'm not posting the recipe because none of us liked them but you put your frozen rolls in a bunt pan and put a mixture of butter, brown sugar and dry cook and serve butterscotch pudding powder on the rolls. They rise overnight and you bake them in the morning. They looked beautiful when I dumped them out of the pan but they just weren't that good.

I think I'd do it again with the frozen rolls (I liked that I fixed it the night before and just left it on the counter to rise) and just roll each roll in butter and cinnamon/sugar and then pour some the melted butter/brown sugar mixture over the top of them. That would be more like the cinnamon rolls we're used to but in the pull apart monkey bread form that was so pretty.

(I don't know where Carly was.... but she got one too!)

I also revived the scratch off valentine from last year because I heard from one of the aides at school that Samantha had been talking about them and wondering if her luck would change this year.....

It didn't. She had a king kong cone, a texas doughnut and a small ice cream cone on her card and she scratched off the small cone...

So I guess I've hit upon some winners that they want to see every year. This definitely makes it easier for me because I know what to do.

They each had their own valentine that was something little they liked.

Samantha got 3 lemons

"My love for you will never sour because you're so sweet!"

Mason got his own bag of shelled sunflower seeds

"When I seed you , my heart went boom boom"

Jacob got his own box of chocolate chip muffin mix

"There's muffin better than your smiling face!"

Carly and RAchel got mint truffles

"You're no truffle to love"

&

"You melt my truffles away"

Mark got Stephens Cherry Hot chocolate, an IBC Black Cherry soda and peppermint breath strips

"You're soda sweet when you want to be. We were mint to be together. You put the hot in my chocolate baby! say you'll always love me!"

He did say it.

ahhhhh....

That's why I do it!