Valentine Recap

Valentine's Day came a little early for me when I got a sweet, chocolatey delivery on Friday afternoon. Joe knows me too well. As you can see below, Ez helped himself to some chocolate covered Oreos as well:

On Saturday morning, after breakfast, Ez got to open his gifts. ALL of them. We got him that cute plush Lightning McQueen for $5 from Kohls - a total steal since I've seen similar ones for $20 at Target. We also got him two books, a balloon, a sippy cup and a heart shaped cookie. Then he got a ton more goodies from the grandparents. Shirts, chocolates, a toy car, heart-shaped rice krispie treats - that is one very loved boy!

Joe got a scrapbook from me. During the move I found a bunch if ticket stubs and mementos I'd saved since we started dating. I decided what better time to actually organize all those than for Valentine's Day? It was so much fun to look back over the past three and a half years at all the fun stuff we've done together.

The grandparents all got handmade cards from Ez:

On Saturday afternoon Ez was invited to his very first Valentine's Day party. We met some friends at a park, ate some cupcakes, decorated treat bags and exchanged Valentine's. Ez loved it!

Saturday evening was just for us parents. Ez had a date with his grandparents while Joe and I went out to a fancy, delicious dinner. We saw two other kids in the restaurant, and no offense to Ez, but I think it would have been a far more rushed, less enjoyable meal had he been there. I'm sure the feeling is mutual and Ez had a better time running around with the grandparents than he would've had in a dimly lit restaurant that didn't feature mac n cheese on the menu. 

The restaurant had a special Valentine's menu and Joe and I split everything we ordered. We started with lobster bisque and this hilariously tiny chopped beet dish. We were a little worried when we saw that huge plate with two bites of food on it, and were wondering if we'd need to get second dinner afterward, but thankfully the rest of the meal redeemed itself. The lobster bisque was the best I've ever had, the Chilean seabass was perfectly cooked, and the mushroom risotto was fantastic. For dessert we had Nutella bread pudding, which was alright, but the highlight was the vanilla bean cake with ice cream. It sounds super simple, but it was seriously the best cake I've ever had. Joe let me finish that one off, which is why he's my Valentine ;)

After dinner we went to get coffee and browse books at Barnes and Noble. The perfect end to a perfect evening.

How was your Valentine's Day? Do you love the holiday or find it cheesy? I'm somewhere in the middle, I do love romantic cheesiness, but I don't necessarily love the prices and crowds on Valentines Day.

Here's a little look back at some of our past Valentine's Days:

Valentine Weekend in Santa Barbara

Ez's 1st Valentine

Valentine's Day & the Beatles