Valentine's Day Party

Well, it was technically after Valentine's Day, but we did celebrate the holiday with our kids and neighbors, and it was really fun!  I go to a moms' group each week at our new church, and one week, we moms arrived and found out that we would be having a "make-it" day.  At the end of our time, we'd leave with all the makings of a Valentine's Day party for our kids, complete with a piñata we had made.  Oh, my!!!  Now, I love to craft, but making a piñata is not even on my radar, and I didn't have aspirations to make one, ever.  But, the make-it day was really fun, and the piñata was easy to make.  Also, you may remember that I have a scavenger hunt for Valentine's Day that we have the tradition of using every year.  With all these goodies on hand, I decided that it would be fun to make pink cupcakes and have a little party with our neighbors.  So, that's what we did!

Here we are mixing up the cupcakes...

and adding sprinkles.  I figured sprinkles would be easier, faster, and less messy than frosting.

And here's the piñata.  Everyone got a chance to whack it, from youngest to oldest.

Benjamin thought it was hilarious to be able to whack something on purpose, and he was overcome by giggles with every whack he made.

Candy!

Then we started the scavenger hunt...

and the cupcakes finished baking...

and the kids found their prizes at the end of the hunt.

I had a great time choosing little books for them, and since none of them expected any kind of gift, it really warmed my heart to see how excited they were about their books.

Jonathan and Maddie dove into their books immediately, and the pictures don't show it, but Grace and Luke spent their time smashing the remaining parts of the piñata to smithereens.  And, we were so happy that our neighbors - the whole family - was able to stay for dinner.  What a cool neighbor thing to do, right?  Now, I have to confess that I am still not good at cooking and still don't enjoy it, but Jeff had gone to Costco that morning and had plenty of ingredients to grill, so he treated us to dinner.  He's my hero.  :)  And, it was a wonderful, belated, Valentine's Day celebration…family style!