Yesterday, for Valentine’s Day, I got up early to blow up heart balloons as a surprise, but they kept popping, woke the kids and then Mazzy screamed, “Mom! What are you doing? You’re scaring us!” I also had big plans to switch the breakfast menu on my new letter shelf thing (you can see more about my new kitchen here) to a special Valentine’s Day message, but I ran out of time so I just swapped out “WAFFLES” and added a “LOVE SANDWICH” in its place. Then I bribed Mazzy and Harlow to take this photo by telling them I would get them a special Valentine’s Day doughnut to split on the way to school. Just keepin’ it real!

Also, you can’t see it but Mazzy’s shirt has a red pocket with a drawing of a piece of chocolate sticking out of it. She chose it herself without acknowledging it out loud (and I didn’t acknowledge it either), but now I know (and she knows) that she is not too old or too cool to think Valentine’s Day is just a little bit special.

Harlow, on the other hand, wore a heart dress, a heart cardigan, heart shoes (hand-me-downs from Mazzy that she has been patiently waiting to wear on Valentine’s Day for three solid years) and red tights. The red tights were a compromise. She wanted to wear her heart leggings, but she had worn them the day before and they were in the laundry. She was very upset about it. I was like— “HARLOW, you are wearing three other items of clothing with hearts on them. I think you can settle on plain red tights!”

Here’s a photo of Harlow revealing the heart dress underneath her zippered heart cardigan to her classmates yesterday morning, like some kind of Valentine’s Day superhero.

If you think Harlow was the only kid decked in holiday attire— nope! She has very like-minded friends.

Then she handed out all the Valentines she made all by herself (and by “made,” I mean, signed a store bought emoji card) and brought home a huge envelope of crap from all her friends that she will probably make us save for the next two years.

Mazzy opted out of her “optional Valentine’s Day class celebration” which meant she still received cards from the kids who brought them, but did not give out any. She said she was in the majority and proud of her decision. I didn’t argue.

I wore a hot pink sweater and sat in my office all day with Allie, who got a beautiful bouquet of flowers sent to her from her dad.

Then I went home and told Mike that next year he is buying the girls flowers and keeping that tradition for the rest of his life. He agreed. Thank you, Allie’s dad!

Our night ended with Mazzy accusing Harlow of saying “Valentime’s” Day instead of Valentine’s Day and then Harlow said, “I didn’t say Valentime’s Day, I said Valentime’s Day” and it all went south from there.

The end.

What else happened this week?

First things first, OUR KITCHEN REVEAL. I’m calling it “Our Remarkably Average Kitchen Reveal” because although it took longer and was more painful than I was expecting, I am now (mostly) happy with the result! At the very least, whatever my issues are, it photographs beautifully.

I also shared all the details of Harlow’s butterfly-fairy-star-themed 6th birthday party. Yes, her birthday was all the way back in November. But, that’s also when the holiday season was in full force and her birthday got lost in a sea of Halloween and Hanukah posts. And also, remember one paragraph ago where I referenced a long and painful home renovation? That was going on too.

If you are looking for more Valentine’s Day related posts, I shared a list of hilarious Valentine’s Day memes only parents would truly appreciate and a list of books that teach kids about the most important kind of love— loving themselves.

And of course, here’s your weekly reminder that @AverageParentProblems was nominated for a Shorty Award in the parenting category! If I have made you laugh at least once this year, can you please vote for me? And then vote for me again once a day from now until February 21st? THANK YOU!!!

Lastly, I flew to Mexico yesterday! On a plane with no TVs. Bloody hell. You can follow my trip in real time on @mommyshorts Instagram.

Ok, that’s it. Have a lovely long weekend! I’m using it to remember all the presidents who didn’t declare a national emergency and then fly to Florida to go golfing.