pickled gumdrops: valentine wrap up

This Valentine's Day played out like a strip from the Sunday comics. One thing after another tested my endurance as I tried to be a "super mom." First, I severely disappointed Betty Crocker, then I moved on to lose my child's valentines, all while attempting the diaper-free potty training method (very messy and entirely unpractical when trying to save yourself from laundry duty).

Lets start from the beginning. Each holiday I try to be the coolest mom from Jonas' daycare. I muster up some kind of sweet concoction to win over the kiddies and get me one step closer to achieving the mom of the year award.

This Valentine's Day I decided to bake strawberry cupcakes with a little fudgey surprise in the middle. My intentions started well meaning as I mixed the batter and allowed Jonas to place the cupcake wrappers in the pan, but that didn't last long.

Now, being that I started making these little desserts at almost 8pm, I was already on the brink of falling asleep standing (bed time comes early these days). So, of course I was cheating and using boxed cupcake mix and store bought frosting to speed the process along.

I cheerfully placed a bit of batter in the bottom of each cup, scooped a dollop of fudge when about halfway full, then filled them the rest of the way with the remaining batter. These were going to be awesome!

The cupcakes looked perfectly fine as I pulled them out of the oven, but not until I had finished 3 rounds of baking did I even think to cut the cupcakes in half to see how they looked. FAILURE! All of the fudge had sunk to the bottom of each cup leaving a moist mushy muddy brown indent underneath each pink cupcake.

It was far too late to fix this mess, so I covered up by frosting them neatly and throwing some conversation hearts on top (voila!). Good enough! Next I was onto helping Jonas with his valentines. Before I could get very far I noticed my little guy suspiciously hanging out in the pantry.

"Jonas, what are you doing buddy?"

"I have to do something Mommy."

"What do you have to do?"

"I have to do something Mommy! Leave me alone!"

I knew something was up. I went over to check him and sure enough his pants were soaked from tummy to toes. I cleaned him up and went on the hunt for his valentines. I had bought the suckers a few weeks back and knew I had placed them somewhere funky. I searched high and low, in cabinet and corners, and even in the garage. Nothing. (What kind of mother am I!?)

All I could picture was every other kid at daycare bringing their cool little valentines for everyone and poor Jonas being the only kid without them. I literally searched for about an hour before giving up the pursuit. (damn it!....I was not happy with myself...he did have super cool pencils to give out with each one after all!)

The next day at work I forced my mangled cupcakes on my coworkers and plowed away at my daily tasks. One by one almost every girl in the office got surprised by their loved ones with delivered goodies. From flowers, to teddy bears, to potted fruit, I saw it all. I have to say that I am typically not the flowery gushy girl who cares about showing my goodies off at the office, but I would be lying if I didn't tell you that each time a delivery person came in I perked up like a little dog excited to see its master in hopes for a treat (no such luck).

On Saturday Tim had to work most of the day, so Jonas and I made valentines for him while Dylan babbled adorably (as he does best) from his quilt on the floor.

Jonas and I making heart valentines for daddy:

Dylan being super cute on the floor:

Tim did end up surprising me by having his dad come from Tampa to watch the kids so we can get a night out on the town (night starting at 4:30 in the afternoon). I was super excited! (I thought we were calling Valentine's Day off).

Of course he picked a day to tell me only an hour in advance when I had not even washed my hair or shaved my legs in the shower that morning, but I made it work (a curling iron and enough hairspray can work wonders).

That night we met some really cool out-of-towners ( a stamp collector from Germany was my favorite) and we just enjoyed each other's company. We had the best time eating amazing food and restaurant bar hopping until we admitted to being out way past our bed time (9:30 pm).

Tim and I at a cigar bar:

Sunday was spent recovering ALL DAY (having a couple drinks isn't as easy as it used to be), and hanging out in bed with the kids most of the day (they are super snuggly).

All in all it ended up to be a pretty great weekend with a few minor disasters, a ton of laughs, a jonas who got to have way too much sugar, and an exhausted mommy who, again, is up way past her bed time.

Jonas with his sugar: