Lowry Fam's 1st Annual Candle-lit Sweetheart Dinner

This Valentine's Day Ben and I had planned to go out, but Isaac was up all night the night before with stuff coming out both ends (no need to elaborate), so we decided to stay home and save our 12 year old babysitter from a long night of cleaning and laundry.

Not wanting to miss out on the holiday however, Abby and I busily planned our first annual "Family Sweetheart Dinner". We draped our table with a lovely red table cloth, rounded up a few candles, turned out the lights, poured the sparkling homemade grape juice into our "fancy glasses" and served our sweethearts a delicious heart-shaped pizza. Since we were planning the event, Abby and I came up with the rule that each family member had to go around the table and tell why they loved each person in our family. A bit cheesy, but hey - who said love wasn't cheesy?
I wasn't quite sure if Isaac understood the whole idea, so when it was his turn, I decided to help him out with a few prompts,
Me: "Isaac, why do you love Abby?"
His response: "I wuv Abby because she pways wif my wacetwack wif me."
Me: "Why do you love Daddy?"
His response: "Ummmmm"
Me: "Do you love Daddy because he gets up and cuddles you when you're sad at night? (Which, by the way, my AWESOME husband does without complaint at least 3 nights a week so I can sleep without interruption.)
Isaac's response: "No, Mommy snuggles IZ at nighttime."
Me: "Ok, do you love Daddy because he tickles you?"
His response: "No, mommy tickles IZ."
Me: "Well actually, Daddy does both of those things. Do you love daddy because he plays monster with you?"
His response: "No, mommy pways monstewr wif IZ."
Me: (admittedly gloating a little that I'm getting credit for all of the things daddy really does,) "Well, why do you love Daddy then?"
Isaac: "I wuv daddy because he's my daddy and daddy wuvs IZ."
What a plain and simple response. I love that he doesn't need any other explanation.



For dessert, we dipped delicious red ripe strawberries in melted chocolate, drizzled them with white chocolate and ate to our heart's content. mmmmmmm...
We had so many left over that we decided to wrap them up, write little messages on them and deliver them to neighbors who we thought might need a little cheering up. The kids LOVED sharing their Valentines to some of our favorite adoptive grandmas in the neighborhood. We had so much fun that before we went to bed, we declared the Family Sweetheart Dinner a new Lowry family tradition.

Happy Valentine's Day!