Valentine’s Day cookies with Lena

Elliott was the first one to remember it was Valentine’s Day.  He gave me a kiss — “… and happy Valentine’s Day, my valentine!” — as he headed out the door early in the morning, leaving behind a still-sleepy wife and two sleeping babies.  I will admit I didn’t give Valentine’s Day another thought until that afternoon, when Elliott’s return was growing imminent and I had absolutely no plans to commemorate the day.

Since my friend Shelley was generously providing dinner for us, I didn’t have to come up with a meal.  But maybe I could handle a dessert?

Correction: Lena and I could definitely handle a dessert!

I found this sugar cookie recipe and halved it.  I also added in the grated peel of a whole orange, which made the cookies 10xs more delicious, in my opinion!  We mixed up pink frosting from this recipe.  Gil woke up in his swing while we were finishing up the frosting.  When I turned back around, Lena had the frosting all over her clothes!  Time for a wardrobe change.

Unfortunately I didn’t realize until the dough was mixed and chilled, the frosting prepared and set aside, and the dough rolled out for cutting that I do not own a heart-shaped cookie cutter.  What?!  In the end I improvised by cutting the dough out around a construction paper heart (which, ironically, was a note I had written to Elliott at a Valentine’s Day dinner last year).

We made 3 heart-shaped cookies and the rest were butterflies or flowers.  And yes, I did attempt to frost one while also nursing my baby.  #fail

At last Daddy came home… bearing bouquets of flowers for both of his girls!  Lena wanted to show hers to her little brother.  “Wanna smell my rose, Gil?”  *smash*

We ate a delicious meal from our friend and topped it off with the heart-shaped cookies for dessert.  Later Lena blew out the dinner candles with Elliott.  We eat by candlelight most nights, and no, it is not my idea!  Elliott’s parents almost always have candles burning at the dinner table (something they picked up from Edith Shaeffer’s The Hidden Art of Homemaking, a wonderful book that is not nearly as stuffy as it sounds).  Elliott brought that tradition into our home, and now Lena’s new tradition is to count the candles (“waaan… twoo… treee… fur!”) and blow them out with her daddy every evening.

While Elliott gave Lena a bath, I admired my own beautiful flowers: romantic roses mixed in with my favorites (daisies… or at least the closest we can get to daisies from our local flower shop).  Then I tried out the ring sling with Gil for the first time (he liked it!) while washing the dinner dishes.

I’d like to say we stayed up late watching a romantic movie with glasses of red wine, but actually we went to sleep around 10pm.  Oh the life of parents of a newborn!  We’re both looking forward to an evening out at our favorite sushi restaurant and this amazing chocolate cafe once life takes on a little more of a routine.  In the meantime, we’ll enjoy our candlelit dinners and handmade sugar cookies at home!

What did you do or make for Valentine’s Day?