Happy Valentine's Day!!!

On this day of lovely kisses and hugs, I wanted to send a internet shout out to all of you, my friends and family! I feel so blessed to have you all in my life. I just wanted to share a quick glimpse of what our family Valentine's day included.
In the attempt to be a better mom and homemaker, I scrambled around yesterday hanging hearts from the ceiling and blowing up valentine balloons, while making chocolate chip cookies for George's class...and resisting the insatiable urge to devour every last morsel! (I am on a no-sugar quest right now) Today, the actual day of love celebration, I took one step past my decor and George's school treats. I created a little heart scavenger hunt for George and Henry to test their reading skills and then prepared a"healthy heart" breakfast. Since Mark has school this evening, we are going out to lunch at a cozy resturant on the north shore called Papa Ole's. I hope your Valentine's day is enjoyably festive and full of hugs and kisses!
Here is my recipe for my healthy heart pancakes:
3 egg whites beaten until stiff
1 cup whole wheat flour
1/2 cup of oats (ground into a course flour)
3/4 tsp salt
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 1/2 cups skim milk
3 tbl. unsweetened applesauce
Directions: Beat egg whites until stiff, but not dry, and set aside. Sift together flour, oats, salt and baking powder. Stir in milk and applesauce until evenly blended and then fold in the egg whites. Cook over medium high heat and use non-stick cooking spray. You can easily form your batter to look like hearts :)
The hanging hearts were a big hit with Henry and George.

At the end of the scavenger/treasure hunt, the boys found conversation hearts and a new pair of underwear, but lucky Mark was fortunate to find conversation hearts and "sex appeal in a bottle"...you know you can never get too much of that. At this point in the blog, I would like to send a shout out to Walmart for providing the citizens of the United States with endless cures for all their needs i.e. "sex appeal in a bottle"