Happy Valentine's Day

I've always loved Valentine's Day.  

It incorporates three of my favorite things...chocolate, the color pink and anything heart-shaped.

Now that I have my twin toddlers, I get to celebrate with them.  They also love chocolate, the color pink and hearts.  The apple doesn't fall far from the tree and Mr.B isn't too happy about that. 

Although they definitely got their fill of chocolate today, I tried to incorporate the Valentine's theme throughout the day with some healthier eats and a craft.

For breakfast this morning was an egg in a heart-shaped whole.  They thought this was best breakfast ever and devoured it.  I'm still not sure if it was because there was an egg built into the middle of their toast or because the egg was in the shape of a heart.  Or maybe it was both.  Either way, I think we found a new favorite breakfast.

For lunch I made them heart-shaped almond butter and strawberry jam (no sugar added) sandwiches.  Then I cut out a smaller heart in the middle of the top piece to reveal a red centre.  Again...these were very successful.

In the afternoon we made heart-shaped crayons.  All you need is a silicone heart-shaped ice cube tray or, if you want larger crayons, you could use a silicone heart-shaped muffin tray.  My tip here is to buy these trays at the dollar store because you'll have to throw them out after making crayons in them.  You can find them at any dollar store around Valentine's Day.  Here's another tip...buy some extra crayons so that if you put them in the oven, go off and play with your kids and forget they're in the oven, you can at least start again.  Obviously that's what happened to me and obviously I keep lots of extra crayons in my house or this craft wouldn't get to be included in today's post.  

My boys love that they now have crayons in the shape of hearts and they love that the crayons are multi-colored so when they draw with them, it looks like a rainbow.

Our afternoon snack consisted of fruit dipped in chocolate and sprinkles.  I used strawberries and bananas and white chocolate because that's what I had in the house, but any kind of fruit and chocolate would work. I wish I had some valentine's themed sprinkles but this was a last minute idea so rainbow sprinkles had to suffice.  And they did.  My boys love sprinkles.

All you do is melt the chocolate in a microwave-safe bowl at 30 second intervals (stirring after each 30 seconds) until it's melted.  Put fruit onto sticks, dip in chocolate and sprinkles and place on a parchment paper lined baking sheet.  Refrigerate for 30 minutes to harden.

Dinner was the ultimate heart-shaped food test.  Unlike every other toddler, my boys are not fans of grilled cheese.  Craziest thing you've ever heard...I know.  It's on their "throw it on the floor" list.  I guess heart-shaped grilled cheese didn't make their list because they consumed it quite quickly and even asked for more.  Unfortunately I was out of bread.

Moral of today...my kids eat better when their food is shaped like hearts.  Good to know all those heart-shaped cookie cutters I bought specifically for Valentine's Day will continue to get lots of use.