The Lee Family: Happy Valentine's Day!

Saturday, February 14, 2015

Happy Valentine's Day!

CK and I decided to celebrate Valentine's Day for just the two of us on Friday night so we could celebrate with the girls on Saturday night. It was CK's idea and what a great one! CK got us a reservation at Trio, one of our very favorite restaurants for Friday night. We had a fun night and a great meal while the girls enjoyed hanging out with a sitter (which they LOVE).

The day before, I made our favorite sugar cookie recipe and the girls helped me cut out hearts and put them on the cookie sheet to bake. We originally made cookies using this particular sugar cookie recipe when CK's best friend, Brian, got engaged. We threw an engagement party for Brian and Jenny and made all the food (it was overwhelmingly tiring, but also fun). Of all the food we made, everyone raved about the sugar cookies. Since then (nearly 10 years ago), I've made them about every Valentine's Day and they are always a favorite. The girls loved helping and especially loved eating the dough. I iced the cookies once they were cooled while the girls played. Then, boxed them up for our neighbors and Sofia's teacher Mrs. Livingston. On Saturday morning, I played tennis in the morning and then CK headed out to fly after I got home. The girls played and I relaxed and read for awhile before realizing that we needed to go to the grocery store before it got much later. The girls had been riding their bikes around the backyard patio and having a great time in the beautiful weather, so Sofia suggested that we ride our bikes to the grocery store. CK and I planned to make filet mignon, lobster, asparagus and a chocolate tart with homemade whipped cream for dessert so we didn't really need to buy a lot.

Sofia was so excited when I agreed to ride to the grocery store and Olivia somewhat reluctantly climbed into the bike trailer. She originally wanted to ride her princess bike, but I knew that wouldn't possibly last even halfway to the grocery store, and she was thankfully easily convinced. Sofia did a great job riding and is really a confident biker and attacks the hills. It only took us about 45 minutes to get to the grocery store and it's maybe 2 miles away (we did stop for two water breaks). Once we arrived, we discovered Olivia was fast asleep. I picked her up and we all headed into Market Street, which was completely packed with shoppers (apparently we weren't the only ones planning a night cooking at home). We bought our food items, refilled our water bottled and headed back home. Sofia rode well although I think we ended up stopping 3 or 4 times for a water break on the way home. CK arrived home shortly after we returned and we started getting ready for our big Valentine's meal. CK made the crust for the chocolate tart while I took a much-needed shower and the girls played with their horses. We finished the chocolate tart and CK lit the fireplace outside since it was so nice outside and we planned to sit outside after dinner. He grilled the steak and lobsters while I steamed the asparagus and before we knew it, we were eating a delicious meal! It was great and a lot of fun and less crazy than going out! The chocolate tart was great and we put the girls to bed before going outside and enjoying the fire outside on a beautiful Valentine's evening!

Ready for date night!