With an almost-2-year-old and being more housebound due to a newborn who sleeps a lot, I've had to get more creative with our days.  That means spending more time on Pinterest looking up toddler activities.  But I also determined to do something, whether big or small, to celebrate each holiday with Canaan.  I think it makes the changing dates and seasons more fun and as he gets older he'll have a greater sense of anticipation of small holidays and hopefully some fun memories.

My friend Beth has two kids, who are each about a year older than my kids.  I'm lucky that she lives only one block away so we can meet at a park or a home with less effort.  She's great about doing activities with her kids, too, so we decided to do a Valentine's Day party together and invited another mom and baby to join.  A late lunch, cookie decorating, a photoshoot and valentine making ... except we never got around to the card making because after about 2 hours the house is an explosion and kids are running in all directions and it's just time to call it a day!

Canaan loved eating sprinkles and decorated one cookie over and over again.  Mostly he loves running outside and back inside at his friends' house and he absolutely adores Jack, who is 3 and therefore a great friend to run behind, observe and try to be like.  Eden sort of slept through most of it.  The photoshoot was a comedy of errors with kids laughing, trampling hearts, crying, smashing oreos into the rug and never sitting still long enough to get one of those adorable pictures that other people seem to succeed at.