Celebrating Valentine's Day with small children...

...or rather, attempting to celebrate Valentine's Day with small children.

Pre-kids Valentine's Day was usually a romantic dinner for the two of us, something more like this.

But now that we have a 3-year-old and 2-year-old it is not quite the same. Celebrating the Hallmark version of Valentine's Day would entail making reservations at a restaurant, hiring a sitter and not nodding off during dinner, all those pesky details.

The past few years we have splurged on "ready to cook" meals from my favorite grocery store and indulged in desserts from the European bakery.  This year I had the brilliant idea of including the kids in on a nice dinner with us. In my fantasy world, we would sit around the table, eating our fancy food, discussing the history of Valentine's Day. The children would be well mannered, would eat the food served to them, listen attentively and learn about Saint Valentine, drink from their crystal water glasses without spilling, and never once think that it would be fun to stick things in the candle flame.

The table before the kids were seated....my fantasy is still alive.

My rosy tinted view of Valentine's Day dinner started to fade when every five minutes one of us was leaving the table to do this.

We don't always raise a glass of champagne to toast potty training achievements, but it was Valentine's Day after all.

As anyone who is acquainted with young children would know, my fantasy world came crashing down around my head.  We quickly shoveled food down the throats of the little beasts, shoved their arms and legs into pajamas and tossed those little ambiance destroyers into bed.

Then we shut the door to their room, turned up the Andrea Bocelli music really loud, rearranged the table to look like this...

...and attempted to ignore the outraged protests coming from our heathen offspring.

Without the savages at the table the romantic atmosphere seemed to return.

We gazed at the floating candles....

...and at the roses my husband brought me...

...and consumed the following...

...and that's how you celebrate a romantic Valentine's Day with small children.

'til next time...