Valentine's day

The Valentine's mobile that Peter and I made. It hung over the dinning room table during our party.

We had blueberry wheat pancakes for breakfast. I found an awesome wheat pancake recipe on the food network website. They are creamy and not wheaty. We have just used maple syrup over them, but I'm sure the blueberry syrup would be extra tasty. And we haven't tried the apple variation, however, I do love apples so we will try it one of these weekends.

Ingredients
2 cups buttermilk
3 large eggs
6 tablespoons (3/4 stick) unsalted butter, melted and cooled, plus additional melted butter for brushing the griddle
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup whole-wheat flour
1/4 cup wheat germ
1 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons double-acting baking powder
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
3 tablespoons sugar
2 cups blueberries, picked over
Blueberry Syrup, recipe follows
Directions
In a bowl whisk together the buttermilk, the eggs, and 6 tablespoons of the butter. In a large bowl whisk together the flours, the wheat germ, the salt, the baking powder, the baking soda, and the sugar, add the buttermilk mixture, and whisk the batter until it is just combined. Heat a griddle over moderately high heat until it is hot enough to make drops of water scatter over its surface and brush it with some of the additional melted butter.
Working in batches, pour the batter onto the griddle by 1/3-cup measures, sprinkle each pancake with about 2 tablespoons of the blueberries, and cook the pancakes for 2 minutes on each side, or until they are golden. Transfer the pancakes as they are cooked to a heatproof platter and keep them warm in a preheated 200 degrees F. oven. Serve the pancakes with the Blueberry Syrup.
Blueberry Syrup:
6 cups blueberries, picked over
3 cups sugar
1/2 lemon, zest removed in strips with a vegetable peeler
1/8 cup fresh lemon juice
In a large saucepan combine the blueberries and 3/4 cup water, bring the mixture to a boil, and simmer it, covered, for 10 minutes. Puree the mixture in batches in a blender or food processor and force it through a fine sieve into a bowl, discarding the solids.
In the pan, cleaned, combine the sugar, the zest, and 1 1/2 cups water, bring the mixture to a boil, stirring until the sugar is dissolved, and boil it, uncovered, until a candy thermometer registers 200 degrees F. Discard the zest, add the blueberry mixture, and boil the syrup, stirring, for 1 minute. Let the syrup cool, skim off any froth, and stir in the lemon juice. Pour the syrup into glass jars with tight-fitting lids. The syrup keeps, covered and chilled, for 3 months. Serve the syrup warm over pancakes or ice cream.
Variation: Apple Pancakes with Sauteed Apples
Pancakes:
Substitute 2 cups diced apples for blueberries
Sauteed Apples:
4 large Granny Smith or Golden Delicious apples, peeled, cored, and sliced
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
3 tablespoons sugar
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
Fresh lemon juice
In a large heavy skillet saute the apples in the butter over moderately high heat, stirring occasionally, for 5 minutes, or until they are softened. Sprinkle them with the sugar and the cinnamon, and cook them over moderate heat, stirring occasionally, for 5 to 10 minutes, or until they are tender. Stir in lemon juice, to taste, and keep the mixture warm.

Marie loved them too. Don't worry she didn't have just one. She had more like four.

After breakfast we decorated valentine boxes. We hosted a Valentine's Day Party for my mommies group from 2 to 4pm. It was geared towards preschoolers so a lot of Peter's friends came over. Most of them had little sisters too so Marie had friends to play with as well.

Marie with her box. Boy did she like using her glue stick. She rubbed it all over her face and hands. I just noticed I put the a on backwards. Oh well, that's how well my brain works while crafting with Marie. At least I got the letters in the right order.