Valentine's Day

Valentine's Day for our family

stretched over several days this year.

It started on Thursday evening

when I made 80 cupcakes.

I had a virtual cupcake factory going in my kitchen,

given that I only have enough tins

to bake 18 at a time!

Mix up and pour the batter,

in the oven for 18 minutes,

cool for 10,

pour the next batch,

and on it went.

As the cupcakes cooled,

I loaded them into a box with

three cardboard tiers

so I could transport them on Friday.

Chocolate, strawberry, and yellow cake--

we had a variety.

After I mixed up two huge batches of buttercream frosting,

we spent Friday morning over at

the Cunninghams' house

for two of our writing classes.

When Shannon wasn't in her class,

she was busy with the other girls decorating

her Valentine's box and making signs for our

carnival booths.

At noon we headed over to the Valentine's Carnival

with Home Schooler's Loving God.

The FitzGeralds had two different stations.

Shannon, Abigail Cunningham, and I

ran the Cupcake Decorating Booth.

Here are Abigail and I adding

the vanilla and strawberry buttercream frosting

to the cupcakes.

Our visitors were thrilled with all the sprinkles and

colored sugars they used to decorate their cupcakes.

Many of them really took their time to get the little cakes

to look just the way they wanted!

Meanwhile, Joshua and John ran a booth

with a Wham-O game called "Pop-Bang."

The kids were lined up to play

for the duration of the entire carnival!

The boys did a terrific job running their booth

and helping all the kids play the game.

Here's a picture of the little cake

that I made for David on Sunday

as a Valentine's gift.

(This is what it looked like

before the cat found the cake on the table!

BAD Kitty!)

I had also arranged to have some beautifully

decorated sugar cookies made for the kids

by my friend Eliana who operates Desserts Divine.

Love . . . it's definitely a family affair!