Feeling the Love

February 1st, I made these bags and hung them outside the kid's bedrooms as well as one each for me and Brad. The kids have been having fun putting cards in each other's bags every day. The very first day Alex would check her bag every 30 minutes. Before Brad even got home that day she asked me "why doesn't Dad ever put anything in my bag?" She was very excited when the next day she had a Wall-E valentine in her bag from her Dad with little candies taped to the card.

Along with cards we made decorations for our house.

Then yesterday we had our annual sugar cookie bake off. My poor kids don't get to bake in the kitchen much because the more I bake, the more baked goods I consume. AND I have a hard time with the hours it takes to prep, make and clean up, especially with two pairs of little hands helping me out. However, bake we did. I doubled the batch and gave the kids a third of the dough, freezing the other two thirds for later use. Yes, that means we'll be making sugar cookies at least three times this year, what a treat!
(I'll include the ultimate, soft sugar cookie recipe below.)

After making the dough we rolled it out...

Cut out a million hearts of all different sizes...

And put them in the oven to bake. In the mean time we whipped up the frosting...

And before too long the kids were in decorating heaven.
Frosting...

Sprinkling...

And naming every single one for a special Valentine (including themselves).

We have definitely been feeling the love these past couple of weeks and Valentine's Day is just about here.

Super Soft Sugar Cookies

2 cups sugar
2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
2 eggs
2 tsp vanilla
1 cup butter (room temp)
16 oz sour cream
approximately 6 1/2 cups flour (plus or minus)
I add flour until it doesn't stick to me as I kneed it out and add more as I see fit as I'm rolling out the cookies. Roll out dough to about 1/4 inch thick.

Cut out cookies and bake at 400 degrees for 8-9 minutes

Cream Cheese Frosting

1, 8 oz cream cheese (room temp-very important)
1 pound powdered sugar
2 tsp vanilla
1/4 cup butter (room temp)
Cream cheese and butter, then add other ingredients and beat.