Valentine's Day 2017

Ahh, Valentine's Day...A day to show love to others, beginning here at home.  

We made Valentine boxes Friday, just for fun, pretty much, and invited our families to write a card to each child with an affirmation of "I love you because..." 

{Those cards were wonderful to read as a mother - to realize your children are so loved by others and that their individual attributes are noticed and appreciated.}

The boxes...

 

 

 

 

Xavier pushed the brink of my creativity, as always.  His biggest challenge was the fire hose - nothing I had suited him - and then [lo and behold] he found that scrap of tube laying outside at my folks'.  You'd have thought he had won the lottery!  Score!

 

 

Ameliya wanted a peanut butter and jelly sandwich box.  This kid.  She loved this silly box.  

 such a homely little box...

 She also put it on a plate.  Ha. 

I felt guilty that we didn't make Zayden a box so Mike and I whipped one up on Sunday night.  Thankful for a helpful hubby.  He looks proud of it...

 

Daddy and I left surprises for the kids.  Usborne books (https://b4185.myubam.com), a juice box, a couple of candy items, and some fun, silly school supply type items (animal pencil wraps, etc!).

Xavier really loved his Story Path and Scurvy Dogs books!  Shine-a-lights are always hits here - he and Natalee both spent some time with the flashlight reading their books!

I love Mia's books. Her Cinderella book wasn't Usborne, but the others were.  I love Cordelia - she and Xavier spent a lot of time reading Nibbles today, though! 

Little Sam is hard on books!  The bath book was a hit at the breakfast table.  He played with it while I fed him his breakfast and it wiped right off - that was handy!  He loved Animal Hide-n-Seek, but it has flaps so we'll keep it as a "read with help" book until he learns.

 

The favorite part of the day was reading their "I love you because..." cards from everyone.  Hearing why people love you is so....just uplifting.

I laminated and put all their cards on a ring so they could read them over and over.  Xavier has read his 6 times today that I can count.

We ended the day with a candlelight Valentine supper.  I even put a tablecloth on (big deal!).

It was a good day.  We had plans to go to the Nursing Home to deliver valentines, but they have a round of the stomach bug going through, so we will do that another time.  The kids took food and valentines to Great-Grandma Betty and some friends after supper so they still got to spread love to others.  

Bonus cute stuff from today....