Packaged in their mail boxes in the days leading up to Valentines day. So I packaged up all of our little love notesĪnd although I know my little boys will adore hand-written expressions of love from their parents, they will adore them much more if there’s candy involved. My kids absolutely love our Christmas advent, and the waking-up-first-thing-in-the-morning-and-checking-it part is probably even more exciting than seeing what was actually in there. I made the notes little just perfect for a quick little phrase or two, and perfectly sized to fit inside of those cute little treat bags. It was fun reminiscing about things we’d done together in the past and some of our favorite family moments. That was probably my favorite part seeing each of them express things they love about their brothers. I filled some out, my husband filled some out, and we had our boys fill a few out for each other. This actually takes some time it caused my husband and I to really ponder about the special attributes of each of our kids and realize how unique they all are. I made these little love-notes and thought about each one of my kids. So we did another little family activity. I love it when my sons see those things in each other, too. The things I’m proud of, the things that make me laugh, the things I love. I think about that teacher often and how much confidence she gave me with a few simple words.Įxperiences like that remind me of how important it is to express things to the people I love, and especially to help my children recognize in themselves what I see so clearly: their strengths, their unique traits, their good behavior. Until that moment, I had never considered myself anything but completely average, but that one little compliment set me on a path that eventually led to a college degree in the science field. She told me I was bright, and that I had a keen understanding of chemistry, and that the world needed more smart women in the science field. I remember having a thoughtful chemistry teacher in high school who pulled me aside after class one day and asked me if I had considered what I would study in college. Things I never saw in myself until I read them from her and things I aspired to live up to after that moment. I still cling to a letter my Mom wrote to me when I was a teenager when she noted qualities she loved about me and traits she admired. It says awesome teenage things like, “Sara is so super sweet to everyone!” and still, it makes me smile every time I read it. I still have a little folded up piece of paper from youth group activity we did when I was about 13 where we exchanged papers and wrote things we admired about the other person on it. I remember very specific instances in my life when people did that for me, and what a difference it made. And how much confidence it instills in a person to receive a compliment, and call out all of the wonderful things about them that you love. It reminded me about how important it is to say things and not just show them.
And they thought of the cutest things to say. A couple of weeks ago our lesson was about kindness and I blasted back to 1st grade when we learned about “warm fuzzies” and “cold pricklies.” Did everyone do that? I taught my kids all about warm-fuzzies and had them go around in a circle and say something kind about everyone else in the family. We get plenty of treats around here, but within our home I wanted to really focus this year on the actual love part of Valentines.Įvery Monday night at our house is “Family Night.” We sing a song together, read from our scriptures, have a little lesson/message about a value, and then play a game and have a treat. I’ve been thinking about Valentines Day lately and wanted to do something with my family that wasn’t about games and candy and presents as it seems every holiday is. But I also like having a balance, and making things meaningful. I love making things absolutely magical for my kids. I actually have a tendency to get caught up in things like that because I LOVE holidays.
#Valentines lunch box notes full
Now, if you judge the average Valentine by what you see on Pinterest, we’re all Martha-freaking-Stewart, and the blogosphere is full of tutorials and DIY entertaining and decor ideas for holidays I didn’t know people actually celebrated with things they needed tutorials for. Inside there were those cheap little paper envelopes that you tried to lick shut but they’d never stay shut. When I was a kid, you went to the store and picked out the little cardboard box with the cartoon character you liked the best on it. We both have been avoiding Pinterest this entire month because the onslaught of Valentine Day stressed us out. Kate and I were talking recently about how blogging and social media have led to every minor thing in life transforming into a major thing.
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