Valentine Plans

My friend Heather asked me what my plans are for Valentine's Day. It inspired me to write a brief post on what I plan to do. I really LOVED her own ideas for serving her daughter strawberry milk in fancy plastic Valentine goblets (we call them lady glasses) and making heart-shaped, pink rice krispie bars. She's going to give her daughter valentine stickers and talk about how Jesus loves her and wants her to love others. How sweet is that for a great way to help a 2-year old celebrate?

Growing up we always had a lot of fun with Valentine's Day. There were school parties and it was fun to make Valentine cards up for all of my friends. My mom always got into the holiday and she made up a big box that was covered in Valentine paper and had a slit in the top. We would drop Valentines in there for the people in our family and she had little surprises in there for us (like a candy necklace and a chapstick or something like that.) After a fun Valentine supper (where perhaps things were red or pink or it was a fancy candlelight meal) we'd rip open the box and have our Family Valentine party. I liked this so much that I'm continuing the tradition with my own little tykes. Jeremiah won't really understand it, but I'm going to put red construction paper hearts on the table next to the box for Ali, King Jo, and I to write encouraging notes on and stick in throughout the day. We can write down things we appreciate about each other and why we love them. I am totally a gifty person (if you couldn't tell already) so I had to get my little ones a small toy each and my husband a big Reese's peanut butter heart! King Jo will also get his coupons, which I've mentioned before in a recent post.
For dinner, I plan to make homemade Fettuccini Alfredo, breadsticks, vegetable, and cheesecake. I have considered serving the kids dinner, then doing the Valentine box, and then having a candlelit, kid-free dinner with King Jo. Or, we will have our neighbors watch them while we eat since they have asked us to trade babysitting sometime this week so we can both go on Valentine Day dates.
For the grandparents, we had some Valentine photo cards made this year on Walgreens.com
I plan to have Ali help me make a special Valentine for her daddy with pretty paper and glue and stickers.
I plan to talk about Jesus' love for us and loving others too on V-day. In the past I have often given Valentines to singles or to unsaved friends with Bible verses about love on them. This year we will probably make some pretty Valentines with Spanish Bible verses on them for our little neighbor girls who are over here playing every day!