It’s that time again! Hearts, flowers, candy and so many cute valentines! I love shopping for cards for the boys to give out at school. I enjoy seeing all the clever ways people incorporate our favorite things into this holiday. Speaking of our ‘favorite things,’ I was saddened to learn of the recent death of Christopher Plummer. I couldn’t tell you how many times I watched The Sound Of Music growing up, but it was enough that I still know most of the words. I watched it again this weekend and introduced it to my boys. They didn’t sit through the whole movie, but they saw some classic scenes. They watched as Captain Von Trapp blew the silly whistle. Graham said, “Mom, don’t ever call me downstairs like that!” They also watched, (and I sang) as Maria performed, “My Favorite Things,” and, “Do Re Mi.” I think they enjoyed parts like the puppet show and the special way the children say ‘goodnight.’ Who doesn’t love it when Captain Von Trapp sings “Edelweiss?” Such a beautiful story and so many wonderful songs. It is one of my all-time favorites. As we headed towards Valentine’s Day this year, I decided to focus on my favorite things. As I mentioned, I love looking at the different options for class valentine cards. You can find any theme you want. Construction valentines to say, “I dig you.” Prehistoric valentines to say, “You’re Dino-mite!” “Hi-Ya! Valentine,” for the all the ninjas out there. Or choose from a variety of animals. I love the sloth valentines with cute notes that read, “Hanging out with you is a treat!” Or “Have a magical Valentine’s Day,” with some unicorns. Throw in some bubbles and say, “You blow me away!” or one of my favorites that I’ve seen is a bag that includes the graham cracker, chocolate and marshmallow and reads, “Life’s SMORE interesting with you as a friend!” How sweet! Given our love of Star Wars (which has been a running theme for this holiday for the last couple of years), I have also noticed all the cute baby Yodas out there thanks to The Mandalorian. “Yoda one for me.” Lately, my boys have really been into the game Among Us which we play on their iPads. I found these cute valentine cards available as a digital download from Etsy. The boys loved them, so these combined with some treat bags are what we gave to their classmates.
Fly Me to the Moon
Back to my favorite things. I love the silliness of my boys. “Fly Me To The Moon,” by Frank Sinatra is a great love song to add to your Valentine’s Day playlist. However, the first part always makes me think of the unbounded imagination of children.
“Fly me to the moon
Let me play among the stars
Let me see what spring is like
On a, Jupiter and Mars”
I still have two little minds that enjoy pretending and have some crazy rationale for some of the things they get up to. The conversations at times are just absurd. Off the wall, and I love it. It is one of my favorite things. At some point, and all too quickly, everything they say will make perfect sense (except during the teenage years) but for now, I love it that my little one asked for his own mountain for Christmas and wants to be a ninja/pirate when he grows up. I love that my oldest will battle me in Just Dance. The Charades and Pictionary skills are priceless. It’s the way their mind works and the things they come up with that make this season of momming special, because as I said, it is fleeting.
One of our Valentine’s Day activities was making love monsters. They are just the right amount of silly. Both boys picked the yarn they wanted, and we went to work. Wood, my oldest, was more of an overseer of his craft but Graham helped me make his love monster. It was good practice for both counting (wrapping the yarn 100 times!) and little things like gluing and following instructions. As you can see below, Graham’s monster sat and ate breakfast with him and he also spent the night right next to his bed. I am including the link below to the article with the instructions.
The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face
Add this sweet song by Roberta Flack to your playlist also. Just like most moms, I remember the day my boys were born. I could tell the story over and over (and I do tell them all the time). When Wood was born, I was a first-time mom and the reality of what everyone had been telling me finally sunk in. I remember the first little noise he made after everything had calmed down and he was just lying in the hospital bassinet all swaddled up. I scooped him up and from then on I didn’t want to put him down. When the pediatrician rounded, I actually said, “Isn’t that the cutest baby you’ve ever seen?” or something like that. Probably not the first time he’d ever heard that. Of course, I believed it and distinctly remember making that comment not to be funny, but rather I was dead serious. I actually meant it. It sunk in a little bit later that I was now that mom. The one who thinks her child is the most precious baby ever to be born. That’s ok. In my case, it just happened to be true also. Until Graham was born. I had to wait to hold Wood for about 45 minutes because I was bleeding from a minor injury, so when Graham came along, I wasn’t expecting to have my son handed to me immediately. All of a sudden, he was placed on my chest in the perfect position with his sweet face next to mine. It literally took my breath away and I started to cry. In both instances, I was changed. These tiny miracles were mine and that crazy, scary love that everyone told me about just took over. Nothing seemed good enough and everything was exciting. All of a sudden, naming all the animals on the Melissa and Doug puzzle or singing, “The Itsy-Bitsy Spider,” was captured on a video I thought should go viral. Those moments of sweet baby giggles and toddler wide-eyed amazement are just the best. I still love the giggles, and seeing the look on their faces when I’ve been able to surprise or amaze them. During Halloween, the tea bag ghosts that actually flew when set on fire were awesome. They still remember it. I love thinking of fun things to do with them or for them. It’s definitely one of my favorite things. It’s the reason I have 11 weeks of home school themed lessons that I created during lockdown. It’s the reason, I do five fun days of Thanksgiving and Halloween and the 12 Days of Christmas. It’s the reason I have a craft closet. This year, during this week leading up to Valentine’s Day, I put some heart notes in their snacks that they would find at school. I wrote a special message, folded the hearts into envelopes and sealed them with fun stickers. It made them smile. My little Graham came home from school and brought me the note to tell me he found it and was smiling while he told me what I had written. Such an easy, thoughtful way we can remind our kids they are on our minds throughout the day.
We have also made these cookies before. They are super easy, and I think they are adorable. Making fun holiday treats is always a hit with kids and is just another way I can do something for them that will make them smile. Just grab some chocolate dipped Oreos, brown and red icing and then add sprinkles and Wilton candy eyes. Your little love bugs will thank you for this sweet snack!
Just The Way You Are
Whether it’s the Bruno Mars or Billy Joel song, add at least one of these to your playlist. To continue with my favorite things when it comes to loving on my boys, I have to add in making sure they know how special they are. They are created in God’s image and they are loved, and I want to be sure they know that; no matter what.
“I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful; I know that full well.” Psalm 139:14
I love watching them grow (although I would like that to slow down), and seeing their personalities and interests develop. I want to keep emphasizing this important truth to my boys on a regular basis. They are going to make mistakes, get into trouble and yes, exhibit bad behavior at times. I try to remind them that mommy does too. I am certainly not perfect. One thing that doesn’t change; however, is my love for them. They can count on that. One great way to reinforce this is to stock up on some books that help drive home this point. As I mentioned in my post about reading goals for 2021, reading books about certain topics sometimes creates an opportunity for your child to ask questions. It can also reinforce something in a different way that helps them understand what you’ve been saying all along. One of my favorites is Wherever You Are My Love Will Find You, by Nancy Tillman. She also wrote, On The Night You Were Born, which has been read over and over at our house. Wherever You Are My Love Will Find You, is a sweet book with colorful, imaginative pictures that relays the message that no matter where they go or what they do, your love goes with them. I especially like the page that points out if they’re having a bad day, feeling lonely or even if they think they’ve been bad, that your love surrounds them. There are so many great books out there that find creative ways to communicate to kids just how wonderful they are and how we, as parents, feel about them. Find your favorites and put them in the reading routine often.
For this week of love, I got a little jar for each of my boys, added some ribbon and cut out some paper hearts. The idea is that we write on the hearts all the things we love about them and fill their jars up. I also got the boys to help fill each other’s jars. I find it’s easier for them to reciprocate kindness if they’ve just heard how much their brother thinks they’re awesome. We plan to open them up and read through them this weekend.
Another easy way to leave a cute valentine for your little one is to make these clothespin butterflies. You just need a small snack size Ziplock bag, clothespins, a pipe cleaner, a marker, sharpie and some candy. Valentine M&Ms work well as do the Jolly Rancher jelly hearts, which I used. Tasty too! Color the clothespin with the marker color of choice and add a face with a sharpie. Cut two small sections of pipe cleaner for the antennas. Throw some candy in the bag, gather it a bit in the middle and add your clothespin. You don’t really even need to glue the antennas because the clothespin will hold them in place. Then, just pick a spot to leave your little treat out for your sweet little one to find. I left one in Graham’s room on the bed with his newest stuffed animal and told him his buddy had a surprise for him.
Let’s Dance
This classic by David Bowie was on my playlist that I sang to my babies as I rocked them. Go ahead and add this to your Valentine’s Day playlist too, if it’s not already there. We love to dance and are playing a lot of tag and hide and seek at our house these days. The general sentiment of this song reminds me of not only the intensity of the love I have for my boys but just the daily whimsical nature that goes with being a mom of small children.
“If you say run
I’ll run with you
And if you say hide
We’ll hide
Because my love for you
Would break my heart in two”
The song goes along with a new Valentine cookie I tried this year. These raspberry white chocolate shortbread cookies were a great addition to our valentine week. First, there’s plenty of traditional chocolate treats out there because, well, it’s Valentine’s Day so you’re gonna have chocolate. This is a little something different. These are so good, pretty impressive looking (not necessarily mine), and relatively easy to make. I’ve included the link to the site where I got the recipe. I have saved it and we will definitely be making these again. Now, I add this new valentine cookie in my “Let’s Dance,” section because the recipe says it makes 14 cookies. My heart cookie cutters must have been a bit larger than hers and truthfully, I did have less dough to work with because my son hijacked some of it. He went through the drawer, found the witch broom and Christmas tree cookie cutters and just like that it’s, “Happy Val-Hallo-Wistmas.”
I think I ended up with around 7 or so cookies so like the song says, we broke our hearts in two, because they were kind of big. You can do that or eat the whole thing, whatever. I know I did one day. Yummy!
I hope you have enjoyed some special moments with the people you love this week. If you haven’t gotten the chance to yet, I hope you will get to do something fun today. Several of these ideas are easy to do and there’s still time if you are looking for something fun to do with your kids today. I will leave you with a couple of my favorite quotes about love.
“The best thing to hold onto in life is each other. “ -Audrey Hepburn
“All you need is love. But a little chocolate now and then doesn’t hurt.” -Charles Schultz
“If you live to be a hundred, I want to live to be a hundred minus one day, so I never have to live without you.” -A. A. Milne, Winnie the Pooh
“I swear I couldn’t love you more than I do right now, and yet I know I will tomorrow.” -Leo Christopher
Happy Valentine’s Day!
