Crazy Little Thing Called Love

It is already February 2023. Who can believe it? January was a blur. A cold blur. I guess that would be a brr blur. Anyway, here we are on the other side of Groundhog Day (thank you, Phil for six more weeks of winter), and Valentine’s Day is here! Flowers, conversation hearts, chocolate, and cute little cards that say things like, “Yoda one for me.” We are enjoying all of those things and we got some new Star Wars Valentine shirts, because, well, why not? I also want to take this opportunity to teach the boys a little something about love. So much to say about this subject, but luckily the boys are seven and ten, so things haven’t gotten too complicated….yet. My goal for this week was just to make them feel special. I’m adding this post to share a few ideas for very simple ways you can do the same with your kids and who, knows, if you haven’t already, maybe you will stumble on some new traditions. I’ve done a couple of scavenger hunts with the boys and have found that they really like them, so in addition to some other very simple valentine ideas, I threw in a new scavenger hunt with a twist to help them learn about love. Of course, this week is a perfect opportunity to introduce your kids to some classic love songs, hence the title of this post. As Ewen McGregor’s character, Christian, says in Moulin Rouge, “Love is a many splendored thing. Love lifts us up where we belong.  All you need it love!” Read on for six ways you can do a little something extra to make your little ones feel special this Valentine’s Day. Most of these are very simple so if you haven’t planned anything, you still have time!

I Just Called to Say I Love You

One simple and cute thing I have done for the last few years is just send a note in the boys’ lunch boxes. Not just any note, a heart shaped note. You can do this any time of course, but what better day is there to say things like, “I hope you have a great day! Love, Mom,” or simply, “I love you!” than Valentine’s Day? Now, if your kiddo might be embarrassed to open something like that up at school, you can always use this as a way to communicate all sorts of things. Maybe you want to let them know you plan to take them for ice cream after school or that there is a special surprise waiting for them at home. I just make an envelope out of a heart and add a cute sticker. Check out the link below for exactly how to fold your heart into the perfect envelope. You can go big or small, like I did.

Heart Envelope

The Power of Love

One of the things I want to be sure my boys know is that I love them. Always. No matter what. That is a powerful and good thing for a child. Unfortunately, I think we see the impact that a lack of love can have in a child all too often. I also want to, in turn, teach them the importance of showing and giving love to others. It’s an equally powerful thing to give love. To stop and be aware of others and their circumstances and consider doing a little something extra for someone else. For an easy activity, we decided to make cards for their grandmothers. Each of my boys has an active imagination and is also very creative. The insides of their cards are unique, but we did follow the steps in the link below for the valentine art project in the article and used her design for the outside of our cards. I used a stencil that I taped down, but I would recommend using the masking tape as she instructs as the overall result was better. You can see the edges are definitely not perfect, but we had fun and were able to let two special family members know we were thinking of them and sending love and hugs their way. If your kids enjoy art projects at all, they will probably love this. The other great thing about it is that it is a really quick project. If attention span is an issue, not to worry as they will be done with this in just a few minutes!

Love V-Day Card

How Sweet it Is (To be Loved by You)

What is Valentine’s Day without a special treat? I wouldn’t know because we usually have this covered. You can make something special for your little ones and put it in their lunches along with your note or you can have it ready when they come home from school. You could also make a treat with your kids as a special activity together. Lots of options. I have links below to two recipes I have used more than once. Neither is complicated, but the easiest are the love bugs. You can get chocolate covered Oreos and then just decorate them to make your bugs. All you need are the edible candy eyes, icing and valentine sprinkles. The heart-shaped cookies are just yummy because they include shortbread, white chocolate, and raspberry. I also like them because it’s a little something different than the traditional heart shaped iced cookies. These are not hard to make and look very festive. I love to see the boys’ eyes light up when they discover I have made treats. Then, I get to explain how happy it makes me to do something special for my little love bugs.

Love Bugs

Raspberry and White Chocolate Shortbread Hearts

Lovely Day

This song by Bill Withers starts off with waking up in the morning.

“Then I look at you

And the world’s alright with me

Just one look at you

And I know it’s gonna be

A lovely day (lovely day, lovely day, lovely day, lovely day)”

One option is to make a special valentine breakfast to send you cuties off to school having started the day off with a warm plate of love. There is a link below to an easy way to take cinnamon rolls and shape them into hearts. Easy, right? Just add sprinkles. Follow her instructions in the article and if your kids like cinnamon rolls, they will be super happy to find you’ve made the special valentine edition. Only one of my two like cinnamon rolls, so I attempted heart shaped pancakes. Sometimes my youngest will eat pancakes so my hope was that by adding sprinkles, it would be a safe bet. I put my batter in a plastic condiment bottle to squirt out in the desired heart shape. I also tried to use my heart shaped cookie cutters to help form the shape. The first mistake was using the plastic cookie cutter instead of the metal one. I thought I could be quick enough, but the plastic started melting and it was a huge mess that potentially has now ruined my griddle. I know, I know. The other issue was that I squeezed a bit hard on my bottle and the top popped off and batter went everywhere. At that point, my heart was looking much more like a Bob from Monsters vs. Aliens. My children laughed naturally, but at least I put a smile on their faces, right? I stuck with it and eventually got some quasi-heart shaped pancakes and added sprinkles. Although, they look more like abstract hearts you would find in a Dr. Seuss story. Anyway, hold on to your bottle tops and don’t ruin your griddles and you too, can have a lovely Valentine’s Day.

Sweatheart Cinnamon Rolls

Greatest Love of All

Whitney Houston was an icon among musical artists of our time. If you are listening to “I Will Always Love You,” for example, it is either the Dolly Parton version or Whitney’s. I don’t know who can not start dancing when “I Wanna Dance With Somebody,” is played. “Greatest Love of All,” is also a very well-known 80s tune. She starts off with,

“I believe the children are our future

Teach them well and let them lead the way,”

Yep. True statement in that the children are, in fact, our future. We should teach them well and let them lead. The most important thing I can teach my boys is what love is. Not just any love, but the most important love. The greatest love of all. Foundationally, of course, they initially learn about love from mom and dad, and family in general. The dynamic of the closest relationships will naturally help frame that, for good or bad. Even more importantly, though, as Christians we look to God as our example. What does that mean? Thankfully, our boys have the ultimate model in God himself. As the author of creation, we believe God has outlined this for us in his word, the Bible. Why do we love each other? Who do we love? How do we love and when do we show love? For me, Valentine’s Day presents a unique opportunity to pull out some verses to help further frame this out for our boys. I grabbed eleven verses and incorporated them into a cute Valentine’s Day template to print off and use in a scavenger hunt of sorts. Will there be candy? Yes. Will there be a little Valentine’s Day surprise? You bet. Can I also take this chance to try to drive home how much God loves them? Not just that he loves them, but that he loves them so much, he died for them and wants to have a relationship with them. I can and I will. I have a picture below of an example of one of my cards. I am also linking out to the PDF versions of all the cards in case you want to download and use them as well. There are so many verses about God’s love, that it was really hard to narrow it down. I chose some key verses that point to the gospel as well as the nature and character of God’s love. Several powerful verses are also very short which is nice for young kids. Love me some Whitney and her hit song, “Greatest Love of All,” but I would add that, “We love because he first loved us.” 1 John 4:19.

I hope you have been adding some great classics to your Valentine’s Day playlist. There are so many great songs to include! “You Can’t Hurry Love,” “Signed, Sealed, Delivered I’m Yours,” It Had to Be You,” “Crazy in Love,” “Best of My Love,” “Just Like Heaven,” “Your Song,” “Ain’t No Mountain High Enough,” “Let’s Dance,” “One,” “What It Takes,” “Something Just Like This.” This list goes on and on! Now, I just need to say that while there are SO many beautiful songs out there, my boys tend to be bored listening to the slower ballads. I’m keeping it peppy for the most part for now, but we will cover all the greats at some point, regardless of tempo. Remember the radio edit version for younger ears. Also, my boys know a lot of the current hits already, so I am trying to focus on some good songs they may not have been exposed to yet. Scroll through the decades on Spotify and create your own fun list and then you can dance in the kitchen while making love bugs.  

Happy Valentine’s Day from Mockingbirdmom.com!