On The Bright Side: Party for my lovebugs

I have never been an over-the-top Valentine's Day fan. But the lovebug crawled up and bit me this year! I feel like yes, you should celebrate love every day of the year. People seem to love that excuse for not celebrating this holiday. But I think today can be used to focus on love with your children...the meaning of it, and discussing God's amazing love for us. We have never given our children gifts for Valentine's Day, mainly because I just don't see a point to it. If gifts are ever given, it should be between me and my husband. That rarely happens though! Usually we're happy with a date night (which is another rarity around here!). The kids had their class parties last Friday and I made their shirts, Kali Mae's bows, and her bag to collect her classmates' valentines.

I found these cute mugs and decided they'd be cute filled with Hershey Kisses for teacher's gifts.

Me and Kali Mae at her class party.

All dressed and ready to go before school! They were excited for their Valentine's parties.

These were the valentines the kids chose to do this year. Thank you Pinterest! They were a hit!

I had been pondering throwing a family party for the kids this year, but just didn't know if I would have the energy or the time. But raising kids is a one-time deal. So I ran around this morning gathering things that I had around the house, crafting decorations, and coming up with activities for them to do. It came out way better than I anticipated, and they loved it!

I made the "lovebugs" out of tissue paper, much the same as the tissue paper pom poms. I was going to make those originally, but realized that I didn't have enough sheets. So, I made these cute lil' bugs that will probably end up hanging in Kali Mae's room. I spread red paper doilies on the shelves of the hutch and brought the "Love" sign out from the wall in our room. I filled a jar with candy hearts and moved my paper heart banner from my mantle. The Valentine boxes were some that I painted earlier this month. I had a station labeled "Love Notes" that said "Everyone is a gift from above. Write down the reasons for your love". The kids had fun with this, and so did Mommy and Daddy! I wrote one to each of them, and Kali Mae even did one for her teacher :). The rose is one that Josh brought home from the store for me, I love knowing that he thinks about me often. I then had another spot set up on the table for cookie decorating. It was labeled "Spread the Love" and said "Cookies are a yummy treat, decorate one with care. Pass it on to someone sweet, because it's even sweeter to share." They weren't allowed to eat the cookies they decorated. Instead the rule was to give them to someone else. They really thought that was neat, and got pretty creative with their cookies. Even Mommy and Daddy got in on the fun!