Sharing LOVE

 I love Valentine's Day...and though we've always done crafts and had fun things on Valentine's day, last year was the first for our heart countdown. We did it again this year and I just LOVE it!  I get to show the kids how much I love them in small/fun ways for the first 14 days of February. Clearly I love them every day...but having a 'clue hunt' everyday for two weeks? THAT'S my idea of fun and sharing love.

The kids and I decorated with all of our crafts we've made (and actually kept) over the last few years so I like to say that our house 'looks like love threw up'. I just LOVE it! What's funny to me is that the kids don't know any different.

 Pretty much all of the 14 days of love gifts are small (and some don't cost a thing). This could be done completely for free but I had this day 1 gift picked out for them for Christmas then decided to wait until Valentine's.

The oldest three got books about God's great love. Braden got the action bible (which he's read cover to cover at least 20 times in the last two weeks), Kinsey got her first devotional, and Cailey got a book with encouraging stories in it. Ephram got a sticker book that we do together.

 Kinsey has LOVED doing her devotional. I caught this sweet moment
one morning and had to take a picture.

 Each pocket of the heart countdown (seen on the wall above) contains a clue about what the item they are looking for is. I 'hide' the gift each day in a very easy to find place. They can't read the clue unless they are all together AND the clue gets read at different times of the day. One morning they could do it before breakfast because they ended up getting Pop Tarts. Another day they had to wait until after dinner because it was dessert. 

This year's clues and 'gifts'

*you're a real page turner! (book)
*I'm bursting with happiness over you! (starburst)
*My heart could just pop for you! (Pop tart)
*You're the apple of my eye ! (Apple sauce)
*you are cute as a button! (put a bag of buttons to make a heart craft) **SUPER fun because we did a craft together
*you're just write for me (pencils)
*you're such a cutie! (cutie orange)
*you are EXTRA special! (extra gum)
*i'm nuts about you! (nuts)
*I love your bear hugs! (Teddy Graham's)
*We stick together (fun washi tape for each one)
*We make a great combo! (Combos)
*My heart flipz for you (flipz pretzels)
*You are super cool (mint Chapstick)