valentines day traditions...

I have been working on some new Valentines Day traditions around here. We have been doing our Service Hearts for the last 2 years and it is a treasured tradition. (To read about this tradition click HERE) I have been wanting to add a particular tradition for a few years now...ever since I saw some super cute chair backers in the Pottery Barn catalog. When I first saw them there was NO WAY we could afford to purchase them and so I decided to make my own...well...5 years later and I still hadn't made them...then this year I saw them again in the catalog and decided to take my piano money for the month and buy them. Yes...it is TOTALLY a super splurge, but I am so excited! I got 5, one for each kid in the family. When I got home the kids asked, "Where is the pouch for you and Dad?" I hadn't even thought of us! So back to the store I went and purchased one more for Travis and I to share! So this year along with an FHE where we talk about love and start our service hearts we will also talk about expressing love for our family. Encouraging them to make a valentine for each person in our family and to be specific about WHY they love them.

I LOVE the slit in the tops so that valentines can easily be dropped into the pouch...easy enough even for the youngest!

To help in the Valentine making process I created a little tub full of paper, stickers, glue, scissors, envelopes. For the week it sits out on our counter and is available at any time for card making desires! (I plan on packing this box away with the service hearts and v-day decorations so that it only comes out once a year...this will ensure that we don't use up our supplies at other times of the year!)

The kids were SO EXCITED!! I just LOVE seeing LOVE expressed in our home!

This year Bailey was the only one I could convince to use the super cute valentines that I did for the boys last year. It is super easy and super cute! I just created the card in Photoshop Elements and then printed them out on 4x6s...easy peesy!

Tomorrow my plan is to make my heart shaped cinnamon rolls like I started last year!

Last night I went to a friends mom's house and we decorated sugar cookies and packaged them up really cute to give to the gals we visit teach! It was SO fun! I haven't decorated cookies in a LONG time! I forgot how fun it is!

Aren't traditions fun!? In the end isn't it the traditions that we remember most from our childhood? The things that you ALWAYS did growing up! I hope as I add these new traditions into our family that they will create happy and fond memories of LOVE shared as a family!