"I Love You" Day

There are many ways we show our families how much we love them ~ keeping the house clean, folding their laundry, and fixing them meals comes to mind! However, last week, my preschooler's memory verse was from 1 John 3:18 ~ "My little children, let us not love in word or in tongue, but in deed and in truth." Our theme song was "Let us love in action, let us love in truth." Those words convicted and challenged me to try to think of more creative ways to show my family how much I love them.

Since Valentine's Day being is today, I decided it was the perfect time to put my love into action!

I had planned on making our annual lasagna, salad & garlic bread for dinner, along with a red velvet heart-shaped cake. So, I asked myself, how could I be more creative? I had to go to Walmart anyway, so I braved the seasonal section and picked up a cute (cheap & reusable!) Valentine tablecloth, plastic (again, cheap and reusable!) Valentine cups, as well as paper plates, napkins, and Valentine cards. A quick trip to the dollar store gave me some cute decorations to hang from our light and on the patio door.

I got up a little earlier and surprised the kiddos with their favorite breakfast ~ pancakes, scrambled eggs & bacon. (I usually only make "special breakfasts" on the weekends.) To make it a little extra special, I tinted the pancake batter pink & made heart-shaped pancakes as well as their initial to put on top.

My oldest came in first, excited to smell pancakes cooking. When she saw the table, she was ecstatic! She ran back to wake up her brother & sister, exclaiming, "Hurry and come see! Mom made heart pancakes and we have decorations!"

The other two came scrambling in, excited and eager. My son said, "I knew you'd do something like this, Mom! I just knew it!" Youngest just looked around and then breathed, "Oh, Mommy, this is beautiful!"

It touched my heart to see how much my little acts of love ~ that didn't take much extra time and effort or added expense ~ thrilled them! They truly appreciated it!

My three little Valentines!

For dinner, I did make lasagna, but in cupcake form! I got the idea from another website ~ You just take 2 noodles, cross them, put in a layer of filling & sauce, and then fold one of the flaps over to cover the filling. You continue to layer until last flap is covered with sauce & cheese. It was pretty tasty, if I say so myself!

Lasagna Cupcake

We also had salad, and our favorite garlic bread. I made 12 red velvet cupcakes with heart sprinkles for the kids, and with the left over batter, made my hubs a heart-shaped cake. Dinner was rated 4 thumbs up!

Kiddos & the Hubs

Of course, I tell my children & husband how much I love them ~ every day, several times, in fact. But Preschooler's verse continued to come to mind: "Don't love just in word, but in deed." I wanted to put my love into action to bless my family, but I was blessed in return! Truly, it is more blessed to give than receive!"

My favorite pic of the day!