♥ In honor of Valentine's Day

my little family

Dearest and nearest
how we show our love

♥ When I get a chance to lay down with Whitney for a nap I tickle her back and tell her make believe stories about Princess Whitney. A very beautiful Princess with beautiful brunette hair, deep brown eyes, and most of all - a beautiful heart, for that's the most important thing a princess can have. I tell her in my best librarian storyteller voice.

♥ Sometimes I clean the kids' rooms and surprise them. I always leave a love note for them and ask them to try a little harder to keep their rooms clean.

♥ We tell stories at dinner time and try to make each other laugh. The kids always like it when Jeff and I start our stories with- "When I was little..."

♥ We have FHE evening every week. Its not always a major production but we're consistent and the kids KNOW Monday night is always FHE. They look forward to the activity.

♥ When anyone does something awesome, I call the family to attention and we do a cheer 3x: Hip hip hooray for _____________!!!

♥ We have a family hug after family prayer before bed.

♥ We point to our eye than our heart and then we push our pointer fingers together. Abby made this one up.

♥ I always kiss the boys and tell them how much I love them when I drop them off at school and attack them with kisses. If we don't say a prayer at home and we're not running late we say a little prayer together before they leave.

♥ We dance together in the kitchen. I always ask them if they think I'm a good dancer. The girls love to shake their booties, Ethan loves it when I make him twirl, and Devon looks at us all like we're nuts. (I'm trying to teach them how to find the beat and move with it. Its hilarious to watch.)

♥ We go on adventures together when its warm. Family bike rides are the best.

♥ Jeff gets up every day at 4:45 am and leaves for work at 5:00 am. He gets home at 6:00. The kids attack him with sweet salutations, hugs, and kisses when he walks in the door. I give him kisses too but they're a little different than the ones he gets from the kids.

♥ I wake up with Jeff and make his lunch. I put love letters in his lunch box, especially when I want something, or I'm trying to make up. :)

♥ Jeff and I correspond during the day through email. We send each other secret messages.

♥ Jeff has never spanked any of our kids. I have, but very few times and far between those times.

♥ Jeff takes me out almost every weekend. (I'm going to miss my babysitters when we move.)

♥ No one is allowed to call anyone fat, stupid, dumb, or any other demeaning word. I get pretty grumpy if they do. It doesn't happen very often. The boys are learning to treat their sisters with respect and to compliment them.

♥ I love it when I ask the kids to do something and they say, "Yes mom." Those two words spoken together have got to be my favorite. Especially when there is a sweet smile attached to it. One of my boys replies to his teachers requests by saying, "Yes mam." Love it.

PS I would love for this all these things to happen much closer together. Interspersed in all this love talk is "How we show each other we're mad, sad, and frustrated." I could blog that topic... Hmmmm? I don't think I need to. I don't think anyone needs extra help with that.


How does your family LOVE each other?















♥