Valentine's Day and Random Acts of Kindness Week are probably my favorite holidays (besides Christmas). For me, this time of year is not only a chance to rekindle the relationship between my husband and me, but it's also a time to remind my friends and family how much they are loved and appreciated.
There are certain values that I want to instill in my son--hard work, faith, courage, humor, passion. However, above all of these, I want my son to learn love and empathy. This year I decided that I'm going to use this year's Random Acts of Kindess (RAK) Week, which starts today, to teach these two important values
and have fun in the process!
Today, we started our mission by baking brownies and heart shaped cookies. We then packed up little gift bags to give to friends this week. While I'm not the craftiest person in the world, I did find some Valentine's Day printables on Pinterest that were really cute. With a little ingenuity and the help of an awesome dollar store near me, I managed to "make" a few cute Valentine's Day items that I think my friends will enjoy. The goal in making these Valentine's Day "gift bags" is twofold.
1) I want my son to learn that sometimes homemade gifts are even more meaningful than store bought items.
2) I want my son to learn the joy of giving. (This week, we will be randomly driving to friends' houses to surprise them with these Valentine's Day gift bags. They might not be home, but leaving them with a special note will be half the fun.)
Finally, I hope to end our week of "surprise gift giving" by purchasing food and then driving it to our local food pantry. Lewie is still a little too young to be helping out at a soup kitchen, but that will be our next goal as he gets older...
Do you have any plans for RAK week? (Right now my biggest hurdle is finding the time to do everything between a full week of work. Still, when there's a will, there's a way!!)
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| Lots of love (and concentration) went into making these cookies! |
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| A perfect heart! |
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| Now to make a double heart! (Notice the flour in my little guy's hair!) |
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| Making sugar cookies sure is messy! |
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| A sample of our work! |
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| Getting our Valentine's Day "gift bag" ready... |
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| Here's one more picture of the treats that will be going into this package from the "heart." |
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| Here's the final bag...ready to be delivered! |
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Oh my gosh! I seriously had tears in my eyes reading this. You are an amazing Mom. How lucky is your son to have someone that values wonderful things like this? Love how those cookies turned out! <3
ReplyDeleteHi Annette,
ReplyDeleteYour blog looks amazing! I took a break from blogging for a bit. So happy to be back and visit great bloggy friends like you! I think that things that are made with love are so much more meaningful! :) The pictures are great! What fun Little Lewie is having and he is learning to be a giver. Such a wonderful thing to learn. I hope you are well! Get ready for yet another snow bonanza! Lets make a plan in 2014 to meet at Mystic or Beardsley one day. Have a great night!
Mama Hen
I'm sure the treats were a huge hit!
ReplyDeleteDear Annette,
ReplyDeleteYou are such a wonderful Mother! Lewie is so lucky to have your kind loving example in his life. Thank you for teaching me more about giving! I love your blog makeover, by the way! Super cute!
xoxo