Confession: once I moved past middle school, I either found Valentine's Day unnecessarily stressful or just downright cheesy. And while I don't want to give in to the sugar/chocolate marketing hype, I do think it's a fun day to remind those closest to us that we love them and to teach our kids what love looks like. As a family we try to do surprise love notes throughout the month of February to each other (this has gotten fun as my older two can now write on their own but stickers work great for little hands too), send handmade cards to friends and grandparents, read books about love that goes beyond romantic love (love is servant-hearted, courageous, thoughtful, etc) and love on our community (we've surprised firefighters with donuts and make & pass out blessings bags for the homeless as February can tend to dip into single digit temps here). Anyway, it's not to add any pressure or stress on the parent, just fun ways to model various acts of love to the littles. Here's a fun round-up of some Valentine's Day picture books that we are enjoying this month!