first annual godshall valentine's day

valentine's day i hope was the start to a new tradition in our family. february is so busy for me, with two birthdays...that naturally i signed up to do the valentine craft in isaiah's class too!

i took the girls with me and they loved getting to be in isaiah's class and get to see daddy teaching. sophia sat on isaiah's lap for the activities and alaythia helped pass everything out. once the kids had passed out their valentine cards

we headed to the lunch room to eat with one of our favorite boys.

we loved being at the school together.

several months ago i read a book by andi ashworth called, 'real love for real life' and she had some great ideas regarding valentines day and how to make it a family event. it was a great night as a family, sharing our love for each other.

we had a fancy candlelit dinner. they loved eating off china and drinking out of stemware. we all shared about our days even little soph shared about getting to go to daddy's class.


when dinner was over we headed to the living room where we all began our love note reading. those of us that could write had written notes to every other member of the family. we took turns standing up on the piano bench and reading to each person.

the person being read to sat in the chair in the middle of the room.


since alaythia and sophia can not write yet, they stood up and told each person why they loved them. alaythia's revolved around playing with her, soph simply said, 'i love you bro bro.' or 'i love you mama.' so sincere, so sweet.

needless to say this time ended in tears... it was such a rich time of being purposeful and expressing our love to each other. i saved all the letters and hope to each year so that we can keep a record of our love notes over the years.

we played some valentine games. a 'minute to win it' candy obstacle course, a maze and we ended the night shooting cupid's arrows onto a heart (q-tips out of straws) but that soon turned into a shooting war. which actually was quite fun.

i love that the day was not just about me and matt, but being together as a whole family, expressing our love to each other. i am blessed to get to live with this crew of people!