14 Days of Valentines to show how much you care!

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 LOVE IS IN THE AIR! It is less than a week until Valentine’s 2017 but the LOVE festivities began in our house over a week ago. I am doing 14 Days of Valentine’s for my guy. I got this idea many years ago from my amazing cousin, Carrie. She would plan out super fun and creative things to show her love each day for 14 days, ending on Valentine’s Day with a special, fancy dinner for two at home. I thought it was such a great idea so I gave it a shot.

Ivan LOVED getting a fun surprise each day and I loved making him feel loved! It’s funny how little acts of service or sweet gestures can enhance your relationship so much. It’s so so so important for us to show those we love that WE LOVE THEM! I haven’t done the 14 Days of Valentines the past couple of years but decided this year I really needed to. My hubby has been out of work for seven months and could really use a boost! GREAT NEWS though, he accepted a new position this past Friday and starts on the 20th. So grateful for that!

More Fun with friends:

This year as I was headed to the store to get ideas and buy some things for the first few days of February, I text my friend Stephanie and told her I wished I had planned sooner and she could have done it with me. Just so happens she was on her way to the store as well! It was meant to be.

We met up and walked around the store together picking out things for our hubbies and bouncing ideas off of each other. It was so much fun! She is amazing at hand lettering and hand-wrote all of her cards. I printed a few and wrote a few, but my handwritten ones aren’t nearly as cool as hers! She also grabbed a few treats for her little boy so he wouldn’t feel left out of the love. I overheard her and her hubby on Sunday talking about what she had done so far for each day. Her hubby seemed so happy! I think he is loving the extra attention. Love is good.

How the 14 Days of Valentine’s works:

Starting on Feb. 1st leave him a note, a treat, a poem, etc. each day. It doesn’t need to be anything grand but a little preparation and effort will go a long way! I have a couple of ideas this year that I think will mean a lot to my Mr. but most days are just something simple…and sweet!  I will list MANY ideas below but there is an endless supply on Pinterest. Also, the idea is NOT to win his affection and get some grand prize at the end of all this. This is about HIM. This is about showing him how you love him UNCONDITIONALLY. You will still love him if he doesn’t repay your love and affection with diamonds. Got it?

Here’s my list for 2017:

Day 1:

A box of Hot Tamales with a note, “You are ONE HOT TAMALE!” We both love Hot Tamales and I tend to eat them all. I was nice and let him have this whole box to himself. 🙂

Day 2:

A pair of FUNKY new church socks. I will have to get a pic for you. A note with the socks that said, “We make the perfect pair.” His response was, “We make a crazy pair!” Very true.

Day 3:

A framed picture of our 3 beautiful children for his soon-to-be office. Did I mention I’m SO GRATEFUL for his new job?

Day 4:

York Peppermint Patties, “We were MINT to be.”

Day 5:

Big Reese’s heart, “You have my WHOLE heart.”

Day 6:

A six-pack of his favorite soda, Pepsi! A note that says, “I SODA like your face!” HA! This one is so me. My friend, Stephanie, did Coke for her Hubby with a note that said, “I’m SO-DAlighted that you are mine!” So dang cute!

Day 7: Bag of Rootbeer Barrels

 “I love you a BARREL and a peck and a hug around the neck.” LOL

Day 8: Today! I made chocolate-covered strawberries

“I love you berry much!” My six-year-old mentioned the other day that I “NEVER make chocolate-covered strawberries anymore!” I explained to him that it was something I make for special occasions…not just dessert on a Wednesday. He was very happy about their appearance in the kitchen.

Day 9: His FAVORITE homemade blueberry pie.

“You are my sweetie pie.” Funny story about the pie. I got the recipe from his Mom years ago to surprise him one day. I made it just like she told me and it was good. But…he let me know it wasn’t AS GOOD as his Mom’s pie. So, he didn’t get a pie from me FOR YEARS! I told him he would have to ask his Mom if he wanted a pie. This was hard because we lived very far away from her.

Years later, I decided to get over it and made him a pie. He was shocked when he came in the door from work and saw the pie and guess what?! He exclaimed that it was “THE BEST PIE HE HAD EVER HAD!” Smart boy. He’s learning!

Also, In my defense, I found out that his Mom had left out a couple of VERY IMPORTANT parts of the recipe! She told me she used canned pie filling, which is sort of true. She uses canned filling along with frozen/fresh blueberries and lemon zest! Yeah….that changed things a bit. AND, she uses butter and cinnamon sugar on the top. NO WONDER! I guess I will never know if mine is as good as hers now because the boy has wised up and will never tell me any different, but I like to believe it’s amazing. 🙂 I will post a picture tomorrow. He is going to be so happy!

Day 10:

I am so excited about this one and need to get working on it now. I mentioned that he has been out of work for SEVEN months. That’s a dang long time. In that seven months, he has had many, many, MANY interviews. Several of them went to the final interview process where he interviewed for three or so hours in front of a panel of three to five people. Sounds terrifying and exhausting to me. So many times we thought that this was the job. Now is the time. The future is changing. It’s hard to have such hope. That big, beautiful carrot hanging right within reach, and then it’s ripped away. Whew. I’m so glad we’re done with that part of this journey.

Anyhow, his resume is a big part of getting a job. A good job. I decided that I am going to write up a new resume for him. One with all of his credentials and experience as a husband and father. Isn’t that so fun?! I thought it was a genius idea. I will share it with you, along with his response in a few days.

Day 11:

This will be Saturday night. Because I work at a floral shop, the few days before Valentine’s Day is always super crazy and busy. I will be working late Monday and Tuesday so we decided to do our fancy dinner on this day. I will probably work half the day but I think I can still pull it off. We will rent a movie for the kids and get a pizza for them and they can hang out upstairs while we cook and enjoy our romantic dinner at home. Hopefully, the new baby will cooperate for this one. 🙂 We are planning on either ribeye steak and shrimp or a copycat recipe for Olive Garden’s Steak Gorgonzola Alfredo…it is to die for! Here’s a link to the recipe.

(We ended up going with the Gorgonzola, a berry, feta, spinach salad with strawberry poppyseed dressing. It was so yummy and Ike even helped with the dishes.)

Day 12:

Sunday. He has to drive two hours after our three-hour block of church for some meetings. I thought I would give him a treat he could share this day. A bag of Rolos, “I like the way you roll.” Tootsie Rolls would have worked for this one too…and he LOVES those. Maybe I will do both!

Day 13:

This is Monday and I will be working all day. I am recruiting the kids for some help. On Mondays, we have Family Home Evening where we spend the evening together and have some sort of a lesson, usually gospel related. I will have the kids prepare the lesson about the importance of having a good Dad in our home and we will all talk about how great he is. He will love this one and so will the kids. Emma loves to prepare F.H.E. so this is right up her alley.

Day 14:

We have been married for 14 years! I got some Fruit Chews and Charleston Chews…cause I couldn’t decide which one was better…and a note that says, “14 years later I’d still CHEWS you.” Isn’t that adorable? I think I will also frame a wedding picture for his office. Our wedding pictures have been at my parent’s house for the past 14 years. We just got them a few months ago. It was really fun to look through them all and remember when we were so young and in love. The bad news is we are less young now, the good news is we are even more in love!

So what are your ideas? Have you done anything like this before? We are also doing Family Conversation Hearts with the kids. Check out that post. It has been so much fun!

More Fun Ideas:

I messaged my cousin, Carrie, and let her know I was doing this again this year and she sent me her plan for 2017! Here it is:

“This year I am giving him a spa pillow for the bathtub, post-it notes all over the bathroom mirror, 10 Things I Love About You (its tradition), a handmade vintage-style valentine, a pair of Stance socks with a note saying that we make a great pair (hehe!), movie treats for an indoor date night, a burned cd of fave 80s songs for his work truck, breakfast in bed with his fave eggs Benedict, a bundle of Chapstick with a note saying that I like his kisses, Hearts with I Love You in different made up languages like Vulcan (also a tradition), a book, his priesthood lineage chart with a note about how grateful I am for him, new protein shake cup for his car (he started working out hardcore), a dinner invitation and menu, and then, of course, the homemade romantic dinner. So looking forward to tomorrow!”

I LOVED all of her ideas! I am excited to finish this week off and enjoy our time together before he starts his new job! Please let us know if you try this or have done it in the past. And please share if you have any great ideas.