25 Nuggets of LOVE

“Shut off the lights!”, “Could you PLEASE take off your wet boots when you come in??”, “Your room is a sty”, “you got WHAT on your math test?”, “I kinda hate it when you…”

All too often we parents spend our waking hours reminding our offspring how much they aren’t doing to please us. We don’t MEAN to nag and correct, correct, correct…we call it “training them up”.  But they know it as nagging.

Sure, we give the occasional well-deserved “Good Job, Honey!”, but these are usually fewer and farther inbetween because stuff needs to get done, people! And we’re responsible for keeping the peace and order around here.  We are commanders in chief and we command.  A lot.

So today on this Valentine’s Day, I thought I’d share a simple DIY way for us to stop, and recognize all the little nuggets of awesome our kids and mates possess, that make us laugh or FEEL the love.

This past Christmas I spotted a magnetic advent calendar at my local Starbucks and it spoke to me. I knew I wouldn’t use it for its intended purpose, I just liked the look of it.  So I bought it and decided I’d figure out what to do with it later. Today I figured it out.

After taking out the bad candy, I used my chalk pens and chalkboard paper to write simple notes about my boys and husband, describing little things they do that I just flipping LOVE. Then I simply folded em’ up, and  stuck one in each little magnetized tin.




It doesn’t matter that there aren’t a perfect amount for a whole month, It does’t matter that my boys are a tween and teen who probably think they’re too big for this kind of thing, it doesn’t matter that this might be more for me, than them.  I simply plan to have them pop open these nuggets of love at random times, on random days when I feel like I’ve been doing way more commanding, and reminding, and reprimanding than telling them how darn cool I think they are. You’re never too old for a quickie love-fest, right?

Maybe I’ll even write a couple things I love about myself in there as well.  Self-love, baby!

If you don’t have an old advent calendar to repurpose, this is totally easy to create with a magnet board, some magnet tape and some small, cheap boxes from the craft store.

Wising you and your families a splendid and LOVE-filled Valentine’s Day!

xoxo