Family Valentine's Mailboxes

I just taught Zoe what the 99 cent store was. I explained how everything I buy there is $1. I'm not sure she understood, it's a phenomenon even I have yet to grasp. If you're wondering why an almost three year old would care about the 99 cent store it's because that is where I picked up her hair clips with the princesses on it. And well she came to the conclusion that if there are clips for Cinderella, Ariel and Sleeping Beauty, there must be clips for all the other princesses. According to her, we must go back. (But there isn't. I already checked.)

Besides princess clips, the real reason I bring up the value of a dollar is that I've found some great things to craft with for just that much...rolls of craft paper for $1, doilies $1, mini-buckets, planters, frames...all $1 and, yes, these mini-mailboxes from Target's $1 Spot....

I had always planned to use them for family mailboxes during Valentine's Day and even before we were planning a family, I picked up five. We have use for three now and the fourth soon. But the idea has brought on more meaning as Zoe grows up and our family expands.

I've always had wandering thoughts and worries about being a mom. From the day Zoe was deemed a girl, I've worried about the teenage years. I know, worry wart. Will I be overbearing? Will she rebel?  Will she know how much I've loved her and will love her when we're arguing about curfews and dating? I know there will be years when our voice as parents will grow a bit fainter while the media and peers will test her values. But the years we invest until then and how impacting and shaping they will be is what inspires this new tradition.

This year Mike and I will write the first letters of love to Zoe, the first of many to come. And in following years, we'll write them to all our children each Valentine's Day. She may not read them now, but one day she'll hold them all as an accumulation of our declarations of love. So when one day she says we've ruined her life (I was a teenager once), hopefully it'll remind her then that our love has been a long-time coming and will be a long-time going.