The weather has been so gloomy and gray recently, that my family could use a little fun and added celebrations to make sure that our moods don't begin to match the gray of the skies.

There is much to celebrate in the month of February.  The month opens with Groundhogs Day on February 2nd^.   This day is also seen as the mid-point of winter or Candlemas.  So, whether Ol' Phil the Groundhog sees his shadow or not, it is nice to think that soon the crocuses will begin blooming! 

Gather your children and get out colored paper or white paper and crayons.  Make paper flowers and hang them everywhere in your house to remind you that spring is coming.  Put a row of paper flowers in your window sill, drop a few into an envelope and send them to those you love!  Your kids will love this.

February is also the month of love; St. Valentines Day is celebrated on the 14^th.  But why limit yourself and your family to only one day of celebrating?  Instead why not take the whole month to let all of your friends and family know how much you love them?

One festive but very easy way to celebrate love is to host a Valentines Pizza Party.  If you are making your own pizza from scratch, shape the crusts into hearts.  If you are serving pre-made pizzas, simply get out your pizza cutter and cut a notch in the top and a point in the bottom.  Voila, a heart-shaped pizza.

Try to serve lots of red, pink and white at your party:  Tomatoes which are also known as love apples.  Fruit punch would make a nice drink - serve it in fancy glasses.  You can either buy this pre-made or whip up something elegant to be served from your punch bowl.  And for dessert, what could be simpler than vanilla ice cream sprinkled with red hots, or topped with maraschino cherries?

Want to make a special breakfast for your family this month?  Get out your heart shaped cookie cutters.  Drop them in your skillet and pour pancake batter right into them to form heart shaped pancakes.  Or make French toast and cut out heart-shapes from the middle.  Now some members of the family can have tiny heart-shaped pieces of French toast, while others can have toast size pieces with hearts cut out of the center.  Delicious and fun!

Throughout the month leave love notes in unexpected places.  Use shaving cream to leave a note on the bathroom mirror.  Slip a note into a coat pocket.  Post-it notes are really fun and easy to stick up anywhere.  Have fun, these are people you love, what better time than this to let them know how much you care!

While passing a local Hancock County business location (Marlin's Plant Kingdom on State Road 9) I saw a sign outside that said "Do An Act Of Random Kindness."  While Marlin's leaves this sign out all year round, Random Acts Of Kindness Day is celebrated officially on the 17^th of this month.  So while you are busy sharing love this month, why not look outside your sphere of friends and family and see where else you might share kindness this month? 

Perhaps you know someone at work or at church that is going through a rough time.  Why not send them a note, or a card of encouragement?  Take someone to lunch, just because.  Or perhaps you might decide to send a donation to your favorite charity, or better yet, maybe a charity that you have never given to before.  And like Marlin's, why not look at doing Random Acts Of Kindness all year long?

February is also the month where we begin to run out of steam, enthusiasm and commitment with regard to our New Year's Resolutions.  What a nice time to take stock and see if you wanted or needed to re-commit to these resolutions.  Are your resolutions like others that you know?  For example, was your hope to get in shape this year?  You probably know others who have this same goal.  Why not gather together your friends who might have a similar goal and create Get-Fit group. You could meet regularly, use email or phone calls and support each other in your endeavor. 

Then together as a group you could host salad night at someone's home.  Share ideas about what is working or NOT working for those in the group.  Schedule time together to go for walks and hikes.  Perhaps you could meet weekly and try out some workout videos from the library.  For guidance you might even take a look at the Governor's new 10-in 10 Challenge for Hoosiers to lose 10 pounds in 10 weeks.  Check out www.in.gov/inshape/ for details.