Love means many things

February 09, 2006 Last Updated: February 09, 2006 04:54 PM Special Sections

WEST SUNBURY — Family dominated the thoughts of pupils in the Moniteau School District about Valentine's Day, which is Tuesday.

Students at Dassa McKinney Elementary wrote short essays about what love and St. Valentine's Day meant to them.

In some classes, the students colored pictures to accompany their answers.

View the artwork here.Here's a sample of what students said:

Kristina DeMatteis: Love means sharing. Love means family. Love means caring for one another. Love means lots of things.Alex Conti: When I think of love I think abowt my mom and dad. When I think abowt love I think of my kittins.Joey Arblaster: I love my familey. My hart is big. I love my familey. My mom and dad love me too and that is what it is all abaut. I love my sistrs and they love me.Tyler Rock: I like to kiss my famule. I like to hug my famule.Bailey Hoffman: Love is caring for uther pepole like I care for lots of pepole.Tyler Steven Shay: Valentime's Day is abawte love and caring for your famealee.Joe Boy: Love is spending time with your wife.Kaylee Barnett: Love is playing with my baby cuzin.Jacob Morgan: Love is about spreding love arownd the world. Love is about loving peopol who you kar about.Brycen Ryan: I think love means that person is special like my little sister is special.

James Blair: It means that you care for something or someone. It means Cupid comes and shoots you with an arrow then you fall in love. And it is about the heart Carebear. And it is about Valentine's parties. And people will give you Valentine's cards.Blayce Stifeler: To me Valentine's Day is a special day that you let someone know you care about them. If you don't let out your love then they won't let out their love. It's not the candy, it's the love. If your heart and soul don't have love then you won't find your true love. And what about your soul mate? You need someone to keep you company. So don't say it's the candy. Let out your love and your heart will grow wild. So on Valentine's Day get up and show your family, friends and community that you care and be nice to them and they'll be nice to you.Chandler Lawhead: Love is like Valentine's Day. I love my family because they love me. Love is something you should cherish with family. Love is something to care about.Isaiah McMurray: Valentine's Day means lots of cards. It means passing cards, cookies, and boxes of candy and hugs too. Valentine's Day is just a relaxing day spending time with friends. Valentine's Day is just a day for celebration relaxation and love.Leslie Newburn: I think of cards from my friends and a lot of candy. I think of Valentine's Day parties. When I am sad, the word Valentine's Day makes me happy. I get to see my family and I get to spend time with my mom because she works a lot. That's what Valentine's Day means to me.Sara Lang: I like Valentine's Day because I get to go to my Grandma's house. I always like the red and pink colors because they are my favorites. When somebody says "Valentine's Day," I think of hearts and Cupid. I like to celebrate Valentine's Day with my cousins at my Grandma's house because it is really fun. I really like Valentine's Day.Devin E. Rodgers: Valentine's means love to me. Valentines also means family to me. What Valentine's mostly means is girlfriends to me.Patrick Freed: What Valentine's Day mean to me is a family gathering. At Valentine's Day my mom and dad sometimes buy me gifts. At Valentine's Day, me, mom dad and Andy stay home and relax and play games with each other.Dylan Natara: What Valentine's Day means to me is giving Valentine's cards to people. I like Valentine's because it means falling in love with other people. It means having parties and going to parades to watch and have fun.Katie Haun: What love means to me is special. I love my family a lot on Valentine's. We get stuff on Valentine's day for them. They love it. They love me and I love them a lot.Austin Blauser: What it means to me is candy, family and love. But I really like the candy. Most of the time I eat all of mine.Zachary Hiliard: Love is special to me because I have a girlfriend. She likes me and I like her. She is very nice to me. She is nice to people and dogs, cats, animals. Her sister is 12 years old.Julia McGregor: Valentine's Day is about showing someone you care for them or maybe even like them. That comes from a very special person when you tell them you care.

Courtney McCalmont: Love means to love someone so much you can't resist it and have good feelings for him and you feel sick inside when they are not around.Kayla Campbell: Love means a lot to me. Love is one of the most valuable things to me. Without love there would be nothing but hate in the world. Once you lose love, you'll never have it again. So learn to love.Kelsie Antolik: Valentine's Day means spending the day with someone you love and how much you love that person. Valentines Day last year my dad gave my mom a rose and my mom said "Thank you, Honey." My dad gave me and my sister a present. I love Valentine's Day because it is good to know on Valentine's Day that someone loves you.Megan Smouse: Love can be sad.Love can be happy.Love can be glad.All depends on how you look at it.Kelsey Koller: What Valentine's Day means to me is to admire each other. I think you have the time to spend with the one you love. Valentine's Day is a day you get to share your feelings. You express yourself. Share Valentine's Day with the one you love.Frankie Stroup: I think Valentine's Day means to share love. I think love means to love and care for someone. Valentine's Day is to celebrate candy with love.Lindsey Rosellini: To me Valentine's Day means being friends with people. You do not have to love them you can just be their friend. Care for people and if something happens help that person.Emily Snow: Love means to me because I show love for my whole family because they take good care of me.Cassidy Clark: Love means when you like someone and you want to spend the rest of your life with them.Lindsey Cozod: Valentine's Day is when your heart comes back from vacation. On Valentine's Day you have a secret admirer. Valentine's is when your heart is ready to burst out.Jessamyn Fry: I think Valentine's Day means when you love someone you give them a special Valentine card and sometimes a box of chocolates. Sometimes you just hug them and say you love them. You could also go out to eat. But if you don't have money just give a hug and kiss.Henry Coyle: When your heart gets a really warm feeling inside you and your heart bursts and melts. Then when you have a beloved person that you love so much. And that is what love means to me.

Desserea Zeigler: Love means maybe a lot of kissing and hugging and romance and a family day out. I know that because my family goes for days out and they kiss a lot and hug a lot and my mom and dad always are romance. They always have a TV day and the family comes over for dinner and we watch our favorite movie. That is what I think love is.Trent Young: These are the things that love means to me. Love for me is chocolate. I love chocolate so much that it beats having a girlfriend and I'm serious. Another thing I love is McDonald's "I'm lovin' it." The last thing is when I sit down with my family and watch a movie. That's when I'm lovin' it.Josh Altman: Love means my life to me. If I don't find a love I'll live life in misery. If I do I'll raise my child to be a perfect adult. Also I can't cook. I need a love.