A week long Valentine project!

So just in case any of you were still wondering if I am certifiably crazy, this post will confirm that indeed, I am. Last year, when it came time to make Valentines, I found this great craft project...melted crayon hearts, but I did not have time to make them so I bookmarked the web site and have been planning for an entire year that we would make and pass out these melted crayon hearts! I have saved all of our broken crayon over the past 12 months, and we had many since Keyan LOVES to break crayons. I also bought many boxes of crayons during the back-to-school specials so I thought that I was totally prepared. However, and please refrain from laughing, I honestly never calculated how many we were going to have to make until the day before we were scheduled to make them. When I went to buy the molds, it dawned on me that I was going to need to make 105 crayon hearts!!!! Still, in denial of the facts that were hitting me right on the head, I had everything set to start our project Saturday morning...and you know that Paul was SUPER excited about this whole thing!

Saturday came, we left the kids in their pajamas, and we all started peeling a breaking crayons. It was insane! You never realize how much glue they put on those wrappers until you need them off! And of course, none of the kids could break them into little piece....never mind they do it every time they color! Actually, the kids did a pretty good job and took turns taking breaks so I always had someone helping me.

It would not have been nearly that bad except I only had 24 molds and each batch had to cook for 20 minutes, and than harden and freeze for another 20-30 minutes...I will leave the math up to you...but needless to say, it was a good thing we had the entire day free! By the time the kids went to bed, we had made 93 multi-colored hearts and 12 camouflage hearts for the boys in Jamahl's class!

We continued the next day by stamping hearts onto little bags to put the crayons in and then they all had to sign all twenty something of them...not an easy task for the girls since they haven't quite mastered that skill! It took a lot of concentration, but we finally got all 105 signed and than the rest of the week I took my spare minutes and put them in the bags and taped them shut. As many of you know, Keyan ended up back in the hospital on the Thursday before Valentines day so it is a darn good thing we didn't wait until the last minute! The kids were all very excited at the way they turned out and couldn't wait to give them to their friends....but get this, on Monday, I go to clean out backpacks and McKenzy's entire bag of crayons is still in her backpack! When I asked her what had happened, she said she was just too busy, and didn't want to take the time to pass them out!!!! Can you believe it? They made a beautiful addition to the art area in their classroom! Oh well, you can't blame her for being excited about a party! All in all, though time consuming, it was a fun family project that gave us something to do while being stuck inside during this cold weather. I wonder what I can come up with for next year?