Happy Valentine's Day!

 
It's that time of year again!  The time of year when I remind you not only love those around you, but let them know how important they are - you know, Valentine's Day!

When you think about it, we should all view holidays from a child's perspective - the magic of Christmas, the fun of Halloween, and the innocence of Valentine's Day.  As we get older, our views change, the holidays twist, but why should they?

When you're in elementary school, Valentine's Day meant a card from all your classmates.  No romantic intentions involved.  It was a way of saying "hey - we're friends and I'm thinking of you!"  At some point, we stop saying things like that to our friends.  Especially in this day and age of facebook and texting.  We barely speak to our friends, let alone tell them how important they are.  I'm a huge proponent of changing that, and Valentine's Day is a great reminder to squeeze it in.

This is Thatbaby's first time to experience Valentine's Day in a school-setting, albeit daycare.  Which to me meant Valentine's for his little friends.  I didn't want to send in any chocolate, goldfish, or anything food related because with 16 month olds, I'm not really sure what their parents deem appropriate for them to eat.  I know Thatboy and I ate the Valentine's Day chocolate that was given to Thatbaby.  Instead, I sent in something that was age appropriate, colorful, and fun - crayons!  But not just any crayons - heart shaped crayons.  So holiday appropriate.  The magic of pinterest led me to a craft I could accomplish in a short time.

First, you chop up a box of crayons.  I used about 28 crayons for my project, which made 14 heart crayons.

Then, you place the chopped crayons in a silicone baking mold sprayed with cooking spray.  You can be as creative as you want here.  Use all colors in the same family, only two colors, every color you can.  I put all the chopped crayons in a bowl and just grabbed handfuls.

Bake the crayons at 275 until they're melted.  It took me about 10 minutes.  When I pulled them from the oven, I did a quick swirl with a toothpick in the melted crayons.  Wait until they're completely cool and pop them out of the mold.

I attached them to a little card, and voila - Thatbaby's first Valentine's ready to go!