back in the day…Valentine’s hearts
My Valentine’s Pinterest board is overflowing with cute ideas. Truth be told – I pin them for those that follow me on Pinterest. I know the chances of me doing just 1 of the ideas is pretty slim. However, I do remember a season where I went all out with the kids for Valentine’s and every other little holiday. There were small and I was constantly on the lookout for fun things to fill our day. I needed to keep little hands busy.
These days I am more intentional about helping big hands slow down and find rest. Seasons change. I know many young moms read this blog from time to time, so I thought it might be fun this week to look back on some of my old Valentine’s projects with the kids. At least it is fun for me!!
The following post was originally written in January 2010.
A conversation with my 3 year old (when his best friend/big brother wasn’t home)
Him: “Let’s do something fun.”
Me: “What do you want to do?”
Him “Play the wii.”
Me: “No, we could make cookies.”
Him: “No, that’s boring.”
Me: “You could make a painting for your room.”
Him: “No, that is boring.”
Me: “We could make playdoh.”
Him: “No, that’s boring.”
Me: “We could melt crayons and make hearts for Valentines.”
Him: “No, that’s boring.”
Me: “Okay, what is not boring?”
Him: “Playing the wii.”
I got out the crayons and decided to start shaving crayons and melting them anyway. This the face sitting across the table from me as I played.
He watched me shave the crayons (with an old cheese grater).
He watched me lay out a towel, then wax paper, then pour the shavings on top, and then cover it with another piece of wax paper and another towel.
He watched me iron it just until the crayons melted. 
And his pout turned into a grin and my idea wasn’t so boring anymore.
This is a bit messy of a craft, but fun nonetheless (the towels I used did get stained just fyi). Several people have asked me about how I get my kids to do craft projects. Well, sometimes it is easy. Sometimes it takes me starting it out by myself before they realize how much fun my idea is. 
I will say my initial idea was cute hearts in various shades of red. Big Brother wanted to add blue. I’d like to say I agree without hesitation, but I usually hesitate. I told him, “Hearts aren’t blue.” He responded, “Mommy, hearts are whatever color you want to make them.” I could stick to my guns and have cute hearts hanging in the window or I could give in to the blue. I gave in. Encouraging his creativity and imagination are more important than picture book designs.
I cut out hearts to hang in the windows…he cut various shapes, strung them and wanted them hanging in his room.
He is still pretty much the only kid in this house that says, “I’m bored.” And he still doesn’t like my suggestions when I hear those words! I mean what kid doesn’t want to clean the bathrooms or do extra schoolwork?
This kid – that’s who!
