Crazyon crayon hearts

So I've never been big on Valentine's Day. Even when Elmer and I were dating and everything looked like love. It's just become another crazy consumer holiday to get sucked into. But the spirit of a seven year old can really make you feel different about love. It is really so great to be seven.

 

If more of the world could operate on the spirit of a seven year old, it would be a better place. Be happy, be nice, share, love. If you're not having fun, do something else. And love unconditionally, because you don't know understand about boyfriends and girlfriends and societies expectations.... or does that stop at 4? Anyway,...

 

We made homemade Valentine's for first and fourth graders last night.  We hadn't made class Valentine Cards since Tigo was in 1st grade, three years ago (and those were AMAZING, by the way). When we were in New Mexico the kids' school didn't celebrate Valentine's Day, so no one was obliged to receive our home made crafts from mid-winter craziness. So this week I was feeling crafty, therefore the kids had no choice to be crafty as well. In the usual style of waiting until the night before the party to prepare, I decided that we would try for the hip "make broken crayons into a heart shaped crayon" to show our love. It's totally easy, fast and lots of fun I was told...... Well not so easy, pretty messy, definitely not fast, and well, still pretty fun.

I felt like I was up to the wee hours of the morning helping put these together. You know, 9:30pm is the wee hours of the night when you want your kid in bed on a school night. But these were created with love and sent on their way this morning.

 



Remove any paper off the crayons and break them into little pieces in a bowl.

 So I'd like to say that we just had all these broken crayons around that we re-purposed into better crayons.... but truth is, that's not what happened. We needed a TON of crayons so we had to break into the stash of new crayons. Setting to make 50 some Valentines, you need a lot of crazyon. (Yes, I said CraZyon, because that's how I was feeling when this was all over, like a crazy crayon lady.)
Go get your crazy on.

 

Ice cube tray that you get from Michael's.

 Yeah, so it's an ice cube tray and I stuck it in the oven. I was a little worried, but it seemed to work up to 230 degrees. I got the cupcake shaped ones first, but they were humongous and there was no way we were making that big of a crayon for everyone. Even if it would have been total cool.

 

Crayons in the tray.

 You really need to pile them on, but not over the edges, they melt all over the place, and don't plan on actually using these trays for ice when this is over. Unless of course you like crayon in your iced drinks.

But this is how they look before you stick them in the oven at 230 degrees for what was supposed to be 15 minutes a batch, but really seemed like 30 minutes to get a good melt.

 

Chevron print card stock paper.

 We got this cute little card stock paper to fold and tape the crayon to inside, and make into "Valentine" Azalea worked really hard to make sure that each of her classmates got a color that she thought they would like best.

 

Example of our original message.

 The message was supposed to read

"Happy Valentine's Day, for Crayon out loud"

but Tigo was too embarrassed to write the joke,

and Azalea was too busy drawing hearts everywhere.

 

Out of the oven.

OK, these took forever to cool. I even stuck them in the freezer for a few minutes. I wouldn't recommend doing that though. I think it messed up the consistency of the melted gunk.

 

Close up of hot melted crayon.

 These really looked a lot cooler on this side of the crayon than the flipped side, which was shown on the card. Oh well.

 

Little crayon hearts layed out like a flower after they've cooled.

 

Finished product.

So this is what they looked like at the end, but for they got bagged up and sent away. I could have made the finished product look more "store bought", but then that would have been me making them (or buying them) and not the kids actually making them. So. The kids are gone now, probably sharing their cards. I hope none of the other kids think that it's candy and try to eat it... you never know. I am also really hoping that they come back with some other fun cards, but if nothing else, I'll steal some of their candy that I'm sure they will have from the day.

 

Happy Valentine's Day folks.

 

At the corral

The young calves are separated from their mamas in the afternoon, so that the mamas can build up their milk supply until they are milked in the morning.

 

The calves line up to eat the grass in the corral.

 All the kids want to go for a ride on the little pygmy horse.

 

 Elmer took Azalea out into the fields where apparently she asked to have this poor little guy run at full speed. I'm kind of glad that I wasn't there to watch my babe run like that bare back. Apparently she wanted to keep doing it over and over.

 

 Tigo's turn.

 

Azalea gets a saddle and gets to ride around the corral on her own. Granted this horse was so perfect in size and temperament, she did pretty amazing on controlling this guy.

 

Azalea and Lola. 

So the kids wouldn't wake up for the 4am morning milking, but they still said they wanted a go at it.

 

 Thing is, this was a little baby cow, and there was no milk. Fondling of cow teats.

 

Abuelo and Elmer watching the crazy people of mine.

 

 Is that a cow? Um yes, actually it is a cow. Normally you people don't ride cows you say. Yeah, that's pretty accurate. Maybe it's early training for the bull riding.... No, I'm not going to encourage that.

 

In the end, salty, sweaty hands make a little boy feel loved.

 

What's next?

La Finca Familia / The Family Farm

On the road to the farm, the cemetery is to the left and Abuelo's corral is to the right.

 

 We waited for the cows to come down from the upper fields. Abuelo's farm helper and my nephew Hery, went to round up the cows.

 

 

 They get pretty excited to come down. They are trained to know that they will get salt, a special treat. So they are excited to come.

 

 

Hery slowly riding down to see us. 

 

I thought for sure it was burro or a donkey that he was riding.

 

 But it was just a tiny little horse, full grown, and fit for a little boy.

 

 

And here, the separation of the mamas and the babies begin. The babies are brought to the corral for the night so they won't drink their mama's milk until the morning after they are milked for sale and share.

Doors of Dolores, Puertas de la Puebla

 

 

 

 

After the Day of the Dead

We arrived in Dolores, El Salvador late on November 3rd. The morning of the 4th we walked to the cemetery to visit Elmer's Abuela Rosa's grave . She passed the year before and he hadn't been able to come back. But the cemetery is always the first place he goes when the sun comes up.

The town cemetery is always colorful, but visiting just after el Dia de los Muertos gives another level of color.

 

 

 There really are few dates and many faded names on the graves. This one had holes falling through the tomb. Slightly fearful of what might be found.

 Elmer's sister died over 20 years ago in a car accident. During the war, but unrelated to the fighting. Above is her grave spot, that was "remodeled" in the last year to hopefully avoid things like the photo above happening.

 There is a type of tree, I don't know names, whose branches were used in the old days to mark the spot of graves. The branches were broken off and placed into the ground. There a new tree would grow from the branches. Above is one those trees. Elmer said as a child this tree had human bones coming out of it from the roots of the tree bring out the buried. 

 

 Mama Rosa

 

This last picture is the most meaningful to me. On our last trip to El Salvador, Elmer and I had visited the cemetery and came across the man who was digging this grave. He was a friend of Elmer's dad and was at least 80 years old. He was digging the grave for himself. It was one of the most interesting and unique things that I had ever witnessed. At the time I ask the man if I could take his picture, which I did. And sadly, lost all photos on that camera the next day. But he stood proudly next to his final resting spot, while he was surely not resting as he dug 6 feet under. Three weeks before we returned back to Dolores, he died and was buried here in this spot. I cannot even begin to imagine the thought of literally digging my own grave.