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.

 

Fitting in vs Belonging

‎12 year old wisdom on fitting-in vs. belonging: "If I get to be me, I belong. If I have to be like you, it's fitting in." Amen.

Above is a Facebook post that Brene' Brown posted this morning. A quote that came from the mouth of a tween I know not, but the actions that flow in and out of our house, echo with that sentiment.

It all started about four and half years ago while my family was hanging out with my cousin and her family. Her great husband, who at that time only had sons, suggested to my then 7 year old daughter that her hair would look super cool if she put some funky red streaks in it, or maybe colored the bottom half of it. Really? Thanks a lot, Adam.

No, it didn't really start four and half years ago, it started the day she was born. She is her own person, she always has been and she wants to reflect that, and their conversation was merely a catalyst for an idea in motion. (But doesn't it feel good to have someone to blame when they aren't around to defend themselves.)

So now she is in middle school.

Sometimes I feel like that's all I need to say and we all (all of us who are past middle school, and not in it's midst) will collectively understand. We will all simultaneously roll our eyes, cringe from memories we try to block and sigh, "yeah, that's tough." And the conversation can be over.... except when you have a 12 year old daughter living it, and therefore, the escape exit is locked.

Today is picture day in seventh grade.

I completely expected today to have a fun before and after post of the hair dying party that we did last night. Through the process, I was so nervous I kept asking... What if you don't like how it turns out? It doesn't matter, it doesn't matter, it doesn't matter. And so it goes, the only outcome we had not discussed, is the one that happened.

Or didn't happen. (By the way, it mattered).

My girl has stick straight, shiny lustrous dark brown hair. The kind you can sell on the streets. Strangers ask if they can touch it (for real). Everyone loves it, except the girl who is growing it out of her head. She is always asking to color it, change it, color it, style it, color it, braid it, color it, curl it, color it.... you get the idea.

One of my big griefs with her coloring her hair (so I argue) is the chemicals. Mostly those involving striping her hair of the dark color so that the other color of choice (RED in this case) can be added. I felt like we came to a great compromise. No stripping, and we would use Henna hair dye. More natural, less chemicals, hopefully the same effect.

When I took her to the store to get it, she thanked me about nine million times. She skipped through the aisles.  We went home, did home work and then the serious business of following small print directions and dying hair began. (I mean really, color your hair before 7th grade picture day starting at a new school where you don't know more than a handful of people... who is that risky?)

I will spare you many of the details, but let you know she had a plan. Only the bangs and the under half of her hair was addressed, there was a style to it, we followed the instructions and let it sit (an hour probably wasn't enough) we washed the henna out of her hair, blew her hair dry to confirm.... and it was..... exactly the same color. Not the same color as on the container, the same color hair as when we started.

"I just wanted to do something different."

The quiet mourning began. The somber effect and let down of trying to express yourself and it not working out.

So here we are, still, trying to figure out what it means to be yourself. What it means to stand out but not for the sake of standing out. Learning to be different for different's sake is something that has always bothered me with passing fashions. But being different because your soul wants to stand out and say "I am not the same as you."

Can hair do that? Can hair make your soul tell another person that you are different? That you belong because you are yourself, and not the same as someone else. You belong, not because you fit in to be accepted.  But to be accepted for who you are. This is a hard courage to walk along side of. Coming of age and becoming yourself is a fine line.

The beginning.... these were the photos that were supposed to show before and afters...

The Red Henna as we were just getting started.
(you know, I didn't think it looked that red either...)

I'm so happy, right now.

Jeez, look at my face. I'm a little confused, scared, worried (grossed out).

Vasoline on the ears to avoid staining. Wouldn't that have been awful if the hair didn't change, but her ears did! Ack!

 

Mucky, muck, muck. Still doesn't look red to me... should it? I'm new at this.

You can see my technique has skills to be desired.

And the last photo before we forgot, left the kitchen, did some homework, blow drying, eventually washing, and then quiet mourning....

 



So what's next?

Some people decorate a tree

TinkerTown

A lifetime of tinkering can lead to some interesting things. On the east side of the Sandias, just off the Turquoise Trail is this quirky little place that has been created by a lifetime.

Walls built with used bottles.

Jerry Garcia esque reinvention.

a place to ponder with one of your best buds.

Sometimes I feel guilty walking through here quickly. Even if it can be a little creepy at times. But there is so much detail and wonder that when you press the button to "make it go" you never know what will go.

 The old school fortune teller told her that the next stop we'd take was up to the Sandia Crest to check on the hummingbirds before the migrated for the cooler weather.

My favorite

But not with out giving us a last mantra to feel good and carry on.

Summer

A little slow on documenting summer. But that doesn't mean it hasn't be going in full strength.

On Lola's last day of 5th grade, she and 3 of her closest friends walked home from school.

Strutted home.

To come celebrate at our house the end of elementary school.

 The beginning of summer. Celebrate some friendship. And be a tween. YIKES!

My little sunflower

Scene of the Crime

The following program will not be televised

Way back for Easter, the kids were upset that there was not a parade on TV that they could watch. I'm not sure where the big desire to see one came from. We had seen Thanksgiving day Parades and New Years Day parades, and probably the Rose Bowl. But honestly they never really paid attention for more than a couple minutes. Maybe it was seeing the real life parade at Disney. Yeah Disney is good at making impressions. Anyhow... the kids made their own Easter parade.

It was stinking cute how they worked on it.

Mini-sized.

I know, I know. It's really just a bunch of pictures of Littlest Pet Shops. But it reminds me how cute the kids are when they get their own idea, work together, and create something in a loving, collaborative way. I didn't help. Nor did I take these photos. But I was requested to post them.

Happy Belated Easter folks.

Red