Melting Hearts . . .

 

Since we are speaking of Valentine's Day, the kids and I did one more project. . .

 

Melted Crayon Hearts

 

I already had the supplies that I needed since we did this project three years ago. 

• A heart shaped silicone muffin pan
• old, broken crayons
• oven

The kids stripped the crayons while I searched the Internet for the oven directions:

Heat Oven at 225, place pan on cookie sheet, cook for 15 minutes. 

Allow to cool until they are hard and then peel them away from the pan.

 

It's a fun project for the kids to watch the crayons melt AND we are recycling!

 

This is the result!

We used adhesive and stuck them on card stock and wrote:

"Happy Valentine's Day, for "crayon" out loud!"

 

This was something I found on www.Pinterest.com and had seen it on a Blog three years ago. 

We wrote "You color my world, Valentine" on our last project. 

 

Then, I thought we could do one for C-man's R.E. teacher: and wrote the infamous John 3:16.

 

(ooops, forgot the e in life....no worries, he fixed it!)

 

 

I think we will be able to do this project in another three years.

 

Happy Valentine's Day, Friends and Family!

 

 

 

p.s. Doing research for my R.E. class, I learned that there isn't just one Saint Valentine like there is Saint Nicholas or Saint Patrick. 

 

There are three known Saint Valentines or Valentinus in the Catholic Church. 

 

There is legend that there was a priest called Valentine, in the 1300's, who secretly married couples in love when a Roman Emperor declared no marriage for young men.  The Roman Emperor at that time believed that marriage made men weak. 

 

Another legend says that a Christian, named Valentine, was imprisoned for being so open with his religion.  While in jail, he fell in love with the jailer's daughter.  The night before he was beheaded, he wrote her a love letter and signing it the ever popular, "Your Valentine."

 

On a side note, the middle of February is noted when birds find their mates.  This was observed by people in the Middle Ages (they called it something different), but may be why Valentine's Day is on the day that it is.

 

(references used from Roman Catholic websites, but not specified)



Be Mine

Valentine's Day is fast approaching us and we've been busy making Valentines.

I take that back--the girls in this family have been busy creating homemade Valentines. 

C-man made the process very simple:  he wanted me to buy candy that already had to: and from: on it.  He took ten minutes out of his time to write his classmates' names on them and then threw them in a grocery sack. 

Boom! Done!

Oh, and he requested a bag to hold his classmates' valentines.  I gave him a brown gift bag and he actually placed some stickers on them and drew some hearts.

Now, girls are totally different in this department; especially Liv who is an artsy-fartsy girl.  She opp ed for hand made valentines and a hand made box.  I wrapped a cupcake box in a bright pink and she strategically placed the stickers and wrote her name on it.

The concept for the Valentines were all her idea.  She found some inspiration in a magazine or a catalogue and made one out of the blue one day.  I asked her if she would want to make them for her classmates for Valentine's day and she agreed.

It took two days and the final product is almost finished.  She has to sign her name to a few more to call the mission complete.  I'm glad that she was independent in this project.  She delegated cutting and gluing to me, otherwise she did the rest.

I remember the excitement of giving/receiving Valentines from my schoolmates.  Giving each girl and boy a special Strawberry Shortcake Valentine that I strategically picked out for them. 

Trying to read between the lines of the Star Wars and Hulk Hogan cards that the boys would give me.  (Little did I know that back in the day, boys were forced to write out the cards and didn't care who got what). 

I'm not sure what my favorite candy was, but I just remember the ever-popular red heart-shaped lollipop in addition to the conversation hearts.  I can still remember taking a bite into a cookie and tasting the cigarette smoke from one of the home-room moms (YUCK!), it's good thing that they went to pre-packaged goodies at holiday parties because that was a BIG disappointment.

Pranked

This past weekend, we experienced a little something that reminds me that my little guy is getting older.  Six-thirty on a Saturday morning, we received three prank calls from Connor's buddy.  We knew this thanks to caller-i.d.  All were messages, because the whites of our eyes do not see 6:30 am on a Saturday morning.  In addition, we also received a message on Friday night. 

The content of the messages was the average prank call from a fourth grader: "Ha Choo!," "Cough," and "Uh, is this Pizza Hut?"  But one message was one I disliked and that was the Friday night message: "[insert name] hates you Connor!"

My blood was boiling once I woke up completely and found out who and what the calls were about that morning and there went my four hour slumber.  Knowing Connor's buddy's mom, I called and left a message and told her what happened.  Told her if it was Connor that I would want to know and knowing her, she would want to know.

She called back and told me that once the buddy (name shall be anonymous) came home from a sleep-over that he would be calling me with an apology, that she and her husband was not happy.  They allowed him to bring his phone to the sleep-over since they did not know the parents and for the buddy to use if he needed any help or an out.

Later that day, I received a call from the buddy.  He initially apologized and then wiped away all accountability for the act and told me his friends did it while he was in the bathroom.  I may believe just "maybe" the morning calls were from the other friends, but the Friday night call was his voice.  We get frequent calls and messages from this boy--we know his voice.

Now, to make this even twistier, Connor and Olivia were invited to this buddy's and his sister's birthday pool party on Saturday night.  Connor didn't really want to go and I told him that he and Olivia would be going because we committed and that Dad would be around to be another set of eyes on the kids at the pool.

The buddy stuck with his story and told Connor, at the party, that the other guys did the calling and that he was in the bathroom.  It's hard to trust him anyways because I've witnessed many a time when he has not listened or obeyed his parents AND I've seen him talk back to them.

So here are the feelings I was going through:  anger of the whole situation, distrust of the friends, especially the buddy with the phone, frustration with the friends, fear for my child, and anxiety for my child. 

After shedding some tears over it, I knew I had no control over this and that it was what it was and will unfold however it unfolds.

We did tell Connor about the calls, prior to the party, thus him not wanting to go to the party.  He was disgusted by the ordeal but did not go through all the feelings I did.  I was unsure if I should tell him about the Friday night call, but I decided to be completely honest with him and broke it to him.  He totally surprised me by saying, "yea, he does hate me, I know that."  He was so calm and cool about it and so matter-of-fact that it blew me away!

Sunday, I prayed and gave it all to God.  I prayed for my son's protection of any subsequent activities, I prayed for Connor to have courage and wisdom to handle it.

Monday, I reluctantly dropped him off at school.  I did a great job of pretending all was normal, he never knew I was fretting.  After school, I did a huge sigh when I saw him walking with a buddy (that was not at the sleep-over) and they were smiling and talking.  At home, I asked for the report. 

He told me, "there were rumors, Mom.....and I started them."  Yes, he told everyone how the boys prank called him.  He even told his teacher and SHE specifically told the boy who "hates" him that that wasn't nice and called him on it.  Connor was totally cool with it all, he handled it like a champ.  He handled it a lot better than what I would have handled it. 

God, I love this kid!  Teaching me again, not to get all bent out of shape over something that seemed big but wasn't in his eyes.  He became the bigger person and checked it off as being a light-hearted activity.

Phew!  Deep breath of relief--at this time.
This, I'm sure is just the beginning of "these" situations.  Hmmm...dirty diapers don't sound so bad after all.

A Very Mehmen Christmas!!

 

 

 

Almost a month ago, we traveled northbound to the farm to celebrate a Very Mehmen Christmas.

And that it was; here are all the Grand kids [minus Miss Alex] with Mom & Dad. 

 

 

This is what I call Christmas Chaos.

 Imagine if you will:  paper tearing, oohing and aahing, eight little excited voices, 13 older admiring voices and laughs, some "Dad, can I use your pocket knife?", and "Oooh, what's that?!?", a pinch of "Look Mom, Look Dad!," and it equals the sweet sound of Christmas Chaos on the Mehmen homestead.

 



 

A White Christmas on the farm means sled rides behind the four-wheeler, climbing on the snow mountains, and--something my kids love to do-- eating of the snow!

 

John and Jackie are King and Princess of the snow mountain!

 

A snowy salute!

Jeremey saved Christmas for the littles; he fixed the broken elevator on the Retro Fisher Price Garage/Ramp.  Now it dings and clanks very loudly for all to hear....hmmm. . . maybe it was busted for a reason???  Anyways, his college education in Engineering is paying off!  Way to pay it forward Jeremey!

We had a new family member to love on this Christmas and I'm pretty sure Beau enjoyed it. . . 

 Auntie Paula's turn!

 

 Auntie Brooke's turn!

 



 

We had a fabulous time but it went too fast.  I want a re-do!

Dreams CAN come true!

We have been dreaming of a white Christmas and once we found out the snow storm was on its way we were ecstatic.  After the kids came home from Grandma and Grandpa's house last night, they wanted to frolic in the snow and that they did!

 

Snow balls a sailing . . .

 

Angels' wings a spreading . . .

 and kids a laughing.

 

They were SO SAD when I told them to come in.

 

 

0600 in the morning and Paul wakes me up with the flashlight flickering by his side.  "No power and the snow blower is stuck in the garage." He dodged the snow drifts with my car and made his way into work.  School might have been called off but Hospitals do not close on blizzardy days.

 

 

Connor and I gathered up all our candles and lit them in the bedroom and bathroom.  Olivia and Connor played an interesting game of "I spy" while snuggling in our bed. 

 

Connor:  I spy something gray.

Liv: The picture.

Connor: yep

 

Liv:  I spy something black

Connor: The TV

Liv:  yep

 

and their game continued of muted hues!

 

We planned to cook our meals on the camp stove and play board games by candle light.

 

BUT, then the power came back on and our "camping" plans were interrupted with television and Minecraft.

 



 Looking out in our backyard.

It looks so much prettier with a layer of white.

 

I put on Paul's coveralls and Carhart Coat and decided I would get the snow blower out of the garage and blow some snow but that was short lived; I couldn't get it to start.  (Actually, I didn't know where the choke or throttle was).  So I attempted to scoop the snow with a snow shovel and the kids followed me outside for another romp in the snow.

 





They were pretending to survive off the Arctic land.  Hunting fox, rabbit, and polar bears.  Making rabbit stew and sewing polar bear fur blankets.  So great for their imagination to run wild.  Made me remember when my sister and I survived the Arctic land when we were younger.

 

After I finished a third of the drive-way, I decided I had had enough activity and decided to leave the snow blowing to Paul tonight.

 

I started the Hot Chocolate routine and with some hesitation the kids came in to warm up.

 

We did away with the electronics and have been playing board games and putting together some puzzles.

 

They are trying to talk me into playing outside again this afternoon, but the wind has picked up.  I guess a few minutes won't hurt them. 

Keepin' it Real at Roberts' Christmas

We celebrated our Roberts' Christmas way back on the first week of December.  Since the family has multiplied, it was the only time we could fit it in!  I was just going through the pictures of this past and loved all the great expressions from the kids.  When I came to these pictures, I thought it would be nice to share some Christmas magic through the pictures of the kids in the family.

 

 

Tiny Tot's eyes all aglow . . . 

 

 

 Ansel is becoming very animated.

 

 Ada loved decorating the gingerbread houses with stickers.

 

 Talk about animated; Evie is all smiles while crafting.

 

 These girls were busy singing and dancing while crafting.

 

Evie shows us her Motherly skills while holding Ben.

 

 Paul seems quite jolly holding and loving on Ansel.

 

 Time for dancing to Christmas songs on the record player.

 

 Tickle fight, tickle fight, tickle fight!

 

Fifty shots later and maybe have one where everyone is looking forward.

 

 The night ended with a good story, read by Evan.

 

 The next morning, the girls were sitting nice and ready to rip into presents.

 

 Phew! unwrapping presents is tiring!

 

Ben has his second wind for the rest of the party.

 

 

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

 

ENJOY THE MAGIC IN YOUR HOME!