I don't know how it happened, but after my daughter was born, I found myself subscribed to at least half a dozen parenting magazines that I never asked for or even knew existed. I swear I did not sign up for any of their free trials, agree to review a product and get a complimentary subscription, nor did I look a little too long at one of the kids in the neighborhood who just "had" to earn enough points to win the moon bounce shoes in the contest for the school fundraiser. Somehow, the universe simply knew that there was a new child in our house and suddenly, these magazines began appearing.

For the most part, I've found them useless. What new mother gets enough sleep to be able to concentrate long enough to read through a four page article on how to get your child to sleep longer? I perfunctorily flipped through each month's issues, page by page, as if it were my duty, staring blankly at the pictures on the page and barely seeing them, much less making sense of that jumble of strangly shaped symbols that my husband informed me was language. Never did a single thing in any of the issues I, I'm going to go with "read" here, jump out and provide me with some brilliant gem that made my life as a mother easier, that I didn't already know via the fabulous sense of "common", or that even was worth the time I took to look through the pages.

Except one: Family Fun Magazine. I don't know where this came from, I've never heard anyone talk about it, and I've never seen it advertised anywhere. I honestly don't know how it started coming to the door, but this magazine is great. It's completely devoid of long articles on post partum depression, parenting techniques through the decades, and developmental milestones that will freak you out if your child hasn't achieved at exactly the prescribed time. Instead, all it has is fun crafts, activities and outings to do with kids. I love it! And the best part is they have a website with all the crafts and activities archived, so I don't feel like I have to save a year's worth of magazines in order to use that idea for a jack-o-lantern next Halloween. If I still worked with kids in my job, I would definitely keep up a subscription to Family Fun and use every single idea in there to advance the curriculum. So now, as these complimentary subscriptions and catalogs are starting to dry up three years later, I have renewed a subscription to this one and this one only.

Last year, I found out two days before Valentines Day that I'd need to be getting a Valentine Card for each kid in The Dormouse's class for their Valentine party.

Not only am I over prepared for Valentines Day this year, I am early! And crafty!

Below please find pictures of the best Project To Do With a Three Year Old and Also Knock Out Nineteen Required Valentines For a Preschool Class ever. And, as an added benefit, it's a way to get rid of all those worn down and broken pieces of crayons lying around the house. Who wouldn't love it? If you want professionally written instructions and pictures that actually chronicle the progression of the project more than the break down of my camera, I suggest you click here.

First, round up all the spare and broken crayons in the house and remove the papers.

Next, (and I'm missing the picture here, thanks to a now broken camera, but you get the idea) break up all the crayons into half-inch or smaller pieces.

Find an appropriately shaped cookie or candy mold and spray with cooking oil. Place broken crayon pieces in each mold to fill the space.

Place in a 225 degree oven for approximately 10 minutes or until all the crayons just melt. If you leave it in there too long the colors will all mix together and your crayons will all come out looking brown - not so much the Valentine color of choice. Let them cool completely in the mold.


Silicone molds work really well to get the crayons out because you can turn them inside out as such... but here's a tip: do not look at the unmelted crayons in the oven and think Oh they only need one more minute or so; I'll check on them in a second and then not turn on the kitchen timer thinking you will remember and don't need it. Because you will not remember. You will forget and after twenty minutes in the oven unattended, silicone melts too. Betcha didn't know that. Or maybe it's just the cheap $2.00 silicone molds that I picked up at Target.

Finished heart crayons look something like this.

Then you just need to do something with them.

(I know, again, sucky picture... even before the camera broke, it seems the focus was going.) Here's another good time to remember that crayons are made of wax and will melt if you're taking your time using a hot glue gun to attach them to cards, so either find some other form of stick to stick them (I had also tried double sided foam tape, but it didn't stick for me), or learn to work quickly if you don't want a giant hole in the back of each crayon and wax all over your living room floor. I'm just sayin'.

Happy Valentine's Day from Alice, The KingofHearts, and The Dormouse!