Mom Tip Monday: Tired of the Same Old Valentine's?

When my sister and I were growing up my mom would always help us make our own Valentine's to give out every year. Ours were always huge hits because they were personal and they weren't the same four cartoon characters that everyone else was giving out. But even more important than being original was the quality time we got to spend with Mom while we made them.

This past Saturday Mo and I took the day and worked on her Valentine's for school Friday. I can't think of anything we have done together in recent days that has been more fun! My friend Weiner (obviously not her real name!) passed this one on to me from a site she found - http://www.allfreecrafts.com/ Our mice are a little fatter than the ones you'll see there because we used Blow Pops instead of flat sugar pops.

Lollipop Mice

CRAFT MATERIALS:
Red construction paper
Pink construction paper
Scissors
Glue
Marker
Lollipops

Time needed: Under 1 Hour

1. Cut a heart shape from red construction paper (it should measure about five inches at the widest point).

2. Fold the heart in half to form the mouse's body, then glue together the edges from the tip of the nose to the top of the back, but leave the tail end open.

3. For ears, cut out a pair of small pink paper hearts, fold them in half, and then glue them onto the body. Draw on eyes with a colored marker.

4. Lastly, tuck a lollipop into the body, so that the stick becomes the mouse's tail.

Ours took us a little longer than just an hour because Mo was addressing them as we went and we had to allow a little extra time for drying between steps (she likes her glue!). AND we had 21 to make! There are 21 mice on my dining room table! How often can a mom say that without screaming or feeling a strong urge to yack?

The Rhino's Take on Recycling

I am pretty sure that you have all done it or are about to do it within the next 3-6 months. The dreaded Toy Sort. That fateful and horrible day when you try to go through you child's toys and get rid of (insert collective gasp and scream of terror here) the old, broken, never played with toys that are really just collecting dust and taking up space.

I "tried" to do this earlier this week. "How did it go?" you ask? Well, thank you for asking. It was interesting. I don't know how things go where you are but around here used stuffed animals cannot be donated to anyone or any organization because there is no way to safely sanitize them before they are given to another child. I was lamenting this fact on the phone to my sister because these little critters I was facing have a lot of love left in them. I just couldn't see the sense in sending them to the great landfill.

My genius sister (she reads the blog - I kinda have to!) had a truly inspired idea. Since "Santa" brought the kids a playhouse/puppet stand for Christmas, why not cut the critters open, take out their stuffing, and convert them into new puppets? I told you she's a genius!! So I faced the sort with a little less dread knowing that I could "save" some of these critters from a methane death.

As I went through Mount FluffyStuff, Rhino supervised my every move. "Nooooo, Mom! Please don't throw it out!" for every...single...animal. Finally I explained my three piles.

"Tuck, these guys are staying. These guys are going. And these are the ones we are going to make into puppets. We'll cut them open and take their fluff out and make them into puppets for the theater."

"You're gonna take their guts out?!"

"Yes."

I reached for the next toy, got the obligatory "Noooo, Mom!" and returned fire.

"Tuck, I can kill it or I can trash it."

"Alright Mom. Kill it!"

I have a lot of gutting to do now that he's done killing things. But at least we learned a lesson in recycling.