Tissue Paper Votives

Since beginning The Freckled Elephant nearly two years ago, I have accumulated a pretty large stash of leftover tissue paper.
I don't like the idea of throwing it away because it could someday be useful.
If for nothing else, shipping filler.
Looking online, I found a craft project for making a glass jar into a decorative candle holder.
I would have used a glass jar from our recycle bin, but I had previously purchased (like three years ago, seriously) four votive holders from A.C. Moore.
And I didn't use Mod Podge, just regular Elmer's.

Brief directions for the kids, and off they went!

In retrospect, I should have tried this first before asking the kids to do it.
Probably should have read the directions better myself.
Like - water down the Elmer's glue.
Their little fingers wanted to stick to the paper.
They added too much glue (again, thinning it would have helped).
The paper pieces they chose were way too big.
So, in the end, I had to help more than anticipated.
But it was still fun.

And I think they turned out pretty nice.

Applesauce

The other day I was in Trader Joe's getting the necessary yogurt, bananas, and other misc. when I noticed that their organic Gala (my favorite!) apples were only $1.99 for 3 lbs. 
Yes, that's for organic! 
I snagged up four bags and thought we could probably make something with them.

Ezren and I decided to make applesauce. 
I've never made applesauce before. 
Wait . . . I think we may have made it waaaaay back in second grade for our Thanksgiving day feast. 
But who knows?  I was only eight!

So, I looked up a recipe online.
It sounded easy enough.  Like making mashed potatoes.
It said to use multiple types, but I only had two on hand -- Gala and Crispp Pink.

Ezren's a great apple washer.



Then peel, core, and chop the apples.

 
Ezren's favorite part of the apple is the skin. 
He will often get an apple out of the refridgerator, only to eat the skin off and say he's done.
I usually end up eating the leftovers.
He was really excited to see all of the skins piling up and kept munching on them as they shot across the counter.
At the end before getting rid of the remaining skins and cores, I made him a bowl of just the skins.
I'm wondering if you could roast these and turn them into chips . . .
Maybe next time.

After they are cut, put them in a large pot with about an inch or so of water.
Turn the heat up to pretty high (on my stove it was 8 out of 10).
Once it starts bubbling, turn it down some (to 6-ish).

Can you smell it?
Oooo . . . that's too bad.  Because it smells amazing!
Let it do it's thing for about 20 minutes until the apples are soft but not soggy.
I scooped off most of the juice.  Now we have applejuice in the fridge!
Ezren used the potoato masher to get the mashing started.

I got out the stand blender thing (such a useful tool!) and really got the chunks out.
Our applesauce is so yummy!

I'm going to get more apples later this week and do it all over again.
Go get yours too!

A Walk in the Woods

We went to the lake again.
This time it was all three kids, the dog, and me.
Remember how I said last time that the camera might be an inconvenience?
Yep.  It was.  But I'm still very glad to have taken it.

Olivia took a camera too.  The one I don't like to use but is small enough to take on trips.  She got a few good shots.

I love this one that she did.
It's cool to see her perspective.

I cannot even begin to tell you how much I love this path at the lake.  It has natural land bridges (which used to house a beaver dam), ponds covered in algae, wooden bridges for small creeks that occur when it rains.  It is truly Nature at its best.

This fallen tree is at the start of one of the land bridges.
The kids like to climb and hang from it.
It drops off right into the lake. 
I just know one of these days they'll fall in.

There are billions of daddy longlegs walking with us.  Seriously.
We kept trying not to step on them although they are quite camoflaged, and I'm sure we didn't completely succeed.
This one was a little mad that we were staring.  He had a drop of some type of liquid dangling from his mouth.  Or what I'm assuming was his mouth.  I didn't get close enough to ask.

A mushroom growing out of a crevise in a rock (and a daddy longleg underneath) . . .

Running through the forest . . .

This is one of my favorite spots on this path.  It is somewhat of a clearing.  There is very little secondary growth.  Just a bunch of tall, old pines next to the edge of the lake.
Except . . . see that giant tree?  The one that's thick and massive and all gnarly?
There are two of these right opposite each other -- the other is just to the left, not in this shot.
They are great old trees who have probably seen more than I will ever be able to imagine.

This shot . . . one of my favorites.  We were crossing this wooden bridge and the boys began picking up piles of leaves that had accumulated on the bridge and were tossing them up in the air.  Quite happily, I might add.  Disappointing that I blew out their faces, but it's still a wonderful capture of a purely blissful moment.

One day she's going to make an excellent mother . . .

Free

Nothing like getting something for free, right?

The other day while taking Ezren to school, I saw this little table sitting on the side of the road infront of a house with a "Free" sign taped to it.
Free?  Really?  OK, I'll bite.

It was still there on the way back, so I stopped and checked it out. 
Cobwebs.  A spider (big one too).  Dirt.
Not too bad.
I'll take it.
It's free . . . you can't go wrong with free.

Here it is before.

It's not the sturdiest table.  And the top needs to be replaced because it's really cheap and warped.  Character, right?  But it's light (Olivia can lift it), and it works.

Some paint and here's the after.

It's been in near constant use since moving it in.
Yahtzee, Solitaire, Sorry, Go Fish.
It's a great game table.
And the kids love that we can now sit at a table and eat lunch while we watch If Walls Could Talk . . . every day.

Halloween Night

This Halloween was warm.
Too warm.
I mean, you're not supposed to be able to wear shorts on Halloween night while Trick-or-Treating. 
But it was, and the boys got quite toasty in their costumes.

Isaac wanted to be Mario from Nintendo's Super Mario Brothers . . .

. . . which meant that Ezren wanted to be Luigi.

Olivia borrowed a costume from a friend and was a rock star.

We Trick-or-Treated for little over an hour. 
The boys were sweaty.
All of them were tired.

Good loot this year! (translation: lots of chocolate for mom!)

Carving Pumpkins

Let me begin by saying I am not a fan of carving pumpkins.
Touching all those slimy insides . . . not so fun.
I realize my hands wash.  It's just not fun for me.

But Chad likes it and so it has become a tradition at our house.
I just take the pictures.

The boys aren't into it much either.  At least not yet.
Grandpa Mel did a good job of keeping the boys occupied.

Ezren told me I could take his picture because he's cute.
He's right, you know.

Olivia is not afraid of the pumpkins.  She loves getting her hands in and squashing them around.
Weird girl.

This was as close as Isaac got.  At least he didn't scream this year (it's happened).

Cheeto hung out with us the whole time.  He loves snacking on pumpkins!

Learning the finer techniques of pumpkin carving . . .

Chad loves spending time creating Jack-o-lantern face options.

(FYI . . . the one on the left is a mushroom from Mario Brothers)

The Aftermath

The day after Isaac's birthday was Lego chaos.
The table was piled with Legos all day.
I really mean ALL day.
But . . . the kids played nicely (most of the time) together for most of the day.

A creation of Isaacs . . .

Remember, you can't see the floor. 
It was also covered in the misc. Legos that fell off the table.

It took a while, but now the Legos (all of them) are upstairs in what is loving called The Lego Design Center.