Fall Craft Day!

We had a full day at home today due to Fall Break. I decided we would do some fall crafts and they would be based on the pretty leaves outside. And, I was inspired by Clover Lane's post on waxing leaves.  Love that blog!

First, we collected leaves.

I didn't have the wax that was mentioned on the blog, so I thought the waxing leaf thing was out for today. So I decided we would make fall placemats with wax paper. When we got home, I wrote the kids' names on a piece of paper. They colored them and then cut them out. (You'll notice this is the last photo of Jack. He got bored and ran off to play all by himself. He's my best independent player!)

Apparently, the wax paper I have is worthless. They didn't really melt to the leaves. I seem to remember ironing leaves, or having my mom do it, and then cutting them out and having pretty wax leaves. Didn't happen today. So, these pretty much were a dud. Didn't stop the kids from liking them though. I had them pick their favorite leaves and arrange them with the letters of their names. Then, I ironed them together. I cut out edges out of scrapbook paper and let them glue them on. 

Again, pretty much duds. But, they had fun and that's all that matters. I'm going to have to work on finding wax paper that actually melts. 

I'd take any suggestions on the right type of wax paper. See how unclear it is? I just don't get it!

This was the mess left in my kitchen. Someone at MOPS last week said to not be afraid of messes and I certainly wasn't today. And, you know what? It cleaned up just fine. :) 

Then, as I was cleaning up, I remembered I had a 100 pack of tea lights I had unpacked a while ago. I wondered if that would work for the leaf waxing. And, it did. I did exactly as the post directed and heated the candles in a disposable pan over the stove. Only problem was that I got the wax too hot. It got bubbly and started to boil when I put a leaf in the wax. Don't let it get that hot! And, certainly don't try to cool it down with ice. I've experienced that before too. Bad idea. 

The girls were able to help here too. It was a little scary letting them get so close to the hot wax. But, they did a great job. Here are a few of my favorites. I made a big pile of them. It got a little obsessed. :) I tied up a few and hung them from the window and then put the rest in my jars on the table. Pretty and very fall-y. 

One last thing... if you have a skeptical husband, you may want to do this when he's gone for the whole day. Tom came home when I was heating the wax and gave me the what for. Yeah, I made a mistake. No, I didn't burn down the house. :) 

If These Walls Could Talk - Part Two

OK - this is moving week! It's so exciting to be moving into our new house, but I wanted to take a minute and remember our house on 150 W. (Just like I did at our old house here.) Although it has had it's challenges, we also made lots of memories as well. It's been a relatively short 8 months in this home but full of activity nonetheless.

Moving in was somewhat of an adventure because it took FOREVER! This was the first time we hired professional movers so we thought it would be a breeze. I think they pretty severely underestimated the time it would take to do the full move. Anyway, we finally got in and settled.

The house has a little step down into the playroom. I remember the first time we visited with Jack, my aunt Trena was with us and she said Nicole had a little step like that too in their old house. She said Jack would have it mastered within a few short weeks and he certainly did! It's hard to believe he had just started walking when we moved into this house!

One of the first, significant event that happened in this house was on August 13th. We were actually at the lake this weekend, but returned home shortly after on Sunday. This was day of the tragic State Fair Stage Collapse. Our Sales Consultant, Andrea, was very seriously injured and in a coma for weeks. She is on her way to an awesome recovery now, but it was a life-changing event for many people. I miss her daily and the first few weeks at this house were cloaked in a range of emotions and prayer for her.

The very day after the accident, was the night before Josie's first day of kindergarden. While it was difficult to be happy and excited, I think we managed to put up a good front. Nicole was over too and we all helped Josie pick out the perfect outfit. The first day of school is always an event to be celebrated and it was extra special considering it was our first born's first day of public school. She had a great two weeks with Mrs. Hahn and then, due to scheduling changes at the school, she was moved to Mrs. Brown's class and has had a wonderful year!

Tessa's first day of school came next. Another year at Bradley! It's hard to believe that in two weeks, I'll be taking her in for Kindergarden Round-Up!

I'm not sure exactly when it happened, but I nursed Jack for the last time in the rocker in his room at this house too. It's always a bittersweet moment. I cherish the time I get to spend with each of my kids in those days because it always passes so quickly. But, it also brings a certain feeling of independence as well when that time is over.

Thanks to Pinterest, we've done a bunch of crafting in this house! I think I had extra free time since it was a smaller house and we didn't have as much to maintain. Either way, we surely had fun!

Josie had her first "scary" Halloween costume here too!

And, Jack learned to dance. :) He and his sisters had many dance parties in this house...

Josie also celebrated her 6th birthday in this house! She had her first true "friend" birthday party complete with goodie bags and a pinata!

On Thursday, we'll be moving on to a new chapter in our lives. We don't know how long we'll live in this house but I imagine we'll see plenty more firsts - first bus rides, more first days of school, first bike rides with no training wheels, first sleep-overs, and maybe even first boyfriends and first dates. Oh, what an adventure it will be!

So Far Behind & Here's My Excuse!

I am so far behind on this blog! I know none of you have missed me, but I have missed being here. It's a great outlet for me and the only way I can get the events of our lives recorded. I've left so much out - Christmas, Disney, Josie's Birthday, skiing, the new house, and so much more! Maybe I'll catch up someday...

Needless to say, our lives have been just as busy as ever. That's nothing new. However my two new addictions hobbies are putting a major wrench in my blogging plans.

Never have I had two Christmas gifts last my attention until the first of March and show no signs of wavering. Tom bought me a Kindle for Christmas. I didn't really know why because I don't ever have (or really make) time to read these days. Well, that all changed when I found Beverly Lewis and her bazillions of books available at the library for free on Kindle. The Hancock County Library has a great electronic book selection! Lewis writes about the Amish and somehow mixes mystery, romance and historical events all into one riveting series. I am now on my 8th book of hers and have a hard time putting it down! I am so glad he got this for me! Here is a link to the first book in the series I started.




The second gift was from Tom's mom, Barb. I had asked for a learn to crochet set for Christmas and got one! She taught me the basic stitches and after a few, very marginal, scarves and dishcloths, I finished my first big project this week. A baby blanket and matching hat! I'm working on finishing the second bootie tonight to go with the set. It was a lot of fun watching something come together. I truly enjoy crocheting and I'm really glad to have found it. Here are some photos of my progress.

The pattern and the yarn are both from Lion Brand. I love the soft yarn (Vanna's Best Baby - yes Vanna White has a yarn line) and the pattern was easy to follow and very accurate. Click on the photo for a direct link to the pattern page.

I think these two things have really helped the winter fly by. It's edged out my boredom and kept me focused on a goal. I'm off now to write a few more posts to try to catch up a little!

Pumpkins!

Since this is the last weekend in October we will be at home, I realized yesterday that we MUST do pumpkins! Tom golfed yesterday and I was bumming around the house trying to think of something to do. I have seen a bunch of painted pumpkins on Pinterest and wanted to try it out.

The first try was miserable. I'm not sure what's up with the supposed acrylic paint I have in this set, but it doesn't work. (Now that I think about it, it may be that it was on major clearance at Walmart.) It wasn't even close to thick enough.

So, I wandered into the garage hoping I may find an easily accessible bin marked "paint supplies" that may contain something more fun. I didn't have to go too far when I stumbled across the mother lode - spray paint. And, lots of it. After experimenting with hammered silver and glossy black, I landed on a shiny gold. (The black was actually cool too, but it rolled the wrong way off the stone and became a casualty.) Here's the solid gold pumpkin.

Tom sent me out for dinner supplies and I hit the craft aisle at Walmart. I picked up some good acrylic paint, puffy paint and some ribbon. I came home and painted these bad boys. (The letter is supposed to be a J but Tom thinks it looks like a T).

Then, today after church, we picked up full sized pumpkins for carving. Well, we thought we were going to carve them. But, the girls begged to paint them and it wasn't hard to convince us not to make the mess. So, we tried something new! They really turned out so much better than I thought. And, it gave them the chance to be involved with the process since they're not old enough to use a knife yet.

Here's Tom with the ugliest pumpkin.

Working hard!

And, the finished products.

I took a stab at an argyle pattern. If I were to do this again, I would actually cut out a diamond pattern and trace it onto the pumpkin. But, it's kind of cute anyway. 

On display!

And, my favorite picture of the day. Tom is really so talented. I love this pumpkin!