How we make Sauce

We lucked out today and a friend gave us bunches of apples off her tree. What better way to spend the afternoon than showing the kids how to make tasty applesauce? First we set up our assembly line. Everyone had a job:

Peel the apples

Cut the apples

Put them in the pot

Then add a little sugar

Cook them down and mash them up

Eat while still warm in cute little cups. Delicious!

Sidewalk Shelf

These are the shelves I found on the sidewalk with a sign that said free. There are moments in life where you just get lucky and this was one of those for me. Made of pine and carved with flowers, they were perfect for either side of my piano. Sanded them down, painted the carvings and applied a few coats of Briwax to them TaDa, new shelves for me :)

Rock and cork mushrooms the kids did to keep busy while I painted my new furniture.

treasureized trash

I meant to take "before" pics but neglected to do so. Found these chairs on the side of the road. They were in horrible shape. Two cans of hot pink spray paint, some MDF and oilcloth later, here is the finished result. Lovin the hot pink and blue color combo. While we were being crafty we also whipped up this little wind chime. We used my old steamer basket and old silverware. The neighbor drilled the holes and the kids did the ribbon. The tinkling sound the silverware makes is so peaceful and fairy-like. It's something fun and different.

Balance

Goal for the week. Strike a balance between doing the stuff I love in order to find contentment. I struggle with the joy I find in being domestic. I love hanging out the laundry, baking anything, creating new things, keeping a clean house etc... I also find extreme joy in being able to throw my sneakers on and run out my door. Seeing the mileage add up and knowing what I can accomplish. I have a goal to not let one of these things outweigh the other one. I find joy in both and miss one when I spend too much time doing the other. Which leads to a weird anxiety. This week will be an attempt at keeping the see saw balanced.

Grandmama

There are women in our lives who inspire us. This is one of mine. Grandma. Spending the past few days with her reminded me what an amazing woman she is. Always she had time for me and all my friends growing up. Buying us our favorite cereal and making us delicious cinnamon toast, hot chocolate with ice cream and serving it on cookie trays in front of the tv. Saving spoonfuls of cookie dough for us if we're not around to pick at the bowl. Never very loud but always soft spoken. Giving gifts of books to encourage our love for reading. Reminding us not to forget to appreciate the spiritual things in life. Nibbling on our necks and squeaky smooches. "Grandma Loves Me Very Much" we would always tell her. Newspaper clippings and gentle smiles. Yearly calendars with everyones birthdays from the whole entire family. If nothing else I hope I can write more letters, read more books and be mindful of others like she is.

Grandpapa

This is one of my most favorite men in the world. He is slowly fading away with Alzheimer's. It's hard to watch. I have memories of him. He is always reading. He was always so strong and would scare us to death with his deep voice when chasing us. I remember holding onto him in the pool and how he smells of old spice. I know he could build anything. His stories of the Grand Canyon, Bandelier and being in the Navy. How he came to my 16th birthday party with his ear pierced. Cheering me on at basketball games louder than anyone else in the building. Working on our stamp collections while it poured rain outside and eating chocolate pudding. He's got such a warm sensitive side. Saying goodbye to him stabs a knife in my heart and twists it. He gets teary eyed and puts his hand up to his mouth as if to suppress the tears. He is such a dear man. I hope we can hang onto him for just a little longer.

Fort Fun...for a minute

We are ending week 2 of Spring Break. It has been lots of fun! We entertained ourselves today by pulling out all the blankets and beach towels to make a magnificent fort. Right after this pic the boys destroyed it causing the girl to cast her wrath upon them and everyone ending up in tears...It's time to go back to school .

A Good Egg is a Good Thing

I needed a fun idea for something for the little guy for Easter. I didn't want to go out and buy more junk to be thrown away in 2 months. I turned to whipup and found this idea. I know the ittybitty pieces will all get lost pretty quick, but they're easy to replace. Hopefully he likes it. And even if he doesn't want to play with it, I will. Its fun making sesame street looking eggs.

My Wild Thing turns 3

Does the youngest ever get to a point where tehy are no longer referred to as the baby anymore. This guy, my baby, just turned 3. I can't believe it. His favorite story is Where the Wild Things Are, so we had a Wild Things birthday party with 6 other 2 and 3 year olds.

The Favors

We didn't do much for the party since all the kiddos were 3 or under. We blew up 24 balloons and called it good. However, I knew I could go to town with the party favors. I did get some ideas from the Matsuke blog and from the amazing Natalie with her Wild Things blog. I think these are my favorite party favor sets I have ever put together.

Each child went home with a monster shadow puppet, a cd filled with stories, candy bar with custom label, a wild things mask, and a Wild Thing and Max nesting doll. I was thrilled with how the nesting doll turned out. The monster is hollowed out and Max fits right inside. They each have 6 coats of varnish. Everything looks better when it's shiny!

The Invites

Once there was a snowman

Chocolate chip buttons, bacon scarf, whipped cream snow. Delicious.