We Made Crayons (How To)

Like every American family with children old enough to color, we have/had a tub of broken crayons. With some online inspiration from others, I decided we would "remake" our crayons instead of tossing them.

Here's how we did it:

Xavian, Korra & I sorted the crayons by basic color. Then, I had Korra & Xavian start tearing all the paper off all of the crayons.



I used my small sauce pan & a small foil bread pan. I filled the pan full of water and brought it to a boil over medium heat. Once boiling, I set the foil pan into the boiling water. We started with the lightest colors and worked our way through the rainbow, so that we only used one pan. I stirred the crayons gently occasionally as they melted.




While the crayons were melting, we oiled a mini muffin pan. Once the colored wax was completely melted, it was poured into the muffin pan.




Once they cooled, I used a sharp knife and popped them out!



Easy Peasy!

Happy Belated 5th Wedding Anniversary To Us!

The 24th has come and gone. I realize that. But it's not the date that's important, it's the fact we've made it 5 years!

I won't lie. It hasn't been easy. Marriage is work. Sometimes, I think it would be so easy to give up. But we don't. We hang in there. We laugh and cry together. We fight and then make up. And we keep loving each other.

We celebrated last night (completely child free!) at the Union Station Micro Brewery in Erie, PA. We ate steak that melted in our mouths, drank great beer, indulged on AMAZING french onion soup, and snarfed down stuffed potato skins. Then we went to the Plymith (a fab little bar on State St) and laughed and joked together. We talked about our USAF days and how crazy and dumb we once were. I showed J how to lose at pin ball. We walked along state street and looked at the buildings under restoration. We strolled with our arms around each other. It was perfect.

Happy belated anniversary, J!

Am I Making This a Habit?

Please say no. I want to blog more. I meant to blog more. And then I got SICK. Yucky, yucky stomach bug. And ended up sleeping (when I wasn't, well, sick) the entire day. Sick, sick, Jenn. Poor J. He was on vacation and had a sick wife. I am grateful that he wasn't working. Thank you, J.

Then it snowed. BIG. Half the town was without power and the Red Cross set up an emergency shelter at the volunteer fire hall. We lost several big tree branches. J. had to get the 4-wheeler (THANK YOU FIL!) out and plow the driveway.

Saxton celebrated his 6 month birthday by playing in the snow. My little snow baby.

My in-laws "kidnapped" Xavian and Korra for the weekend, so J. went grocery shopping with me at Giant Eagle. Having him help me was sooooooo wonderful! Sometimes (not every time, but sometimes) grocery shopping is a big weight on my shoulders and it wears me down. A bunch of meat was BOGO free, and J. & I decided to do some stocking up. Putting that meat in the freezer made me feel good Friday night.

So, there you have our weekday week!

We Have Costumes!

It's probably one of the biggest sewing projects I've taken on so far. Of the 3 costumes, 2 were not the least bit simple. In fact, I'm still going to make Xavian the white shirt to go under his tabard, which, looking at the instructions, will be just as much work as the other 2. I am incredibly proud of how cute their costumes turned out!

First, we have Little Bo Peep & her Sheep

Then we close-ups of the sheep (close ups of Korra & Xavian will be a later post. Saxton is first because it's his FIRST Halloween!)

And, finally all 3 of my babies in their trick-or-treating glory!

(I am going to leave out last night's Halloween party fiasco, because I like to keep posts about the kids fun & enjoyable. Let's just say that NEXT year, we will be hosting our own fabulous Halloween party!)

Can I Just Say...

That I am the luckiest woman on earth?

I have 3 BEAUTIFUL children.

I have an incredible husband who drives me crazy.

I have a goofy dog & a tempermental cat who catches mice.

I live in my dream house.

I wake up to a smiling baby every morning.

My kids tell me that they think I'm great.

It's been almost 5 years of wedded chaos.

I have friends.

I married into a loving and generous family.

Right now, at this very moment, everything is right in my world. And for that, I am thankful!

Blue Egg & Pirate Napkins

I have a blue egg. I really cool blue egg. A low in cholesterol blue egg. Laid by my friend's blue egg laying chicken.

I wonder what it tastes like? Can you taste blue? I am in awe.

And now I want some chickens even more than I did before.

After admiring my blue egg, I made Xavian his pirate napkins for his lunch box. All the other kids are going to wish that they could be this cool.

Xavian picked the fabric out all by himself at JoAnn's yesterday. Normally $8.99/yard, we bought 1/2 a yard & I used my blessedly wonderful 40% off coupon. We also bought the rest of the fabric we needed for Halloween costumes. Worked on sewing Korra's today, will post modeling pics when done.

We Made Cider!!!

Seriously. One of my good friends' hubby bought the metal parts from a cider press on eBay, then cleanned & repainted them, and built the wood frame. It's the old fashioned hand cranking kind.

We had soooo much fun!

The kids all washed and sorted the apples. Some were taste tested by our little quality control crew. They insured that only the best went in.

One adult hand cranked, while another turned the press.

Most of the kids took turns filling the grinder with apples and trying out the hand crank.

Not pictured are the 3 adults who strained, jugged/bottled, and kept the kids supplied with cups. We figured that it took a 5 gallon bucket of apples to make one gallon of cider, approximate. The day was pretty chilly and crisp. definately fall weather!

And now I have 6 gallons of fresh unpasturized apple cider sitting on my kitchen counter. Want a glass?

(Xavian is not pictured. He was obviously not in the mood for a camera today)

Fluff Alert!

Since We've ventured into the amazing land on cloth diapers (CDs), Saxton & I have tried and loved or dispised oodles of dipes.

These are the amazing dipes we love:

Artsy Fartsy FooFoo http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=6056477 (this woman is amazingly talented! Her quality control is above and beyond. She is a licensed KCK One designed diaper maker)

Wild Oats Designs http://wildoatsdiaperz.com/ (we have a fitted that is not only super functional, but also simply beautiful)

We want to try:

Good Mamas http://www.thegoodmama.com/ (Fitted diapers that are supposed to be AMAZING-we shall see!)

Olive Jane Covers http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=5521381 (Drool drool drool! Covers like these are going to put baby denim out of business!)

Sheepy Time Knits http://www.sheepytimeknits.com/ (Woolies this beautiful should be on every baby! The wait list is loooooooooong. Perhaps someday!)

The perfect CD companions:

Crunchy Clean Laundry Detergent http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=5760585 (My laundry room smells like spiced pumpkin and my diapers and clothes are soooooo clean!)

Hippy's Diaper Dust http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=5919868 (This woman is beyond sweet and kind! This pail freshener is a must for both CD's & 'sposies! Double duties as a carpet freshener too!)

And because I've decided every post must include a picture, here's some fluffy butt!

Saxton's First Fall

I had a blast taking pictures of our little guy in the leaves on the 7th. And he had a blast eating them...

Wow! Have I Been Distracted!

Life has been sooooo busy! I finally got all those apples canned!

Saxton started crawling the weekend of September 13th. Like real crawling-up on all fours-launching himself around. Insane, huh?

Other Saxton updates include him eating something other than boob juice last Sunday (the 12th). We started the rice cereal mixed with said boob juice. 6 bites, and he was opening his mouth. I would like to announce that we are accepting donations for the feed my 2 boys fund. Please.

I tried to cut my thumb off with an apple corer on the 6th. Ow Ow Ow!

The Knox & Kane Railroad was liquidated via auction on the 11th. So sad to see that line fall apart. J. and I have adored that railroad since Xavian was 4 months old. It's one of those things we knew was going to happen when the tornado destoyed the Kinzua Bridge, but we were in denile over. J. bid in his first auction and won the engineering sketches and geographical measurements of the line. It's only from Kane north, but it's better than nothing. Having south of Kane would be AWSOME. Completely insanely cool to look at the drawings. My FIL got us a B&O switch lmap/light? at the auction, and J. cleaned it up. It works!

I promise to blog better now that life has slowed down :)
Here's some pictures to make everyone happy and forgive me for being absent: