Haunted House. Boo!

Freya wanted to make a haunted house. So I got some ideas from this website on how to construct ghosts and pumpkins from egg cartons and we ran with it.

We started by cutting holes for windows and a door.
Then we painted the boxes black and made them look spooky by doing a little dry brush with white.


Cut paper to fit the inside, put a few pieces on the inside of the windows and doors then decorate with your egg carton creations.

The girls made witches and pasted them to the outside of the houses. There are lots of ghosts hangin' around inside and out. And if you look into a window, you may see some eyes staring back at you or maybe the Great Pumpkin.

There is even a tombstone made from tin foil.

Jonah got into it and turned some bottle caps into pumpkins and mummies. Very clever.

Hedgehogs, Pumpkins and Turkeys, Oh My!

We finished the salt dough creations last night.

The turkeys look a bit white because they aren't completely dry in the pic but you get the idea.

I think they turned out rather well considering it was a spur-of-the-moment craft.

Jonah made this super cute hedgehog.

He is saving his money (well not really as there is always a book he HAS to have and thankfully can't seem to save the $150) for a hedgehog. He has hedgehog on the brain.

For the pumpkins, we used glitter Mod Podge. While I like the look of it, it is expensive and would have been just as easy to add glitter to regular Mod Podge. If you notice, Freya's are green. She really wanted to mix the colors and couldn't stop painting when they were orange.



I recommend just covering the counter with butcher paper or newspaper. Put the paint on the paper and use that as your pallet. This makes for an easy clean-up and lets them easily mix colors as needed.

Into the oven you go

The middle child is sick but feeling up to crafting after her drug cocktail.

So we're making salt dough crafts. The dough is very easy to make and you probably have everything you need on hand!

This recipe will make lots of little crafts and have enough for play-dough play after.

Salt Dough Recipe
(That Artist Woman)
2 cups all purpose flour
1 cup salt
1 cup water

Mix ingredients in bowl until combined.


Turn out on floured surface and kneed until dough consistency. I have read that you may need to add more flour but didn't need to.



Make your shapes, bake on a cookie sheet at 250 for 2.5 to 3 hours. Cool over night then paint! Mod podge for a shiny finish.


My eyes have been opened up to the many possibilities. I am thinking that ghosts with pumpkin lanterns will be the next craft.


We made these pumpkins and these turkeys. It will be a long wait until they are cooked and cooled but once they are, we will paint and I'll post those pics then

Building Blocks

Jonah and Freya are usually playing together or knocking heads against each other. They are so similar it is eerie.

In the spirit of their preschool, Jonah asked for the camera. So I handed it over. This was all done by the two of them.

They started with houses of cards.




Then they moved on to dominoes.






It is amazing to me how a 10 year old and a 4 year old can get together so well sometimes.

Other times, not so much...

I'm Your Ice Cream Man

so stop me when I'm passin' by.

Fair Food

During my dad's visit we splurged on lots of food we don't normally eat.

When the girls asked for cotton candy and they got it, they were in heaven!

Not even close...

to the hairiest man.


I thought my dad was hairy but these guys had him won by a mile. "A" for effort though.

Shaving Cream Fun

If you're looking for a cheap good time, go buy a can of shaving cream.

We made some fun marbled paper today:


We also made fun puffy moons a while back, that was fun. Just shaving cream, white glue, a little paint and you have puffy paint.



It's also fun to just rub your hands in and get messy. Some people do this in the tub for good reason.

Fat Dog

This is your dog on three and a half pounds of raw pork.

I left her in the house with a package of FROZEN pork chops in the sink.




It was completely gone in less than an hour.


That was last night, she is fine now and was begging to be fed this morning.

What is it with my dog and her lack of self control?

It's not love

but I don't hate it either.



My dad is going to add a shelf under the super high shelf so I can actually reach the laundry soap.



I picked this color on a whim. Just knew I wanted something bright and chose it from the millions of swatches.

While very sick to my stomach during the painting, the color has grown on me. I may even like it by tomorrow.
I am thinking of painting a catchy phrase on the wall. Maybe something like, "laundry sucks."

What do you think?

Ummm Soup

My kids love soup. They will put spoon after spoonful into their mouths until their bellies are swollen.

Here is my secret weapon, the blender.


Yep, whatever soup you are making, put about 3/4ths of it into the blender before serving, then pop back into the pot. Assuming of course there are not any noodles, rice or meat in there. This little trick seems to make the soup a much more kid friendly consistency.

I love the fact that the kids have no idea that they are eating super-healthy-good-for-you food, that I can get rid of huge quantities of vegetables and that most soups are pretty effortless.



If you're interested, we had Cauliflower soup today and Monday the kids scarfed down some eggplant and tomato soup.

Organized Craft

My friend Geni came over one day and put together an IKEA shelf for me. I could have done it but hey she offered, she says she LIKES to put IKEA crapola together. I had tons of organizing to do so I called her on it. She came over and put the darn thing together and even screwed it into the closet wall for me. I seriously owe her a few drinks or 10.

Anyway, that gave me tons of time to organize the many craft items that the kids and I have.

And now when they want to do fun things like these cool Count Down sticks to keep track of how many days until Grandpa Steve gets here, it isn't a problem.





Everything is labeled so they can't tell me it isn't to be found. And it is super easy to figure out where it belongs. Pom-poms are here, glue is here, glitter is there, coloring books are here. Little by little, this will be every closet in my house. That is if Geni is still available.

Freya's first day of school

She picked out the outfit herself. She was still wearing the sparkly shades atop her head when I picked her up. She slept for an hour an a half after. She doesn't nap. She said they got to go into the "big gym" and play with rackets.







The teacher had doughnut holes for their breakfast when the arrived. I won't go into that right now, just know that she loves her teacher and had a fab first day.