Slime!

When we lived in Logan, UT we went to a family day on campus. They had bounce houses, games, crafts, and huge tractors. Each college had a station and an activity they did for the kids. One of the activities was to make slime. Everest still remembers that (it was before I was pregnant with Leaf-Everest was only 2). The other day he told me he wanted to make green slime like we did in UT.

I found an easy recipe on Family Fun's website. It is just glue, borax, water and food coloring. The boys had so much fun with it. We usually make play dough, but decided to make slime for a change.

Waiting for the slime to congeal. Everest was so excited. In the beginning Everest wanted green, but when it came time to add color, both boys picked blue.

Everest with his slime.

WOW!

Leaf wasn't sure what to think at first.

Then he rolled it.

Then he realized if you put it near the edge, it will drip down.

We got out cookie cutters and other things we use with play dough. Later that night, I had a meeting and the boys played with Nathan. They found out you can also draw on slime with markers. 

* Slime Recipe (recipe from Family Fun Magazine)

3/4 c warm water

1 c glue (white or clear)

food coloring

4 t borax

1 1/3 c warm water

1. Mix together 3/4 cup warm water, 1 cup glue and several drops of green food coloring in the first bowl.
   
2. In the second bowl, mix together 4 teaspoons borax and 1 1/3 cups warm water.
   
3. Pour the contents of the first bowl into the second, but don't stir. Let it sit for 1 minute, then lift the now-congealed slime out of the bowl.
   
4. Divide slime so that each child has a piece to play with. The glue in slime can make it stick to certain fabrics. To minimize accidents, give each little monster a zip-top bag to store it in.
   

*A friend told us to use clear glue and add things like glitter or sequence.

Many faces of Aurora

 Aurora just hanging out, being content!

 She is a wonderful baby. Now if she can only teach her brothers how to be happy and content.

 Laughing. She has laughed with her whole body since the day she was born. In the beginning, I know it was not intentional, but it is now.

 Well, if you have had a baby or been around babies, you know what this face means. She was very happy after.

Playing

 Aurora has been staying up late working with her daddy. Phew, all this cuddling is hard work.

Nathan put in a new water heater and he gave the boys the box. Everest drew the lines and Nathan cut them to make a fort. Our friend Micah was over and the boys had a great time playing.

Leaf wearing his safety glasses while playing with Legos. If anyone is interested in well made, real life, kid size things (like the safety glasses), check out For Small Hands. It is a wonderful magazine, it is where Montessori gets their supplies. I ordered 2 more pair of gardening gloves because the boys LOVE the pair I got last year. I also ordered brooms, dust pans and spatulas for Leaf's birthday. (He got a wooden kitchen from my parents.)

My beautiful girl. She is a very happy baby. She smiles and laughs when you talk to her. She also coos often, even in her sleep. It is a nice change to have a baby that sleeps and is happy. We are enjoying her so much.

More playing in the "fort". How many kids can you fit in one box? This box has been a fort, house, ice cream and pizza shop. Now they are working on coloring and papering it.

When our friend Micah was over, the boys asked to play with the beans. They all had so much fun, Micah did not want to leave. Heather ended up buying beans later that day for Micah and Elliot to play with at home.

Leaf will play with the beans for long periods at a time. He loves filling and dumping. We are still working on dumping. He gets about half in the container and half on the floor. For clean up of the floor, I give the kids tall shot glasses and we have a race to see who can fill up their glass first. The kids love this.

Hope you are having a wonderful Fall. My parents were out for Leaf's birthday. We had a great time. The weather has been beautiful, well at least the temperature. What season are we in?

Bottling "kid beer"

The day after the apple pressing, we had Heather, Christopher and the kids over to bottle some apple cider. The kids had a lot of fun bottling. A few bottles got over filled and some under filled. The kids had fun and that is all that matters.

Elliot filling up a bottle.

Aurora slept through the whole event. She has her harness on now. She has to have another ultra sound in a few weeks. That will determine how long she is in it.

Nathan helping Elliot, while Leaf waits patiently.

We pasteurized the kid beer in Nathan's 10 gallon brew pot.

Everest and Leaf unloaded the brew pot.

Leaf just about fell into the pot trying to get the bottles on the bottom.

Making "kid beer"

The boys love to help Nathan make beer, but they constantly ask to drink some. Last year we made them a batch of "kid beer". We had some 8oz glass coke bottles, we decided to use for kid beer. We had the kids help bottle apple cider, then we pasteurized it. They loved drinking it and sharing it with friends. 
This year, they asked to do it again. We asked some friends to come to. We all had a great time.

Nathan and Leaf checking out the apple press at the beer brewing club party.

 This months party was at a friends house who lives on a farm. She has sheep, chickens, ducks and bees. I thought the kids would love all of that, but the huge dirt pile was MUCH more fun.

 Everest and Elliot played on the dirt pile all night. Micah and Leaf joined them for a while too. All kids were quite dirty.

 Leaf, Micah and Elliot washing the apples before putting them in the press.

 Everest and Elliot got on each side of the bar and walked in circles pressing the apples.

 Elliot enjoyed her first experience with an apple press.

Apples, apples and more apples

It is that time of year. We picked LOTS of apples again this year. We didn't get pictures of us picking this year. Bonnie was here when we picked the apples. She and Nathan spent the weekend making and canning apple sauce. Nathan estimated we canned between 200-300 pounds of apples. I think we have close to 120 quart jars of apple sauce. We shared some with friends, but the majority will be eaten by the boys. They can eat a quart a day.

Here are a few jars. You can see the different color apples we used. We picked a lot of yellow apples this year, so we have yellow apple sauce. We eat plain yogurt with apple sauce, coconut and granola. The kids (and us) love it.

We had plenty of apples left over. Everest's school had a craft show and bake sale. We decided to make caramel apples for  it. Everest helped make them. We had to wash and dry all the apples first.

Tada. Yes, I did try to make them fancy and add candy corn and chocolate chips to the bottom. That is easier said than done. I think we dipped them too quickly because the candy corn and chocolate chips ended up laying beside the apples. Live and learn. We had fun making them. We actually have not tried any yet, so I can't even say they were good. We have 3 in our freezer for a rainy day.

My mom's family

My Grandmother Camuso passed away September 23, 2010. We love and miss her so much. My grama was an amazing person. I do not have the time it would take or the writing ability to do her life justice. She had 14 children, 11 boys and 3 girls. The fact that she survived having 11 boys is amazing in itself. She and my grampa were very strong in their Catholic faith, and I am sure they are together now. I will tell you more about my grama in days to come.

 Uncle Tim, Chris and Aunt Mary

When my dad called to tell me grama had passed away, I started making arrangement to go to her funeral. I really wanted my family to be there to say goodbye to her and to see our extended family. Nathan and I ended up driving 10 hours Friday evening. We arrived at my grama house at 2:30am. My parents were there and heard us pull into the driveway (we had the truck, it is hard to miss the sound of our beloved truck). My parents were excited to see the kids and the kids were excited to see them. My aunt Raegan (who is only 5 years older than me) heard us come in too. She could not resist coming downstairs to see the boys and meet Aurora. No one went to bed until after 4am. Thankfully my parents got up with the kids and we slept until 10.
Throughout the day family arrived at my grama's. It was wonderful to see my family that I have not seen in so long. We are a very close family, we always have been. Most of my aunts and uncles live in PA, but as the cousin's have grown up, we have moved so we are spread all over. We still try to get the whole family together every 5 years. I look forward to that time.

Nathan, Uncle Joe and Uncle Paul hanging out.

Aunt Raegan, Teresa, Bailey, Aunt Megan with baby Aurora, and Paytan.

 The 3 girls: my mom (Sue), Mary and Pat.

We had a family viewing for my grama Saturday night. And 2 public viewing on Sunday. Nathan had to be back to work Monday morning, so we left PA at 7 on Sunday evening. I missed my grama funeral. I am very sad about that, but I am glad we went as a family and got to see everyone and say goodbye to my grama.
I took my camera, but only got a few shots an hour before we left.
We love and miss everyone. Hope to see you soon.

Hanging out at the fire pit. Everest spent most of his time here, chopping wood, unloading and loading wood, and moving wood.

Uncle Bill, Uncle Snare, Owen and Adam.

Catching up

 I know it has been a while. I LOVE the Fall. The weather is getting cooler (except this year, it has been in the 80's and 90's here). 

Aunt Teresa with Aurora.

 Sleeping Beauty.

A few tomatoes from my garden.

Leaf....my little helper.

He loves to vacuum and mop.

Leaf holding Aurora.

Everest holding Aurora.

I have been so sore from nursing, so I have been pumping. The boys love to help feed her.

Congratulations Courtney and Matt

When I found out I was pregnant with Aurora, Courtney was the first person I told in Indiana. I was so sick at the time and we saw each other almost every day (Everest and Nolan were in the same class). I knew I couldn't hide it from her for long. She was wonderfully supportive and helped out as much as she could. When I was five months pregnant, she found out she was pregnant too....4 months already. I was very envious, she had no idea. I know almost from the start because I am so sick. It was fun going through pregnancy together.

Courtney had a baby boy, Liam James on October 7th. She had him at the hospital in a birthing pool. Courtney fought hard to get the pool approved in time to have the baby. I can't wait to hear about the birth. You can check out pictures and see what they are up to at The Richards' Adventure.

Welcome baby Liam!
Congratulations Courtney, Matt, Nolan and Meredith.

Aunt Teresa's visit

Today is the first chance I have had to sit at the computer and work on a post....and I am having trouble loading pictures. I am not sure what is going on, but most of the pictures I have loaded are sideways. So for now, this is what I have. 

We had a wonderful time with Teresa. She was here when Aurora was 3 weeks old. She stayed for about 10 days! We kept her busy the whole time.

Teresa and Nathan took the boys on lots of bike rides. The first day Teresa was here, she wore the kids out. The boys never fall asleep on the couch and rarely fall asleep at the same time!

Teresa hanging out with Leaf and Aurora. Everest took the picture. Not too bad.

FYI- Thank you to everyone for thinking about us and my grama. She passed away September 23. We were able to make the 10 hour drive for the viewing. It was a VERY quick trip, but we got to say good bye and see most of my mom's family. 

Aurora does have hip dysplasia, she is being fitted for the Pavlik harness on Friday. We asked if we could double diaper her, but as is the norm for my kids, she doesn't have a classic case. Hopefully the harness will do the trick. We will know more in a month when she has another ultra sound. 

Thanks for checking on us. Things have been very busy with 3. I am trying to get the hang of it.