Jack- Week One

Night One

His first night out and he didn't even make it back inside before morning! When Marley woke up and saw this she screamed and ran back into her room crying. She wouldn't leave her room until I came up there and carried her downstairs. She is terrified of him! Maybe if he's doing more fun stuff she'll like him a little better. 

Night Two

Going fishing. Marley come down and went to the bathroom and didn't say anything, so when Mike went in there he noticed that Jack was swimming with the fishes. So he set him back up there while Marley was searching the house for Jack and she eventually saw him. All day she was talking to him and laughing because he was on the tub in the dark. Much better reaction to him today than yesterday. 

Night Three

Roasting marshmallows. Marley immediately saw him up on the stove and thought it was so funny that he was roasting a marshmallow. She wanted me to light his candle/fire for him though! 

Night Four

Just going for a ride with a sock monkey on a dinosaur.

Night Five

It took Marley a while to find him here but when she did she cracked up laughing. She seemed a little happy that since he was in there he couldn't actually see her. 

Night Six  

Going for a ride on a remote control truck. Thanks for the help baby doll. 

Night Seven 

Just hanging out on the towel bar in the bathroom. 

I'm already running out of ideas of what to do with him. I think our biggest problem is that you can't touch him, so I can't put him anywhere that will require us to have to move him. I've seen ideas online of things to do, but we don't have a lot of extra tables or places to set him that would allow him to stay there all day. Maybe once we get our Christmas decorations up that will help a little too. 

Is anyone else doing the Elf on the Shelf this year? I would love to hear some other ideas of what to do with him.

See all our elf adventures here.

It's for the birds

Marley and I did a quick little craft project today after she brought home some bird food from school. (She had a field trip last week to Chesterton Feed & Garden and they gave each kid a bag of bird food).

First, you need some used toilet paper rolls, peanut butter, bird food, something to spread peanut butter with, and something to lay the bird food out on.

I spread the peanut butter on the t.p. rolls first. I did it pretty thick for a few reasons, one- because I wanted the bird food to stick good, and two- I knew I wouldn't be using this jar of p.b. again so I figured I wouldn't waste it.

Next, I passed the roll off to Marley and she rolled it all over in the bird food. Making sure to smoosh it down good so the food sticks. 

That's it! Then we just bundled up and went outside and slid them over tree branches. We put them where we could see them from inside so Marley could watch them if a bird does come.

It took us about 10 minutes from start to finish and was free since I already had p.b. and t.p. rolls. 

28-31 weeks old

Wax on, Wax off part 2

So now that I had my jar all clean it was time to make a "new" candle. (See how to clean your jar here)

First, I boiled some water. Once it was boiling, I just carefully set my old jars in the water and waited for them to melt.

I took my clean jar and my new wick and rigged up this little system to hold my wick in the middle and straight up while pouring the hot melted wax in.

After I poured the hot wax in, I placed it in the refrigerator so it would harden and started over with melting another candle.

I did this process for each old candle I had. My new candle has a nice stripey pattern to it and the house smelled really good from all the melted candles.

But now, I have a bunch of empty glass jars and I don't really know what to do with them. Does anyone have any ideas? Or should I just scour pinterest like I do for hours every night?

He's watching you...

Yesterday we picked up our Elf on the Shelf. Marley said she didn't want one because they're creepy and she doesn't like stuff that rhymes. She said she wanted a bunny on the shelf. She wouldn't even carry the box in the store because she was afraid that he was going to come out of the box.

When we got him home I put the bag and his box on the counter and just went about our day. Marley fell asleep on the couch (which never happens) so I used this as an opportunity for our elf to escape from his box.  When she woke up he was sitting on the mantel. She saw him immediately and again said 'okay he's creepy'  She asked me why I put him there and I told her that while she was sleeping I was in my room playing with Mason so I don't know how he got there. I think she was a little freaked out.  At bed time we read the book and picked out a name for our elf. (His magic doesn't work until he has a name)  She came downstairs once to check on him to see if he went to the North Pole for the night.

So without further ado... Here's Jack, our Elf.

I'll be back with weekly updates to show what little Jack has been up to and how well Marley's handling the whole santa/elf thing. (She freaked out a while ago about getting an elf because she didn't want it to tell Santa that she's bad) This could be interesting.

See all our elf adventures here

Wax on, wax off

I saw on Pinterest a few different ways to get that last little bit of wax out of your candle jars. I finally made it out to Hobby Lobby to buy some wicks, so I decided to give it a try. 

Here's all my "used" candles. My goal is to melt all the wax and combine it and make a new candle. 

First, I needed a clean jar. I had this one and it was pretty good size so I went with it. All you do is boil water on the stove. Once it's boiling for a few minutes, carefully pour it into the candle jar. Almost immediately you will see the wax on the bottle start to melt and float up to the top. It's pretty neat looking. 

Once it had all floated to the top I used a piece of metal to reach in and get the wicks out. And I stirred it a little just to help the remaining wax make its way to the top of the jar. (Be careful, it's very hot)

After a few hours, the water was cool and the wax on top was hard so it was time for the next step.

See how cool! (I was very excited that this actually worked)

I used a pencil to poke two holes in the wax so I could pour the water out. Then I cut the wax in half and pulled it out. I saved the wax to melt to use in my new candle. 

Cleaned the black stuff off the jar and made sure all the old wax was out and now it's like new and ready to become a candle again! 

Check out Part Two- making a new candle. 

Anyone have any other methods? I've heard of putting them in the freezer too, but have never tried it. Have you?

Chicken Lemon Rice Soup

 I absolutely LOVE chicken lemon rice soup! If I had to pick a favorite soup it's either potato or chicken lemon rice. However, I don't really love making it. It's a long process that involves lots of dirty dishes, but it's worth it. This time I decided to make a double batch and freeze some for later. (I'm always thinking ahead!) The recipe I'm posting is just for one batch , but I just doubled everything.

6 cups chicken broth

1 chicken flavored bouillon cube or 1 tsp instant chicken bouillon

1/3 cup uncooked white rice

1/3 cup chopped celery

1 cup cubed cooked chicken 

2 tbsp flour

3 tbsp lemon juice

1/3 cup diced carrots

1/4 cup finely chopped onions (I don't use these in mine)

2 tbsp butter

3 eggs

salt & pepper to taste

Makes 7 (1 cup) servings.

In large pot, combine chicken broth, bouillon, rice, carrots, celery and onion. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat. Cover and simmer 20 minutes or until rice and vegetables are tender. Stir in chicken. Remove from heat.

In small saucepan, melt butter. Slowly stir in flour. Cook for one minute, stirring constantly until smooth and bubbly. 

Gradually stir in 2 cups of previously made broth mixture. Cook until slightly thickened, stirring constantly. Remove from heat.

 In small bowl beat eggs until frothy. Gradually beat in lemon juice and 2 cups of the thickened broth mixture. 

Slowly add egg mixture to broth mix in the large pot, stirring constantly. (Add this very slowly and make sure your heat is on very low and keep stirring. If you add it too quickly and your heat is too high it will cook your eggs, and you'll end up with scrambled eggs in your soup)

Heat gently until soup thickens enough to coat a spoon, stirring frequently. Do not boil.

Salt and pepper to taste. 

Mike and I love this soup. Marley didn't care for it, but she's a weird kid! 

Lions and tigers and... an ear of corn!

We had a nice Halloween this year.  It started off with Marley's school Halloween party. I volunteered to be a party planner for her class so I got to help with the games during her party. They played pin the nose on the pumpkin, hot pumpkin (potato) and they stuck their hands in gooey food looking for spiders and eye balls!

After the party and after we picked up Mason from grandma's we went trick or treating. After about an hour Marley said she was done so we headed back to Uncle Bob's house where Marley handed out some candy. I think she liked that more than getting the candy.  Mason didn't wear his costume on Halloween night because it was so cold out. Because of Marley naming him Corn Tuck a Tuck, it was only fitting that his costume was an ear of corn!

We have so much candy! We've limited Marley to a piece or two a day, but I think we'll still have some candy left next year!

One Final Trip

Mike started his new job at US Steel on Monday the 29th. We knew that once he starts he won't get an actual vacation for a year so we decided to take one last vacation before he started work. I had a pageant to run up in Madison, WI again so we headed up the the Dells the day before. Since it's the end of October and not 'in season' for the Dells, not much was open. We did score a sweet deal on a hotel room at Mount Olympus though. They have an indoor waterpark and an indoor amusement park (which was closed) They were also having a halloween party the day we were there so their outdoor park was open too.

When we first got to the Dells we went straight to the Original Wisconsin Ducks. It was cold!! It was an hour long tour and we saw a lot of neat things.

After that we just did a little driving before heading to the hotel to take advantage of the waterpark and go karts. We hit up the go karts outside first and Marley went on her first real roller coaster!! We had to go twice so that both Mike and I could go with her. She loved it!

After riding some rides and go karts we headed inside to the waterpark. Again, Marley loved it. Mason didn't really like it. The water was a bit chilly and he doesn't have a lot of meat on his bones to keep him warm.  After we were all swimmed out we headed out to dinner. On the drive in we passed Marley's Restaurant. That's where we headed, but since it was after 9pm they were closed =( So instead we ate at Buffalo Phil's. It's a county-ish restaurant and the food is brought out on a train, which again Marley loved!

The next morning we got up and packed up and headed to Madison then headed home. It was a very short vacation, but we do plan to go back when it's warmer so we can hit up some more go karts and outdoor activities.

WOO HOO

It's official. I started a facebook page for this blog. I figured that having a way to keep everyone updated when I post something new would be better then hoping that everyone just comes back here to check for new stuff. Since I've been "pinning" my recipes to pinterest I've gotten a lot of traffic on my blog! YAH! But now to keep the traffic returning daily!

So.... here it is- Three+One=Four- Family Blog & Recipes Page

Hurry- go LIKE it now!