Fall Fun!

Here is kind of photo dump of all the fun Fall activities Elisha and I have been doing the last couple of weeks. :)

  Counted out pumpkin seeds and glued them on our pumpkins. (math and fine motor)    

                        

We painted pumpkins. (art)

We collected leaves, sticks and acorns for a nature collage. (science)

Working on the nature collage.

We did leaf rubbing with our leaves that we collected. (art and science)

We made thumbprint leaves (my thumbprint, his brush strokes--he doesn't like getting paint on his hands). (art)

Finishing up painting leaves on our tree.

Office Desk--Repurposed Closet Door!

Ever since I moved in to my new house and set up my office I have not been content with how it looked until NOW! I just felt like it was unorganized, cluttered, and my desk space just was not very functional.

Before: Very cluttered and lacking space to actually work.

I started brainstorming the other day about what I could use that I already had to make a new desk/workspace. I started by looking for boards, but didn't really have any. Then I remembered the closet doors we took off of our closet in our room when we moved in so that I could move my dresser into our closet. Since I have two small white shelves in the office and the door is white I thought it might be the perfect fit--and it TOTALLY was!

After: the closet door makes an awesome desktop, it goes great with the white shelves that are holding it up.

 I am just SO happy with how my new desk turned out! I have so much space to do art stuff, smashbook, pay bills, write lesson plans and organize everything! My office has such a nice clean look to it now too! I had a lot of pics of how cute the rest of the office looked, but I am having a hard time retrieving them from my phone:/. I will update this post with those pics once I get that worked out :).

I moved my old desk out in to the open space in our basement in a little corner. I put some of my hubby's fave stuff on it and hung up some of his certificates on the wall. I think he will enjoy this little homework/study space. :)

Hello, Autumn :)

I think everyone says this, but fall is my FAVORITE! I also enjoy all the others seasons except for winter. Winter is only fun during Christmas, then I'm so over it.

Anyway, I wanted to make over this weird shelf thing on my living room wall. I think at one point maybe an air condition -window unit used to reside here, and then this shelf thing replaced it. It is kind of cool. I just started thinking about a post from my K*Duds blog last year about mantle alternatives  and how I used my piano for holiday/seasonal decor. Now, my piano is in my basement so I decided to utilize this space as an alternative for a mantle:

My first attempt at decorating this space was not successful. I felt I could do better. So, with my sudden burst of creative energy and various craft supplies I got to work.

 First, I covered some cardboard with different kinds of scrapbook paper and glued it down with rubber cement:

After I made my background, I worked on making my "FALL" banner:

I also covered the mason jars that have pumpkin faces painted on them with scrapbook paper and twine. I set up the background, hung the banner and re-arranged the knick knacky things and pumpkins. I am super pleased with how it turned out. Elisha even noticed the arrangement and told me it was beautiful. :)

Homemade Pumpkin Pie or Cake- Um, Pake?

This week we went out and bought some pumpkins (we haven't made it out to the pumpkin patch yet). We got three big ones shown above to have out side (I'm going do something with them, just haven't decided what just yet). I let Elisha pick out a little pie pumpkin so he can paint it. Well, even after warning him that his pumpkin is not a ball and that it should be tossed or rolled, my warnings were ignored and he ended up with a cracked open pumpkin. He was pretty devastated, but I told him that we would use it to make a pumpkin pie--that perked him up a little.

I have NEVER made a pumpkin pie from SCRATCH before, but now that I have a decent amount of kitchen counter space and a dishwasher I felt ready to try it out.

Here is my process and outcome:

First, we scooped out all of the seeds and "guts". We saved the seeds for roasting, planting, and craft projects.

Next, after scooping out the "guts", the quickest and easiest way that I have found to cook down the pumpkin is to stick the pumpkin halves in in a microwave safe dish with a couple inches of water, cover and cook for about 15 min.

After the pumpkin is done cooking in the microwave it is hot and soft. Just scoop out the pumpkin "lining" and put it in a bowl. The outside can be disposed of after scooping it out.

Scooping out the pumpkin.

blend the pumpkin that you scooped out to make a puree.  From here you can make all kinds of yummy pumpkin things.

Pumpkin Pie Filling:

• 1 cup sugar. Instead of sugar, you could use
  honey (use 1.25 cups),
  natural sugar (1 cup),
  agave (1 cup),
  brown sugar (1 cup),
                                                            Stevia (1/3 cup) (I used Truvia for baking: 1/2 cup)
• 1.5 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon ground cloves
• 1 teaspoon ground allspice
• one half teaspoon ground ginger
• one half teaspoon salt 
• 4 large eggs
• 3 cups pumpkin puree (from your pumpkin)
• 1.5 cans (12oz each) of evaporated milk
• 1/2 teaspoon of vanilla extract
• I also added in a little flour to thicken it up because it was very watery, just add until you like the consistency.

And of course I made my own crust from scratch as well. I used a recipe that is easy and doesn't call for shortening:

• 1 1/4 cups unbleached, all purpose flour
• 1/4 t. sea salt
• 1/3 cup cold butter or firm coconut oil
• 4-6 Tablespoons cold water

Cutting in the cold butter.

The pies are ready to bake!

Pies are done and smell really good! (I think adding the flour caused it to form a sort of skin on top of the pie).

I made this mini, deep dish pumpkin pie for a taste tester. Who better to taste test than my brother in law and my sister in law's boyfriend? ( Matt will get to taste test later after he gets home from work). The consensus:  Because I added flour to thicken up my filling it turned out more  like a "pake" (pie-cake). It could have been a tad more sweeter, but a side a of ice cream and whipped topping can remedy this. Also we taste tested within minutes of oven removal (so anxious). Maybe tasting at a chilled state would change the texture? It was kind of like a bread pudding texture. The crust was really good. Overall, not bad, maybe a new pumpkin dessert creation? Maybe I can come up with a sweet glaze to top it with? I will look into this further when it comes close to time to get them out of the freezer for Thanksgiving. :)

Rocketships and Soup

Rocketships and soup are pretty much the highlights of  last week for us. My husband's massage chair came a couple weeks ago  and it arrived it a ginormous box. So, naturally we turned that ginormous box into a rocket ship! 

Another fun thing for Elisha last week was getting to use his snack crackers for his math activities. We were working on rote counting and some simple, introductory addition and subtraction. Of course, his favorite was the subtraction--he got to eat some crackers. :)

Last week I made my own chicken enchilada soup for the first time--it was AMAZING and so simple to make!

 

-boneless, skinless chicken breasts- cooked in the slow cooker all day.

-2 cans of chicken broth

-1can of enchilada sauce

-1 can of condensed milk (optional--I just wanted it to be thick and creamy)

- 1 can of  mild Rotel tomato and chillies

-1 can of Rotel tomato and cilantro lime

-1 medium chopped onion

- (optional for thickness, creaminess, cheesiness and added zest) I added a whole jar of Tostitos Monterey Jack Cheese queso --YUM!

After chicken is done in the slow cooker, it will shred up easily. Add all ingredients into a big pot and stir and simmer on the stove top. Top off with sour cream and your favorite tortilla chips crushed up.

This turned out SO well, and it's very zesty and flavorful. We happily ate leftovers the next day!:)

**Side note: I also added the Rotel Tomato and Cilantro Lime to my Chili the other day--AWESOME!