Shell Creatures, Pot Pie and Pickles

I like long, lazy days but sometimes I really enjoy having something to "show" for the day.   Something that you can physically see and touch that shows you really accomplished something.  Yesterday was one of those days.   

 

Probably about six months ago, my mother-in-law gave my kids a bag of shells.   I put them in a safe place and planned to do something with them all summer.   Uh...hmmm....summer is pretty much ending tomorrow.  I got them out yesterday to make "shell creatures" (something I saw online of course).  I had even found "shell glue" a few months back on sale at JoAnn's for a buck fifty.   And so the creatures emerged.  By the way the shell glue really does work well with the surface of shells.   Everything adhered pretty good.

 

This is Matt's creature that I think looks a little like a sea horse.

This is Kennedy's (of course).   She was not impressed that I gave them only googly eyes to work with so she went through my cupboards and came up with what I think is the most adorable snail EVER!

This is Hyrum's creature.

This is another of Hyrum's....it's a one-eyed monster shell with crazy hair  (I think that's what he said).

Then Kennedy helped him make a snail similar to hers.

We went out to the garden yesterday and got a lot of veggies.  I decided to make a Vegetable Pot Pie.   We used onions, potatoes, green beans and purple carrots from our garden.   The kids helped cut out the embellishments for the crust.  I must say it was pretty tasty.

AND while I was making pot pie, Layne was making dill pickles.  I love when husband decides to tackle something and I don't have to do anything.   He invited the 11-year-old neighbor boy (who always looks bored out of his brains) to come and help.    That kid was so funny.   He had no idea that pickles come from cucumbers.   Layne and I both chuckled when Layne asked him to grab the dill and he said, "what's the deal?" 

Layne was originally going to make refrigerator pickles, but realized we couldn't keep 5 jars in the fridge indefinitely.  So, he built his own canner.....he placed several lid rings on the bottom of a large stainless steel pot, put a little water in the bottom and then set the bottles on top of the rings.  It worked well and everything got sealed.   The artist in him decided to throw in a few carrots from our garden to make it look nice.