Making Replacement Pieces For Games - Not That Hard

As you know if you read my blog, Princess Two has a love of all things Dr. Seuss. 


I recently made her a Dr. Seuss quilt from t-shirts. Click here to see that post. There are a few other posts where I show making the quilt you can search in the box at the bottom of the home page. I have made many different quilts so you may enjoy looking at them all as some are quite creative. 

With her love of Dr. Seuss, I have collected a few games for her kids at some point. I can play them now with my grandchildren and then give them to her when she has kids. It is hard to find certain items that are highly collectable so when I find one of those, I buy it knowing I may not be able to find it again. 

Dr. Seuss books are hard to find in good condition at second hand stores and there aren't a ton of games or items around that are Seuss that are unique, so I have a few games I have collected over the years. It seems like they mass produced a few things and you can find those anywhere and then a few older items that are hard to find.

This current game book is four games in one. I didn't necessarily buy it for the games themselves but for the super cute gameboards inside. There are two reversible game boards which would be super cute framed. I figured if all the parts to the games were there, super! If not, I could just use the game boards for decorations. 

It was interesting as every game was missing one piece. I was able to create the missing pieces rather quickly and easily by tracing the similar pieces and then just quickly copying the picture on the piece and using my favorite SHARPIE colors to fill in the picture. 

If you are afraid of drawing, you can always copy the game pieces in black and white on a copier machine and then color them the color needed. This is quicker but, you would then need to glue it onto a cardboard piece which could also work. 

If you were super picky, you could also use self-stick clear vinyl or plastic covering to cover the drawing / piece. I don't think that it will be played much so I am not worried. 

I made a short video showing how I did it and then took pictures. I think they came out great considering how quickly I made them. 

I noticed this "rain" card was missing as I was cleaning up the game with its new pieces, so I quickly made one by copying the shape of another card and using black and red Sharpies to color it. Now, I have all four games ready to play and look forward to playing with my cute Grandchildren. 

Have a Blessed and game filled Day! 

The Christmas Morning Line Up - Tradition Continues

If you follow my blog, you will remember several blog posts about our family tradition of "lining up" before going in to see what Santa or the Easter Bunny brought us. 

Each year we have a "trail" of something. One year it was games, but most years it is some kind of food or candy. Since Princess One's children don't have red dye candy or chocolate due to reactions, I decided to do something different. 

I had a theme for the boys of Dinosaurs, and many of their gifts revolved around those. I made a trail of popcorn cones, mints with no dye, and different types and sizes of dinosaurs. The traditional "trail" leading to the Christmas Presents was a HIT. The kids always get excited when they see the "trail" in the morning and the anticipation of going in to see what they received mounts with the fun of following the "trail." 

The baby had a lizard thing which he didn't release for quite some time as you can see in the pictures. There was a large talking T-rex  which moved with the push of a button and the arms moved and mouth opened and closed when you push down the arms and each child took a turn with that as well as their dad. It did scare the kids a bit when he first had it move but they soon got over the fear of the roar and motion and enjoyed the toy. 

The popcorn and mints were also a hit as you can see by Grand-Prince number one holding something in each picture. I have shared in my other posts on the traditions of "lining up" that we used to have to eat a hard boiled egg and / or a grapefruit before we were allowed to go into see what Santa brought but we opted out of that part of the tradition and ate some of the popcorn before going in to see our treasures. 

I love the last picture on this post as my first daughter is sitting next to her husband with a slight smile on her face. She has always been hard to get to smile on holidays. I was always happy if I could get a slight smirk out of her. I have videos of her about age 14 where I would catch her smiling a half smile and commented on how much she must have liked her gifts as I got a "smirk" out of her. 

She hadn't seen any gifts at this point Christmas morning other than the "trail" of items and I LOVE the slight smile on her lips. It kinda reminds me of the Mona Lisa. That happy contented look that we don't often see in our crazy harrowing world.  

We had a wonderful Christmas morning. I am going to miss this as my clan moves on doing their own thing but I sure am enjoying it while I have it. 
Have a Blessed Day! 

Jewelry Sorting Video - Gold and Silver Rings - Spending Time With Family

I am spending holiday time with my children and Grand children. 

We are having so much fun playing dress up, make believe, dance parties, and games. Who knew having grandchildren at Christmas could be so much fun! I LOVE being a grandma~!

Here is another jewelry sorting video for you to enjoy. I found several gold items and many rings which was wonderful. It has been really hit or miss on the grab bags for the past few months. 

I hope you are enjoying time with your family and friends. Have a Blessed Holiday! 

Grandkids Bedtime Routine Song Choice - Merry Christmas To You All

It has been a super busy week. 

Today was busy with the grandchildren leaving and packing up the decorations and delivering some gifts. I will have a short post and wanted to share our family singing "Rudolph" with you as that was the song the kids chose for their bedtime song. 

I hope your day was "Merry and Bright" and that you have a very Blessed Day! 

Grand Prince Two - Cutest Baby in Town But A Discriminating Laugher

We celebrated our Christmas today and, it was such a great day. I was dragging all day due to the late night putting stuff out, but it was so wonderful. 

I am not going to post much but thought this video would be wonderful to share. Grand Princes Two is one of the best babies I have ever seen. He really is happy all the time unless he is in pain. Even then, you know something is really wrong when he does act up as he is always full of smiles. 

Tonight, my girls and I were playing games and, Princess two was making the baby laugh doing some silly thing which she loves to do. He was belly laughing every time for about a full minute with this new silly thing. 

Princess Three tried doing the same thing over and over and could not get him to laugh. Even though they were doing the exact same thing, he just wouldn't smile or laugh when Princess Three did the same silly action. 

Toward the end of the video, I made the same noise and he laughed at me so the video was funny and I thought I would share it as I am super tired and want to get to bed as the grandchildren are up about 5:30. 

Have a Blessed and Enjoyable Christmas Day! 

Best Christmas Present of my LIFE!!! "Grateful Eyes" Original Song from Princess Five

We are doing our Christmas Eve Early since we have to leave to go to an extended family party in another city the day after Christmas, we don't enjoy having to pull all the decorations down and clean up all the food in one day so we are extending our holiday by doing it early. 

This year, we did our Christmas Eve Sunday Evening so we could enjoy an extra day with the kids and play with the gifts and eat leftovers for a day or two so I don't end up with a fridge full of food I won't be able to eat. 

We are going to be able to have a video call from Princess Five from her mission on Christmas day so the girls wanted to give me her gift before that call so I could tell her about it. 

Princess Five wrote a song when she was 12 and it was good for her first song. She sang it at a school talent show and all the kids cheered and were singing the chorus for days. One friend was a bit jealous and was a bit mean and since then, Princess Five wouldn't write songs anymore. Here is a link to a post about her writing the song.  

For years, I have begged her to write me a song. Most birthdays and holiday, I tell her all I want is for her to write me a song.

When my girls told me I needed my computer to view the gift, I thought they maybe sang me another Christmas song as they did a few years back. See that post here. 

IT WAS SO MUCH BETTER! I cried through the entire thing! Princess Five wrote me a song before leaving for her mission and when her sisters came down for her farewell, they had about a five minute gap when I went shopping for something and so three sang the song she wrote while Princess Two video taped it. Princess One hadn't come down yet and it was such a busy time they didn't want me to walk in on them singing it so they only sang three times together before making this video but were afraid I would come home so it is a bit rough with them needing their phones for lyrics and a bit of hesitation but for an original song and only having gone through it a few times, It is BEAUTIFUL to me. 

When growing up, my mother sang in the Mormon Tabernacle Choir for nearly 10 years and she didn't want to ruin her voice or strain it so she would call us 8 children by singing this little "ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, in a falsetto voice and attach our name at the end so when we were playing at friends or around the neighborhood, we would hear that high, low, high, low "ooh" call and then listen for which kid she was calling and that kid would run home. 

Over the years, we all picked up the practice of using "the call" at sporting events or concerts, or just large gatherings to get one another's attention and our heads whip around when we hear the call even to this day and we each have used that "call" to call our own children so now that "Ooh call" is the family joke but boy if it still doesn't work in a crowded stadium! 

So, this song was so full of things that are important in our life and have meaning to our family. I think it will touch others as well as I think there are many moms that have been amazing and it would touch them as well or remind people of their mothers. 

I cried before I even hear the words because I knew this was the first song she has written since she was 12 years old. Boy, it was worth the wait! It is so beautiful and I know it was written from the heart and to get her sisters to sing it with her, it seriously is the best gift I have ever gotten! I LOVE IT! 

The girls took a video of me watching it but we had some problems trying to transfer it off the phones so hopefully we can figure that out and you can watch my reaction to it. My sweet grandchildren were so concerned for me as they could see me crying. It was touching, but I tried to talk happily to them so they wouldn't think I was upset. 

I am so excited to get to talk to Princess Five on Christmas and thank her for her beautiful gift and for sharing her many talents in the making of this song..  

I hope you have a Blessed and song filled day!

Princess Five Has A New Family - Mission Information Letter

I got this lovely letter yesterday morning. I thought I would share it with you. 

  

"Dear Princess Five's Mother,

Thank you for sending your daughter, Sister Princess Five, to serve in the New Jersey Mission. I had the pleasure of welcoming Sister Princess Five on December 17.  Enclosed is a picture of her with Sister Mission Mom and me and a picture of her with the other missionaries that arrived with her.

I interviewed her and found her eager and prepared to be an outstanding missionary. Sister Mission Mom and I are looking forward to working with her and consider her as if she were one of our own daughters.

Her trainer and new companion is Sister companion from Florida.  The address to which you can send first class letters to Sister Princess Five for this transfer period is:

Sister Princess Five

(Her address was here)

You may want to ask Sister Princess Five in your next email if she has a secure mailbox.  If she doesn’t feel it is secure, you should send first class letters to the office.  However, for security reasons, please send all packages in care of the mission office:

NJ  Mission

(address here)

(PLEASE MAKE SURE TO INCLUDE THE MISSION, YOUR MISSIONARY’S NAME AND THE COMPLETE ADDRESS INCLUDING THE SUITE NUMBER ON THE PACKAGE TO INSURE DELIVERY TO OUR OFFICE)

Thank you for supporting her in this most important work.

(The Mission President information here)"