Marvelous Mothers Day

I had a wonderful Mothers Day and I hope all reading this did as well. It started several days before and made for a great week. I got a card in the mail from Princess number 2 who had finals this week. She had to plan early to get that in the mail and with 21 credit hours and work, it really meant a lot that she had the time and wrote me a beautiful card and letter. I opened it on Thursday when it came but only looked at the card wanting to save the letter for Mothers Day.

The card was funny and she had to search it out. They have a standing joke that I will meet "Superman" someday so for her to find a "Superman" card was a family joke. See here for more on that:

Then on Friday, I got flowers. Princess number 2 again took some time and thought and sent flowers with a card saying, "From your Superman." and signed her name. They are beautiful.

Sunday comes and I woke to a lovely flower with a "Happy Mothers Day" on it pounded into my yard. My sister's family put that up in our yard. The local Cheer squad did it for a fund raiser. That was a nice way to start the day.

We enjoyed wonderful Sunday meetings and got a cute little magnet at church. My friend Julie and I went to visit a few ladies from our congregation that were home sick to deliver a magnet to them. On our way back to get into the car, I looked down and just outside my car was a shiny dime. I laughed as I picked it up. Julie reads my blog so she knows about me finding coins. I smiled as I told her, "Heavenly Father loves me!" He was wishing me a happy Mothers Day! He has given me three dimes this week as I was getting into my car and I told her the wonderful stories with each. I will have to share them with you tomorrow.

I got a call from Princess number 1 who is visiting an adopted Grandmother across the country and we enjoyed visiting.

Princess number 5 gave me a picture and card she made along with a candle with a cute saying on it. I enjoyed visiting with my mom and sisters and received many texts and well wishes.

Princess number 3 gave me a bird house she made and decorated in rainbows and wrote a sweet note on the back. We are going to varnish it so we can put it outside. She also gave me a wonderful pretzel, caramel treat which we all enjoyed.

Princess number 4 gave me a most loved foot rub and a WalMart gift card she won doing a coloring contest. She also did a rainbow on her picture. She also gave me a tulip planter she made.

I did visit my neighbor who doesn't have children and has a few dogs she calls her children. I wished her a happy Mothers Day and gave her a magnet and joked that I didn't think her "babies" would get her anything. She joked back that they were so ungrateful as she had given them a haircut and everything.

The rest of the day was spent finishing Princess number 3's hand print quilt (YEAH!) while we watched movies together. Princess number 4 put together a puzzle she won playing Bingo at our family party and she didn't want anyone to help her. She finished it and then we started a 2000 piece puzzle. That will take us forever but we got the outside put together.

It really couldn't have been much better. I am blessed to have such wonderful parents, grandparents and equally blessed to have such amazing sisters and daughters in my life. I often ask myself "Why am I so blessed?"

Taking "Stock" in Turkey Soup

I was talking with my younger daughters the other day and they wanted a turkey. After we had the turkey, I asked each of them as they were alone how to make turkey soup to see if they remembered. They said they didn't but when I said they had to watch me do it, my fourth Princess came out and gave me verbal directions for the whole process. My other kids said, "Why don't you just blog about it and then if we ever want to make it we can just look it up!" I thought that wasn't a bad idea.

I did tell them the time when I was really sick about 8 years ago. I don't ever remember being that sick in my life. I couldn't move with a horrible aches and hadn't gotten out of bed in a full 24 hours. I had to call someone to take my kids to school.

When my oldest arrived home from school, I asked her to make me some chicken soup. She brought me a mug of soup. I started to drink it and it was so salty I couldn't drink it. I asked her if she had added a can of water. She said, "Was I supposed to?" I laughed and said, "You know how to make chicken soup from a turkey but as a senior in high school you don't know how to make a can of chicken soup!" We still laugh about that.

This is how I make turkey or chicken stock. I take my roasted turkey and pull off all the excess meat I can from the bones. I put that into baggies and freeze if we have more than we can eat in a day or two. I use that for turkey salad or add it to rice or make enchiladas with it.

After all the meat is off, I add about 1 gallon of water to my roasting pan or enough that most of the bones are under water and put the pan on the burner and bring it to a boil. I then turn down the heat and let the pot simmer for a few hours. You may want to set a timer as there has been one or two times I forgot and the water boiled out and we scorched the pan.

Once the bones have simmered, the meat just falls off. You can see the difference in the fluid color from the top photos to the bottom how it gets richer when it has simmered for an hour or two. I use a fork and start taking the bones out of the pan. A slotted spoon would work but sometimes it is hard to keep all the meat that way. I take all the fat out. I actually take most of the skin off before baking it so there isn't a ton but it is easy to get it out once it is boiled down.

Using the fork I scrape any meat that is still on the bones off. There are sometimes little bones from the neck in the bottom. I usually cook the neck just for the flavor and meat it adds to soup. I use the slotted spoon to make sure I got all the bones, fat and skin out of the stock.

Next, I spoon it into containers and label it for freezing. Always leave a little room at the top for expansion so you don't crack your containers. If it is a large turkey, you can make four to six medium soups out of the stock. This was a medium turkey and I got 4 medium soup stocks out of it.

To make soup, just rinse the frozen stock container with hot water, dump the stock frozen into a pot. Add about 3 to 4 containers of hot water into the pot using the stock container to get all the stock out. Add veggies to your liking. I usually keep a larger amount of turkey in the stock but sometimes I add some of the frozen turkey into the stock to add more meat if needed.

One thing my step-mom taught me, she takes the center of the celery when making celery sticks and freezes it and when making soup, she just pulls the cut up leaves from the celery heart and puts them in the soup. I used to throw that leafy stuff away. Now, I freeze it and use it in my soup.

If you like a more stocky soup, only add 1-2 containers of water. I don't add much salt and pepper because we like to eat potato chips in our soup which adds salt but normally, you would add seasons to taste.

Thanks for taking "Stock" in my blog today!

Camping Hand Print Quilt Part 1

OK, you may be sick of seeing the hand print quilts. I know I am about sick of them as well. My younger two daughters were sad that they didn't have any because of situations at the time that made us unable to get the family prints. So, I told them that I would make them "camping quilts" because most of my family goes camping.

So, I had all the squares cut before we went and while the family was playing and watching "Minute to Win it." I was getting every one's hand print in paint on quilting squares.

One of my nephews grew a full foot since I saw him at Christmas time and his hand almost didn't fit on the larger squares that I used for these two quilts. His photo is at the top.

I thought it was cute that my dad would still do the hand print when I told him what it was for, he readily turned out his palm.

Interesting, I have a step sister and she and one of her daughters both turned their hand over and placed it on the quilt square when everyone else left theirs in the air to get paint on it. They weren't together when they did it. I thought that was interesting.

One other thing that was weird is that about 7 out of the 40 or so hand prints I got had a little "heart" in the center. They were all blood related so that must be inherited as well. Funny how those things work. I would love to have a palm reader check out the quilt. :-)

Anyway, while camping I finished Princess number 3's quilting around the squares and am in the process of sewing it. Actually, I have to be honest as I am sure none of you have ever done anything like this. It has been laid out on the floor for 2 weeks quilted and was laid out before that in order while I quilted the squares for at least a month. I am embarrassed to say that I have had something laying on the floor for a month but I just haven't had the time to sew it even when a row was done I could have but life is happening....

So, the hand print thing actually worked out well. I had a pan of water to wash, I used sponge brushes to paint the palms and paper towels I replaced under each square to blot any excess paint through the fabric. I let the squares dry in the back of my suburban and now I am working on quilting around the hands. I went on a nine hour band field trip this week and got about 8 squares quilted on the bus there and back. Lets hope for both our sakes that I get these quilts done soon!

I have to say my youngest Princess asked me on the field trip if I was working on her quilt with a sparkle in her eye. They really are a fun thing for them to have. What a blessing we have such a large and fun family.

Minute to Win it - Camping style

My family was looking for something fun to do with the older children as the younger kids get to do an Easter egg hunt. Each year we come up with something new such as "Fear Factor" or a scavenger hunt. This year, my brother and his wife brought the makings of "Minute to Win it."

They had about 20 games with three teams competing against the clock and not each other. They had someone keep track of times and if the task was completed within one minute.

My girls had a blast every time they took a turn. Everyone set up camp chairs so they could watch. I will show a few photos of the times that my girls and I took a turn playing.

If you notice the top photo, there is a marshmallow hanging in the air in the center and they had to have a marshmallow on the plate on the table, hit the plate with the broom handle and the marshmallow flies into the air where they catch it with the cup.

My only turn consisted of blowing up three balloons and keeping all three in the air for 10 seconds. The blowing up and tying the balloons, I ruled, however, the wind was blowing so keeping the balloons in the air was a bust by all three teams.

My sister had a challenge where they had to stack soda cans on plates starting with one can and then two on a plate, then three, up to five on a plate. She was the only one that got them all on but didn't finish in a minute.

My oldest did one where she had a yard stick with a battery on either end and they had to race across camp without losing a battery and having to start over. She won but then we realized her batteries were flat on the bottom and the other brand they used were rounded making it an unfair contest.

Princess 3 and 5 competed in one that had two containers of tic-tacs taped on a ruler and they had to dump them out using their teeth. That was fun until my twin nieces tried to eat the tic-tacs out of the sand. :-) Gotta love kids!!

I have never seen the show but by the sounds of the cheers from our crowd, it is probably a hit. We really enjoyed playing and it was fun to adapt it for camping. It was also quite funny to watch which kept every one's attention which is hard for such a varied aged group.

We took lots of fun prizes and let all the kids take one and they each got a bag of candy and treats as well. It was a hit.

I asked my brothers wife where she got all the games and she told me on the NBC website so I went and checked it out and for ease, I will put the link here. http://www.nbc.com/minute-to-win-it/how-to/

You could adapt it for each holiday by adding some costumes or traditional items from that holiday into some games etc. Have fun in a minute where ever you are~

My Sisters Scrapping Camping Card

I have a sister that can do amazing things with paper, wire and some fibers. I have all the supplies to scrap book but never quite find the time to do it myself. For years I have admired her work. She teaches classes and comes up with the most amazing things. The county had a celebration where it gave 100 people squares and asked them to decorate them for an anniversary activity for the county. My sister was asked to participate. I haven't taken photos of it yet but when it goes on display with the others at the end of this week, I will show you what she came up with.




For now, you will have to "suffer" through her Easter card. We were camping last weekend and I couldn't believe what she came up with to keep her busy camping. I fretted taking my one little project for everyone to participate in and will post about that tomorrow but here is her amazing craft. It is a card that you pull the little tab on the top and up pops from the top and bottom of the card, little inserts that say things. I asked her if she would be willing to show me how she made it and so she put one together for me.



Of course, she makes it look easy and just popped everything together but at least you will get the idea. First you cut out the "holder" for the pull outs. This is what it looks like and will be folded in thirds to make the case or holder. Then you cut a strip of a plastic shopping bag and fold it around the indented part of the card holder. It needs to be loose enough that it will slide fairly easily.


She used double sided sticky tape/tabs to hold the plastic bag onto itself. She then made the inside pop up cards. Once those were decorated, she measured where they should be placed on the inside of the card so they wouldn't have one sticking out or popping up before the other. she used double sided sticky tape to adhere the card to the plastic bag. Make sure you don't stick the bag to the outer holding card or the inner card will stick and not move easily.


Once you have one side stuck onto the plastic ring of shopping bag, you place that side inside the card before taping the other inside card onto the plastic shopping bag ring. Also, make sure that the edge of the shopping bag is near the top (as in the photo) so it doesn't catch on the inner card, this will make it not slide well. She placed ribbon and fibers in a hole punched in the top of the top/inner card so that it would be easier to pull the card out. She used a trick I have never used with paper and fiber. She used a latch hook to pull the fibers and ribbon through the hole that was punched. It pulled it through quickly and easily making the knot effortless. She is so resourceful that way.


Once the inner cards are in place securely, test the card by folding the outer card around them and pull the inner cards making sure the card pulls easily. Then secure the outer card with glue or sticky tape and then decorate the front of the card. She used rick-rack, wire, button, fiber, ribbon, chalk and paper.


Once you have it decorated, send it to those you love because spending that much time on anything to give away means something. She made it look easy and it went fast as she had everything cut and decorated and was just putting it together for me. It really is a piece of art. Who said art has to hang on the wall?

Singing on Easter, Nerd Day, $5 Blessing and More

It has been a busy time. I have a love hate relationship with spring. I love the new growth and life that comes with spring but hate the busy schedule that comes with the end of the school year. I just thought I would put a few things together that are going on in our lives and tell you some gratitude moments I can share. Last night I was gathering tears as I thought on my blessings during my prayers and how much I am blessed with in my life. Even though I don't always have much money, my Heavenly Father provides for my needs on a daily basis.

So with that, here is a little about last week. It was Nerd day at the high school and the girls looked so cute I couldn't help but post a photo. My girls and I celebrated Easter a week early so Princess number two could attend the celebration. With that, we had lots of extra time on Easter day so with a bit of arm twisting, I got the girls to join me in singing at the local care center. I have written a version of "Amazing Grace" for us to sing a cappella since everyone knows that hymn. We went to the nursing home, hospital and visited a few sick and elderly from our congregation and the girls (as always) are happy that they went when they get the grateful comments from the patients. We usually asked if the person had a favorite hymn and if they did, we tried to do our best to sing it. We got rave reviews most of the time. We gave them candy sticks, and for the diabetics we took apples and stuffed bears. The gifts and visits seemed to be appreciated.


One father of a patient at the local hospital was a rather gruff man and when we finished he looked up from his slouched state shocked and said, "Hey, that was pretty good." I laughed and said, "You act surprised, If we weren't would you say the same thing?" His daughter said, "He'd have told you." Then he said again, "You really are good." So, I will share a link with you to our youtube singing of the same. Some of our songs are rough as we really aren't together much to practice and don't sing together often but it is fun when I can wrestle them all into singing with me. Here is a link to our "Amazing Grace" version.


Another blessing this week came in the mail. I got a free $5 gift card which was nice as a WalMart near us remodeled. Another gratitude moment came when my princess number three asked her principle if he thought they could help support her some on her trip to Kenya to do the service mission. He told her that he couldn't use his funds for that but since she had gotten accepted to another summer program through the school, they would pay for that activity in full. I was VERY grateful as I had to pay for my oldest two princesses to go to that activity and as you can see by the check, it was $350 which I didn't have to pay. Can you understand why now I have tears when I think about how blessed I am in my life.


Amazing kids, beautiful home, everything I need and want is provided by my loving Heavenly Father and He uses amazingly wonderful people around me to bless my life. I don't want you to think everything in my life is roses but as far as blessings go, I truly am blessed.

Gimmie "S'more Pie" - Camping treat

My sister brought a new idea camping this year. She had some "Keebler" mini graham cracker pie crusts and wondered what it would be like to use those for "smores" rather than graham cracker and adding bananas like"banana boats" and combined the two.

So, we took bananas and cut them up into small pieces and put them into the pie shell. We then put in chocolate chunks or chocolate chips and either put in mini marshmallows or one large one and cooked it using the double tines hot dog roasting forks.

I wanted my marshmallows more roasted so I roasted the marshmallows at the same time on a different roaster so they would be more melted all the way through.

I am not a big marshmallow fan or a smore fan usually. I personally like the coconut marshmallows and roast maybe one a year. However, I found these interesting swirled chocolate/vanilla marshmallows that were a hit with the kids this year made by Kraft. I did find that they were a bit more sticky as when I went to buy a bag, they were all stuck together in the bags so I searched to find one that wasn't smushed together.

Even though I am not big on the smores thing, I enjoyed my "smore pie" better than I would a regular smore because it had the banana making it like a banana boat which I like more.

It was a big hit with the kids. Each added what they liked. I think next year I will take peanut butter chips, mint chips and butterscotch chips so we can have more of a variety. Banana with peanut butter chips sounds yummy to me.

Here is my niece eating hers. I wonder if she ate more hair and dirt than pie. Either way, she was happy. You'll have your campers asking for "S'more Pie" if you try this. Happy camp fire!