Saturday, July 2
Are you going to find yourself being in charge of entertaining children this summer? I know this can set up a panic in some folks, especially many of us senior citizens so I thought these fun and simple games might come in handy.
Barb
SIMPLE FAMILY FUN IDEAS
Entertainment doesn't have to be expensive. Sometimes
the simplest ideas are also the most fun. While preparing
for a birthday party for one of my children, I checked out
several books from the library on party games. I also
searched my brain, trying to remember fun group games
from my own childhood. I came up with several fun ideas
to use at the party, and I thought I'd share them with all
of you.
Many of these games work equally well for children's
parties, grown-up parties, and mixed-age groups (such
as family gatherings).
KEEP A STRAIGHT FACE
Two teams sit facing each other in two lines. One team
is chosen to go first and they must keep a straight face
no matter what. In the meantime, the opposing team is
doing everything within their power to make the other team
laugh or crack a smile. No touching or tickling, but other
than that, anything goes! It's so funny to watch the creative
ways people try to make each other laugh.
SPOT THE THIMBLE
Everyone leaves the room for a moment while one person
hides a thimble somewhere in plain sight in the room. When
the people who left the room return, as soon as each person
sees the thimble, they sit down without letting others know
where the thimble is hiding. The last one to find the thimble
does a forfeit of some sort (ie: sings a song, recites a poem,
spells their name backward, kisses their own shadow, etc.).
The first one to see the thimble hides it on the next round.
MUSICAL SPOONS
Played like Musical Chairs. You set out spoons on the floor
(one less spoon than the number of players). As the music
plays, everyone crawls around on the floor in time to the
music. When the music stops, each person tries to grab a
spoon. One person won't be able to, so they're out until the
next game. Continue the game using one spoon less than
the number of players until only one person is left.
NOAH'S ARK
This game was the hit of my daughter's slumber party. The girls
could've played it all night! Put the names of animals onto slips
of paper and then into a hat (be sure include two of each animal,
of course). Let each participant draw an animal name but don't
tell anyone else what it is. They're going to be the animals on
Noah's Ark. Something has happened so that all the animals
have escaped from their pens. The animals now need to find
their partners. The lights go out, and then everyone spreads
throughout the room or throughout the house. Then they're
told to find their "partners" by only making the noises of the
animals. At my daughter's party, at the end of the game, I
purposely didn't use matches for any of the animal names
so none of the children had a partner -- but the girls didn't
know this! My husband and I sat on the couch and laughed
'til we cried while all the little animals went mooing and barking
and meowing all over the house looking for their non-existent
partners.
STRIKE-A-POSE
A Charades-type game. Put words into a hat such as: tragic,
shocked, lovestruck, smart, silly. The person who is "it" draws
a word and then strikes a pose that somehow communicates
the word (no acting out, just holding one pose).
MANNERISMS
Another Charades-type game. This time put slips of paper
containing adverbs (happily, angrily, shyly, etc.) into a hat.
In this game, people in the room ask "it" to do things to act
out the word. The players say something like, "Go to the
door in the manner of the word," or "Read a book in the
manner of the word," or "Sit in the chair in the manner of
the word."
Have fun, everyone!
Barb
SIMPLE FAMILY FUN IDEAS
Entertainment doesn't have to be expensive. Sometimes
the simplest ideas are also the most fun. While preparing
for a birthday party for one of my children, I checked out
several books from the library on party games. I also
searched my brain, trying to remember fun group games
from my own childhood. I came up with several fun ideas
to use at the party, and I thought I'd share them with all
of you.
Many of these games work equally well for children's
parties, grown-up parties, and mixed-age groups (such
as family gatherings).
KEEP A STRAIGHT FACE
Two teams sit facing each other in two lines. One team
is chosen to go first and they must keep a straight face
no matter what. In the meantime, the opposing team is
doing everything within their power to make the other team
laugh or crack a smile. No touching or tickling, but other
than that, anything goes! It's so funny to watch the creative
ways people try to make each other laugh.
SPOT THE THIMBLE
Everyone leaves the room for a moment while one person
hides a thimble somewhere in plain sight in the room. When
the people who left the room return, as soon as each person
sees the thimble, they sit down without letting others know
where the thimble is hiding. The last one to find the thimble
does a forfeit of some sort (ie: sings a song, recites a poem,
spells their name backward, kisses their own shadow, etc.).
The first one to see the thimble hides it on the next round.
MUSICAL SPOONS
Played like Musical Chairs. You set out spoons on the floor
(one less spoon than the number of players). As the music
plays, everyone crawls around on the floor in time to the
music. When the music stops, each person tries to grab a
spoon. One person won't be able to, so they're out until the
next game. Continue the game using one spoon less than
the number of players until only one person is left.
NOAH'S ARK
This game was the hit of my daughter's slumber party. The girls
could've played it all night! Put the names of animals onto slips
of paper and then into a hat (be sure include two of each animal,
of course). Let each participant draw an animal name but don't
tell anyone else what it is. They're going to be the animals on
Noah's Ark. Something has happened so that all the animals
have escaped from their pens. The animals now need to find
their partners. The lights go out, and then everyone spreads
throughout the room or throughout the house. Then they're
told to find their "partners" by only making the noises of the
animals. At my daughter's party, at the end of the game, I
purposely didn't use matches for any of the animal names
so none of the children had a partner -- but the girls didn't
know this! My husband and I sat on the couch and laughed
'til we cried while all the little animals went mooing and barking
and meowing all over the house looking for their non-existent
partners.
STRIKE-A-POSE
A Charades-type game. Put words into a hat such as: tragic,
shocked, lovestruck, smart, silly. The person who is "it" draws
a word and then strikes a pose that somehow communicates
the word (no acting out, just holding one pose).
MANNERISMS
Another Charades-type game. This time put slips of paper
containing adverbs (happily, angrily, shyly, etc.) into a hat.
In this game, people in the room ask "it" to do things to act
out the word. The players say something like, "Go to the
door in the manner of the word," or "Read a book in the
manner of the word," or "Sit in the chair in the manner of
the word."
Have fun, everyone!
Thursday, June 30
Last night we had quite a wind storm and we noticed a robins nest and two babies on the ground last night after the storm. Mom and Dad are still feeding them and they are both doing fine today. If they can last till they are old enough to fly is another question. Angel has been grounded in an effort to give them a chance at life.
Wednesday, June 29
What A Day!
What a day it has been! Thunderstorm at about 5:00 AM and I had planned a bike ride wouldn't you know. It finally let up enough we thought we could go. Butch has been having trouble with his "snoodle" while riding so he bought a new seat yesterday to try to alleviate the problem. We are less than two miles into the ride when he says he can't hack the new seat so I go on without him.
I get to the Raccoon river bridge and the river is in full rage. I know Butch is going to miss this sight! I stop and take a few pictures. A little past the bridge I have two deer cross the trail in front of me. Close enough for me to brake but not close enough to be scary. About a half mile further on I see a Doe standing a ways off the trail and she spots me but instead of running she hunkers down so I get off the bike and start taking pictures of her. She finally had enough of the photo shoot and took off, slipping in the mud as she ran.
I rode out to the Harrison family rock (7.10 miles from home) and turned around. I was the first one on the trail today and I like being first to see all the wildlife that has yet to be frightened for the day. I saw many Orioles, Indigo Bunting, Goldfinch, Robins and Cardinals. We generally have butterfly escorts for at least part of the trip and today was no exception.
On the way back I had an insect fly into my eye and it stung like the devil! I made a quick stop and flushed my eye with cold water and was able to alleviate the pain after a while.
When I got back to the MoHo I told Butch he had to go see the river so we drove out and parked near the trail and walked the quarter mile to the bridge. It was awesome!!! I think it was quite a bit higher than when I had been there earlier and there were large logs and debris moving very quickly, tumbling, swirling and cracking when it ran into jammed logs and the bridge abutments. We stayed for over an hour watching all the action in the river. I told Butch just think of all the people missing this amazing sight!!
All the river pictures can be seen on the Webshots site.
Pictures:
I get to the Raccoon river bridge and the river is in full rage. I know Butch is going to miss this sight! I stop and take a few pictures. A little past the bridge I have two deer cross the trail in front of me. Close enough for me to brake but not close enough to be scary. About a half mile further on I see a Doe standing a ways off the trail and she spots me but instead of running she hunkers down so I get off the bike and start taking pictures of her. She finally had enough of the photo shoot and took off, slipping in the mud as she ran.
I rode out to the Harrison family rock (7.10 miles from home) and turned around. I was the first one on the trail today and I like being first to see all the wildlife that has yet to be frightened for the day. I saw many Orioles, Indigo Bunting, Goldfinch, Robins and Cardinals. We generally have butterfly escorts for at least part of the trip and today was no exception.
On the way back I had an insect fly into my eye and it stung like the devil! I made a quick stop and flushed my eye with cold water and was able to alleviate the pain after a while.
When I got back to the MoHo I told Butch he had to go see the river so we drove out and parked near the trail and walked the quarter mile to the bridge. It was awesome!!! I think it was quite a bit higher than when I had been there earlier and there were large logs and debris moving very quickly, tumbling, swirling and cracking when it ran into jammed logs and the bridge abutments. We stayed for over an hour watching all the action in the river. I told Butch just think of all the people missing this amazing sight!!
All the river pictures can be seen on the Webshots site.
Pictures:
Tuesday, June 28
From friend Donna G. is S. Texas: Here in South Texas, in restaurants you may find that they serve a dessert called flan, it has a caramel topping and is like a custard, it's delicious! Well a friend of mine makes a cake called cocoa flan cake or chocolate flan cake, here's the recipe! It is like chocolate cake on the bottom and the flan is on top
Donna
Chocolate Flan Cake
Cake
1 (18.25 ounce) box chocolate or devil's food cake mix
Topping
1 (10.9-ounce) jar cajeta (caramel topping) or Smucker?s
caramel topping or homemade cajeta
Flan
1 (14 ounce) can sweetened condensed milk
1 (12 ounce) can evaporated milk
1/2 cup fresh milk
8 ounces cream cheese, at room temperature
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
5 eggs
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Spray a large (at least 12-cup) Bundt pan with nonstick coating.
Soften the cajeta in the jar in the microwave and pour into the prepared pan. (If you can?t find the cajeta or do not want to make your own, substitute Smucker?s Caramel topping, but the Mexican cajeta has a richer flavor).
Prepare cake mix according to package directions. Pour the cake batter into the cake pan over the caramel.
To make the flan, pour condensed, evaporated and fresh milks into a blender with the cream cheese, vanilla and eggs. Mix well. Pour the flan mixture very slowly over the cake batter. Cover the pan TIGHTLY with aluminum foil. Covering tightly is very important.
Set the Bundt pan into a large pan and set on the oven rack and slide in. Carefully pour hot water into the larger pan to a depth of 2 inches (The Bundt pan will be sitting in 2 inches of water).
Bake cake for about 2 hours; do not uncover during this time.
5. After two hours, remove cake from water and allow to cool for 15 minutes. Invert cake onto a large plate with rim. The cajeta will drip down the sides of the cake. Cool completely then refrigerate.
NOTE: Even though the flan is poured on top of the cake batter, it will sink to the bottom of the pan.
Donna
Chocolate Flan Cake
Cake
1 (18.25 ounce) box chocolate or devil's food cake mix
Topping
1 (10.9-ounce) jar cajeta (caramel topping) or Smucker?s
caramel topping or homemade cajeta
Flan
1 (14 ounce) can sweetened condensed milk
1 (12 ounce) can evaporated milk
1/2 cup fresh milk
8 ounces cream cheese, at room temperature
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
5 eggs
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Spray a large (at least 12-cup) Bundt pan with nonstick coating.
Soften the cajeta in the jar in the microwave and pour into the prepared pan. (If you can?t find the cajeta or do not want to make your own, substitute Smucker?s Caramel topping, but the Mexican cajeta has a richer flavor).
Prepare cake mix according to package directions. Pour the cake batter into the cake pan over the caramel.
To make the flan, pour condensed, evaporated and fresh milks into a blender with the cream cheese, vanilla and eggs. Mix well. Pour the flan mixture very slowly over the cake batter. Cover the pan TIGHTLY with aluminum foil. Covering tightly is very important.
Set the Bundt pan into a large pan and set on the oven rack and slide in. Carefully pour hot water into the larger pan to a depth of 2 inches (The Bundt pan will be sitting in 2 inches of water).
Bake cake for about 2 hours; do not uncover during this time.
5. After two hours, remove cake from water and allow to cool for 15 minutes. Invert cake onto a large plate with rim. The cajeta will drip down the sides of the cake. Cool completely then refrigerate.
NOTE: Even though the flan is poured on top of the cake batter, it will sink to the bottom of the pan.
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