Spiders (Yucky and Cool at the same time)

My Grandson, Payton showed me this trick.
Take a flashlight on a dark night
and shine it into the grass
You will see a bunch of tiny reflections
These are spider eyes reflecting your light
Try this with your kids this week
This Wolf spiders reflect the light
What other types of spiders do?
Have your kids Google it.
Don't tell your kids what the reflections
are until they see them or they might
not want to try this. It's like I always tell
my Girls, "Conquer your Fears" or
you will be afraid of everything!

Tacky Camping Signs

 I just wanted to take a minute and show you some of my new tacky camping signs. I carry a pen and paper everywhere with me so if I think of a cute slogan I can write it down and some I am finding online. The last sign is from the movie RV, one of the funniest movies we own. If you have ever had a fear about your black tank, you've got to watch that movie.
The Park Ranger stopped and asked me if these were my signs
and my first

thought is....why? But she starts laughing and tells me she loves them especially the last one.  Today I am Tacky Queen, woohoo!

When we pulled into the park there is a warning sign to watch out for new babies....baby deer. I got a picture of one of them this morning before he jumped into the woods and there are a lots of them.

Chicken Broccoli and Rice Casserole

My daughter, Amy bought this broccoli and rice stuffed chicken from Herbert's (pronounced a-bear) Specialty Meats and it was fabulous. It was dripping in butter and had just the right amount of heat in it. So naturally I have tried to recreate the recipe and I have gotten real close. try it, your family will love it!

 

Chicken, Broccoli and Rice Casserole

 

2 cups of boneless skinless cubed chicken

1 onion finely chopped

2 jalapenos finely chopped

12 of bag of broccoli, thawed and finely chopped

2 cups of instant white rice

8 tablespoons of Parkay butter

2 cups of water

2 teaspoons of chicken broth granules 

8 oz can of cream of chicken soup

1/2 teaspoon of black pepper

8 oz block of Velveeta cheese, cubed

 

In a large pan, cook chicken and onion until chicken is no longer pink. Add broccoli and jalapenos until heated. Stir in rice, butter, water, broth, soup and pepper. Bring to a boil, reduce heat, cover and let sit for 8 minutes. Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees. Add Velveeta and pour into a 13 x 9 pan. Bake for 20 minutes and enjoy!

Remember The Old Burma Shave Road Signs

Remember the old Burma Shave road signs? As you drive down the road there would be signs spaced apart that you could read and they were pretty cute. When we went to the Airport Dinner in Brenham TX they had some of these signs and that got me to thinking, what if I do some for our camping trips??? How cute would that be?

So I grabbed a notebook and a pen and I have been jotting down cute little quips to make into signs. I Googled them, I searched for them on Pinterest, RV sites and some are just from what little memory I have left. I used my Cricut and Sure Cuts A Lot

program to create a bunch of signs. I put these signs out and people were walking from down the road to read my signs. Tacky, tacky, tacky......I Win!!! WooHoo!!!

There's No Crying in Softball

 I went to watch my niece Alivia play softball and I asked her if she was hungry and she asked for some Kettle Corn. As I am walking to get the corn I see a woman wearing this adorable shirt and I knew I had to have one. I wondered to myself,  where I could buy one.... wait a minute I can make that! So I get home and create the image on my Cricut using the Sure Cuts A Lot program. Cut the image on vinyl, peel it, pre-mask it, press it onto my shirt, peel of the pre-mask, press it again, and paint over it. Now, I can't wait to go to another game so I can wear my shirt.

Hey Girls, there's no crying in softball!

Camping with Kids

Kids love camping, the preparation, the travel and the adventure. My daughter Melanie put together two backpacks for her two boys and filled them with camping stuff. The boys don't get to play with these backpacks until they go on vacation or camping. What a great Mom! With school just out the kids have their old backpacks, just fill them up and put them away. The dollar store is a great place to stock up on outdoor toys and they bring in new items all the time. Every time you go camping throw a few new items in the backpack and the kids will love opening it to find out what's new in the bag. Think outside of the box and of course age appropriate items, my older grandson got a real knife and the younger grandson got a plastic cutlery knife. Go to Texas Parks and Wildlife to download an "Outdoor Kids" journal. Happy Camping!

Backpack ideas:
flashlight (flashlight tag)
compass
water bottle
sunglasses
balls / hacky sack
whistle
chalk (washes of with water)
bandana
cap
disposable camera (photo scavenger hunt)
binoculars
water guns
rope (clothes line, build a raft or teepee)
spork (spoon & fork)
knife
fishing line
magnifying glass
plastic jars - bugs, tadpoles, rocks, blackberries (recycle old peanut butter jars)
snacks
cards
first aid kit
walking stick
shovel
net (tad poles & butterflies)
spiral notebook (to draw what they see, tic-tac-toe, paper boat, bark rubbings)
pencils & sharpened
sit upon
tape measure (this will keep them busy for hours, teach them half and quarters)
travel games
dollar store toys

** My niece, Kelly (a great Mom too), packs her kids lunch boxes with snacks for the trip that they can have at anytime without asking.

Portable Holding Tank for Camping

We like camping for extended stays, so what do you do about the black and gray tanks filling to fast? You buy a portable holding tank! We researched the tanks first and a lot of the reviews talked about the wheels cracking, so we replaced the wheels before we used it. With the original tank you put the hose in the hole and empty but we didn't like that so we added a valve, we don't want to see anything! If you put the correct amount of chemicals in your tank you shouldn't smell anything. We have been around some campers who don't use chemicals...not pleasant! Problem solved, we are now ready to roll!

Red, White and Blue Top

I wanted a red, white and blue tank top so I decided to make myself one. The trickiest part of this whole process was getting the tape on straight. Once the tape is on you just paint the shirt, I used navy blue and deep red Tulip slick paint. I used a foam brush and then tried a paint brush and they worked about the same. Now I am ready for the 4th of July!