Cousin's Camp

Writer's Note:  I seem to have highlighted text where I have copied and pasted and moved some things....don't know why that is and I can't seem to get rid of it.  This kind of stuff drives me nuts!!!  Sorry for the look of that, I would it prefer it NOT be there.    SRL

The Silver Fox and I just survived another year of Cousin's Camp with the grateful help of several of our girls.  I would love to be able to do this ourselves, but it really does make a difference to have extra hands and eyes when we have the "Lesh Mob" to patrol......all 14 of them this year (14 of 15).  It is 48 hours over 3 days of CRAZY!!!

One of the biggest parts of Cousin's Camp around here is the camp gear I do for them each year.  It varies some, but usually includes a personalized bag, a name badge, hat, and cup or glass with a LID.

This year I also included machine embroidered t-shirts....I really didn't do that good of job with a theme...the girl's shirts were hot pink and the boys were gray.  Most of the time I am looking for bargains, as I have to have 14 of everything....at least this year....next year will be 15.  Here is the badge I did for them using digital scrapbooking supplies and photoshop.....they turned out well except I should have made the "sunkissed" brush a little smaller...it got lost on the edge of the button.

These buttons are easy to make and because my mother loves such tools (and I am my mother's daughter), as she taught school, Sunday School, and VBS for years.....she had a whole box of supplies and the press to pass on to me....wonderful!!!  You can get your own at badgeaminit    I don't believe it is that costly for the supplies.

I found some crazy star sunglasses and some leather bracelets kits.....which I ended up doing for them because they were too difficult.  I left a couple of them undone....just to let the older three kids give it a whirl.  Gabe our oldest and a puzzle wizard was able to figure it out.  It took me quite a while to do the first one, but after that one, it went much better.  The kids thought they were very cool.

I ended up buying a better canvas bag, so I didn't let them decorate them.  But instead did a nice machine embroidered name on each one...BTW....no stabilizer to do this and I did hoop the bags in my Do It All Hoop and they stitched out beautifully.  I encourage the kids to keep their "special things" and crafts in their bags....so as not to lose them and ask Mommo.... "Where is my ?????  This is a great idea in theory, but practically speaking with 14 of them, they can't seem to be bothered to put their stuff away.  But the orderly Mommo in me keeps on trying.

My meals are very basic and easy....one was grilled hot dogs, individual bags of chips (I get a huge variety of them in a tray at Sam's Club), mini carrots and grapes clusters, with Corn Flake Cookies for dessert.  My mom made these while I was growing up and I have always loved them.  My girls wanted this recipe after Cousin's Camp....they thought they were so good.

 Corn Flake Cookie


1 c. shortening
1 c. white sugar
1 c. brown sugar
2 eggs
1 t. vanilla
2 c. flour
1 t. soda
1/2 t. baking powder
1 c. coconut
2 c. oatmeal
2 c. cornflakes
1/2 c. chopped nuts


opt. 1 bag of semi-sweet chocolate bits

Cream shortening and add sugars, then eggs and vanilla.  Then add all the dry ingredients and mix.

Stir in coconut, oatmeal, cornflakes and chocolate chips.

I always add chocolate chips and never add the nuts, because I have kids that don't like nuts.  They never comment on the coconut,  so I don't think they know it is in there.

I always use parchment paper and two cookie sheets when I bake cookies.  Then I never have to wash the pans and I slide the cookies off the pan when they are done baking.

 While one pan in baking, I prepare the next pan.  I also use a small ice cream scoop to spoon out the dough onto the pan, they are all the same size and just flatten them slightly with my hand.

Bake 350 for 11 minutes.