Kiddie rhymes and games...

 *Edited note: We will be on a trip, so will be sure to return your lovely visits, when we return*

Who remembers this one?

"So, so, Suck your toe...

....All the way to Mexico...

...riding on a buffalo...

I think I first heard this one in the 4th grade.

By this time, my family had moved from Wakkinai AFB, Japan to Kelly AFB, Texas (SanAntonio, TX).

My hubby and I were laughing about how I learned it and how he learned it! The way he learned it when he was a kid, growing up in Hawaii, was:

 "So, so, Suck your toe...

...All the way to Tokoyo...

This was a photo of my Handsome Hawaiian Honey when he was almost 7 years old and his 8 year old big brother  by their driveway.

~~~~~

I remember playing outside for hours and hours..playing jump rope games, chase, hopscotch, Chinese Jump rope, Red light/Green light, Simon Says, Red Rover, kick ball, dodge ball, Mother May I?, jacks, with the neighborhood kids...til almost dark.

Here are some others that I remember from around the 4th grade:

 ~Hand-clapping games~

Miss Mary Mack Mack Mack, all dressed in black black black, w/silver buttons...all down her back...she asked her mother...for 50 cents...to see the elephants jump over the fence...They jumped so high...They reached the sky...They didn't come back...till the 4th of July!

Down by the banks of the Hanky Panky
Where the bullfrogs jump from bank to banky
Where the eeps, ops, sodapops
Hey Mr. Lilypad and went kerplops

A sailor went to sea sea sea
To see what he could see see see
And all that he could see see see
Was the bottom of the deep blue sea sea sea.

Down down baby down by the roller coaster... sweet sweet baby sweet sweet don't let me go... shimmey shimmey coco pop... shimmey shimmey ra... shimmey shimmey coco pop... shimmey shimmey ra... i have a boyfriend... a biscuit he's so cute... a triscuit... knock me off my feet...a biscuit...apples on the table... peaches on the floor... step down baby... i don't love you any more

Concentration, concentration now begins, Keep that rhythm...numbers... (or flowers or any other category you choose)...such as...

I am a pretty little Dutch Girl
As Pretty as Pretty can be!
And all the boys around the block, go crazy over me!
One day when I was walkin,
I heard my boyfriend talkin,
to a pretty little girl
with strawberry curls
and this is what he said to her:
I L-O-V-E Love you!
I K-I-S-S Kiss you!
I K-I-S-S Kiss you on your
F-A-C-E FACE FACE FACE!

 

(Girly~Twirly in 3rd grade, Hawaii during the May Day 1992 activities in school). 

~Rhymes to pick teams~

Eenie meenie minie moe... Catch a tiger by the toe... If he hollers, let him go... my momma told me to pick the very best one and you are not it!

Engine, engine, number nine, going down Chicago line, if the train falls off its tracks, do you want your money back?

In Wisconsin, at my parent's home, during our 1992 visit, when we left Hawaii and were being reassigned to Alabama. 

(Our three playing with the frogs they caught.)

~Jump roping games~

strawberry shortcake huckleberry pie who will be your lucky guy?
A_B_C_D_E_F_G_H_I_J_K_L_M_N_O_P_Q_R_S_T_U_V_W_X_Y_Z

Cinderella, dressed in yella
Went upstairs to kiss her fella
She made a mistake & kissed the snake
How many doctors did it take?

...another jump rope game, was to pull the jump rope taut and jump over it... each time, holding the jump rope higher and higher...and the winner was the last person that was able to jump over it, the highest.

(Girly~Whirly in 3rd grade, when we lived in Tulsa, Oklahoma, by the door to our house). 
(Oh another game, Girly~Whirly reminded me of was the string game (to make the Cat's cradle and Jacob's ladder, etc... she said when she was in 3rd grade her class was crazy about playing that and that her teacher had to "ban" all the yarn, cuz the kids were so distracted with playing that! haha)

~Game played opposite a friend~ 

(you jump and kick your feet back and forth)

tweet baby tweet baby
my momma said she rocks in the tree top
all day long
huffing and a puffing
and a singing that song
all the little birdies on chamber street
love to hear the robins going
tweet tweet tweet
rockin' robin

tweet, tweet

And in school, we played also played:

Tether Ball, Head up 7-up, Four square...

(Heartbreaker in 3rd grade, when we lived in Ft. Campbell, Kentucky).

Joining in 

...with  Marine parents, Life with my Littles, & Semper Wifey for Military Monday blog hop.

...with Trisha's Follow Me Wednesday.

...Free Pretty Things For You's Whatever You Want Wednesday.

...with Jenny's  Alphabe-Thursday's "J" 

...and with Alicia for Friday Photo Flashback. 

...and with Mel for Fancy Friday.

...and with Stacy for Friday Follow Fun.

~~~~~

Here are a few "baby info" art that are recently completed:

Frog was drawn with the first name: GRAHAM

Lion was drawn entirely with this little one's nickname QUINT

(He is William Allister the V.)

This one was drawn with the name: BRAYDON.

I'd love to hear some of the rhymes or games you played as a kid!

Thank you for stopping by! I will catch up and return your lovely visits when we return from our trip. 

Junken Pon!

As a 2nd grader living in Japan...

...I learned to play this little game:

Junken Pon! 

(pronounced like "Jun Ken Poh")

literal translation that I found at various sites: "It is the fist".

If there is a draw, both players continue with:

Aiko desho! 

(pronounced like "I-ko deh-shoh")

literal translation found at various sites: "It is equal".

It's neat to know that this is played in so many parts of the world. Check out this site to learn more about the Japanese version.

It is what is equivalent to:

Rock, Paper, Scissors!

Rock-paper-scissors is a hand game played by two or more people. The game is known by many names, including other orderings of the three items in the name (with "stone" often substituted by speakers of British English), piedra papel o tijera, fargling, cachi-pún, burung-batu-air ("bird-stone-water"), jan-ken-pon (and variants including jan-ken-poi ..., baau-jin-dup (Cantonese: "wrap-cut-crash"), kauwi-bauwi-bo (Korean: "scissors-rock-cloth"), камень-ножницы-бумага and rochambeau. (source: Wikipedia)

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A couple of posts ago, I had a few photos and memories of when I lived in Hanscom Air Force Base, Massachusetts.  (1967 to 1969).  

After that assignment, my dad flew to Wakkanai AFB, Japan.  

My mom and I flew later, so for a few months, we lived in West Allis, Wisconsin, where my grandpa and grandma on my dad's family lived.

My two younger cousins and I playing in the backyard of my grandparents' home.

Initially, we rented a local rental home of a very friendly Japanese family, until our military housing was ready.  Here is a photo of me in front of the rental.

(Groovy striped jeans!)

Here are some other photos that I have from that time frame:

(Sight-seeing with my parents' friends...my mom took this photo. I love my dad's cool shades, coral and white polo and grey jacket ;o)  ...the sun must have been real bright, cuz the little girl and I both have our eyes shut!)

Here are two photos of my mom and I in our Japanese rental house.

(My dad had some state of the art reel to reel tape players for music).

 Here is a photo taken on the side of our military townhouse. I was dressed up for a parade that my Brownie Troop would dance in.

Here is a previous post "KIMONO KIDS" of some other memories of when I was little in Japan. And also some photos of our girls wearing my same Kimono, 20 years later!

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While I learned to play "Jun ken po..." in Japan, my hubby was growing up in Hawaii and this was how he learned it: 

"Junk and a munken...a socka socka po!"

I was able to google search more about this game on a number of different sites and on one blog written by someone from Hilo, Hawaii (where my husband grew up), this blogger also mentioned the version of the phrases used, that my hubby and his siblings and friends said.

And Wow! Who would've known?? 

 (source:  Wikipedia)

1. "In 2006, Federal Judge Gregory Presnell from the Middle District of Florida ordered opposing sides in a lengthy court case to settle a trivial (but lengthily debated) point over the appropriate place for a deposition using the game of rock-paper-scissors."

2. The auction houses of  Christie's and Sotheby's " ...were unable to reach a decision. Hashiyama told the two firms to play rock-paper-scissors to decide who would get the rights to the auction, explaining that "it probably looks strange to others, but I believe this is the best way to decide between two things which are equally good". ...Christie's won the match and sold the twenty million dollar collection, with millions of dollars of commission for the auction house."

3. "The common side-blotched lizard (Uta stansburiana) exhibits a rock-paper-scissors pattern in its mating strategies. Of its three color types of males, "orange beats blue, blue beats yellow, and yellow beats orange" in competition for females, which is similar to the rules of rock-paper-scissors."

4. "Starting in 2002, the World Rock Paper Scissors Society standardized a set of rules for international play and has overseen annual International World Championships. These open, competitive championships have been widely attended by players from around the world and have attracted widespread international media attention."

5. "On July 9, 2010, over 6500 attendees of the LIFE 2010 Conference in Louisville, Kentucky, participated in the largest tournament of Rock-Paper-Scissors ever, shattering the previous record of 1150 participants."

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Joining in 

...with Trisha's Follow Me Wednesday.

...with Jenny's  Alphabe-Thursday's "J" 

...and with Alicia for Friday Photo Flashback. 

...and with Mel for Fancy Friday.

...and with Stacy for Road Trip Fun.

...and with April for  Military Monday blog hop.

& Here are more art orders completed and sent (I like to wait until I know that the art has already been received or given as a gift, before I post them). All art is drawn with a person's name.

This is an order for a farewell gift.

This is an order for a wedding gift.

..keeping busy with more art orders! Thank you to everyone for your interest and to all those that have requested some amazing subjects to draw!

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Have you played a variation of this game before? If you have, I'd love to hear how you played it, pronounced it, and if there is a different meaning to the words you used.

Thank you for stopping by! I'll be by to return your lovely visit and comments. 

Skillet Bread

Italian Skillet Bread...

We normally just call this "Skillet Bread", but since this is Jenny's  Alphabe-Thursday's "I"  and since I typically make this with "Italian-inspired" entrees like Chicken Parmesan and Spaghetti...I thought "Italian Skillet Bread" was perfect.

And I had to go over to Jo's awesome Giveaway...

...which brought me to Happier Than a Pig in Mud...so I'm linking on to her fun food BlogHop this week!

And also joining in with Alicia for Friday Photo Flashback. 

...and with Mel for Fancy Friday.

...and with Dolly & Lorrie's co-hosting their Recipe Swap Meet

...and with Bibi for Foodie Wednesday.

...and with April for  Military Monday blog hop.

***

First, a little bit about this yummy bread...

Amongst some of our kids' favorite requests when they come to visit, this little tasty tidbit makes its way with a meal...cuz its so quick and easy!  

...um...did I say "So Easy!"...This yummy addition to any meal is "Super-duper Easy!"

I do make it with the Chicken Parmesan, Eggplant Parmesan, Spaghetti...but also have made it to go with soup or chili...   I don't do measurements with this, but for this post, I tried to keep some of it in mind as well as the time and temp...

So here we go...

~ITALIAN SKILLET BREAD~

1. Ingredients are:  1 can of the biscuits, garlic powder, parmesan cheese, butter

(A non-stick skillet and lid).

2. Melt 1 tablespoon butter in skillet on low to medium.
Add a thin layer of garlic powder and parmesan cheese to the bottom of the skillet.
Pop the biscuits open (This still is such fun to do!)

3. Add the biscuits on top of the butter, garlic powder and parmesan cheese..in one layer...looks like a flower :o) Add about one more tablespoon of butter...I just put some pats of butter right on the biscuits.

And sprinkle more garlic powder and parmesan cheese to your taste.

Cover and let the one side brown on the medium heat for about 4 to 5 minutes or til golden brown.

 4. When one side is brown, I just slide the biscuits onto the cover and then use the lid to flip the biscuits back into the skillet, so that the other side will be browned.

5. Keep covered and keep cooking on medium heat til brown. Check and see that biscuits are cooked through with no doughy consistency. (About 5 to 6 minutes).

6. Flip onto a plate and serve hot! Yumm! Hope I explained it clearly. Enjoy!

(***I'm glad that I was able to join in this week in the fun blog hops/memes! Actually surprised that I was able to get this post together!...hm...I made that skillet bread so that I could post pictures with this post... and with our kids living out of state and my hubby at work... there's nobody ("no buddies") to share it with...***)

***

Here is a photo of our daughter Girly~Twirly and her boyfriend when they came home on their Spring Break this year. I know that I made the Italian Skillet Bread when they were home...but I guess, I didn't take any photos of any of our meals together!

 & here is a photo of my Handsome Honey with our son Heartbreaker and his girlfriend, when they came to visit during Spring Break this year...
(I couldn't find any photos of us when we had the skillet bread....but you can see the Monkey Bread (aka Pluck Cake aka Pull Aparts) that I had made when they were home.

(I was going to share that monkey bread recipe...that I had been making since 1984, when a dear friend shared me her recipe! ...now you can find that yummy recipe right on the packages of the Pillsbury biscuits!)

...besides Sweet Jo already shared this on her post along with her delicious looking Cordon Bleu recipe.

....and I also couldn't figure out a way to incorporate the letter "I" with "monkey bread! :o)

 ***

Have to get an order out today, so will close with only these art pieces that were recently done.

I realize that many of you are familiar with the art that I do....but for those that are new to my blog, every art piece that I do is drawn entirely with a person's name. Please take a look at more past orders on my facebook page...and I'd love if you become a "fan" of it by "liking" my facebook art page.

Thanks Angel, for ordering this one for your dad.

And thank you Pam for your interest in the art and it was fun doing this giveaway one for you to give to your hubby!

Thank you for stopping by...I will be sure to return your lovely visits! Thank you always for taking the time to comment :o)

(***added note: outside my front door, I found a fun surprise package left by the UPS man... my DVD of Hitch that I won on Quirky Pickings :o) Yay! Thanks sooo much! :o)

***

Oh! One more added thing: Our sweet daughter Girly~Twirly (aka theluckiestmrs) has posted after being MIA due to her work schedule! We talk with them every day, but it was fun to see that she was able to do a post today!

If you have some time, please stop by and say welcome back to this wonderful blog world...I'm so happy that she introduced me to blogging!

Hanscom Air Force Base

...around August of 1967, my dad got reassigned from Clark AFB, Philippines to... 

Hanscom Air Force Base, Massachusetts.

...We moved from my dad's assignment in the Philippines, when I was 3 years old.  But, first, before heading to Hanscom AFB, we flew to meet my dad's family and spend time with them in Wisconsin. 

***

...After an awesome stay with my dad's side of the family, I would have my first taste of cold temps...

1967 October-ish... playing in all the leaves, bundled up in my warm little coat.

***

...more colder weather!

Apparently, I didn't want to wear my wool pea coat in the first photo...

...but I was ready to go with my little white purse, soft woolen cap, white gloves and white boots...and of course, one of my teddy bears.

These were taken by our rental home in Bedford, MA, where we lived until our living quarters on the military base was ready.

...the heavy snowfall in the next photo (taken on a different day), must have meant a further drop in the temperature.  Looks like I was coming home from a business trip! haha

***

Hanscom Air Force Base:
(facts from www.Hanscom.af.mil)


"...in Middlesex County, Mass touches the towns of Bedford, Concord, Lincoln & Lexington - birthplace of America."


"....approximately 20 miles NW of Boston ...and about 4 hours from New York City".

***

Summer 1968, on Hanscom AFB, meant a visit from my dad's mom and dad (Grandma & Grandpa)...
We went sightseeing with them to see Plymouth Rock (but that story is for a future post). And other sights near our home...

My Grandpa and I enjoying some sunshine...he's sitting on the back steps (you can see what is the cellar door in the foreground). And I am eating a banana popscicle.  This was the back of the military housing on Hanscom AFB.

The walkway went back up to where the parking lot was for the townhouse/row style houses. And there was a big field behind the trees by our house. (I remember when a little pond froze over and I was able to go ice skating for the first time...my little skates had the double blades, so that I could stay up easier).

***

I would start kindergarten in 1968, when I was 4 years old.  (My 5th birthday would be in Dec of 1968).

One of my earliest memories (without the help of looking at a photo), is a kindergarten field trip to a museum. And seeing huge art sculptures of a gigantic eraser and pencil.

In my kindergarten report card (couldn't find it today to show here), my teacher wrote that I was a child that has to have "...her own way..." (hopefully, I wasn't too much of a handful!)

***

Hanscom Airfield
(timeline info from www.Hanscom.af.mil): 

-May 1941, large farmlands purchased to build one of 240 new civil airports to serve for national defense.
-mid-1942, leased the Bedford airport to War Dept for use by the Army Air Forces.
-1942-1943, site for training fighter squadrons.
-since 1945, AF's center for development and acquisition of electronic systems.
-1961, Electronic Systems Division (ESD) established.
-1973, all regular flying operations ceased. Primary operation was the ESD.
-1992, ESD redesignated Electronic Systems Center (ESC), part of the AF Material Command.
-1994, ESC-AF Center of Excellence for Command, Control, Communications, Computers and Intelligence.
-2004, ESC reorganized then again in 2006, and then again in 2010
-May 2011, Air Force Research Laboratory Sensors Directorate moves from Hanscom to Wright-Patterson AFB, Ohio (after 60 years in Hanscom).
...still home to 66th Force Support Squadron.

Click for more on the history of Hanscom Airfield.

***

When I was looking on line for some info on Hanscom Air Force Base, I saw some of the military housing available.  There were a lot of old ones that were torn down and new homes built. But there were also still some that were renovated,  that looked like the ones I lived in, back in 1967 - 1969.

In the first photo, you can see these townhouse/row style homes in the background.

The bottom photo shows some that have the remodeled and renovated interiors, but the exterior structures look unchanged.

Another story, that I don't remember too well...but was confirmed by my dad... back in those early childhood years on Hanscom AFB...

...I was playing with matches! And when I got one to light up, I "put" it out by throwing the match in a clothes hamper!   ..um yeah, that didnt work. The fire dept had to be called to our home! Thankfully, it didnt cause too much damage.

I thought it would be fun to post these photos of my Handsome Hawaiian Hunk of a Hubby, during similar time frames as I shared on this post...

While I lived on Hanscom Air Force Base, Massachusetts, he lived as far west from me in Hilo, Hawaii.

I am  joining in this week's  Alphabe-Thursday's "H" with Jenny!

&

...Alicia for Friday Photo Flashback.    
...Christopher & Tia's Flashback Friday.
& thank you for stopping by...I do eventually get to return your lovely visits.

******

Here are some most recent art that I have completed and shipped off. The first one, I'd already shared but it was only shown in black and white. 

 This was drawn from various images on this couple's wedding invitations.

This is it after I added color.

Another wedding piece that was inspired by this couple's wedding invitations.

I've many more to share, but for now, I will add this one.

Etsy message from Korin: 

"My name is Korin, and I am a friend of ML, and she has raved about your work for years!  My husband is getting ready to retire, and I was wondering if you were able to do a picture of a M1A2 tank with our last name Hardt?"

Korin, Thank you so much for contacting me and it was great to find that you are also an Army Blogger Wife .  :o) I look forward to seeing how you mat and frame yours.