Fair, part 3

My turn! I didn't take part in any of the shows, like the pet show or the healthy food fair, but I still entered several items in the fair. For adults, they only give out ribbons for entries that place (unlike the kids, where every entry gets a ribbon, even if it's just a green participation ribbon). So, those things without ribbons didn't place.

Here are: non-portrait photograph, plastic canvas tissue box, and bead jewelry.


A cross-stitch picture.


Handmade doll, crocheted bag, crocheted baby item. I was kind of upset about the handbag when I got home. On the tag was a note from the judge: "The handle should be the same color as the purse." Can YOU tell it's supposed to be a rainbow over Noah's Ark? Oh, well.


Christmas ornament, sculpy clay pendant, and crocheted snowflake.


Portrait photograph and scrapbook page of a place.


My food entries didn't make it back from the fair, obviously, but I made: raspberry swirl fudge (third place), pumpkin chocolate chip muffins, cherry winks, and wacky chocolate cake with peanut butter icing (first place AND judges' choice!!!). Now to start preparing for next year... :)

Fair, part 2

Today is Kathryn's turn! She had a great time at the fair as well. She dressed as a farmer for the Healthy Food Fair and made some terrific deviled eggs.


The next few pictures show off some of her craft entries. Here we have a pillow, a colored pencil drawing, a mixed media drawing (paint and colored pencil), a candle, and a greeting card.


A decorated flowerpot, jewelry (very nice earrings that she gave to me), a camp craft (the bracelet), a craft representing another country (the sombrero), and a sculpy clay pirate.


A skirt, a purse, a collection of patriotic sculpy clay pieces (a little person saluting the flag), and a handmade doll (Lucy, who is supposed to be a dog but I think makes a very fine cat).


Her poem. The theme for this year was "Great Americans."


Her decorated pumpkin, which came in second, and her tie-dyed pillowcase which came in third.


Her terrific rock collection, which earned her a blue ribbon. We studied rocks last year in science, so we had a nice collection to choose from. We looked up and labeled each one, except for the pinkish one second from the top left which we were not able to identify. It's definitely not quartz. Anyone know what it is?


I am so proud of Kathryn! She worked hard this year, and it showed.

Fair, part 1

Well, the fair ended this past Sunday. It was a BUSY week and a half, but so much fun! Today, I wanted to share Daniel's accomplishments.

He earned first place showing his gerbils at the Pet Show. He went on stage and took the mike. He was articulate, knowledgeable, and not a bit shy (and pretty cute, too).



He earned second place for desserts at the Healthy Food Fair for his chocolate pumpkin cupcakes. He had to decorate the table as well as prepare the food and answer the judges' questions.


Here are his entries: recyclable craft (a warthog), a crayon drawing, and a poem. Not pictured is his 2 ft x 2 ft board with all his dinosaurs (it didn't make it home in one piece) and his decorated apple (moldy!!). I included the red ribbon to show the apple, but I just remembered that he got a BLUE ribbon for it, not red. Sorry, Daniel!


A few close-ups.




He did great: $42 dollars, 3 blue ribbons, 2 red ribbons, and lots of good memories!

Wordless Wednesday

Wordless Wednesday

Brusters!

What better way to spend a hot Saturday evening than to take a family trip to Brusters! If you've never been, Brusters is a great ice cream place that has between twenty and thirty different flavors of hard-serve ice cream. The flavors constantly change, so you never know what you're going to get (other than messy).



This was my favorite picture of the evening. Daniel got cotton candy explosion, and loved every lick of it.


Did I mention getting messy?


Kathryn got cotton candy explosion, too. This is her favorite flavor, and sh'e slucky -- they usually have it.


We came here on our last day of school in June, and I'm thinking this might be a good way to usher in the new school year, too. What do you think?

Sports camp

The kids spent every morning this week at church at SPORT'S CAMP! They did basketball, volleyball, creative movement, yoga, soccer, and a few things I can't remember right now. They even learned how to spike the volleyball, using a beach ball (and a small ladder to get them high enough)-- can you picture Daniel doing that? :) They had a ball (no pun intended), and enjoyed playing with their friends from church all week. I enjoyed having EVERY morning this week to do as I pleased. I haven't had that since before Kathryn was born!

Daniel told me last night (Thursday night) that he was sorry that there were only three days left in sport's camp. I think he almost cried when I told him that there was only one day left. "But Mommy, you said that there were seven days in a week, and this is a week-long camp..." How do you argue with that? I tried to explain week-days versus week-ends, but I'm not sure he bought it.

The girls in the creative movement class put on a mini performance for the parents yesterday. You can see it at http://muirschapelumc.com/ministries/childrens/sportscamp.html.
Kathryn's group is the first one (the second one is the older girls), and she is wearing a yellow shirt. Enjoy!

My visit to Pennsylvania

What a great week-end we've had in PA this past week-end! Between the wedding and the family gathering, we've been running at full steam for the past two days. Now we can rest a bit.

Recital

Saturday was a busy day. Kathryn had her dance recital and did a GREAT job! She was confident on stage, remembered her steps, and looked like she was enjoying every minute of it. Even Jason got to dance -- the first dance in the recital was a daddy-daughter dance. Judging by the smiles on both his and Kathryn's faces, his dancing debut was a success.


This was her outfit for tap and acrobatics, plus a bit of attitude.


The three musketeers -- Kathryn and two of her best friends, Esther and Brenna.


And here is my princess.


Their ballet number was "Going to the chapel." Seeing sixteen or so girls twirl around in wedding dresses was beautiful.


Daniel and I received our next belts for TaeKwonDo this week-end as well. Daniel is now a senior yellow belt (his new belt has a black stripe down the center) and I am not a senior white belt. And like his sister, Daniel has an attitude all his own.

What a week-end!

I had a wonderful Mother's Day week-end! Saturday started with a mother-child Tae Kwon Do class. Daniel and I had a great time training together, and all the mothers got to break a board before the end of class.


Daniel is doing really well, and is learning a lot. He's also impressed that he's two belts further along than Mommy.


Jason's parents came into town Saturday as well for Melinda's graduation. We are so proud of both Matt and Melinda -- the Masters!


It's been a long time coming.


Best wishes to you both as you start the next phase of your life.

Old pictures - sorry!

Dad was giving me a hard time about how long it's been since I posted to my blog.  And he's right -- it's been almost two months and I know how much grandparents like to see their grandkids!  I wanted to put something up tonight (so he would stop picking on me) and I realized I haven't downloaded pictures from my camera since March.  So, here are some pictures of the kids at our church's Easter egg hunt.  Yes, they're old pictures, but since you've never seen them, they're still new, right? :)

We had a covered dish lunch after church, then the kids went out to look for eggs.  It was quite cold that Sunday (even though there was no snow, it was still right around freezing), so all the kids were bundled up.

It didn't take long for the locusts (I mean kids) to find all the eggs.

Daniel managed to find a section with very few other kids in it, so he had quite a full basket before he was done.

He promised to share some with his sister, though.  And Mommy.  And Daddy.

Once all the eggs were found, we went back inside to warm up and see what candy the eggs held.

Yellow Belt

Daniel's belt ceremony at the end of February was held at the local YMCA. They all marched in to the theme music from the Olympics.


After breaking a board (palm strike, first try!), Daniel was called up front to receive his certificate and his new belt.


Now that he is in the novice group as opposed to the beginner white belt group, he gets to spar as part of his training. Here he has his full gear on: helmet, mouth guard, chest protector, gloves, arm guards, shin and foot guards, and cup. Whew!


Do you remember the Peanuts comic strip where Charlie Brown has so much winter clothing on that he falls over and can't get himself up? That came to mind for some reason...


And here he is, sparring for the first time. We're so proud of him!

Snow day

Last Thursday (Valentine's Day) we got our first snow of the year. It was only an inch, but you would have thought a blizzard hit! The schools were closed, and although we still had classes, we took a 1-hour delay so we could play in the snow first.

This poor snowman flag has looked so out of place all winter. Now he looks happy!


My daffodils are starting to come up, although they haven't bloomed yet. I don't think this snow is enough to hurt them too badly.


My crocuses look cold, too.


Daniel's favorite part of playing in the snow was having snowball fights. He had a hard time making the snowballs round and hard enough, so he would wait until someone else threw one at him, then scoop it up from the ground and throw it back. His gloves are new, and he enjoyed trying them out.


Here is our snowman, Kathryn's favorite part of our snow day. It is only about eight inches tall, but she was quite proud of it.


My little (or not so little) snow girl.