4H Champions!!

I thought I'd take a quick minute and brag on my boys. They did so well on their 4H projects this year! 

Yap received champion electric project. 

and he was chosen to go to the State Fair! Unfortunately he's not old enough, you have to be 9, but this shows that his photo is high quality! 

Yap also received reserve on his painting and a champion on his Lego model (I didn't get a pic of that!)

The boys had woodworking projects too. The judge said they were blue quality but they received reds because we didn't include building plans. Oops! 

I received a couple of ribbons too. A champion on my painting and a reserve on my colored pencil drawing. 

The most exciting award though was definitely Yip's champion on his Ironman! What was even cooler that the judge just LOVED it! She even encouraged him to learn how to weld and carve when he gets older! 

A friend of mine asked me if I had finally recuperated from the week of Fair/Bible School. 

NO!! I haven't! Monday we took off to Wichita for a day at the museum and to visit a friend. Yesterday I spent over an hour in the garden picking veggies that should have been picked last week! Then today I gave a drawing lesson at the town library. 

I'm sure life will eventually slow down....maybe. But I sure couldn't give you an idea when that might be! 

Kingdom Rock VBS is FINALLY over!

Whew!! I. AM. EXHAUSTED. 

VBS is finally over. Yes, we had our county fair and VBS the same week. I'm never doing that again! 

But we survived and boy did we have a blast!! The kids really enjoyed all of our crafts and songs and lessons and games. Boy, did we have some great volunteers helping and the other directors and I would surely have been lost without them. 

Heather and Chrissy did awesome every night with their skit! This two ladies are awesome!

I made the backdrop and most of the decorations. I had so much fun!! Check out that throne!! Our AWESOME pastor put that together for the kids so......

...every kid got their picture taken sitting on the throne that they'll receive Sunday after the church program.

A real suit of armor!! Thanks Brooke for letting us borrow it! 

Any offering the kids brought we collected for the Kazembe Orphanage. We had a table set up to represent how many books we were able to buy for the orphanage. I think this pic was taken the second day and the kids were outstanding!

The kids enjoyed yummy snacks all week!! Thanks Carol and Liz, Sue and Jeanne! 

Our great feast hall, otherwise known as our church basement :) 

Best of all the kids got CRAZY! And it was a blast! We got them singing and dancing and jumping and really learning that God helps us STAND STRONG! 

Amanda and Shannon thanks so much for all the games you played with the kids! I think the water games were especially a hit! 

Our Medieval Castle crafts were pretty popular with the kids too! 

They made popsicle catapaults which resulted in a mini marshmallow war! 

Torches...

3D Castles....

..and shields! I just love Yahoo's SERIOUS expression! 

But the most anticipated event was PIES IN THE FACE! We made a deal with the kids that if they could get 45 kids to come one night of Bible School then Friday they could EACH put a pie in one of the director's or Pastor Jerry's faces. What a blast!! 

We were going to let the preschoolers go first but I didn't anticipate that they wouldn't understand what to do...HA! So I had a teenage helper give a demonstration. That's my babysitter up there covering her mouth as she's about to wallop me with a whip cream pie! Oh joy!! 

I think Yip and Yap were enjoying it just a little too much! 

There's Yip going after his poor mother and Heather sneaking up behind me to add even more stickiness to my hair! Ugg! 

Despite the fact we had Bible School the same week as our county fair we still had a fantastic turnout and the kids had a ball! Just one more day to go. Tomorrow we'll have the kids program at church and then we'll tear down all the decorations. So maybe, just maybe next week I'll get to enjoy a little rest...please??? 

What's been keeping us busy the last week or so...everything!!

I don't know who ever came up with the idea that summer was relaxing, but whoever it was they've never been to our home in the summer!!! We've been busy busy busy! 

We finished up our summer reading program at the town library. What an awesome librarian we have! Not only did she have weekly activities for all the kids but she brought in a magician, a mad scientist, Mr. Yo-yo and topped it all off with a pool party complete with prizes! 

We've also been finishing up some 4H projects that we took in to the fairgrounds on Sunday which includes this guy right here that Yip made at the last minute. A horrifying story, for me anyway, goes along with this guy. After Yip finished him which included putting him together with hot glue, I put him in the car Saturday afternoon so nothing would happen to him. It was hot that day...105 degrees hot and I didn't even think about it. But DR went out to the car that night for something and found that all the glue had melted and Ironman was in pieces!!! I felt soooo bad! Poor Yip had to glue the whole thing together again Sunday morning, but he did a great job and the 4H judges were pretty impressed. 

Yap talked the judge's ear off while sharing his Lego model. They think he has a future as a politician. Oh boy! 

Yip and Yap also talked to the electric judge about their shaker flashlights. He was most impressed that they could actually explain HOW the flashlight works! Yay! 

After we got home from dropping off projects Sunday,Yahoo decided she needed to make some projects too. So she sat down and made her own sculptures for the open class that we were able to take in the next day. 

Here's an Alien, but I didn't have to tell you that. 

And here's a bird nest with eggs and blankets, of course! 

Speaking of eggs we found the coolest experiment with an egg!! 

 I even have a video, but I can't get it to load up :(

  It's awesome though, you should try it! 

Not only have we been busy with 4H but our VBS started this week and I've spent most of the summer on the decorations. It's been awesome! And I heard a rumor about a pie in someone's face on Friday?? Hmmm... Pics to come! 

I've been doing a lot of painting lately :)

I've been doing a lot of paintings lately! I'm not sure where I've found the time between running the kids here and there this summer but I've managed to get a lot of paintings done. 

We'll call this one Feathers I suppose. Surely though you have a better title I could use! Feathers is a bit boring!!  

And this one I'll call...uh....I can't think of anything. What do you suggest? 

I am really no good with words and naming paintings. 

Have you ever heard of a painting party? I never had either but my town librarian was telling me about it.  You and your friends can come to a space where an instructor leads you all in completing the same painting. Something simple and fun. Well, our town librarian, Angie, and I have decided to try it, with me as the instructor, and see what kind of response we might have. If it goes well these painting parties might become a monthly thing, we'll just have to see. 

Anyhow, to get ready for this I've been doing some paintings in about an hour. My theory is this; if it's simple enough that I can paint it in one hour then a group of non-painters should be able to finish it in about two hours or so. We'll see how it goes. 

The next couple pics aren't great, I took them with my phone. This owl, man it gave me fits. I didn't plan it well and I ended up painting this canvas three times before I had something I was pleased with. I still don't like owls but  I thought they were a good subject to start with. 

This sunflower though, this was an easy one and I was pretty proud of how this one turned out. I probably painted this one in less than an hour. 

Have you ever done a painting party? Would you ever be interested in painting with a bunch of friends? I could see how it would be appealing to people; an opportunity to be creative but with an instructor to guide you there is less anxiety of failure. I'm really excited about this! I sure hope we have a good response! 

The Pool, My Camera and a Foot Injury

Kansas summer in my teeny tiny town is awesome mainly because the town pool is only a block from our house. Heck I can see it as I'm typing this! For the last two summers, when we've set records for high summer temps and consecutive days over a 100 degrees, the kids and I spent a LOT of time there!! Thankfully this summer, so far, has been much more pleasant. Can you believe that this week our SW Kansas temps have only been in the mid 80's?? And greener than I've ever seen it at this time of year! 

We've still been at the pool plenty this summer though. The boys especially have enjoyed it because this year they are old enough to go to the pool all on their own...no Mom or annoying sister! (And boy have they been annoying one another lately!! How many days until school starts??) Why is it that when there is TONS of room at the pool (or in the house, outside, etc.) they INSIST on being RIGHT NEXT to their sibling and bugging the heck out of one another?? 

Usually I spend pool time in the pool playing with Yahoo. I'm not the average Pool Mom. I LOVE getting in and playing with all the kids. Wrestling with the boys, and them trying to dunk me, has gotten a bit more difficult this summer though. Whoa, my boys are getting big...and STRONG! One of these days, not too far in the future, they'll be able to just pick me up and throw me in the pool! 

OMG, just found this image of Yahoo from two summers ago. Wow!! Didn't realize how much she's grown!! 

As much as I love playing in the pool with the kids I've had to take a break from the pool (more about that in a minute) but the upside is that Yahoo can go in the pool on her own and I've been sitting poolside playing with the zoom lens on my camera. It's got a manual focus on it that I'm still trying to master and I found the pool is a great place to practice! 

I can't believe I got this shot of Yahoo!! LOVE IT! 

I just love watching how confident my boys are in the pool! I don't think there's much they aren't comfortable doing in the water. 

Yip was such a great brother (one day at least) while I was sidelined he played with Yahoo and as he said, "took over" for me. 

I'll have to keep this image for when they get older as proof that they do love one another!! 

So, why am I sidelined? Turns out I've overdone it wearing my Vibram Shoes!!  I was having some major pain in my feet and turns out I have a heel spur and patellar fasciitis which means the tendons across the bottoms of my feet are inflamed. OUCH!! Which makes walking barefoot on the bottom of a concrete swimming pool practically unbearable! 

So no running for a while! Honestly, it's driving me nuts too. Doc did say I could bike or swim, which I've been alternately doing. I don't know how Lance Armstrong does it though. Those bike seats!!! OUCH! And  I've been trying to swim laps at the pool in the mornings but most of the time I feel like I'm flailing and drowning. Michael Phelps sure makes it look easy! I REALLY miss running but I'm trying to be a good girl and do exactly as the doc says. Hopefully by the first day of school I'll be back on the track! 

Do you like my duct tape feet? Ha!! I know it's hillbilly but it sure works better, and is cheaper, than athletic tape! Has anyone out there had a heel spur before? Is there hope for me and my sanity?