A Few More Fair Results

We've made it through four days of the fair. Tonight we went to the fair for no other reason than to eat good food and walk around and enjoy the sights and sounds.

Yesterday was more of a working day at the fair. I spent nearly the whole day staffing the "All You Can Drink" milk stand at the fair. Fortunately, I had lots of help from family and friends. I serve on the local dairy board and one of the board responsibilities is to staff the "Milk Wagon" for one day at the fair with volunteer help. The menu at the milk wagon is pretty small. There is chocolate, white and strawberry milk, string cheese, ice-cream bars, and water. One dollar buys the customer a glass of milk with unlimited refills, so our booth is pretty popular.

With the temperature at a humid 85 degrees, our stand was very busy in the late afternoon and evening and I was very tired when I got home after 11 p.m. I should have taken more pictures of the kids selling/serving milk. They have a really good time taking money and dispensing milk and for the most part are very helpful in the stand. James is just tall enough to reach the milk dispensers and he helped himself to quite a bit of chocolate milk. The heat tired him out though and Mark and the kids went home pretty early last night.

During the earlier part of yesterday, we had a few local celebrities there helping us out as "Celebrity Milk Servers" One of the DJ's from the morning show of a popular local country radio station was there. And, the evening news anchor from our local NBC affiliate served milk as well. I have a cute picture of the news anchor and Ella, but I am too lazy to download it tonight. It was fun to work with the local celebs. It was really kind of hilarious to watch the reactions of people as the recognized who was serving them their milk.

On to the fair ribbons... Mark earned 12 ribbons on his veggies: four 1st place ribbons, four second place ribbons, and four third place ribbons. Ella and James each earned a few ribbons with their vegetables in the junior gardening division. James also earned a few blue ribbons on his oats and hay stolen from Grandpa's field. He actually got a purple ribbon (champion) on his slice of hay. So, both Ella and James earned a big purple ribbon this year. The purple ribbons have still been elusive for Mark. He will have to try again next year.

Tomorrow is the dress the animal competition at the fair. It is a fun contest that Ella has competed in since she was two. If all goes according to plan, Ella will dress as a princess and her calf will be dressed as her Knight in Shining Armour. James will complete the ensemble by dressing as a Jester and caring the knight's sword and shield. Hopefully it won't be too hot tomorrow night and I hope I get some good pictures!

Ella wins a big ribbon!

Since both kids were one year old, we have helped them to enter art in the Open Class Fine Arts show at the fair. There is a youth division for children under the age of eight. It is a little work to get the ready and entered at the fair, but the kids love to go see their work hanging up for everyone to see. And, all the kids get a participation ribbon for their efforts.

This year, James took a watercolor painting and he was very excited to see it hanging at the fair with a red, white and blue striped ribbon. I wasn't fast enough with my camera to capture his smile. I am sure we will visit the ribbons again soon and I will try for another picture.

Now that Ella is five, she really gets the "exhibiting" thing and was excited to have some of her art displayed at the fair. She created two special pieces at home just for the fair. We also took one of the paintings that she made at her art camp that she attended in June. The results were good. We peeked in just as they were finishing judging last night and Ella earned a purple ribbon on her fish print, participation ribbon on her heart art and an honorable mention on her self portrait. Here is a quick pic that shows Ella near her purple ribbon. The blue and black fish art at the very top of the picture and the heart art near Ella's head are two of Ella's Fine Arts entries.

While Ella was excited to see the big purple ribbon by her fish art after we pointed it out to her, she was more excited to see that there was a participation ribbon attached to the heart drawing that she had made. She worked on this heart drawing several afternoons last week with full intentions of "taking it to the fair". She was very proud that she drew the heart herself!

Getting Ready for the Fair!

Our county fair officially started today. Anyone who knows us well, realizes that we won't be home too much this week--we'll be at the fair. Fair week was always a big deal for my family. Growing up, my brothers and I were in 4-H and brought many animals and projects to the fair. Maybe the fair is in my blood because I was born during fair week and married during fair week. Mark and I, along with our wedding party, even visited the fair between our wedding and reception. So, it should be no surprise that we were entering exhibits for the fair on Saturday, Sunday and today.


On Sunday we went out to the field to gather oats. It has become a little bit of a family competition to enter Grandpa Jim's field crops in the children's names and see who can get first prize. My brother, Greg, is certain his kids will have the winners this year, but we will see!

The dew points are really high here right now, so we all almost melted while we were entering our vegetables and flowers. Mark entered onions, beans, summer squash, blackberries, raspberries, peppers, tomatoes, peas, and zucchini. We helped the kids enter summer squash, string beans and tomatoes along with their field crops. I entered a few different types of flowers from my flower garden. I do think that my stargazer lilies looked pretty good, but who knows what will happen. Mark is still in search of his first big purple ribbon. Maybe this will be his year! The judging takes place tomorrow, so look for an update tomorrow night!

For now, here are some fun pictures from Saturday night when we were harvesting our oats in the field with Grandpa Jim and Grandma Judy.

Growing Kittens!

The kittens have really grown in the past 10 days. Their eyes are almost all open and now the kids have been allowed to hold them. They have both been very gentle with the little babies and the kittens and the kids are very sweet to watch. Ella reminds me so much of myself when I watch her with the kittens. I used to spend hours playing with all the baby kittens born on the farm. Both kids beg to go out and watch the kittens in the garage. They will both sit in their lawn chairs so nicely and quietly talk to the kittens and hold them if they are allowed. Here is a smiley James holding one of the little kittens.

We brought two of the kittens into the house to share with our friends.

Here are Carson and Sierra happily holding baby kittens.

Aiden and Kiera were so gentle when they met the kittens.

This has been Ella's favorite activity of the past several days.

Sunday Adventures

We criss-crossed the Twin Cities yesterday to visit some family and friends. Our first stop was to Grandma and Grandpa O's house. We ate lunch together after enjoying some yard games. James kind of hinder our attempt at playing bocce ball. He kept stealing the little ball, therefore moving our target.

Neither child was too cooperative with a photo attempt. This pic happened to capture of smile from James, but not from Ella.

Here's a smile with Grandpa O.

We spent some time visiting with our friends Mike, Erin, Joe, Ray and brand new baby Will. We wish we could get together with them more often. This pic shows Ray and James very busy driving their cars. It was hard for James to want to leave!

We also stopped in to see Great-Grandpa O. Ella enjoyed riding on Great Grandpa's walker. Both kids enjoyed all the flowers on the patio.

James didn't fall asleep in the car right away like we were hoping so we decided that we'd stop for dinner. Our Garmin told us that there was a White Castle nearby and we decided to go on a little culinary adventure. The kids have never been to a White Castle and I've only eaten at one once during my childhood. Mark thought he had made a White Castle visit at some point in his childhood too. Guess it was time to share the experience with our children.

James only ate the fries--no surprise there. Ella thought the chicken rings (yes, chicken rings!) were tasty. Mark enjoyed his two double patty burgers, but confessed that he would not be able to handle any more. I had a bacon burger and a chicken ring sandwich--interesting. I doubt we will be frequent White Castle visitors....but at least we can say we have been there!

Garden Girls

Mark's garden is growing and we have made our first few harvests. This year, we are fortunate to have our good friend, Kelly, trying her hand at gardening with Mark. It is great for me...it means I can spend less time weeding and more time playing while I'm at the farm. : ) Ella loves the opportunity to hang out with her friend, Sierra, when she comes along to help her mom in the garden. And, they have had some giggly fun running around the farm together. Here they are posing with the radishes that they pulled from the garden.





James loves going to the farm too. I need to get a good picture of him after a night at the farm. For now, here is a visual: He loves to find and play in dirt and there is plenty at the farm. When he finds his favorite dirt pile, he kicks it, tosses it in air, digs in it, and sits in it. When it is time to come home, he is the color of dirt. Baths for James when we come home from the farm are usually done in two phases. He first gets a basic rinse in the tub to remove all the dirt. Then, we drain all that yucky water and give him a real bath. At least we know, he really enjoyed himself at the farm!

Isabella Swims!

Isabella has had two weeks of swimming lessons so far this summer. The lessons are M-Th for a half hour each day and during each week, she has made a ton of progress. She has always loved time in the pool, but now I would say that she is also very comfortable in the water. She jumps right in when it is her turn and is eager to try to new things at lessons. During the first week this summer, she learned to float on her back independently. This past week, she actually progressed to some solo swimming. To say we were really proud of her is an understatement. Ella's favorite thing from this past week was gliding. She liked gliding on her front and her back. I was in awe at the end of this week's session because my baby was jumping into the deep end of the pool and swimming to the instructor who was waiting halfway across the length of the pool. The video below shows her progress from this past week.

First back float: Look no hands!!

Swimming underwater at a local pool with her "gogglers"!

Hanging out with daddy!

Then There Were Four!

A final check on our garage guest last night showed that she was now the mother of four. This morning Ella was in our room bright and early asking to check on the cat and to see how many baby kittens that she had. Ella was so excited and James was in awe! I told the kids that they will have to wait a week to hold the babies as it is best not to bother the kittens too much until they have their eyes open. Ella and James each got to pet the kittens with on finger and were very content to just sit and watch them. The kittens appear to be doing well and their little tummies are already round from spending night snuggling and nursing with their mommy.

Here is a video of the little pig pile of baby kittens.

Now there are three!

I just checked again and now there are three little kittens. The first two are orange and now there is a little black kitten.

Kittens and a Thunderstorm

The miracle of birth is going on at this very moment in our garage. There has been a stray kitten on our street for the about the past month. Shortly after she appeared, I noticed that she was getting bigger. She's a very friendly cat and all the neighborhood kids love her. A neighbor called the local animal shelter an no one has claimed her. That same neighbor has been feeding her, but the kitty seems to enjoy hanging out at our house whenever possible.

While we were leaving for an errand tonight, I saw her and told Mark that she looked ready to pop. I broke my rule and put some water, food and a box with some old towels in it on my porch. When we came home, it was clear to me that she was in the midst of labor, though she was still purring at our ankles. I helped her get settled into the box on the porch and then the lightening started to flash in the distance. So, we decided that the kitty could spend the night in our garage. Our garage isn't new to her. She has already spent several random nights in our garage as a sneaky guest, so she was quite comfortable and relaxed once we brought her inside. It's a good thing she's in the garage because it is pouring rain and she is already the proud mother of two baby kittens with more on the way.

The first kitten was born around 10 p.m. and the next arrived at about 10:30. I know the kids will be very excited to take a peek at the babies in the morning. And, I think we have a new summer project on our hands. Growing up on a farm, I cared for many litters of kittens in my childhood. It will be fun for my kids (and Mark!) to watch the kittens grow. I guess, when they are old enough, we will have to move the mommy kitty and her babies to the farm as I know we can't keep them here. Our cats already don't approve of the stray kitty. They've had many fights through the window screens and the patio doors. I am sure they will again make their feelings known when they discover that there is a litter of kittens in our garage!

I took this quick video clip right after the first kitten was born. I think I may have captured its very first meow!