Back By Popular Demand

I tried turning things over to the FFA chapter for Farmer for a Day (FFAD).  Let's just say. . . not all chapters can execute things like the good ol' Burley one.  It was a little disorganized and a bit embarrassing, but I spent the day down at the elementary school helping things along.  Next year I'll organize it and just give the FFA kids assignments.  (Not much for leadership growth and personal development but at least then it won't be a joke.)

The staff in the office assured us that the elementary kids were so excited for FFAD.  There is so much potential for the event.

Corn station:  Focused on teaching the three types of corn; sweet, field, and popcorn.
Played a popcorn game, planted a corn seed, and popped popcorn.

Farm safety:  The object was to educate kids on the potential hazards of sharing the road with farm equipment and dangers associated with machinery.

Petting Zoo:  This is always a favorite with the assortment of animals the FFA kids bring.

an angora rabbit

The farm bureau brought in their milk cow again.  This kids love milking her and making butter.

The FFA kids did the judging on the coloring and essay contests.  I loved watching the deliberations.

Dalanie was selected as her class winner with the nice black cow pictured above.

I felt a little awkward when Hudson was selected as the top essay and awarded the prize for the second year in a row.  What can I say, he's an eloquent farmer.

It's safe to say that FFAD has become an annual event.  I love the interaction with the kids and promoting agriculture, something I'm passionate about!

Spring Fever

The weather this year has been quite mild.  The weather felt like spring long before I was ready to come out of hibernation.  Such a warm March. I was in denial long enough.  When the calendar finally indicated if was time for spring I decided to play along.  But as soon as I did, I remembered why I was dragging my feet.  Spring is a lot of work.  There is always so much to be done in the yard and garden.  Pruning:  

Planting:

Random stop by the ice-cream bus in April.  How can the kids hear it miles away and they can't hear me when I'm in the same room as them?

Ruby's frog friend.  It kept the girls entertained one afternoon until Trigger got ahold of it's habitation. It's life was spared and I didn't have to be the one they were mad at for turning it loose.

The trampoline has gotten lots of use this spring.  I love that I can watch them playing from my kitchen windows.

Weenie roast anyone?  Holy Toledo, that was a big fire.  A year's worth of yard debris up in smoke.

Cleaning her rocks because they were as dirty as she was.

Delsie's way of planting peas.  Heap 'em in one big pile.

As soon as birds start chirping, the kids are begging to turn the waterfall on.  It's always a long-anticipated cheap thrill/chill.

This year's resolution: eat out more!  Eating outdoors make dinner so much more enjoyable. . . until it's time to clean up.  The kids are getting better at pitching in and bringing things inside.

She'd be lost without him and he'd be lost without her.  They're quite the combination.

My egg gathers and washers.  I've lowered my expectations now that Delsie is washing the bulk of the eggs.  We just hope we have enough for breakfast that managed the process without being broke.

It's always fun when the bouquets of garden-grown, fresh flowers make a come back.

Art Obsession

The girls got bit by an art bug.  For a few weeks, they were entirely consumed by making art.  Dalanie held her own special art lessons and taught various members of the family.  Delsie's favorite was play doh sculpting.

Ruby made some stained glass art with colored corn syrup.

Chalk pastels are an all-time favorite.  They sure can make a mess, but I also think that's what makes them so fun.

There were oil pastel/watercolor reliefs.

Anytime we wanted to eat at the table, we had to herd everything back into the office.

As a matter of fact, FHE even involved sculpting a house when we talked about the Wise Man and the Foolish Man.

Smorgasborg

The hat was about as far as we got for celebrating Dr. Seuss.  But if you ask me it was far enough.  I mean, look at that face.

This is what happens when you take a little time off crosssfit  and then head back for a tough day of pull-ups.  My calluses are no longer from work, they're from working out.  Delsie would always grab my hands to look at my owies and wince in pain as she looked them over.  Quite a sympathetic little girl.

Ruby hit her lip on something.  I can't remember who's head or knee or floor.  It was quite the doozie.  Her tooth went through the inside and the bruise showed on the outside.

My friends and I stole away for a last minute session to the temple.  Between the four of us, we have 17 kids.  That doesn't make it very easy to get together very often but I'm glad we made it happen.

Hungry Hippos for pack meeting.  We had been seeing it all over Facebook, so Angie Johnson brought it to life for out pack.  It was quite the entertainment.

Evelyn had a birthday party at Leo's Place.  The kids loved it.

Kiera especially took to Hudson.  He is such a kind-hearted kid.  He gets right on their level and makes them feel so validated.

I decided it was time.  I got Ruby to go along with the idea.  She changed her mind as soon as the damage was done.  My consolation, at least hair grows.

Ruby was on an ironing spree and ironed just about everything in the house one afternoon.  Like most things, it came to an end quite abruptly.

This is what you get when McGee pours her own cereal.  You really can't blame her.  It's an awfully small bowl to hit.