July News

July News...

Much is happening, and not much, all at the same time.  Is that possible? 

The garden is growing and producing!!  Yay!  This is the best garden we've ever had, thanks to a garden manure I tried (maybe?) and a summer of lovely, mild, just-right-amount-of-wet weather.  I tried a new strategy for planting, too, so that will be another post...

The 4H Fair came and went.  Each July, you'll find us scrambling around to finish projects.  It's usually a couple of intense-ish weeks, followed by the satisfaction of displaying projects at the fair and the exhilaration of winning prizes (sometimes... and sometimes not...).  It's a great exercise in doing your best and letting the chips fall where they may.  One child came away with 2 reserve champion awards, which is very exciting, while the others had a mix of red and blue ribbons.  I try to emphasize that any ribbon at all means they completed the project, which is a worthy accomplishment in and of itself.  I'm not sure they buy that line of thinking, not yet, anyway....

Joy's Recycling project, made from 2-liter bottles.  Super-cute. 

Kid118's 'Do Your Own Thing' entry.  He consolidated his ongoing bird research (a daily affair for the past several months) into a display on what he considers the smartest birds around.  I have lots of pictures of this one so you can see his original artwork...

Spike won a blue ribbon for his Sports poster on the Miami Heat.  As soon as we finished the poster, LeBron James decided to switch teams.  Fortunately, the judge didn't hold it against him.  :)  He also won a blue ribbon for his healthy poppyseed muffins!!  I forgot to take a picture before we ate them!

Kid118's Fine Art project - a juvenile, female snowy owl in flight.

Joy's Child Development poster on "The Importance of Making Believe."  I love the quotes she chose to include and the photography of her siblings.  She won an Honor Class ribbon.

Yoyo is still in the Mini category, so she's not yet judged.  Here she is, though, with her sewing project.  She opted to stitch this sweet pillow by hand.  I love the cheerful pattern, which will be perfect on her bed. 

In other news, the kitties are getting bigger and feistier every day.  They really are a lot of fun, even if a bit of a pain in the you-know-what.  The main struggle has been keeping them separate from our Tomcats, who were a bit aggressive toward them in the beginning.

 

And speaking of our Tomcats....  this is how Hammy likes to spend his days, for the most part...

Have a great week!!