Kelsey Quote

"I am pretty generic in conversations.  I can get along with just about anyone."

Ribbons, Ribbons, Everywhere

Ribbons, ribbons, from the fair!
We were thrilled when all three girls won ribbons for their fair entries! Oh, yeah... money, too. Much excitement from the home front!

We decided to enter items in the fair for fun. Also, to encourage everyone to finish projects and see other people's ideas. Winning ribbons/ money was not the motivation, but it sure was fun when it happened! (And now, is probably a motivation for next year, haha.)

Kelse pointing toward her pet scrapbook page

One of Keegan's pictures won second place!  Her decorated cookies also received second. Woo, Keegan!

 

All of Caitlyn's entries received ribbons - wow!
She received one first place, two fourth, one third, and one best of show for her recycled jean skirt!

 

Bill's mom told her sister, "the little one won everything they had," haha!
Kelsey's efforts at entering several different categories sure paid off!  All of her entries except one received ribbons. Brownies, birdhouse, Christmas ornament... they all placed.  She ended up winning almost $30, which was certainly a thrill.

 

Fun, fun - plans are already being made for next year :).

Update

For those who don't know, these last couple of days have been busy with back surgery for Bill. He is now the proud owner of four screws, a plate or two, some cement-like stuff, and, temporarily, even some staples :).
This has been coming since he was rear-ended last December.  It actually had been scheduled and postponed twice before, so we were relieved that it actually happened.
The surgery went very smoothly and the neurosurgeon seemed quite pleased.
Bill is doing well.  Obviously there is some soreness, but overall things look good.
The girls and I are mostly hanging out at the hospital, stepping out now and them for a bit of excitement (supper, sleeping, those types of things ;).
We are very thankful all went well, and are learning just how much schoolwork can be completed without the distractions of home :).  Or possibly :P, depending on your perspective ;).

Wordless Wednesday Keegan's Winning Photo

Fair Fun

We had not been to the fair in years, and this year we made up for it by going twice (yea for free student days and library coupons! :)and delivering and picking up all of the girls entries!

 

Ready to ride!

Kelsey is making that lovely face because I told her to take her hand down from in front of her and the sun is in her eyes, haha.

One day we rode rides, the other we watched shows.  Can you guess which day this was ;)?

Once, as the girls were starting out on the tilt-a-whirl, there was no one waiting in line, so I was standing at the entry gate to take pictures.  Jokingly I called out, "Spin this way, girls!" and the sweet guy running the ride stopped the entire ride with their car right in front of me so I could take a picture. Bet the other folks on the ride just loved me ;)!

 

And this...

is (not my picture, I stole it off line because I only took my camera on ride day,)  show day!  More specifically, this is Sawyer Brown in concert. A group I loved back in the day.  I thought it would be a fun concert for the girls, too, because Mark Miller has SO MUCH energy on stage. Even though he is not the one jumping in this picture.  But he jumped plenty during the concert :). Fun times.

And more fun times...

 

 

 

Love the upside-down hair! -->

 

Why yes, that is my twelve year-old daredevil in there...

And there! Yikes!

Who knows if my heart will ever recover?

 

A little easier for mom to take -

 

Sweet smile :)

 

 

Haha, don't know why Keegan has that expression above, but it amuses me.

 

 

 

Bye for now.

Hope you had a chance to enjoy your fair, too!

Kelsey Quote

Kelsey, out of nowhere, "I am glad I'm not a skunk."

Me, "I am, too!"

Kelsey, offended on behalf of skunks everywhere,"They get a bad reputation, just because of their defense system!"

Traitorous Caitlyn Quote

Caitlyn, "Look at that man.  He has on ORANGE pants with little white "T's" all over them.
Me, "Good for him."
Caitlyn, "No.  NOT good for him."

Caitlyn insists this should be called, "Traitorous, but true, Caitlyn Quote." Hahaha.  She has yet to learn that any UT clothes are good UT clothes!

Wordless Wednesday - Random :)

Slumber Party

It's that time again - party time!

Keegan had planned some water games she wanted to play.  This is a variation of "Duck, Duck, Goose," called "Drip, Drip, Drench."  "It" carries a sponge. This ended up being a lot of fun and popular with the girls.

Plus fun to watch, haha!

There was no mush pot - If the runner caught "it," she got to squeeze a spongeful of water on her head! (We made up that part :).

 

Caitlyn being a good sport, getting soaked by Keegan :).  I love Kelsey's expression in this shot, too.

 Another caught runner.  Funny, funny.

Usually I am pretty adament about natural colorings, etc., but this year we got a plain old, artificially colored, cute store-bought cake!

 To redeem myself just a bit, we also had watermelon, orange slices, grapes, and applesauce :).

 

Love this silliness - the girls decided to put all the hats on Keegan, haha.

 

 

 

The final result -  

 

It's not all about the presents, but I have to say that Keegan's gifts suited her perfectly.  She got bags, art supplies, and books - all of her favorite things! One is even an animal book, combining two of her favorie things :D.

Funny story - The girl who brought this great bag was telling how they were applying the "K" in the car on the way to our house.  Doesn't bother me in the least, but my guess is that her mother would not have preferred a public announcement :). That is just the kind of thing a child of mine would tell, without thinking a thing about it. 

 

Keegan decided to blow her blower at each person as part of their thanks after opening their present..., "Thank you," blow, blow.  Here, they got her back!

 

Sweet

 

Later, in the basement...

I couldn't believe the sometimes grouchy cat chose to lie in the middle of all the fun.

 

Happy birthday, Keegan!

 

Fairest of the Fair - Kelsey Rose

Although our prep time was fairly brief, Kelsey got into this idea and entered several items.  Some were projects she had already started and was encouraged to complete, and others were totally new, done just for the fair. One new one was this bird house.  With a little help from Bill, Kelse made this very sturdy, red with a porch, yellow interiored birdhouse :).  She was justifiably proud.

 

Here is her entry for "Most Unique Pet page" in scrapbooking.  It describes our cat, Mittens, including the fact that she like potato chips!

 

A cross-stitched Nutcracker for the Christmas ornament category

 

 This turned out adorable!  It is for the "decorated box" category.  I love it!  Now we simply need a little girl who is turning one, so we can put in a present and use it!

"Make your own card" category

 

Wrapped present - notice the handmade bow

 

And finally, an especially original one, a picture cube for the "made from recycled materials" category.  Kelsey had read how make a photo cube from CD cases.  And she did :).
Plus it is holding pictures of very cute girls on every side ;).  You can't beat that!

Fairest of the Fair - Caitlyn

Caitlyn went with a textiles theme, since she is into that kind of thing :).

 

 

A cable knit hat

This pic doesn't show it well, but a pair of old jeans, transformed into a skirt

A very pretty baby blanket

 

And another on the picture doesn't show well - a cute, lacy sweater (for the recycled category,) made from a hand-me-down sweater that had a hole.  She unraveled the thread, then made it into this.  Pretty cool. 

Super cute present!

All the girls at Keegan's party went crazy for this gift! Naturally, I saw or read it somewhere and copied it.  I rarely come up with original ideas :). 
It was simple, adorable, fun, and funny! First I got ten one dollar bills and taped them end to end, with the "pull me" tag taped to one end.  I rolled them up and slipped them into an empty tissue box with the tag sticking through the slit where tissues would ordinarily come out. I wrapped the tissue box with a slit in the wrapping paper that fit over the slit in the box.  That's it.
Instead of unwrapping the box, Keegan pulled the tag and the money came unrolling out. Everyone was so surprised and Keegan's face was priceless :)! Big smiles and laughter all around.
I would definitely choose this idea over a card with money in the future. Such a simple and fun success that I wanted to share.

Caitlyn/Keegan Quote

Me -"So, girls, do we want to go see "Seussical?"" (the new show at the theater where we used to be involved.)
Caitlyn and Keegan - "YES!"
Me - "Do you promise not to be cry and be sad if we go?"
A few moments of quiet discussion, then
Caitlyn - "No!  But we want to go, anyway."

Smile. Sigh. At least they are honest.

Happy birthday, Keegan!

 

Happy 12th birthday, Keegan!

 

September 2001

 

December 2007

 

September 2008

 

April 2009

 

2012